Michelin Awards 2022 Come With Limited Surprises, and a Few Jolts

A few jarring moments arrived with Michelin Guide’s much-anticipated announcement of California award recipients Monday, Dec. 5, at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. 

For the most part, ironically enough, that didn’t include the big reveal of who earned Michelin stars. 

The vast majority of winners were return honorees, including the Central Coast’s flag bearers for superlative gastronomy, Aubergine and Manresa. (More on them in a minute.)

In fact, the most startling thing about the proceedings were the bursts of blinding static coughed out at the in-person and online audience, courtesy of a spotty audio visual operating system. 

But those jolts couldn’t distract from the many occasions of joy, manifested most vocally by Massimo Falsini of Caruso’s in Montecito. 

Upon receiving his first star and the microphone, he blurted, ““Yes!,” then paused and added, “Yes! Thank you! We work so hard! I love my team! They work so hard! Thank you so much!”

Actor Nia Renee Hill emceed with an assist from longtime International Director of Michelin Guides Gwendal Poullennec.

“I think we have some of the most inventive, creative, amazing cuisine and best restaurants in the world here,” Hill said. “It’s paradise for foodies…so many different cultures and flavors, all with a California vibe.”

A number of other key takeaways stood out, including the following: 

• The California guide’s 599 recognized restaurants include a variety of distinctions, including Bib Gourmand  for great values—which Yafa Carmel and Mentone in Aptos once again received—and Green Stars for above-and-beyond sustainability habits. Led by the likes of Chez Panisse, Chi Spacca and Quince, the Golden State can claim 11 of the 13 Green Stars in all of North America. Wow.

• The anointing of Addison in San Diego with three stars lifted the state’s total to seven, exactly half of the three-star spots in the whole country. “We did it San Diego,” said Addison chef-owner William Bradley. 

• Relatively new awards drew some of the loudest ovations of the night, and continue to shed deserved shine on visionary industry members. The Michelin Sommelier Award went to Vincent Morrow of Press in St. Helena. The bar team at Manzke in Los Angeles took home the Michelin Exceptional Cocktails Award. David Yoshimura, of Nisei in San Francisco, earned The Michelin Young Chef Award.

Much of the fun found viewing the ceremony came with the people watching. Despite the choreographed pomp of the setting and sponsorships, the familial feel of the group—and the default setting of industry lifers (friendly and welcoming)—was made more intimate by the fact that everyone seemed unaware of the cameras.

At one point the hosts had to herd all the Green Star winners back on stage because The Michelin Man himself suddenly beamed aboard for a photo op. “Oh look, my boyfriend just showed up,” Hill said.

Dominique Crenn, sporting a colorful and stylish head scarf, kept popping up all over the room. She leapt on stage for major wins (a Green Star and three Michelin stars). She planted herself next to the award table and congratulated every winner. She revved up the crowd every time a female chef won recognition. (California still has a ways to go on that front.)

She even appears, spiritually anyway, by way of a new Monterey Bay restaurant: Slick wood-fired and seafood-centric Maligne in Seaside borrows at least some inspiration from her similarly focused work in San Francisco. Maligne’s point man Klaus Georis worked there for multiple stints before debuting Maligne on Broadway Avenue/Obama Way in June.

Walter Manzke, along with his co-collaborator and wife Margarita, had a big night, with nods to their L.A. restaurant’s cocktail team, eco-consciousness and one-star honors. He also was too large for a mis-sized Michelin jacket, which provided some impromptu entertainment too.

Before they were married, Walter and Margarita spent a stint in Carmel starting way back in 2004, to help introduce a new—and for Carmel, ambitious—project called Bouchée. The operator behind that restaurant was none other than David Fink, who happened to be looking on in Los Angeles. 

Bouchée crafted its own pasta, pastries, bread, ice creams and more, and in the process nudged restaurant-standards-by-the-Sea higher.

Fink has continued that culinary evolution with Aubergine. When Michelin Guide finally expanded its arbitrary boundaries to include Monterey Bay, the Relais Chateaux restaurant helmed by executive chef Justin Cogley claimed the only Michelin star between Los Gatos and Los Angeles.

This time around, Fink, Cogley and company were thinking two stars would be a deserved grade, and it’s virtually impossible to argue they don’t. (For those new to the guide, which first found traction as a way to encourage travel—and tire purchases—one star means “a very good restaurant in its category,” two “excellent cooking, worth a detour,” three “exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey.”)

So it wouldn’t be unfair to read Cogley’s expression on stage, while receiving one star, as satisfaction, mixed with disappointment and abiding hunger for more. Like the ebullient Massimo Falsini, he knows how hard his team works. He’s just more soft-spoken about it.

When I reached him by text on his return north, he sounded reflective.

“If you think about how many guests we do in a year on—and we get one chance to impress an inspector—it’s a lot of pressure [to maintain] consistency and execution not just one day, [but] everyday,” he wrote. “There is a lot you can control but also a lot you can’t. Everyone works hard; we just have to be super consistent.”

Posted on Aubergine’s Instagram feed was a simple message, “Thank you @michelinguide. We will continue to push.”

Monterey Bay’s other Michelin meteor, David Kinch of Manresa in Los Gatos—who also oversees Mentone in Aptos, The Bywater in Los Gatos and Manresa Bread in various South S.F. Bay locations—took the stage with the three-star recipients.

He did so in the wake of reports he’s selling Manresa at the end of the year, in the face of staffing and sourcing challenges.

“I have other things I want to do,” he announced in August. “I don’t want to be part of a slow decline.”

He added this: “Three-star restaurant dining is transitioning really hard. Chefs who were used to having armies of people have had to rethink their operating manual.”

On stage at Monday’s ceremony, Michelin’s Poullennec said, “David, we appreciate your outstanding work and admirable contribution to the industry [and] we wish you all the best for the next chapter,” before handing over the microphone.

“After three years of COVID and everything everyone’s been through, the potential and the talent and the diversity and quality of ingredients, the future is very bright,” Kinch said. “Everyone should be very proud of what they accomplished and what’s ahead. 

“You haven’t seen the last from me.”

More results, including other Monterey Bay restaurants recognized, at The Michelin Guide website.