Sacramento has no new Michelin stars. Here’s a look at how they pick restaurants

The 2023 California Michelin Guide was released Tuesday night. Localis and The Kitchen remained Sacramento’s pair of Michelin-starred restaurants. This is a story originally published September 2021 about the Michelin selection process.

Auburn’s Restaurant Josphine’s homey dining room is lit by charming bulbs that hang over customers’ heads as they eat moules frites and cheese vareniki over French wine. Mismatched china dishes with flower designs come from owners Eric Alexander and Courtney McDonald’s personal collection amassed through years of thrifting. The effect is it feels like fine dining took over grandma’s countryside cottage.

A longtime power couple leading Carpe Vino in Auburn, Alexander and McDonald opened their dinner-only French/Eastern European bistro in a converted Odd Fellows lodge in November 2020. They use ingredients from their nearby farm and others around the area for dishes such as duck liver mousse in pine cone caramel or beet salad in a Georgian plum sauce called tkemali.

A half-hour drive from the state Capitol, Restaurant Josephine is one of the best additions to greater Sacramento’s dining scene in the last two years. Yet, if Michelin inspectors stick to the same guidelines as their last visit to the region, Josephine has no chance of being featured in the 2021 California Guide that comes out Tuesday.

Despite going to suburbs in other California cities, and previously saying they would do the same for Sacramento, Michelin expressed little interest in checking out anything but the Sacramento area’s brightest neighborhoods in the inaugural 2019 California Guide.

That’s a shame. There’s nothing like Josephine in city limits.

“It absolutely is different. The French and Eastern European mix that we have going on here, you’re not going to get a lot of the flavors in Sacramento that you are going to have here,” Alexander said. “I don’t know of anybody (else) that’s got preserved pine cones on their (menu).”

Of the 13 Sacramento restaurants to receive Michelin accolades in the 2019 guide, all but The Kitchen and its multi-month wait list had locations in downtown, midtown or East Sacramento. It did not mention Vietnamese food in Little Saigon or Natomas’ Indian cuisine, to say nothing of suburban dining destinations such as Hawks in Granite Bay.

Even Visit Sacramento CEO Mike Testa, one of the loudest initial proponents pushing for Michelin to review Sacramento restaurants, wasn’t fully satisfied with the 2019 list compared to the treatment received by other California cities.

“When I look at the San Francisco (chapter of the) guide, they had restaurants in Contra Costa County. For us, that should mean looking in different parts of this region, whether it’s Sacramento, Granite Bay or Davis,” Testa said. “I don’t know how far (Michelin inspectors) are looking to go, but yes, we’ve encouraged them to look at all the worthy restaurants in the region, not just Sacramento proper.”

Sacramento’s stars

The Kitchen was the only Sacramento restaurant to receive a Michelin star in 2019. Canon, Frank Fat’s and now-closed Mother earned Bib Gourmands from Michelin, reserved for restaurants that offer strong value. Mulvaney’s B&L, Mayahuel, Binchoyaki, Allora, Ming Dynasty, Bacon & Butter, Grange, Zocalo, Ella Dining Room & Bar and Localis all got Plates, defined simply as “good cooking.”

A planned 2020 California guide was nixed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but Michelin released 25 “inspector discoveries.” Sacramento’s lone representative on that list was Yue Huang, a Natomas dim sum emporium that opened in 2016.

Yue Huang and Roseville-based Nixtaco, recently dubbed “Northern California’s best tacos” by SF Gate, were then announced as the two 2021 Sacramento-area Bib Gourmand winners on Wednesday. One might like to see more restaurants mentioned, but driving out to Placer County for tacos was a marked departure from the inspectors’ 2019 strategy. Was that a one-off, or will more off-the-beaten path restaurants be unveiled in Tuesday’s guide release?

Michelin did not respond to requests by The Sacramento Bee to talk by phone, but answered questions via email. It is grappling with its role in the rapidly-evolving U.S. food world and its relevance in Sacramento is murky. Chefs who once dreamed of stars are rethinking their restaurants since the pandemic, and criticism of its staid selection criteria has grown louder.

“I didn’t see anything from the 2019 ratings that’s made me feel like Michelin really changed or adapted their rating system,” said Carla Meyer, The Sacramento Bee’s dining critic from 2015-17. “It was wonderful to have a Michelin star in Sacramento for The Kitchen, but it seems like it has to be a very tony place for them to give a star … post-pandemic, the whole thing seems a little behind the times to me.”

Criticism for Michelin Guide

The first Michelin Guide was published in 1900 as a tool to help drivers navigate France on their Michelin tires, with maps, basic car repair instructions and locations of roadside inns included. Restaurants and stars were introduced in the 1920s, then Bib Gourmands in 1955 and Plates in 2016.

Michelin first landed stateside with the 2005 New York City guide, and published its first Bay Area guide two years later. In 2018, it only released guides in four U.S. markets: Chicago, New York, Washington D.C. and the Bay Area.

That changed in 2019, when Visit California coughed up $600,000 to fund Michelin inspectors’ reviews statewide. Suddenly, Sacramento restaurants were up for review, along with those in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Monterey and Santa Barbara.

That $600,000 came from Visit California’s $126 million 2019 budget, and certainly didn’t look like much compared to the $2.5 billion tourists spent at California restaurants in 2017, according to a white paper produced by the organization.

At the time, Michelin’s reputation was starting to sink among food writers and even some chefs. It was too Eurocentric, too stuffy, too limited in its appraisal due to longstanding rules about service, setting and ambiance.

Michelin published a Los Angeles guide in 2008 and 2009 but left in 2010, when Lincoln native Garrett Snyder was an intern in the city. Snyder went on to become the food editor at LA Weekly and Los Angeles Magazine, then a staff writer in the Los Angeles Times’ food section before leaving to freelance and write cookbooks earlier this year.

Los Angeles chefs were “pretty upset” when Michelin left, Snyder said. In the decade that followed, the city’s dining scene changed. Chefs who weren’t classically trained took on greater prominence, and some wondered whether the fine-dining kitchen culture of yesteryear was worth preserving.

“Among the chefs in restaurants in L.A. (in 2010), there was really an aspiration toward (Michelin) recognition. That was the ultimate recognition for a lot of those chefs trained in classic European kitchens,” Snyder said. “By the time it returned, the city’s center of gravity ... had totally shifted. A lot of chefs were like, ‘Well I didn’t really come up working in kitchens that were obsessed with Michelin.’ It still had cachet, of course, but I think L.A. kind of grew less attached during that absence.”

Michelin’s anonymous inspectors officially look for product quality, mastery of flavor and cooking techniques, chef’s personality in the food, financial value and consistency, according to the company’s website. White-tablecloth dining is heavily favored for stars, though a Singaporean hawker with $2.50 soy sauce chicken noodles held a star from 2016 until earlier this month.

Bib Gourmands can seem inconsistent as well. To qualify, restaurants must serve two courses and wine or dessert for less than $40, not including tax and tip. But Canon is hardly a budget-friendly option — it specializes in shareable small plates such as a roasted pear salad or sweet corn ribs, both $15. A steak will run you $69.

As for Plates, well, points for trying.

“With the Plates, it felt a little like an attempt to show your homework, for lack of a better word,” Snyder said. “It was like they were trying to say, ‘Look, we did our diligence, we ate around.’ They were trying to nod to places without giving them full recognition, whether that’s as a Bib or a star. I think for some people, it felt a bit like a participation trophy.”

The pandemic drastically affected all restaurants; fine dining, perhaps the most. Curbside pickup and street parklets suddenly became more important than pristine plating as restaurants like Ella and Localis shut down for months and others such as Allora turned to take-and-bake family meals. Even once star-hungry chefs don’t have the same appetite now.

Several years ago, Kru Contemporary Japanese Cuisine co-owner/chef Billy Ngo asked Testa to push Michelin for inclusion in the Bay Area guide or a separate book on Sacramento, Ngo said. After Michelin passed on his high-end East Sacramento sushi bar in 2019, Ngo vowed to speed up plans for an intimate omakase counter in pursuit of a star, figuring Michelin would respect a nigiri-only establishment over one that also served rolls.

That idea is on the backburner for now. Kru was flooded with takeout orders during the pandemic, and is now doing 180-200 covers a night inside and outside with a thin staff. Ngo still wants his omakase bar someday, but a star today doesn’t have the same allure as it did in 2019, he said.

“I don’t care. It all changed. I know it was really important to me before, when I talked to Visit Sac. But the last 16 months changed a lot of people’s perspectives, and it’s not that important to me anymore,” said Ngo, who also owns Kodaiko Ramen & Bar and Fish Face Poke Bar. “I’m just trying to get through the days and staff up now.”

What they missed

The Sacramento region’s list of obvious star candidates beyond The Kitchen isn’t particularly long. Meyer argued in favor of Binchoyaki and Canon, and active Bee food writers vouched for a few more in 2019, but tasting menus, impeccable service and sky-high prices aren’t really what comes to mind when one thinks of Sacramento-area restaurants.

Greater Sacramento’s culinary calling card is its wealth of very good, ethnically diverse, reasonably-priced options such as Basha Taste of Jerusalem or Quán Nem Ninh Hòa. Neighborhood joints such as Masullo or Journey to the Dumpling would seemingly be strong Bib Gourmand candidates if Michelin’s inspectors made it off the grid.

“Sacramento has some really great food that’s a little more casual or doesn’t fit the Michelin mold,” Snyder said. “That’s what really makes up the character of a city and its food scene, more than just the upscale restaurants in the main district of the city.”

Even when Michelin recognized food rooted outside of European or New American cooking, the inclusions could be puzzling. Michelin “lost legitness” in Ngo’s eyes after the 2019 list, he said.

“The list just didn’t make sense to me. I’m not s----ing on Ming Dynasty, I go there to eat quite often because it’s close to me. But to say they deserved a Plate, that’s a joke,” Ngo said. “It felt like (inspectors) threw it in just to say they had a Chinese restaurant. Did they really do their job and come out here and review places, or did they just put together a quick list?”

In fairness, Michelin Guides’ roots are in tourism, and many of Sacramento’s largest hotels are around downtown and midtown. Travelers still consult the little red books, and Testa said he spoke to restaurateurs like Brad Cecchi of Canon who reported immediate upticks in business after inclusion in the 2019 California Guide, even booking Christmas parties after the June release.

Tina Nguyen runs Phở Xe Lua with her chef husband Bobby Phong. It was one of The Sacramento Bee’s Top 50 Restaurants of 2021, the few-frills home of arguably Little Saigon’s tastiest beef broths.

It also neighbors a sprawling homeless encampment on Stockton Boulevard near the Fruitridge Road intersection. That shouldn’t and hasn’t deterred Sacramento residents — Phở Xe Lua is three times as busy as it was during the stay-at-home order with the same amount of staff, Nguyen said — but can be a tougher sell to the kind of tourists who choose where to eat based on Michelin’s guidance.

That includes Nguyen and Phong, who consult Michelin guides when traveling and have eaten at starred restaurants in the Bay Area and Singapore. Nguyen’s satisfied with Phở Xe Lua, but said her restaurant doesn’t measure up even as a Bib Gourmand or Plate — and doesn’t want one, given her already-cooked staff.

“It’s not their brand. They’re on-brand by not adding us,” Nguyen said. “I can’t ask anyone to come here from reading the Michelin Guide, knowing they’re going to come by an encampment (and might) see something that would turn them off. Using the Michelin Guide, I would be upset if I came here and found that.”

Sacramento’s homelessness crisis isn’t tourism billboard material. Suburban neighborhoods aren’t that exciting to weekend vacationers, either.

But avoiding restaurants near them means one can’t really explore the best the region has to offer. Finding the Restaurant Josephines of the world sometimes requires a bit of a road trip.

You’d think Michelin, of all companies, would know that. We’ll find out on Tuesday.

This story was updated Sept. 24 to correct the reference to Visit California not commenting on how much was spent for this year’s guide. It did not refuse to comment. It was updated Sept. 27 to clarify how Michelin responded to an interview request.