Scoot over, Thomas Keller. Make a little room, Corey Lee.
On Thursday night Michelin North America announced that Atelier Crenn in San Francisco and SingleThread in Healdsburg had both earned three stars, the culinary guide's highest honor. The San Francisco Bay Area now boasts eight three-star restaurants, more than any other U.S. region.
The announcement also confirmed Dominique Crenn's status as the top female chef in America. She is the only woman in the United States to earn three Michelin stars and last night lapped the field by securing a single star for another restaurant, Bar Crenn, which is located next door to Atelier Crenn.
"I'm humbled," Crenn told the New York Times. "We worked so hard for so many years and this is a dream. Today we’re celebrating, but tomorrow we go back to work."
SingleThread, run by chef Kyle Connaughton and his wife Katina, also made a big splash at the event, which was held at In Situ inside SFMOMA. Though it only debuted in 2016, SingleThread quickly established itself as the top culinary destination in Sonoma County, earning two Michelin stars in 2018 and then adding to its tally with a third star last night.
“The dining scene in San Francisco is booming at the moment and our inspectors were especially impressed with the choice of cuisine styles, the levels of consistency and the overall high quality of the food they found in the city,” said Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guides. “In particular, the teams at Atelier Crenn and SingleThread should be extremely proud, as our inspectors were very impressed by the quality of the produce used in the preparation of the dishes."
Four of the region's three-star restaurants are located in San Francisco (Atelier Crenn, Benu, Quince, and Saison); two are in Napa County (The French Laundry, The Restaurant at Meadowood); SingleThread is the sole entity in Sonoma County; and David Kinch's Manresa is located in Los Gatos, in the South Bay.
All told, there are 57 starred restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area, including six two-star establishments and 43 that earned one star for 2019.
