No one denies that Michelin favors French and Japanese restaurants. But for you to say that in order for an Italian restaurant to receive a star, it has be to frenchified is just laughably wrong. Just because SF didn’t have any non frenchified Italian restaurants receive a star (I don’t know if this is true or not) does not mean Michelin won’t give stars to Italian restaurants that aren’t frenchified. In this thread, we gave you two examples to prove your theory wrong. OM and Gucci. Bestia not receiving a star has nothing to do w/ the not being frenchified.
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I would say Damian in DTLA could easily be one Michelin star restaurant.
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I have visited both restaurant pre-pandemic and found SPQR not significantly more “frenchified” than Perbacco but had much better food overall. I can understand why one has a star the other not - and has has nothing to do with who is closer to french cuisine but quality of dishes
It’s been true in SF since Michelin came to town. Not one un-Frenchy Italian place has ever gotten a star.
How much time have you spent in Italy?
SPQR started off in 2007 under Nate Appleman as Roman. After he left, Matthew Accarrino (who had no prior experience in Italian restaurants) took over the menu, eliminated all traces of Rome, Frenchied things up, and since 2013 it’s had one star.
I’m surprised to hear this. My experience at Damian about a year ago was middling at best. I was there with a party of 6, so we tried many dishes, and almost all of them lacked depth. Nothing wowed us. They talked about purposefully keeping the dishes simple and with minimal ingredients, but i’ve been to plenty of restaurants that do that to great effect. Damian was not one of them.
Curious to hear what dishes you liked. I am willing to give it a second chance.
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Damian has not gotten much love from this board. Haven’t tried it myself since it seemed clearly not in the same league with Broken Spanish.
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We have gone a couple of times.
I tried and liked most of the dishes on the lighter side of the menu. Ceviche/Tostada types of dishes. My favorite was smoked clam with cucumber. Some of my companions really loved the celery root, I was not a huge fan of that dish. Grilled fish was perfectly cooked each time with great flavor, served with tortilla and accompaniments so that you can make your own tacos was pretty great. In general I thought the preparations were more delicate than I encounter at Broken Spanish or Mirame (both of which I love). The quiet vibe of the indoor seating was nice and the use of fancy wine glasses as well as impeccable service helped the experience. That said, coming from the westside to DTLA can be a chore, and most of my family said that by food quality x distance equation, they would rather go to Mirame (which is 10 min easy drive for us) by a long shot.
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Never eaten there, but I’ve heard from a few sources that with recent experiences, they’re much better now.
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heard a rumor that Michelin LA is out in June. Last year was October but year before that was June.
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There was no new guide in 2000. it was over two years between editions.
If there were a new edition coming next month they’d typically have started hyping it already.
Fairly reliable source re June . But he could be wrong.
It’s funded by tourist agencies, so the timing would make sense, get the hype out there at the beginning of the season.
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Huh. Only recall hearing about three of them. Ernest and San Ho Won certainly deserve the attention.
Despite the headline the list covers all of Northern California. Hawks is in Sacramento, Stokes Adobe is in Monterey.
These establishments are highlighted as “New” on guide.michelin.com to help food lovers enjoy new discoveries before the annual announcement of Bib Gourmands and Stars.
new for socal
horses
mes amis
lulu
lumière
antico nuovo
manzke
lalibela
flavors from afar
all day baby
fia steak
shunji
moo’s
sushi takeda
girl & the goat
ipoh kopitiam
ryla
sushi nikkei
chiang rai
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I’ve heard very mixed things about ryla
that first photo from shunji with the shrimp and dashi jelly… looks awefully like hayato 
what say you @PorkyBelly
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That totally looks like a Hayato plate!