Michelin Guide California will announce its 2026 star selection at an invitation-only ceremony in San Diego on Wednesday, June 24, marking the first time the state guide’s annual event has come to the city. The news, first reported by KOGO News on April 17, places the ceremony at EVE, a two-year-old bayfront event space at 975 Waterfront Place in downtown San Diego across North Harbor Drive from the USS Midway Museum.
EVE opened in June 2024 and is operated by Petco Park Events, the special-events arm of the San Diego Padres, inside developer IQHQ’s Research and Development District. The venue covers roughly twelve thousand square feet with seated capacity of five hundred and seventy and standing capacity of more than eleven hundred, along with nineteen-foot ceilings and a two-hundred-and-seventy-degree bay view.
San Diego’s Five-Year Climb Into the Guide
San Diego County currently has five Michelin-starred restaurants, up from zero before California’s first statewide guide in 2019. Addison at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar in Carmel Valley holds three stars, the only three-star restaurant in Southern California, with chef William Bradley in the kitchen since 2006. Jeune et Jolie in Carlsbad, led by chef Eric Bost, earned its first star in 2021. Soichi, chef Soichi Kadoya’s Japanese omakase room in University Heights, followed later that year. Valle in Oceanside, from chef Roberto Alcocer, was awarded a star in 2023. Lilo in Carlsbad, a second project from Eric Bost and restaurateur John Resnick, opened in April 2025 and received its star ten weeks later at the 2025 ceremony in Sacramento.
The region also holds a growing Bib Gourmand bench, with recognized restaurants including Atelier Manna in Encinitas, Callie in East Village, Cesarina in Point Loma, Cucina Urbana in Bankers Hill, Dija Mara in Oceanside, Lola 55 in East Village, Mabel’s Gone Fishing in North Park, and Morning Glory in Little Italy.
Where the California Ceremony Has Been Before
Michelin retired its Los Angeles and San Francisco city guides in favor of a single statewide California guide in 2019, with an inaugural event held in Huntington Beach that June. The program has rotated its host city each year since the pandemic pause. The 2024 ceremony was held on August 5 at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay. The 2025 ceremony moved inland to the SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center in Sacramento on June 25, the same evening that Lilo earned its star. The San Diego ceremony on June 24 continues that rotation and, to date, is the first time the event has come to the southernmost of the state’s major restaurant markets.
What a Host City Gets
Michelin does not publicly disclose the economic impact of its ceremonies, but host cities typically draw the full California anonymous inspection roster, visiting press, sponsor partners, and executives from the Michelin parent organization for a multi-day window around the unveiling. Past host-city activations have been tied to tourism campaigns through Visit California, with prior Michelin-California press statements calling the state a “perfect pairing” for the guide.
For San Diego operators, the symbolism matters more than the single evening. Michelin tends to move its California ceremony toward markets where its inspectors see sustained momentum, which is the same signal that drives tourism bookings, real estate demand for restaurant space, and valuation multiples when those operators eventually sell.
The Calendar Between Now and June 24
The California 2026 star list remains under embargo until the night of the ceremony. New stars, promotions, demotions, and any Green Star designations will be revealed in a single program that evening. Michelin has used its media site to publish the full selection immediately after each ceremony in recent years, with the California guide’s digital pages updated to reflect the new awards at the same time.
Sources
KOGO News, Michelin Guide Awards to Be Held in San Diego
San Diego Magazine, EVE Event Space Opens on the Bayfront
Times of San Diego, Petco Park Events Adds Bayfront Venue EVE
San Diego Ville, Lilo in Carlsbad Earns a Michelin Star
SD Foodie Fan, Michelin Restaurants in San Diego
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