What are California’s best restaurants? 5 spots just landed on NY Times list for first time

California is home to five of the 50 best restaurants in the nation, according to The New York Times.

The Times recently released its 2024 list of America’s best 50 restaurants , an annual ranking that showcases the top spots in the United States for fine dining.

In California, the publication’s picks focused on restaurants in the Bay Area and Los Angeles — snubbing California’s farm-to-fork capital, Sacramento , as well as the Central Coast’s Michelin Guide-recognized food scene .

That’s despite the fact that the Times hailed Sacramento as “a great restaurant city” in 2023.

Here are the California restaurants that made the 2024 restaurant List:

Where are the best restaurants in California?

The New York Times singled out five restaurants across California to make their first appearances on the restaurant List.

Quince , a Michelin-starred restaurant at 470 Pacific Ave. in San Francisco, serves up a seasonal, locally sourced menu in a recently redesigned space that’s “contemporary and timeless,” Times senior editor Brian Gallagher wrote.

Dishes crafted by chef Michael Tusk include roasted spiny lobster with black trumpet mushrooms and fava greens and sunchoke velouté with oyster, chanterelles and sorrel.

“When you imagine a perfect California fine-dining restaurant, you’re imagining Quince, Gallagher said.

Four Kings , which serves up Hong Kong-inspired small plates at 710 Commercial St. in San Francisco, offers “spot-on vibes and energetic dishes” such as fried squab and Sichuan cabbage, Times audience editor Eleanore Park wrote.

At Fikscue Craft BBQ , 1708 Park St. in Alameda, halal Texas-style barbecue meets Indonesian cuisine in “a menu unlike anything else in the country,” Park said.

Offerings range from brisket and smoked ribs to Sumatran beef noodle soup.

In Southern California, French Japanese bistro Camelia , 1850 Industrial St. in Los Angeles, puts an unconventional spin on standards such as croque madam and tomatoes and burrata.

“This is the magic of a good bistro: a place where you can come across the familiar, and even predictable, and fall in love with it again,” Times restaurant critic Tejal Rao wrote.

Azizam , 2943 Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles, started as a Persian food pop-up and has expanded into a casual Silver Lake cafe.

Standouts include sandwiches on barbari flatbread, a supersized kofteh meatball studded with dried fruit and ash-e-jo, a stew with barley, lentils, kidney beans and chickpeas, Rao said.