Just a little over a month before this year’s California Michelin Guide announcements, the guide has added another crop of eateries to its recommendations. Seven Bay Area restaurants, from an Oakland Korean banchan shop to a San Francisco soul food restaurant, have been added to the California guide – a distinction that means they may earn Bib Gourmand or star awards at the ceremony on June 24 in San Diego.
Four of the new recommendations are San Francisco restaurants. Turkish wine bar Kitchen Istanbul, which overhauled its food menu last year, impressed the Michelin Guide with its “silky” hummus, “deeply browned” chicken legs over pearl couscous and “crispy, buttery, syrup-kissed” künefe kadayif with melty cheese for dessert. Maria Isabel, the new Presidio Mexican restaurant from the fine dining power couple behind Dalida, drew praise for cooking that “draws upon Californian ingredients and the flavors of Guerrero,” which are “laced through with heirloom corn from Oaxaca and other regional specialties.”
Chef-owner Fernay McPherson’s Fillmore restaurant Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement is another new recommendation, thanks to her perfectly crunchy, rosemary-scented fried chicken and sides like brown butter cornbread. And at Via Aurelia, the sprawling new Mission Rock fine dining Tuscan restaurant from the Che Fico team, “adroit service underscores the upscale ambiance,” the Michelin Guide wrote.
Across the bay in Oakland, the Michelin Guide recognized Joodooboo and Popoca. Joodooboo is a neighborhood Korean restaurant with California flair, known for its house-made tofu and seasonal banchan, while Popoca is a “progressive Salvadoran” restaurant known for its pupusas and other dishes made with live wood-fire cooking. At Los Gatos restaurant Vicinity, located in the back room of wine bar Tasting House, the Michelin Guide loved the modern tasting menu featuring a “tiny everything bagel filled with salmon and cream cheese rillettes” and lamb with spring vegetables, jus and mole.
The Michelin Guide added even more recommendations from Los Angeles. The nine new additions range from casual, order-at-the-counter taqueria Sonoratown, beloved for its flour tortillas, to fine dining restaurant Lielle from Swedish chef Marcus Jernmark. The LA recommendations also include Alto, Casa Leo, Electric Bleu, Kojima, Lynx, The Mulberry and Sora Craft Kitchen. SORA Craft Kitchen in Beverly Hills, Lucien in La Jolla, Alice B. in Palm Springs, Good Alley in Rosemead and Monte’s in Santa Barbara rounded out the list.
More Food News
– Tiny SF bakery with long lines to open 2nd location in buzzy neighborhood
– San Francisco’s ‘useless’ Safeway bag nightmare continues
– ‘Born in the Mission’: Trendy SF dance bar announces major expansion
– We finally know when SF’s long-awaited North Beach Grocery Outlet is opening
For all things fascinating in Bay Area food, sign up for our Eat the Bay newsletter here.
This article originally published at Michelin adds 7 Bay Area restaurants to its California guide.