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It’s that time of year again, as the Michelin inspectors bestow the city’s best restaurants with the highly desirable star rankings. But before stars are given out next week, the Bib Gourmands must make their debut. The Bibs are a more extensive list that is awarded to restaurants offering "exceptional good food at moderate prices," which means a much bigger pool of candidates, and a confounding mix of price points that depend upon the definition of "moderate." (Kokkari Estiatorio and Tacos Sinaloa aren’t exactly comparable.)
Also of note: restaurants that make it onto the Bib Gourmand list aren’t currently eligible to earn stars, so some of the restaurants that have dropped off could be in the running to receive stars at the announcement on October 25. Here’s the full list of the 75 winners below (wagers, guesses and bets on who might be the next Michelin-starred restaurants are welcome in the comments):
11 restaurants joined the party
‘āina, Bravas (Sonoma), Bywater (South Bay), Del Popolo, Lai Hong Lounge, Nopalito, Okane, Shed Café (Sonoma), Tacos Sinaloa (East Bay), Tsubasa, Two Birds/One Stone (Napa Valley) and Village Sake (Marin) all made their debut as Bib Gourmands this year. Most interesting is the addition of Aina, which was (until dinner was added last week) a brunch-only restaurant. Most restaurants added are on the newer side, with the exception of Nopalito, Lai Hong Lounge, Tacos Sinaloa (though the brick-and-mortar location is only a year old), and Shed Café.
11 restaurants bid the list adieu
Brick and Bottle, Chevalier (Lafayette), Chino, Contigo, Fringale, Gather, La Perla, Marinitas, Sazón, The Farmer & The Fox, and Rivoli have all departed. No explanation, despite the obvious removal when a restaurant closes (Brick & Bottle, Chevalier, Chino and The Farmer & The Fox) is given, so we’ll have a better idea of who has improved when the stars are announced next week. (Gather has a solid chance.)
No stars for these restaurants, again
Rich Table and Bar Tartine, arguably two of the city’s best restaurants, remained on the list, precluding them from the running for even one Michelin star this year. The Bibs are a strange phenomenon, grouping restaurants like Rich Table (with entrees that hover around $30, and a $93 tasting menu) and Lai Hong Lounge (a dim sum restaurant in Chinatown with a health score of 68) into the same category. Michelin remains famously tight-lipped on the rhyme and reason behind such choices but it does cast a shadow upon the meaning of this (or any) list.
Stay tuned for next week’s star-studded announcements, and check out the full list of 2017’s Bib Gourmands below (and look here for each of them mapped):
Anchor Oyster Bar
A16
Backyard
Bar Tartine
Bistro Aix
Bistro Jeanty
Bistro 29
Chalkboard
Chapeau!
China Village
Comal
Cook St. Helena
Coqueta
Corso
Cotogna
Delfina
Del Popolo
Diavola
Dosa
Evvia
Farmhouse Kitchen Thai
Farmstead
FIVE
Glen Ellen Star
Grace’s Table
Great China
Hong Kong Lounge II
Insalata's
Ippuku
Izakaya Rintaro
Kappou Gomi
Kokkari Estiatorio
La Costanera
Lai Hong Lounge
Le Garage
Mamacita
Mason Pacific
Michel Bistro
Millennium
Monti's Rotisserie
M.Y. China
Nopalito
Oenotri
Okane
Orchard City Kitchen
Poggio
Ramen Gaijin
Redd Wood
Rich Table
Risibisi
Scopa
Sichuan Home
Sir and Star
1601 Bar & Kitchen
Sociale
Starbelly
Sushi Ran
Thai House
Trestle
Vesta
Village Sake
wonderful
Wood Tavern
Yank Sing
Yuzuki
Zero Zero
Zola
Z & Y
- San Francisco’s 2017 Bib Gourmands, Mapped [ESF]
- San Francisco's 2016 Michelin Stars, Mapped [ESF]
- San Francisco’s 2016 Bib Gourmands Have Arrived [ESF]