Michelin Dining Guide Honors Three Sacramento Restaurants

The Michelin Guide that highlights the world's best restaurants now includes more of California than just the Bay Area — and its new list honors three dining destinations in Sacramento.

Downtown institution Frank Fat’s, vegetarian eatery Mother and East Sacramento’s Canon all earned “Bib Gourmand” accolades from Michelin on Tuesday. The recognition marks the first time Sacramento restaurants have earned recognition from the group.

For years, if you wanted to eat at a Michelin-starred restaurant on the West Coast, you needed to head to San Francisco or the wine country. But now, the prestigious rating service is expanding to other parts of the state.

Caroline Beteta, the head of Visit California, the state's travel and tourism arm, says the move to highlight more of the state's culinary offerings started with a push by Sacramento.

She thinks the guide will be positive for the state’s eateries. “Foodies, particularly internationally, have high propensity of spending more dollars when they vacation, and staying longer,” she said. “So, we saw definitely a lift in our attempt to reach global foodies, particularly in China."

Beteta says Visit California paid $600,000 to help cover Michelin's expanded reach.

Restaurants in Los Angeles are being rated for the first time in a decade. And, for the first time ever, Monterey, Orange County, San Diego, and Santa Barbara are included.

The first wave of ratings came Tuesday with the Bib Gourmand, a list of exceptional restaurants where — according to Michelin — you can get two dishes and a glass of wine or dessert for under $40.

Mike Thiemann is co-owner and chef at Mother, one of the Sacramento restaurants that earned the Bib this year. "Hats off to Visit California for putting their money where their mouth is and expanding, you know, the culinary destination,” he said of the decision to recruit Michelin to Sacramento.

Michelin is expected to release it's complete California guide on Monday.