With a historic 3 Michelin stars, a Mexican restaurant in San Francisco defies stereotypes

With a historic 3 Michelin stars, a Mexican restaurant in San Francisco defies stereotypes SAN FRANCISCO, Chef and co-owner Val Cantu and his team at San Francisco’s Californios have finally secured the long-awaited third Michelin star after an eight-year journey. This achievement marks a milestone, as it is the first time a Mexican restaurant has ever earned three stars globally. Cantu, alongside his 40-member staff, now carries an air of newfound confidence following the announcement. Cantu received his first Michelin star shortly after Californios opened in 2015. A second star came in 2018. On June 16, during a ceremony in San Diego, Cantu, accompanied by his wife Carolyn, was awarded the third star and presented with a pristine white Michelin chef’s jacket. The honor represents not just personal triumph but a broader acknowledgment of the potential of Mexican cuisine beyond traditional boundaries. The Michelin Guide, founded in 1889 by French brothers André and Édouard Michelin, introduced its star-rating system in the 1920s. Today, it evaluates over 40,000 restaurants worldwide. Inspectors, often disguised as regular customers, assess each establishment based on factors such as consistency, innovation, and cultural authenticity. According to Michelin’s website, Californios rose through the rankings due to its willingness to “cross borders” on the plate, blending global influences with local ingredients while preserving Mexican heritage. At Californios, the menu begins with a sope, a small hand-shaped masa cake crafted from white corn and beans sourced from a farm in Santa Rosa. A spatula delicately places caviar from a Sacramento sturgeon farm atop the dish. Cantu described the experience as “really, really delicious and kind of feels like a warm hug.” Patrons find comfort in the familiar yet refined elements of the meal. Michelin inspectors praised the restaurant for its consistent execution, noting that dishes were “executed with such precision, refinement and clarity without losing the Mexican identity.” Specific highlights included the use of ingredients like kombu and the matsukasa yaki fish taco, which exemplify the balance between tradition and modernity. Cantu and his team sometimes attempted to identify whether a diner might be an inspector, a practice that reinforced the principle that every guest receives equal attention and care. “Every guest gets the same quality of presentation and hospitality,” Cantu remarked. This moment of acclaim coincides with heightened scrutiny of immigration enforcement policies in the United States. Over the past few years, several Mexican restaurants have received Michelin stars, including a popular 10-by-10-foot taco stand in Mexico City. The growing recognition of Mexican cuisine occurs amid increasingly stringent immigration laws and reports of immigrant-related fatalities, such as a Mexican man in Houston and a Colombian man in Maine earlier this month. While Cantu insists he does not seek to politicize food, he acknowledged the impact of recent headlines. “Immigrants are the backbone of all these dish pits and kitchens,” he stated. In March, he participated in an “anti-ICE” fundraising dinner, showing solidarity with immigrant communities. Given California’s political leanings, Cantu believes many of Californios’ patrons likely share his perspective on the importance of respecting immigrants. Food writer Gustavo Arellano, who is Mexican American, sees the rising popularity of Mexican cuisine as a means of humanizing the immigration debate. He notes that this effect is particularly evident in smaller Southern towns, where anti-immigrant rhetoric often prevails. “You see this especially like in small Southern towns where the rhetoric is ‘I’m against illegal immigrants. I don’t want too many...” the statement cuts off, suggesting the ongoing relevance of food as a bridge between cultures.