These 34 L.A. restaurants could receive stars in this year’s Michelin guide

Star-chasers, mark your calendars: The annual Michelin Guide for Los Angeles will arrive quite late this year—with stars not being announced until December 5.

But until then, the restaurant guide is teasing dozens of “new discoveries” that it’s added to its website in 2022—one round in August, which covered Los Angeles in particular, and a second round today across all of California. (To be clear, none of these restaurants is guaranteed to be awarded stars.) The second round of teased additions brings the total number of mostly new, or at least new-to-inspectors, restaurants in L.A. with Michelin recognition to 34.

The internationally renowned guide upheld the status quo in 2021 by awarding stars primarily to French, Japanese and fine-dining restaurants—a gross misrepresentation of the rich diversity within the L.A. dining scene. The anonymous guide inspectors dine throughout the region and bestow recognition upon restaurants considered destination-worthy, the best of which are awarded one to three stars (think: once-in-a-lifetime meals like n/naka and Hayato). Just below that, Bib Gourmands celebrate more budget-friendly, outstanding restaurants where it’s possible to order two to three courses for a reasonable price. 

If last year’s teased picks are any indication, only a small fraction of this year’s new discoveries will received higher recognition—but all will at least merit inclusion in the guide. In 2021, only two received stars—Encino’s Pasta|Bar and roving pop-up Phenakite—and just one eatery, Japanese sando sensation Konbi, snagged a Bib Gourmand. 

The first round was released in August. If you’re a regular reader at Time Out, especially as it pertains to our best new restaurants list, most of these may not be new to you. Among them, you’ll also see not-so-new restaurants featured on our lists for the city’s overall best restaurants (Hatchet Hall and Damian), best brunch (All Day Baby), best Italian (Antico Nuovo) and even hidden gems (Flavors from Afar).

For more detailed inspector notes, peep the Michelin Guide’s official site, though we’ve found its search engine for pre-existing starred L.A. restaurants quite difficult to navigate. In 2021, we updated our own round-up of Michelin-starred restaurants that’s kept track of various changes in venues and menu formats throughout the year.

As for this year’s “new discoveries,” we’ve included the full list below, and any spots that are linked reflect that we’ve previously covered them at Time Out—and we’ve included call-outs of our own starred reviews (out of 5) if you’d like a deeper dive than than the stray sentence or two offered by the Michelin Guide. 

In alphabetical order, here are the 34 L.A. restaurants that might earn Bib Gourmand or Michelin star designations this year. All restaurants are in the City of L.A. unless otherwise listed in parentheses. 

1. All Day Baby
2. Antico Nuovo
3. Asterid by Ray Garcia
4. Caboco (now closed)
5. Camphor
6. Chiang Rai (Long Beach)
7. Chulita
8. Damian [5 stars]
9. Fia Steak (Santa Monica)
10. Flavors from Afar  
11. Girl & The Goat LA
12. Hatchet Hall
13. Horses
    
14. Ipoh Kopitiam (Alhambra)    
15. Kinn
16. Kodō
17. Lalibela
18. LA Cha Cha Chá  
19. Lulu [4 stars]
20. Lumière
    
21. Manzke [5 stars]
22. Matū (Beverly Hills) [4 stars]
23. Mes Amis
24. Meteora
25. Moo’s Craft Barbecue
26. Pizzeria Bianco
27. RYLA (Hermosa Beach) [4 stars]     
28. Saffy’s [4 stars]
29. San Laurel
30. Sushi Kaneyoshi [5 stars]
31. Sushi Nikkei (Long Beach)
32. Sushi Takeda        
33. Yangban Society
34. Yunomi Handroll Bar