To generate more buzz for the full California guide that’ll released on August 5, the Michelin guide has announced 13 new additions to its California guide, including six in Los Angeles. Among them you’ll find Mae Malai, one of the best new Thai restaurants in L.A., which we loved for its flavorful, snack-sized bowls of boat noodles, plus other picks that Angelenos might recognize from our best new restaurant and all-time best restaurant guides. In other words, these newly recognized restaurants shouldn’t come as a surprise to our longtime readers or anyone familiar with the city’s dining scene.
To be clear, these six additions to the guide—labeled simply as “new” for now—haven’t been awarded Michelin stars or a Bib Gourmand, but they potentially could receive either of those distinctions in a little under a month. In alphabetical order, the six L.A. area restaurants are as follows, with full inspector notes available via Michelin’s official press release. All restaurants are within city limits unless otherwise specified—and if we also recommend them, they’re hyperlinked here.
From these picks, it’s clear Michelin’s anonymous inspectors have been casing the city in the last month or so; Leopardo, whose puffy thick-crusted pies have already earned Joshua Skenes’s upscale wood-fired pizzeria a spot on our best pizza guide, only opened in mid-May. That means the guide’s infamously secretive inspector(s) have only visited Leopardo in the first two months it’s been open, with just under a month to do any further scouting or revisiting before the full California guide comes out on August 5.
For those unfamiliar with how Michelin restaurants are selected, here’s how it works: Anonymous Michelin inspectors travel across a given region, awarding the best of the best anywhere from one to three stars. Here in L.A., that’s meant both ultra-special occasion meals like Hayato and Providence, as well as more slightly less expensive, date-night friendly restaurants like Orsa & Winston and Gwen. Bib Gourmand selections make up a second category of budget-friendly restaurants considered notable by inspectors.
These relatively newer picks generally acknowledge the more diverse cuisines of Los Angeles beyond the French and Japanese fine-dining spots typically favored for awarded stars; Michelin will announce those as well as more Bib Gourmands at an awards ceremony up in the Bay Area next month.