3 new Bay Area restaurants earn Michelin stars
On Tuesday night, chefs from across California dressed up in their finest clothes to celebrate the state’s Michelin Guide awards high in the Oakland Hills.
Except for Dominique Crenn. I mean, she was there, but she was wearing jeans.
With this year’s ceremony happening at the Chabot Space & Science Center, which is basically in my backyard, I managed to secure an invitation. I watched as six new restaurants, including three from the Bay Area, joined the prestigious club of one-star winners.
These winners include San Francisco seafood restaurant Aphotic, Napa Valley restaurant Auro and San Francisco Thai restaurant Nari. Carmel-By-The-Sea’s Chez Noir was also awarded a star, and Oakland’s own Pomet took home a green star for its sustainable practices.
Advertisement Article continues below this ad
Dishes from Michelin star winners Nari, Aphotic and Chez Noir. (Photo By Adahlia Cole/Nari, Photo By Kelly Puleio/Aphotic, Photo By Joseph Weaver/Chez Noir) Dishes from Michelin star winners Nari, Aphotic and Chez Noir. (Photo By Adahlia Cole/Nari, Photo By Kelly Puleio/Aphotic, Photo By Joseph Weaver/Chez Noir)
I’d spent weeks agonizing over what to wear and bought expensive new heels just for the occasion. As I wobbled like a baby deer in my new shoes past an effortless-looking Crenn animatedly speaking French with her posse, my eyes immediately fell upon the Michelin Man. The man in the bulbous white suit posing for photos with guests served as a great reality check — yes, Michelin may seem like the height of luxury, but at the end of the day, the whole hoopla is based on a tire company with a goofy-looking mascot.
Inside, the science center had been transformed. Nestled among the science exhibits were booths offering spoonfuls of caviar and rose lychee macarons. It was also packed to the brim with well-dressed chefs. I grabbed a glass of wine and started people-watching, and spotted Melissa King of “Top Chef” fame.
An Iberico ham carving station at the California Michelin Guide ceremony in Oakland, Calif., July 18, 2023. Jojo Korsh/BFA.com
Advertisement Article continues below this ad
Quickly, my mission turned from chef-spotting to acquiring as much food and drink as possible. I nabbed a fancy Aperol and basil bourbon cocktail, and a little bite of truffle-topped ricotta from St. Helena’s Michelin-starred Press. I gawked at a Michelin Man-shaped ice sculpture topped with bowls of caviar, and a server dramatically carving slices of Iberico ham.
Some of the booths were almost comically over-the-top. Healdsburg restaurant SingleThread’s little plates of halibut sashimi were artfully strewn across a lush, moss-covered garden. Fancy chocolates at another booth were displayed among piles of pebbles.
Halibut sashimi from Healdsburg restaurant SingleThread at the California Michelin Guide ceremony in Oakland, Calif., July 18, 2023. Madeline Wells/SFGATE
Unfortunately for me, only the chefs were permitted into the planetarium to watch the live ceremony. The rest of us lowly guests were relegated to watching the livestream in a theater on the ground floor. But even from a screen, the wins were still exciting.
Advertisement Article continues below this ad
“I’m just overjoyed that my restaurant Nari won a Michelin star,” chef-owner Pim Techamuanvivit told SFGATE over Instagram. “I’m so happy for my team, who stuck with me through the roughest days of the pandemic, and look at us today! I mean, I don’t want to sound smug, but I feel it’s a long time coming.”
Her other San Francisco restaurant, Kin Khao, also retained its Michelin star.
“It was gratifying in the most humble way, because we’ve worked really hard as a team to get to where we are,” Aphotic chef Peter Hemsley told SFGATE of his restaurant’s win. “It’s been a journey and this puts a nice exclamation point next to it.”
Advertisement Article continues below this ad
Beyond the Michelin stars, SingleThread director of operations John Schafer won an award for outstanding service and chef Harrison Cheney of SF restaurant Sons & Daughters won the “young chef” award. John Haffey of Carmel’s Aubergine won the sommelier award.
Outstanding service award winner John Schafer of SingleThread; Joe Fisch and sommelier award winner John Haffey; a dish from Oakland's Pomet. (Photo By John Troxell/SingleThread, Photo By Alan Hsu/Pomet) Outstanding service award winner John Schafer of SingleThread; Joe Fisch and sommelier award winner John Haffey; a dish from Oakland's Pomet. (Photo By John Troxell/SingleThread, Photo By Alan Hsu/Pomet)
Pomet, which made waves for redefining the farm-to-table movement by being owned by an actual farmer, was the only new Oakland restaurant to receive an award at the Oakland ceremony (Oakland’s two-Michelin-starred Commis retained its stars). Pomet was one of two new Bay Area restaurants to earn a green star for their sustainability efforts, the other being Aphotic.
“The whole year we’ve been open, we’ve just been doing what we do, and I think getting this recognition is a way of making the team believe even further that what they’re doing makes a difference,” Pomet owner Aomboon Deasy told SFGATE. “I can’t believe we received a distinction from the guide. It’s pretty damn amazing.”
Advertisement Article continues below this ad
It was also Deasy’s first time attending a restaurant awards ceremony like this. She said Pomet only received the invitation a week before the event, so it had been a whirlwind couple of days.
“I was just on cloud nine the whole time,” she said. “I don’t think I ate very much the whole night nor did I drink very much. I was just like, ‘What’s going on? I have no idea.’”
A Michelin ice sculpture with caviar at the California Michelin Guide ceremony in Oakland, Calif., July 18, 2023. Jojo Korsh/BFA.com
On a less celebratory note, a few Bay Area restaurants also lost their Michelin stars: Spruce, Marlena (whose chefs recently quit) and Omakase in San Francisco, Adega in San Jose (which recently announced plans to close in December) and Manresa in Los Gatos, which closed last year.
Advertisement Article continues below this ad
As the ceremony came to a close with the three-Michelin-star winners on stage clinking glasses of wine, everyone filed back out into the lobby. Someone offered me a caviar bump, and the room cheered to the sound of popping bottles of champagne. I’m pretty sure I walked right by the French Laundry’s Thomas Keller, fresh off reupping his restaurant’s stars.
Source: SFGATE
