Tonight, Michelin announced its list of starred California restaurants for 2024 at an awards ceremony in the Bay Area, and the results for Los Angeles are in: three all-new one-star additions, including Gilberto Cetina Jr.’s scrappy Yucatecan seafood spot Holbox inside South L.A.’s Mercado La Paloma, plus seven new Bib Gourmands in L.A. County.
A fourth restaurant, Jordan Kahn’s Vespertine, was given two “new” stars. The controversial chef’s Culver City fine-dining experience, which previously held two stars pre-pandemic and lost them in 2022, reopened last spring after a four-year closure. Vespertine also received a Michelin Green Star, a category recognizing sustainable industry practices. (In Los Angeles, Nancy Silverton’s one-star Osteria Mozza and Chi Spacca, as well as Providence, currently hold this designation.)
One of the world’s most famous dining guides (as well as a multinational French tire company), Michelin decides what it considers worth visiting by sending anonymous inspectors all over a given city, state, region or country. In North America, the guide’s overall bias towards Japanese omakase and French fine-dining restaurants is well-known, though it also includes a variety of unstarred restaurants in terms of cuisine and price point within each edition of the guide.
Aside from Cetina’s Holbox, this year in L.A. was largely no different. The other two newest starred restaurants for 2024 are Uka, a rarified kaiseki experience operating out of Hollywood’s Japan House and Meteora, Jordan Kahn’s other tasting menu restaurant located in Hancock Park. Holbox’s star designation represents a slight deviation for Michelin—the guide has previously never awarded recognition to longtime key players in L.A.’s formidable Mexican dining scene.
Four other critically acclaimed restaurants, however, were not so lucky. Niki Nayakama’s n/naka, which we consider the best restaurant in Los Angeles, lost one of its two stars, as did Sushi Ginza Onodera in West Hollywood. Two restaurants, Curtis Stone’s Maude (which will permanently close this September) and Q in Downtown L.A., lost their starred designations entirely. All other eateries in Los Angeles County, which includes Long Beach’s Heritage, retained their stars. Within California, no new restaurants received three stars, Michelin’s highest rating.
On the Bib Gourmand front, seven new L.A. area restaurants earned recognition in the tire company’s more budget-friendly restaurant rating category, including Thai Town’s Mae Malai and Liu’s Cafe in Koreatown. Within greater Southern California, Cedro in Newbury Park (Ventura County) and Lola Gaspar in Santa Ana (Orange County) were also awarded Bib Gourmands. In order to be considered for the more affordable category of the French tire company’s world-renowned dining guide, Bib Gourmand restaurants must offer a full menu that makes it possible to order two courses and drink or dessert for under $49 (sans tax and gratuity). In addition, Ian Krupp of Anajak Thai won a Michelin Sommelier Award.
For ease of use, we’ve detailed L.A.’s new Michelin stars and Bib Gourmands, as well as the eateries that lost Michelin stars, in alphabetical order (and will soon update our list of the city’s Michelin-starred restaurants). All restaurants are within the city of L.A. unless noted in parentheses.
Any links reflect previous coverage here at Time Out—and we’ve included call-outs of our own starred ratings in brackets (out of 5) if you’d like a more locally informed perspective than the concise description offered by Michelin. Time Out Los Angeles sends congratulations to all of L.A.’s newly (and not-so-newly) Michelin-starred restaurants and Bib Gourmands.
L.A.’s new one-star Michelin restaurants:
L.A.’s new Bib Gourmands:
- Grá
- Little Fish
- Liu’s Cafe
- Mae Malai Thai House of Noodles
- Pollo a la Brasa
- Quarter Sheets Pizza
- Manohar’s Delhi Palace (La Puente)
L.A. restaurants that lost stars:
- n/naka (lost 1 star) [5 stars]
- Sushi Ginza Onodera (West Hollywood) (lost 1 star)
- Maude (Beverly Hills)
- Q