Chez Panisse Restaurant ★ 4.9
Michelin 1 Star + Green Star. Alice Waters' 1971 prix fixe restaurant: one menu per evening, market-determined, no choices. Reserve a month ahead at 09:00 PT.
30 californian restaurants worth the trip across United States, editor-ranked. All cuisines in United States.
Commis ★ 4.9
Chef James Syhabout's Commis holds two Michelin stars on Piedmont Avenue. A spare ten-course tasting changes nightly across two seatings in Oakland.
OrderSlow-poached egg yolk, Ten-course tasting
Addison ★ 4.9
Addison in San Diego is William Bradley's three-Michelin-star tasting room at Fairmont Grand Del Mar, the only three-star kitchen in Southern California.
OrderThe full tasting menu; the seasonal caviar course is the room's signature.
TipTasting menu only; book six weeks ahead, jacket preferred. Pair with a Grand Del Mar overnight if the budget allows it.
Melisse ★ 4.9
Melisse is the 14-seat tasting counter hidden behind Citrin in Santa Monica, a two-Michelin-star room from Josiah Citrin and chef partner Ken Takayama.
OrderThe full tasting menu; the kitchen builds it around the week's market
TipAround 800 dollars for two before wine, with a strict no-cancellation policy; book two to three weeks out.
Melisse ★ 4.9
Melisse is the 14-seat tasting counter hidden behind Citrin in Santa Monica, a two-Michelin-star room from Josiah Citrin and chef partner Ken Takayama.
OrderThe full tasting menu; the kitchen builds it around the week's market
TipAround 800 dollars for two before wine, with a strict no-cancellation policy; book two to three weeks out.
Chez Noir ★ 4.8
Chez Noir keeps its Michelin star on 5th Avenue in Carmel, where Jonny and Monique Black cook a seafood-led prix fixe from Monterey Peninsula boats.
OrderThe $165 prix fixe; bar seats are the walk-in route when the room is booked.
TipThere is no phone; reservations release a month at a time on OpenTable, and the bar takes walk-ins when the dining room is full.
Addison ★ 4.8
Addison in San Diego is William Bradley's three-Michelin-star tasting room at Fairmont Grand Del Mar, the only three-star kitchen in Southern California.
OrderFull tasting menu, paired wine flight, optional caviar service.
TipJacket preferred; book six weeks ahead. Pair with an overnight at Grand Del Mar to extend the night.
Zuni Cafe ★ 4.8
Zuni Cafe in San Francisco is the city's most enduring California room: Judy Rodgers' roast chicken for two with bread salad has not left the menu since 1987.
OrderThe Judy Rodgers roast chicken for two with bread salad, ordered the moment you sit.
TipThe chicken takes an hour to fire from order; book a table and ask the server to start it as you arrive.
Saison ★ 4.8
Saison in San Francisco is a three-Michelin-star hearth-driven tasting in SoMa, with live-fire seafood and California game over an oak fire.
TipCounter seats face the fire; the four-top tables at the back catch less of the kitchen action.
Citrin ★ 4.8
Citrin is Josiah Citrin's modern Californian flagship on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica, a Michelin-starred dining room built on market produce.
OrderThe prix fixe, built around Santa Monica farmers market produce
TipBook the a la carte room; the 14-seat Melisse counter behind it is a separate, pricier reservation.
Seline ★ 4.8
Seline is Dave Beran's Michelin-starred tasting room on Main Street in Santa Monica, a cerebral 295 dollar procession from the Californian landscape.
OrderThe seasonal tasting menu; courses change constantly
TipPlan around two and a half hours for the full menu; reservations open by the month and the counter seats sell first.
Citrin ★ 4.8
Citrin is Josiah Citrin's modern Californian flagship on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica, a Michelin-starred dining room built on market produce.
OrderThe prix fixe, built around Santa Monica farmers market produce
TipBook the a la carte room; the 14-seat Melisse counter behind it is a separate, pricier reservation.
Seline ★ 4.8
Seline is Dave Beran's Michelin-starred tasting room on Main Street in Santa Monica, a cerebral 295 dollar procession from the Californian landscape.
OrderThe seasonal tasting menu; courses change constantly
TipPlan around two and a half hours for the full menu; reservations open by the month and the counter seats sell first.
Chez Panisse Cafe ★ 4.7
A la carte cafe upstairs at Chez Panisse: wood-fired pizza, seasonal plates and farm sourcing. No month-ahead reservation required upstairs.
Chez Panisse Cafe ★ 4.7
A la carte upstairs at 1517 Shattuck: wood-fired pizza, rotisserie chicken, same farm sourcing. Lunch most days; no month-ahead reservation needed upstairs.
La Toque ★ 4.7
Ken Frank's La Toque held a Michelin star from 2008 to 2021. The five-course California tasting menu evolves weekly with Napa Valley farm deliveries.
OrderThe five-course tasting menu with wine pairing.
TipThe cheese course is one of the better American artisan programmes in California. Ask the sommelier for a late-harvest Napa dessert wine.
Quince ★ 4.7
Quince in San Francisco is Michael Tusk's three-Michelin-star Jackson Square room, an Italian-inflected California tasting from the Fresh Run Farm produce.
TipThe neighbouring Cotogna sister room runs the same kitchen at a quarter the price, with walk-in seating.
Lazy Bear ★ 4.7
Lazy Bear in San Francisco is David Barzelay's two-Michelin-star Mission tasting room run as a communal dinner party for 40 guests across two long tables.
TipBring a notebook; the kitchen hands out a course list and pencils, and the menu rotates fast.
Mulvaney's B&L ★ 4.6
Patrick Mulvaney's daily-changing California farm-to-fork room on 19th Street in midtown Sacramento, set in an 1893 firehouse with original brick walls.
OrderWhatever Twin Peaks Orchards delivered that morning, plus the daily-changing pasta
TipMenu changes every day with the markets. Reservations recommended for the dining room; the courtyard takes walk-ins.
Juniper and Ivy ★ 4.6
Juniper and Ivy in San Diego is Top Chef alumnus Richard Blais's Kettner Boulevard room in a 1920s sawtooth warehouse, the modernist Californian kitchen.
OrderThe In-N-Haute, Blais's elevated take on the In-N-Out double-double, on the snack menu most nights.
TipAnthony Wells now runs the kitchen day to day; the snack menu at the bar is the most affordable entry.
The Marine Room ★ 4.6
The Marine Room in La Jolla is Bernard Guillas's coastal fine-dining room at La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club since 1994, with waves breaking on the glass.
OrderKing-tide-table seating for the surf-on-the-window experience; the crab cake is the room's signature.
TipCheck the king-tide calendar at marineroom.com for the dramatic high-tide nights; book the window six weeks ahead.
George's at the Cove ★ 4.6
George's at the Cove in La Jolla is George Hauer's three-level Prospect Street institution since 1984: George's Level2 fine dining upstairs.
OrderThe smoked tomato soup with grilled cheese; the roasted duck on the Level2 menu.
TipBook Ocean Terrace at sunset for the casual ocean-view version; Level2 is the fine-dining tasting menu room.
Rich Table ★ 4.6
Rich Table in San Francisco is Sarah and Evan Rich's Hayes Valley California room near the opera house, holding a Michelin star and a strong house pasta menu.
OrderPorcini doughnuts with raclette for the table; the dish that put the room on the map.
TipThe bar seats see the whole pass; book one of the two and order the chef-counter pasta supplement.
Octavia ★ 4.6
Octavia in San Francisco is Melissa Perello's Michelin-starred Pacific Heights room, with day-boat fish and a market-led California plate at every service.
OrderWhatever whole fish the kitchen has, with whatever vegetable lands that morning.
TipTuesday and Wednesday are easier seatings; the heirloom tomato course is the August set piece.
Rich Table ★ 4.6
Rich Table in San Francisco is Evan and Sarah Rich's one-Michelin-star Hayes Valley room near the opera house, with the city's most-cited house pasta program.
TipThe chef-counter tasting is the best seat in the room and adds a hand-rolled pasta supplement.
Rustic Canyon ★ 4.6
Rustic Canyon is Santa Monica's farmers-market dining room on Wilshire, now cooking seasonal Mexican-Californian food a few blocks from the Wednesday market.
OrderThe vegetable plates that change weekly with the market
TipLast seating is 21:00 most nights; the menu shifts weekly with the Arizona Avenue market haul.
Grasing's ★ 4.5
Grasing's pairs Kurt Grasing's coastal steakhouse cooking with a 3,400-bottle Carmel cellar that has held Wine Spectator's Grand Award since 2024.
OrderWagyu from the grill and a bottle pulled from the Grand Award cellar.
TipThe list runs 3,400 selections from 15 countries; give the floor a price and a region and let the cellar do the deciding.
Spago by Wolfgang Puck ★ 4.5
Spago by Wolfgang Puck at Bellagio in Las Vegas is the chef's relocated Strip room since 2018, a Forbes-recommended California-Mediterranean dining room.
OrderThe smoked salmon and creme fraiche pizza; Puck's signature dish since the original 1982 LA opening.
TipAsk for a window or terrace table to overlap with the fountain shows on the half-hour.
Kismet ★ 4.5
Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson's Kismet in Los Feliz, Los Angeles plates a vegetable-led California Mediterranean menu in a sunny corner room.
OrderCrispy turmeric chicken with sumac and freekeh.
TipBrunch on weekends from 09:00 takes walk-ins; dinner is a 30-day-out booking.
All Time ★ 4.5
Tyler Wells and Ashley Wells's All Time in Los Feliz, Los Angeles runs a 30-seat neighbourhood room with the best brunch eggs in Eastside LA.
OrderEggs benedict on the brunch menu, lemon-pepper chicken at dinner.
TipBrunch is walk-in only Saturday and Sunday from 09:00; dinner books two weeks out.
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