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Epoch Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Epoch Times
Michelin Guide 2025 Welcomes New California Restaurants From LA, SF, and San Diego
The Michelin Guide recently announced 13 additions to its 2025 California Guide, highlighting culinary talent across the state. One of the restaurants on the list, Pho Momma, located in an unassuming strip mall in Sacramento, was recognized for its exceptional food and warm customer service. 'My location is in an old neighborhood, with no other nice businesses around. So when the customers come in, we try to make them forget where they're at, and give them a wonderful dining experience, and a nice clean atmosphere,' owner My Le, who also cooks and serves the fresh Vietnamese dishes, told The Epoch Times on May 20. The restaurant serves refreshments such as iced Vietnamese coffee, iced milk tea, and sweet tea. In addition, the restaurant offers a variety of traditional dishes, starting with fresh spring rolls, fried appetizers, as well as entrees of meat and tofu pho and 'Momma's Specials,' such as garlic noodles, chicken wings, and curry beef stew with rice. Most restaurants on the Michelin Fresh spring rolls by Pho Momma in Sacramento, California. Courtesy of My Le Los Angeles Komal Komal, a new Mexican restaurant at Mercado La Paloma, serves Mexico City-style street food and pre-Hispanic dishes to South Los Angeles. Its founders are Fátima Juárez and Conrado Rivera. Related Stories 6/23/2024 2/1/2025 The restaurant, located at 3655 S. Grand Ave. in L.A.'s historic South Central, is known for its masa, house-made from ethically sourced heirloom corn from Oaxaca and the state of Mexico. Dishes include antojitos like tlacoyos with heirloom beans, molotes de plátano in Oaxacan mole negro, and the 'Taco Sonia,' with beef shoulder, pork longaniza, and mashed potatoes, as seen on Komal's website. Somni Somni, led by chef Aitor Zabala, reopened in November 2024 at a new West Hollywood location at 9045 Nemo St. The new 14-seat chef's counter features dishes such as shiso tempura puff with beef tartare and a whimsical 'Cow and Her Milk' cheese course. Zabala, a Barcelona native and former El Bulli chef, stresses sustainability with a Power Knot LFC-50 biodigester that turns food waste into water. The restaurant has earned five stars on OpenTable. Vin Folk This Parisian-style bistro and wine bar at 1213 N. Sepulveda Blvd. in Hermosa Beach serves Californian cuisine with French influences. On the menu are small plates such as Jowl and Mackerel, Beef Tongue, and Garganelli Shrimp, as well as a robust wine list. San Diego County Atelier Manna A coastal café at 1076 N. Coast Hwy 101, Atelier Manna is located in Encinitas' funky Leucadia neighborhood. The restaurant features seasonally focused fare, including shareable breakfast and lunch dishes. Atelier Manna focuses on local ingredients and nonalcoholic tonics. Some of the cafe's signature dishes include locally caught halibut with sudachi and coconut leche de tigre or Oaxacan steak and eggs topped with smoked tomatillo mole. The restaurant's patio is made of recycled materials. Lilo Chef Eric Bost's Lilo, out of Carlsbad, offers seasonal ingredients with global influences. At 2101 Costa Del Mar Road, the small location includes a 22-seat chef's counter. Bost's menu blends French techniques inspired by Japanese cuisine and California flavors. Tanner's Prime Burgers In San Diego County, another restaurant located along the 101 made this year's Michelin List. At 2002 S. Coast Hwy in the Freeman Collective, Tanner's Prime Burgers is the creation of chef Brandon Rodgers and Eric Brandt of Brandt Beef. Offering fast-casual food, the burgers are made with single-sourced 100 percent USDA Prime Brandt Beef, and feature fries cooked in all-natural beef tallow to dip in housemade garlic aioli. The restaurant's shakes are made with 100 percent organic dairy products and pure Dutch cocoa. Burgers go for between $10 and $15. 24 Suns A contemporary Chinese restaurant in Oceanside, California, 24 Suns started as a pop-up concept and is now a full restaurant at 3375 Mission Ave. Former Addison chefs Nic Webber and Jacob Jordan founded the restaurant, which offers Chinese dishes such as Sichuan Dry Aged Toro Crudo and Wok'd Local Greens sourced from Chino Farms. The restaurant also offers a large selection of cocktails and high tea. San Francisco Bay Area Sungho This Korean restaurant, located at 250 Hyde St. in the Tenderloin district, has made a name for itself serving authentic Korean Soul Food. The restaurant specializes in gukbap, a traditional rice soup made from 24-hour-simmered pork bone broth, tender pork, and inspired by the recipes of Sungho's grandmother. OpenTable diners give Sungho a rating of 4.8 stars, thanks to its juicy and tender meats and great service. Ethel's Fancy This contemporary Californian restaurant combines Japanese and Hawaiian cuisine at 550 Waverley St. and is led by chef-owner Scott Nishiyama. The restaurant's shareable, seasonal small plates include katsu-style swordfish and crispy pork belly. The chef has experience at Michelin-starred Daniel, The French Laundry, and Chez TJ. OpenTable diners rate the restaurant's rustic and elegant feel, with a 4.8-star diner rating for exceptional cuisine. The restaurant also serves fancy cocktails. Eylan This Californian-Indian restaurant at 500 El Camino Real, in The Villa Menlo Park, features wood-fired, seasonally driven cuisine. Chef Srijith Gopinathan combines regional Indian flavors with local ingredients. The restaurant serves celeriac and pineapple kebab, king trumpet mushrooms, and Gulf shrimp. OpenTable diners rate the restaurant 4.4 stars for services and delicious dishes. Michelin's full 2025 list will be
Los Angeles Times
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Michelin adds 3 L.A. restaurants to its 2025 California guide, reveals announcement date
On Wednesday Michelin, the company behind the influential global dining guide, teased 13 new restaurants that will appear in the 2025 California Guide to the state's top restaurants, with three of them in the L.A. area. According to a representative for the company, the full list will be unveiled June 25. Each year teams of anonymous Michelin inspectors scour tasting menu restaurants, food stalls, neighborhood spots, wine bars and beyond for its compendium that can rate restaurants from one to three stars: accolades widely recognized as one of the highest achievements in the restaurant industry. But every guide also includes its picks of bib gourmand awards, which denote 'good food at a moderate price,' as well as acknowledgment for environmental practices, while some inclusions are marked new and notable. The restaurants announced today could garner any of these designations in the 2025 guide. One new addition is one of the most exciting new restaurants to debut in L.A. last year. Chef-founder Fátima Juárez and her husband, Conrado Rivera, operate artisanal molino and restaurant Komal from within Mercado la Paloma in Historic South-Central. The team behind the casual walk-up stand nixtamalizes heirloom corn and turns it into some of the city's top tortillas, which results in some of L.A.'s favorite new tacos. Tlacoyos, quesadillas, chuchitos, tacos and more all showcase the fresh masa made with painstaking care. This is the first year that Komal could be included in the Michelin Guide. For another L.A. restaurant, Wednesday's announcement signals a return. At its former location, Somni, the lauded and playful fine-dining restaurant from chefs José Andrés and Aitor Zabala, previously held two Michelin stars. The Beverly Grove restaurant known for its modern, Spanish-tinged cuisine and whimsical presentations closed in 2020 amid the pandemic and a lawsuit with the SLS Hotel, where it was located. In 2022 Zabala announced his intention to reprise the acclaimed tasting menu, sans Andrés. In late 2024 it reopened with a new format in West Hollywood. Now Zabala serves between 26 and 35 courses as part of a progressive dining experience that begins on the new patio and culminates in the warmly lit 14-seat dining room. 'We are happy about it,' Zabala said of Michelin's nod. 'It's been five years that we are sleeping. We don't know what will be happening, but we'll see. It's a tricky and a magic thing, you know? We never know.' Zabala says the inclusion is important to him because it gives his team pride. It's hard work running a restaurant, he notes, especially now, when businesses all seem to be vying for customers. Though the intimate setting puts Zabala and his team face-to-face with their guests — sometimes assembling dishes right in the dining room — the chef-owner told The Times that he was unaware the Michelin inspectors were ever there. 'It's always a nice joke to try to find [one], like catching the cat to the mouse,' he said. Zabala notes that seemingly everyone has opinions on Michelin, even on the guide's relevancy, but inclusion denotes a stamp of approval that can bring in new guests whether that business is a street vendor or a fine-dining restaurant. In his first months of reopening Somni, which means 'dream' in Catalan, the chef saw primarily local guests from L.A., Pasadena and Orange County. Lately he's seen an increase in diners traveling from other countries or planning a meal that coincides with a work trip in L.A., and many travelers, he said, use the Michelin Guide in planning their dining destinations. In the next month or so, Zabala hopes to add a second seating at Somni, which will debut a tasting menu of abbreviated courses that is also more affordable. 'I think Michelin is adding a value standard to your restaurant,' he said, 'and it doesn't matter if this is fine dining with a $500 bill, or a $20 bill.' Two alumni from the original Somni also saw recognition on Wednesday. Chefs Kevin De Los Santos and Katya Shastova run one of the South Bay's most highly praised new restaurants, where modern bistro dishes, paired with a diverse wine list, spotlight seasonal produce. Hermosa Beach's Vin Folk opened in November and marks the first restaurant of their own for the chef-partners, who also operate the business with director of operations Christina Montoya. The chef duo also worked at Vespertine and the now-shuttered Maude — both of which garnered Michelin stars — and in their own restaurant are serving a rotation of cross-cultural dishes that might see local chicories with winter berries and pine; chicken with black-eyed-pea cassoulet and eggplant jus; chile crab with egg and arborio rice; dorade with Turkish salad; and the signature mussels tart, which fills puff pastry with leek cream and escabeche. South of Los Angeles, a handful of San Diego County restaurants received recognition. Oceanside's Tanner's Prime Burgers earned inclusion, with chef-owner Brandon Rodgers' USDA prime burgers and the vanilla tallow ice cream sandwich receiving a shout. Contemporary Chinese restaurant 24 Suns, also in Oceanside — and from chef-owners Nic Webber and Jacob Jordan — will appear in the guide too. In Carlsbad, Lilo, a new tasting-menu venture from chef-owner Eric Bost (previously of L.A.'s Auburn), is a new entrant. And Encinitas restaurant Atelier Manna, a global-meets-Californian restaurant from husband-and-wife team Andrew and Larah Bachelier is also in the guide. Bay Area restaurants were also added to the state compendium: San Francisco Korean gukbap specialist Sungho, which simmers its broth for 24 hours; Menlo Park modern Indian restaurant Eylan, from chef Srijith Gopinathan; and Palo Alto's Ethel's Fancy, home to inventive California cuisine from Scott Nishiyama. Three Sacramento restaurants will also be found in the 2025 guide: Kin Thai from sisters Napis Lindley and Napak Kongsitthanakor; casual Vietnamese-cuisine destination Pho Momma; and husband-and-wife duo Alex Sherry and Chutharat Sae Tong's pizza-centric Italian restaurant, Majka. The full Michelin California Guide will be revealed June 25, at a location yet to be announced.
