Before the Michelin Guide publishes its annual compendium of the best California restaurants, the global dining authority inducts some of the region’s new and notable spots, inviting intrigue, celebration and speculation as to what these inclusions will mean once the full guide is released. On Wednesday morning Michelin added 15 restaurants to its California Guide.
Nearly half of them can be found in Los Angeles.
Inclusion in the prestigious and sometimes contentious Michelin Guide is often noted as a benchmark of quality and service, with the long-running company’s top accolade — stars — regarded as some of the highest honors in the culinary industry. These 15 new inclusions could earn stars, Bib gourmand awards (denoting “good food at a moderate price”), environmental-minded accolades or simply be listed as recommended restaurants in the 2025 California Guide, which will be released later this year.
“This is great motivation for all the hard work that the team has been doing,” said Johnny Lee, a chef-partner in Rasarumah. The new Malaysian restaurant in Historic Filipinotown serves vibrant house-made sambals, Wagyu-cheek rendang, stir-fried noodles and more, and is one of today’s inductees into the California Michelin Guide.
Lee said that he learned of his restaurant’s inclusion when someone tagged him in an Instagram post early this morning. Though he isn’t certain what the nod means for his restaurant, Lee hopes it will encourage others to learn about the cuisine and all its intricacies.
Rasarumah is one of only 32 Malaysian restaurants represented in the Michelin Guide globally, and one of three in California, joining Alhambra’s Ipoh Kopitiam and San Francisco’s Azalina’s.
“I hope it means that more people will take a closer look at Malaysian food, or maybe those who are considering opening restaurants will be more motivated to try something,” Lee said. “Malaysian cuisine is so diverse. As one restaurant, we can only cover so much of the breadth of the culinary heritage.”
Bar Etoile in Melrose Hill also entered the Michelin Guide. The new California-French restaurant and wine bar is from the team behind wine shop Domaine LA and chef Travis Hayden, who serves Gruyère tarts coated in chive dust and Caesar-inspired steak tartare.
Tomat in Westchester specializes in California cuisine that sources almost entirely from the region.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
In Westchester husband-and-wife team Harry Posner and Natalie Dial flip Tomat from a casual cafe in the mornings to a Californian bistro with British influences in the evening. Both use the most local ingredients possible — sometimes even pulling from the restaurant’s own garden. One might find sausage rolls with house-made damson ketchup by day and rib-eye kebabs and sticky toffee pudding with burnt-milk house ice cream by night.
Chef Ki Kim’s background in fine dining recently culminated in the debut of Restaurant Ki, another Michelin inductee and a modern Korean tasting menu from the Kinn and Meteora vet. Ki’s new 10-seat, $285 omakase in Little Tokyo might involve cod-milt gimbap, caviar with fermented rice cream, and truffled perilla seed noodles.
Chef Ki Kim’s latest, modern-Korean omakase restaurant Ki, is now included in Michelin’s California Guide.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
Dave Beran’s Seline is a years-long passion realized for chef-owner Dave Beran, whose French bistro Pasjoli is also included in the California Guide. Santa Monica’s Seline runs the gamut with its $295, 15-to-18-course tasting menu, drawing from both the technical skill and personal memories of the Alinea alum.
“This ambitious tasting menu dances between sweet and savory, and delivers on drama,” Michelin Guide wrote of the experience.
Two L.A. sushi restaurants were added to the guide Wednesday morning. At Culver City omakase Kusano, chef-owner Yasu Kusano offers a nigiri-focused, intimate dinner for $150 at an eight-seat counter. “It’s truly a one-man show at this restaurant named for the chef who takes on everything from drink orders and clearing plates to preparing and serving the food,” Michelin published.
Meanwhile at Sawtelle’s Mori Nozomi, chef Nozomi Mori specializes in edomae-style sushi, also at an eight-seat counter. Mori and her all-female team offer a 25-course omakase at $250 per person, with Michelin noting their attention to detail and fish quality as well as the five-course tea pairing.
Beyond Los Angeles no Southern California restaurants were added to the guide. Father north, new inductees include Carmel-by-the-Sea’s Stationæry, Sonoma’s Enclos, Oakland’s Sun Moon Studio and Petaluma’s Table Culture Provisions. Like L.A., San Francisco is home to a number of new Michelin entries: Four Kings, Prelude, the Wild and Verjus.
The date and location for the release of Michelin’s 2025 California Guide are yet to be announced, but will take place sometime later this year.
