Michelin yesterday announced its highly regarded star selections for the eighth edition of the MICHELIN Guide San Francisco Bay Area & Wine Country.
In this 2014 edition, the restaurant Quince is being elevated from one to two stars. Run by the culinary couple of Lindsay and Michael Tusk, the restaurant, which has been a long-standing one star in the MICHELIN Guide San Francisco Bay Area & Wine Country, offers a cuisine with Italian inspiration in a warm and welcoming environment. With Quince, the 2014 guide now counts seven two star establishments, including Atelier Crenn, Baume, Benu, Coi, Manresa and Saison, who all maintained their standing from 2013.
In the one star category, State Bird Provisions has been awarded its first Michelin star. In this unique restaurant, the husband-and-wife duo of Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski serve a truly creative California cuisine presented in dim sum style that is unlike any other.
San Francisco's perennial three star restaurants—The French Laundry and The Restaurant at Meadowood—maintained their status in the 2014 guide. A Michelin three star rating is considered the ultimate international recognition in the culinary world, with just over 100 restaurants currently holding this prized distinction.
"The 2014 selection confirms the quality of San Francisco's culinary scene, which continues at a remarkably high level of creativity, based on local Northern California ingredients used in a contemporary way," said Michael Ellis, international director of the MICHELIN Guides.
This year, 38 restaurants spread throughout the city, Bay Area and Wine Country received a coveted Michelin star rating. The 2014 edition further highlights the increased offering of good value for the money with Michelin inspectors selecting 83 Bib Gourmand restaurants, a record number for this guide that was first published in 2006. In fact, 20 percent of the total 518 restaurants listed in the MICHELIN Guide San Francisco Bay Area & Wine Country are in the guide's "under $25" category.
With three new food styles included in this year's guide— Caribbean, Sri Lankan and Argentinian—Michelin inspectors recognized a total of 46 cuisines, reflecting San Francisco's rich diversity of cultures.