Lucien in La Jolla Earns San Diego’s Only New Michelin Star for 2026

Rebecca Roland is the deputy editor of the Southern California/Southwest region, who covers the evolving landscape of LA’s food scene.

On Wednesday, June 24, Michelin hosted its 2026 ceremony at Eve in San Diego to unveil this year’s California Guide. At the ceremony, the tire company recognized restaurants from across the state with Michelin star designations in one of the hospitality industry’s biggest nights.

At the 2025 Michelin California ceremony, only one San Diego restaurant was given a new star: chef Eric Bost and partner John Resnick’s Lilo, which sits behind their casual all-day restaurant, Wildland. Lilo joined San Diego’s only three-starred restaurant, Addison, and Bost’s modern French restaurant, Jeune et Jolie.

Since the 2025 ceremony, Michelin has released a handful of updates to its California guide, putting more restaurants in contention for stars or Bib Gourmand recognition, the latter of which spotlights “good quality, good value cooking.” The Bib Gourmand designation tends to highlight more affordable restaurants — at these restaurants, diners can expect two courses and a glass of wine or dessert for about $50 before tax and tip. In San Diego, chef Elijah Arizmendi’s La Jolla tasting menu restaurant, Lucien, which opened in July 2025, joined the guide. Although Michelin previously announced it would phase out its green stars, which recognized restaurants for sustainability, a new slate of green stars was unveiled at the 2026 ceremony.

In past years, the San Diego area has received minimal recognition from the Michelin Guide, compared to its California siblings of Los Angeles and San Francisco. At this year’s ceremony, Savannah Riedler of Lilo took home the Michelin Sommelier Award. Lucien, Elijah Arizmendi’s celebrated La Jolla restaurant, received San Diego’s only new Michelin star, earning a one-star rating. Valle lost its single star.

Here are all of San Diego’s Michelin stars. New entrants, or changes to stars, are marked with an asterisk.

Three stars:

One star: