Baja California restaurateurs had reasons to celebrate and mourn at the Michelin Guide’s second awards ceremony in Mexico City on Tuesday.
Two more restaurants in the Valle de Guadalupe area, a popular food-and-wine destination about 90 minutes south of the San Diego County border, earned coveted Michelin stars, bringing the Baja state’s total number of Michelin-starred restaurants to five. But one of Baja’s Bib Gourmand honorees from last year, Merak, has closed. And many of last year’s third-tier recommended restaurants lost their designations.
During the first year Michelin honored Mexico’s restaurants in 2024, Baja California had a total of 51 honorees. This year, there were 31. It’s not uncommon for Michelin inspectors to enter a new territory and present a large number of awards in the first year. But maintaining consistency, service and food quality are key to keeping a Michelin award, so the lists often narrow in year two or three. The same thing happened after Michelin inspectors arrived in San Diego in 2019. Since that first year, 13 original honorees have been delisted and several others have been downgraded.
Valle de Guadalupe-area restaurants Lunario and Olivea Farm to Table earned new Michelin stars on Tuesday. They three other Valle restaurants that maintained their stars from last year: Javier Plascencia’s Animalón, Esteban Luis’s Damiana and Drew Deckman’s Conchas de Piedra.
Deckman is also a San Diego restaurant owner. Last August he and his wife, Paulina, opened 31THIRTYONE by Deckman’s in North Park. It re-creates the seasonal, sustainable Baja-style cuisine he serves at his three Valle de Guadalupe restaurants.
Seven Bib Gourmand honorees from 2024 maintained their awards: Carmelita Molino y Cocina in Tijuana, La Cocina de Doña Esthela in El Porvenir, Villa Torél in Villa de Juarez, and four Ensenada restaurants: Humo y Sal, Sabina, Casa Marcelo and La Concheria.
Nineteen Baja restaurants earned either new or renewed recommendations, including Deckman’s En El Mogor in the Valle de Guadalupe and the revered Tijuana restaurants Misión 19, Tacos el Franc and Oryx.
For the full slate of of Michelin Mexico’s 2025 honorees, visit guide.michelin.com/us/en/restaurants.
