Michelin Guide inspectors spend the entire year on the road seeking out “culinary gems,” according to an email SFGATE received from Michelin North America. The Bay Area restaurants, all of which have been open less than eight months, immediately join the guide as “recommended” and could earn a Bib Gourmand or a coveted star at the annual Michelin Guide ceremony later this year.
Four of the Bay Area restaurants are in neighborhoods across San Francisco: Dingles Public House, La Cigale, Naides and Wolfsbane. Dingles Public House, open for just four months and already a popular mainstay in Hayes Valley at the Inn at the Opera, was praised for namesake owners Anissa and George Dingles’ “unfussy British pub fare with an edge of refinement” — think beer-battered fish and chips with mushy peas and curry sauce and a “spot-on Scotch egg.”
Over in under-the-radar Glen Park, veteran SF chef Joseph Magidow’s La Cigale, which opened in August, made the cut for his “one-man show” crafting French-inspired dishes, like slow-cooked rabbit saddle stuffed with pork belly and chestnut. Near Union Square, inspectors praised Chef Patrick Gabon and partner Celine Wuu for their “original interpretation of Filipino cuisine” at Naides. The “jewel box operation,” which debuted in early December, leans into California ingredients — including foraged herbs and flowers — and bold creativity, as illustrated in a brioche “pandesal” with “lip-smacking braised chicken gizzards in a clever take on tangy, savory sisig.”
Finally, in the Dogpatch, former Lord Stanley couple Rupert and Carrie Blease and partner Tommy Halverson earned praise for their high-end tasting menu restaurant, Wolfsbane. The restaurant, open since October, showcases chef Rupert Blease’s version of California cuisine, “cleverly accented with Nordic, Japanese and French elements.” Inspectors were taken with a “sublimely fresh Dungeness crab” with sweet potato and Maltaise sauce. “Pure flavors and refined textures are a hallmark, making each bite one to remember,” they wrote.
Yeebo, Darling, the “splurge-worthy” restaurant from celebrated culinary couple Meichih and Michael Kim, rounded out the list of Bay Area restaurants with its “unique blend of Korean and Taiwanese flavors” found in dishes like lasagna layered with soy-braised pork. The downtown Menlo Park eatery has been open since June 2025.
Beyond the Bay Area, Montecito restaurant Little Mountain represented Santa Barbara County for Chilean-born chef Diego Moya’s wood-fired cooking. Farther south, six Los Angeles restaurants made this round of California Michelin Guide additions: Melrose Hill’s Corridor 109, Chinese-American restaurant Firstborn, Italian Korean eatery Lapaba, Little Fish Melrose Hill, Lugya’h inside Maydan Market in West Adams, and Zira Uzbek Kitchen in Fairfax.