Lilo restaurant, the 24-seat tasting-menu restaurant that earned a Michelin star just 10 weeks after it opened in Carlsbad Village last year, has been named the No. 1 new restaurant in America by The Robb Report.
It’s a belated honor for the intimate restaurant’s chef, Eric Bost, whose short-lived L.A. fine-dining restaurant, Auburn, was originally set to be on the luxury lifestyle magazine’s 2020 list of the “10 Best New Restaurants in America.” But the pandemic arrived that March, and Bost and his Auburn partners were forced to permanently close the acclaimed 1-year-old restaurant that spring.
Lilo is owned by John Resnick, who recruited Bost in June 2020 to take over the kitchen of his fine-dining Carlsbad restaurant Jeune et Jolie after its founding chef, Andrew Bachelier, stepped down to launch his own culinary projects. (Bachelier now owns two acclaimed Leucadia restaurants, the Michelin Bib Gourmand-awarded Atelier Manna and the fried chicken and cocktails spot he co-owns with skateboard icon Tony Hawk, Chick & Hawk.)
Restaurateur John Resnick, left, and executive chef Eric Bost inside Lilo, their Michelin-starred 24-seat tasting-menu restaurant in Carlsbad. (Elodie Bost)
Under Bost’s leadership in fall 2021, Jeune et Jolie earned a Michelin star. And since then, Resnick and Bost have collaborated on two more Carlsbad projects, Wildland, a large all-day restaurant/bar/bakery on State Street that opened in December 2024, and Lilo, a progressive California ingredients-focused fine dining restaurant that opened in April 2025.
Review: At newly opened Lilo, fun is just as important as the food
Tucked away in the back of the Wildland building facing Roosevelt Street, Lilo (pronounced “LIE-low”) refers to the rekindling of a friendship that’s been “lying low” for years. Just 27 days after it opened, Lilo earned a Michelin recommendation, and a few weeks later it received a Michelin star.
Next week, The Michelin Guide will host its 2026 California restaurants awards ceremony in San Diego, and some in the industry have predicted that Lilo could earn its second star this year.
Twelve-foot walls surround the entrance to Michelin-starred Lilo restaurant in Carlsbad. (Elodie Bost)
Here is what Robb Report’s digital director and culinary editor Jeremy Repanich wrote about Lilo this week:
“When we traveled America in 2019 and early 2020, we finished our Best of the Best research for that issue just as COVID shut the world down. Even with all the winners closed indefinitely because of the pandemic, we decided to run that ranking anyway and celebrate the outstanding restaurants that had opened that year. However, one honoree shuttered permanently before we went to press, so we decided to replace it on the list. That was chef Eric Bost’s Auburn in Los Angeles.
Bost left L.A. for Carlsbad, a quaint seaside city in northern San Diego County, to join restaurateur John Resnick’s French spot Jeune et Jolie. Bost would lead it to a Michelin star, and the duo deepened their partnership by turning an old boogie-board factory into Wildland, a large all-day café and restaurant in the front, with Lilo — a stunning tasting counter — hidden in the back. Bost, who has worked for icons Alain Ducasse and Guy Savoy, has created a love letter to fine dining and California here.
The 24-seat space is designed to be inviting, with natural materials like oak and stone. The service is friendly, warm, and impeccable. The wine list is great, but the nonalcoholic drinks were some of the most thoughtful and delicious we’ve ever had.
The plating of the dishes is gorgeous, utilizing the brightly colored edible flowers sourced nearby. And the food itself — like abalone with roasted chicken and bone-marrow broth, kombu-cured scallop with house-made koji and buttermilk sauce with dill, and grilled lobster with a riff on salsa macha — celebrates local ingredients while taking inspiration from coastal regions in France, Japan, and everywhere in between. Despite the global influence, Lilo feels like a true expression of Southern California in restaurant form.”
Also on Robb Report’s Top 10 list this year, in order beginning with No. 2, are Creepies in Chicago, Kabawa in New York City, Lielle in Los Angeles, Junior in Nashville, Yamada in New York City, The Happy Crane in San Francisco, Maison Bar à Vins in Washington, D.C., Wolfsbane in San Francisco and Zaranda in Houston. For the full report, visit robbreport.com/food-drink/dining/lists/best-new-restaurants-2026-america.