Michelin giveth. Michelin taketh away. And once in a while, Michelin giveth back.
Adega — which in 2016 became the first restaurant in San Jose to earn a prestigious Michelin star, only to lose it two years later — has again been honored for culinary excellence.
The 2021 Michelin Guide California, published today, awarded one star to the upscale, family-owned restaurant in the city’s Little Portugal neighborhood, making it the only Portuguese restaurant in the western United States to hold that status.
“This was even more joyful than the first time,” co-owner Carlos Carreira said, because the priority for him, wife/co-owner Fernanda and the kitchen staff has not been on industry accolades but on keeping their Alum Rock Avenue restaurant and two others afloat in the challenging COVID-19 business climate. “It was the last thing on our minds to be recognized. We were just trying to not go out of business.”
Instead, this week they will toast the Michelin inspectors’ findings that “chefs David Costa and Jessica Carreira elevate every bite on their appetizing menu with a perfect blend of pristine local produce and top-notch imported ingredients” and the admonition that diners shouldn’t miss Adega’s “dressed-up take on Portugal’s culinary backbone — bacalhau or salted cod.”
The Adega news was just one of the many Bay Area highlights in today’s announcements, the first stars in two years. Last year’s pandemic-caused turmoil in the restaurant industry prompted the cancellation of any 2020 updates.
The 2021 guide features praise for 588 California restaurants in categories ranging from exceptional cuisine to good value to notable wine lists. A total of 90 restaurants representing 15 cuisines earned the coveted stars. Statewide, there are five new two-star restaurants, 22 new one-star awards — and some notable omissions.
On the Peninsula, one longtime honoree lost two stars while two relative newcomers to the dining scene each scored a star.
Palo Alto’s intimate Baumé had been touted as the only restaurant in the world with two stars and a two-person staff, chef Bruno Chemel and his wife, Christie. The venture first earned a Michelin star in 2011, then quickly moved up to the two-star level, where it had stayed until now.
As with all changes in star levels, Michelin inspectors — who review anonymously — made no comment regarding Baumé’s deletion from the guide. The restaurant had pivoted to creating high-end takeout dinners during the pandemic months when indoor dining was not permitted, then resumed serving its multi-course tasting menus indoors in March to a very small number of diners.
Selby’s, a swanky supper club on the Atherton/Redwood City border, received its first Michelin nod. This gives the Bacchus Management Group — and executive chef Mark Sullivan — three starred restaurants, with its San Francisco property, Spruce, and its Woodside restaurant, the Village Pub, both retaining their stars.
“This talented kitchen spins out classic American cuisine with a menu that showcases product from the group’s five-acre organic farm,” the Michelin inspectors said of Selby’s. After a long pandemic closure, the restaurant recently reopened for inhouse dining.
Sushi Shin of Redwood City, which opened in January 2020 and closed for several months during the pandemic, was honored for chef Jason Zhan’s expertise. He is a veteran of several Michelin-starred Japanese restaurants in New York City.
Chef James Syhabout’s Commis in Oakland again earned two stars, and remained the East Bay’s only star-holder. In August, Michelin recognized one Contra Costa County restaurant, Reve Bistro in Lafayette, and two Alameda County restaurants, Horn Barbecue in Oakland and Top Hatters Kitchen in San Leandro, as “new discoveries,” and those distinctions appear in the new guide.
Six California restaurants retained their coveted three-star status from the 2019 guide, a distinction that denotes “exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey.” They are Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, from Dominique Crenn, the nation’s first female chef to earn that honor; chef-restaurateur David Kinch’s Manresa of Los Gatos; chef Corey Lee’s Benu in San Francisco; SingleThread in Healdsburg from chef-and-farmer couple Kyle and Katina Connaughton; Michael and Lindsay Tusk’s Quince in San Francisco; and Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry in Yountville.
The seventh from that year, The Restaurant at Meadowood, was significantly damaged by Napa Valley’s Glass Fire in September 2020.
No restaurant outside the Bay Area earned three stars from the Michelin inspectors.
Four California restaurants were elevated from one star to two, including Birdsong of San Francisco; Harbor House of Elk in Mendocino County; Addison of San Diego; and Hayato of Los Angeles. A Santa Monica restaurant, Melisse, vaulted directly onto the two-star list.
This was the second all-California guide for Michelin. The inaugural one was released in June 2019, when California restaurants outside the dining capitals of the San Francisco Bay Area and the Wine Country finally got their due.
The guides also give Bib Gourmands to affordable “high quality” restaurants and Plates to restaurants that serve “very good food.”