Every Michelin Green Star Restaurant in California

If you’re looking for exceptional restaurants in California, you won’t be disappointed. The state is home to more than 80 eateries with Michelin Stars, each guaranteed to present you with exceptionally-crafted, mouthwatering cuisine. But, food is about more than just flavor and presentation. What we choose to produce, cook, and eat has an impact on the world around us. The food industry requires huge amounts of land and water, produces monumental amounts of waste, and it’s a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.

This is why, in 2020, the Michelin Guide launched the Michelin Green Star. The honor is reserved for restaurants around the world that prioritize sustainable practices and can prove that they run their kitchens and source most ingredients is environmentally-conscious. This usually refers to the strategies restaurants follow to reduce food waste, grow produce on site, and minimize energy use.

If you want Michelin-level quality with a side of sustainability, you’re in luck. Below, we’ve listed 15 restaurants in California that boast a Michelin Green Star.

Chez Panisse is a legendary Berkeley restaurant that has been serving local, farm fresh, and organic cuisine for more than 50 years. It was founded by chef Alice Waters, who has long been steadfast in her commitment to provide diners with top-quality fare, made with locally-sourced ingredients (many come from the restaurant’s own organic farm).

The restaurant is everything the fast-food industry is not. Waters designed it that way back in the 1960s — Chez Panisse isn’t just a place to eat, it’s a protest against American food culture, which prioritizes heavily processed products over fresh ingredients.

Besides its reputation for serving outstanding dishes, Chez Panisse’s passionate commitment to use and serve only local, seasonal, and sustainable ingredients has earned it a Michelin Green Star. The menu changes regularly, but you can expect various pasta dishes, seafood, and meat-based specialties, and an array of seasonal fruits and vegetables.  

chezpanisse.com
(510) 548-5525
1517 Shattuck Ave.,Berkeley, CA 94709

Osteria Mozza is a Los Angeles icon. Cordon Bleu-trained chef Nancy Silverton opened this beloved Italian joint in 2007. The restaurant is a home to a mozzarella bar and specializes in comfort classics like ravioli and tiramisu. One year after it opened, Osteria Mozza earned its first Michelin Star for the high-quality cooking that it still holds today. Additionally, in 2020, it was awarded with the highly coveted Michelin Green Star.

At Osteria Mozza, sustainability is just as important as delicious Italian food. The restaurant tries to source organic ingredients that come from the area, with a special focus on plant-based food that makes up a large portion of its menu. Besides food, there are many other initiatives, including bathroom and kitchen sinks with low-flow faucets that help reduce water waste. This is particularly important in California, where extreme weather conditions like drought are an ongoing and serious concern for millions of residents and farmers. 

If you’re heading to Osteria Mozza, expect plenty of mozzarella, olive oil, consciously sourced meat and seafood, pasta, and an array of indulgent Italian desserts. Outside of Los Angeles, the restaurant also has locations in Los Cabos, Washington D.C., and Singapore.

osteriamozza.com
(323) 297-0100
6602 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

If mozzarella isn’t your thing, Nancy Silverton also runs a meat-centered Italian restaurant. Chi Spacca, located on Melrose Avenue, specializes in responsibly sourced, local meat cooked in a wood-burning oven. Just like in Osteria Mozza, sustainability is prioritized in every aspect of the restaurant, which emphasizes low-waste and carbon offsetting practices. 

Because of the way it prioritizes the environment, Chi Spacca has also earned a Michelin Green Star. Silverton confirmed to the Michelin Guide that sustainability is “always at the forefront” of her team’s minds, adding that together they are “constantly trying to reduce our impact on the environment.”

Unlike Osteria Mozza, this isn’t the place to dine if you’re on the hunt for plant-based or vegetarian food. Expect a meat-heavy menu, with options like short ribs, spicy roasted chicken on toast, and steak tartare taking center stage.

chispacca.com
(323) 297-1133
6610 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

San Francisco’s Atelier Crenn is a seriously impressive establishment. This pescetarian, plastic-free restaurant holds the admirable three Michelin Stars, which is the highest Michelin ranking. Unsurprisingly, it was also awarded Michelin Green Star for its sustainable practices.

The menu — crafted from ingredients sourced from restaurant’s regenerative farm, local fishers, and two small dairies — is truly exceptional. You can choose to enjoy the fish options or go vegetable-forward, depending on your preference. Whatever you choose, expect to be presented with creative, innovative cuisine unlike anything you’ve eaten before.

The driving force behind Atelier Crenn is the iconic Dominique Crenn, the first female chef in the U.S. to receive three Michelin Stars. Crenn blends her French background and immense creativity and continues to push boundaries in gastronomy and sustainability.

ateliercrenn.com
(415) 440-0460
3127 Fillmore St, San Francisco, CA 94123

Want to sample more of Chef Dominique Crenn’s Michelin-worthy culinary delights? You’ll find them next door to Atelier Crenn, at Bar Crenn’s Le Comptoir (which means “the counter” in French). Don’t be fooled by the word bar; this is no casual dining experience. In fact, it’s more like theater, but with food.

It works like this: Each night, from Tuesday to Saturday, 10 diners sit at the bar and enjoy a custom menu that is prepared in front of them with flair and showmanship. It’s not just delicious, high-quality food (though that’s definitely on offer, as one Michelin Star can attest), but it’s thoroughly enjoyable entertainment, too.

Just like Atelier Crenn, Bar Crenn was also granted a Michelin Green Star as it operates with the same ethos as its sister restaurant. Ingredients are sourced from the Atelier Crenn regenerative farm, and there is no meat on the menu. It’s also low-waste, as any produce that is thrown away doubles as compost for the farm.

barcrenn.com/le-comptoir
(415) 440-0460
3131 Fillmore St, San Francisco, CA 94123

Restaurants with three Michelin Stars and a Michelin Green Star are hard to come by. In fact, there are only 37 with this level of distinction in the whole world, and four of them are in California. The French Laundry in Yountville is one of the members of this exclusive club. As the name suggests, this is the place to go if you’re after exceptional French cuisine.

Founded by renowned chef and restaurateur Thomas Keller, The French Laundry sources ingredients from the restaurant’s garden, which is situated across the street from the restaurant. In many cases, fruits and vegetables are picked fresh and never go inside the refrigerator. Not only do they taste better this way, but this simplified process also significantly reduces the restaurant’s environmental impact. Locally sourced foods produce fewer emissions as they skip the transportation step.

On top of this, Keller maintains The French Laundry’s Michelin Green Star status by running the restaurant on solar power. It also hosts an underground geothermal loop, which, as Keller told the Michelin Guide, helps to “efficiently maintain the temperature of all water, refrigeration and heating systems.”

thomaskeller.com/tf
(707) 944-2380
6640 Washington St, Yountville, CA

Pome’s founder Aomboon Deasy grew up on land filled with orchards (K&J Orchards, to be exact), so it’s not surprising that this Oakland restaurant relies on farm-to-table approach. Everything on the menu is as fresh as possible, as it’s sourced from Deasy’s sustainable family farm and other partners. For that reason, you can expect next-level vegetable- and fruit-forward cuisine that’s driven by the seasons and what’s naturally available in California each month. At Pomet, which boasts one Michelin Green Star, the produce really is the star of the show.

The kitchen is led by Chef Edalyn Garcia, who took over from renowned Chef Alan Hsu in 2023. “With all of the great produce that we get in California, from the sea to the land, we have such a big bounty to work with,” she told the Michelin Guide. Nothing goes to waste in Garcia’s kitchen, either. For example, carrot tops feed the K&J Orchards chickens.

The menu is constantly changing with the seasons, but you can always expect to find creative, innovative, produce-led cuisine. Examples of the type of dishes that have graced the menu in the past include ugly mushroom caramelle, full belly broccolini, and K&J Orchards Bartlett pear tart.

pomet-oakland.com
(510) 450-2541
4029 Piedmont Ave, Oakland, CA 94611

The phrase that calls cooking an art form really takes on new meaning at Vespertine. This is a restaurant where each dish is as striking as the building where it’s located, which is a 55-foot tower of glass and curved steel, also known as The Waffle. Of course, the cuisine at Vespertine is more than just a beautiful presentation. Masterfully created dishes showcase a medley of outstanding flavor and technique at this Culver City restaurant, and two Michelin Stars further confirm this. The additional Michelin Green Star demonstrates restaurant’s commitment to the planet.

According to Chef Jordan Kahn, the owner of Vespertine, the restaurant uses organic vegetables, locally-foraged herbs, pasture-raised beef, while the seafood is wild and comes from local communities or fishers. Kahn also mentioned to the Michelin Guide that the “commitment to sustainability also applies to the dining room’s wool carpeting, recycled glassware and wild-harvested ceramic service pieces.”

instagram.com/vespertine.la
(323) 320-4023
3599 Hayden Ave, Culver City, CA 90232

To be frank, the fishing industry doesn’t have the best reputation for environmental responsibility. Overfishing is a huge threat to the marine life and the local population that rely on seafood to survive. But Providence is on a mission to change things and make seafood more sustainable. This Hollywood restaurant, which has two Michelin Stars and a Michelin Green Star, puts focus on wild-caught, responsibly sourced seafood caught off the coast of the U.S. by local fishers, not industrial trawlers.

Not only that, but many of the dishes on the restaurant’s menu – created by a team led by head chef Tristan Aitchison — are made with fresh vegetables and herbs from the restaurant’s own rooftop garden. It gets better: Providence’s local bees that live in resident hives help to pollinate the restaurant’s crops and produce its honey supply.

providencela.com
(323) 460-4170
5955 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

Caruso’s, situated inside Montecito’s luxury Rosewood Miramar Beach, offers exactly the type of food and service you’d expect to find in a five-star resort. Led by an Italian chef Massimo Falsini, each dish is cultivated with care, passion, and precision, using ingredients that are sourced locally.

Caruso’s serves two main menus — land and ocean-themed — while the plant-based menu is available on request. The fish is caught by local fishers from the ocean that stretches out directly in front of the restaurant, and the produce is sourced from the restaurant’s vegetable garden. Even sea urchins in the uni dish that’s featured in the fifth course of the eight-course ocean-centered tasting menu are harvested by a local diver named Stephanie. That’s why, besides the one Michelin Star awarded for its cooking, Caruso’s was also honored with a Michelin Green Star for its dedication to a sustainable approach.

rosewoodhotels.com/carusos

(805) 303-6167

1759 S Jameson Ln, Montecito, CA 93108

For some, too much choice can feel overwhelming — even when it comes to choosing delicious food. At Heritage, Long Beach’s first-ever restaurant to gain a Michelin Star and Michelin Green Star, there are no such problems. Every night, a fixed six-course tasting menu is served to diners, featuring highlights like slow-cooked beets, kingfish from the grill, and Heritage caviar served with corn ice cream.

Heritage’s menu is fixed for a good reason: It allows the chefs to employ zero-waste practices across the kitchen. They know how many and how much of each ingredient they’ll need, so barely anything goes to waste.

Heritage, which is run by brother-sister duo Lauren and Philip Pretty, is committed to sustainability in other ways, too. The produce is sourced from the Pretty’s local farm, or it comes from other local farmers in Long Beach. And any waste that is produced? Much of that goes right back to the farm to serve as compost.

heritagerestaurantlb.com
(562) 343-1068
2030 E 7th St, Long Beach, CA 90804

Another restaurant in the exclusive three Michelin Star and Michelin Green Star club is San Francisco’s Quince. As you’d expect from any member of this prestigious club, the dining experience is flawless. Founded by Lindsay and Michael Tusk, Quince offers a 10-course tasting menu, a smaller four-course option in the bar, and an à la carte menu. You can also choose to sample Quince’s cuisine with a private dining experience, which is an immersive, bespoke event designed for 18 guests maximum.

However you choose to dine at Quince, you’ll always be presented with locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, many of which come from Fresh Run Farm, Quince’s partner farm in Bolinas. The close relationship with Fresh Run is ultimately what helped it score the coveted Michelin Green Star. Everything grown there is not just organic, but regenerative, which means the crops help to restore and nourish the land. 

quincerestaurant.com
(415) 775-850
0470 Pacific Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133

The final member of the elite group with three Michelin Stars and Michelin Green Star is SingleThread in Sonoma Wine Country. Here, you’ll be presented with a 10-course tasting menu, which is heavily influenced by the Japanese multi-course kaiseki tradition that revolves around seasonal ingredients. Each dish is simple yet thoughtfully crafted and presented to diners in a mindful and structured manner. 

The restaurant and the farm are led by Kyle and Katina Connaughton, who are not Japanese, but Katina lived in Japan for a period of time, which was when she first became inspired by the cuisine and the culture. The kaiseki approach is evident not just in the dishes at SingleThread, but in the way the ingredients are sourced, too. Most produce comes from the restaurant’s 24-acre organic farm that grows vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. The plot also houses beehives that provide honey to the restaurant. 

singlethreadfarms.com
(707) 723-464
6131 North St, Healdsburg, CA 95448

At first, Elk, a miniature Californian town with under 300 residents, might not sound like much. However, this remote location is key to the exceptional cuisine you’ll find at The Harbor House, the town’s inn that also happens to host a restaurant that is a proud owner of double Michelin Star and Michelin Green Star.

The ingredients featured on The Harbor House’s impressive menu are sourced as locally as possible, and some are even foraged. Elk is one of the rare places where you can find wild lace lichen, so the chefs made it a mainstay on the menu, alongside maitake mushrooms and rod-caught seafood. The restaurant has even committed to raising animals and growing its own vegetables. The Harbor House offers two menus, one for lunch and one for dinner, each filled with exceptional options like the infusion of sea vegetables, grilled halibut, toasted kombu served with jasmine and lemon, and marigold macarons.

theharborhouseinn.com
(707) 877-3203
5600 CA-1, Elk, CA 95432

Most head to Justin Winery in Paso Robles for the wine, but what goes perfectly with wine? Well, that’s got to be Michelin Star level cuisine. Luckily, The Restaurant at Justin Winery has two accolades from the Michelin Guide — one Michelin Star for high-quality cooking and another Michelin Green Star for its commitment to sustainability.

Everything, from its Jarrahdale tortellini to the fig and walnut torte, is crafted mindfully with ingredients grown from its own 26-acre farm. The land plays host to 150 trees, which, alongside the gardens, provide the restaurant with an impressive variety of fruits, herbs, edible flowers, and vegetables. Because of this, the menu changes with the seasons. The restaurant’s sustainable ethos is largely down to the head chef Rachel Haggstrom, who transformed the menu to include more sustainable, seasonal ingredients when she joined the kitchen team in 2019.

justinwine.com
(805) 238-69321
1680 Chimney Rock Rd, Paso Robles, CA 93446