Four tables, two chefs — and now one Michelin star.

On Wednesday, the Michelin Guide International gave out its 2025 awards for California, including recognition for a tiny operation in West Oakland called Sun Moon Studio.

The restaurant occupies a storefront in an unlikely location, an industrial part of West Oakland near utility and maintenance buildings. The neighborhood’s not devoid of good food and drink, like a cult favorite pizza joint and two craft breweries.

But now it has Michelin cred. On Thursday afternoon, co-chefs Alan Hsu and Sarah Cooper digested the news as they prepped for dinner service, surrounded by fragrant basil plants and vitrines of pickled plums.

“It is a huge honor,” Cooper said. “Oakland has been so welcoming and supportive of us, and we’re really grateful for the recognition of our work. … I think Oakland just loves good food. And there are so many awesome cuisines and restaurants to choose from here.”

The 2025 Michelin awards, held at a gathering of the culinary elite in Sacramento, solidified California’s reputation as a dining mecca. Two Hollywood area restaurants earned three stars — the highest Michelin achievement — to give California a total of eight restaurants with that distinction (three more than New York City).

The guide also honored 14 restaurants for their two-star cuisine (two of them new to this level) and handed out five new one-star awards for a total of 87 starred restaurants statewide, two more than last year.

“Tonight marked a momentous evening for California and its culinary community,” said Gwendal Poullennec, the Michelin Guide’s international director, in a statement before the Sacramento ceremony. “Our anonymous inspectors discovered extraordinary culinary gems to highlight in this year’s selection.”

Michelin lauded San Francisco’s Kiln for its “artful creations” from chef John Wesley and a menu that “leans Nordic,” Michelin writes. The restaurant had earned one star in the 2024 guide.

A Sonoma restaurant, Enclos, where chef Brian Limoges produces an “opulent tasting menu” inside an 1880 Victorian on the Stone Edge Farm Winery property, made its Michelin debut with two stars.

In Oakland, Commis kept its two-star rating and Sun Moon Studio got its coveted one star just months after opening. The Michelin inspectors wrote of its chefs: “Their shared vision emerges in a mercurial seasonal tasting menu that dutifully celebrates the wealth of Californian ingredients, spanning squab to rockfish and wild mushrooms to citrus.”

Hsu and Cooper said they haven’t checked their reservation system today for the likely deluge in inquiries. Too scared?

“Yeah,” Cooper joked. “But we open reservations six weeks in advance, and right now we are fully booked for the next six weeks.”

Besides the stars and the Bib Gourmands (for affordable, high-quality dining), Michelin honored Bay Area industry professionals with special recognition: The Exceptional Cocktails Award went to the bar team at the contemporary Indian restaurant Eylan in Menlo Park, and the Outstanding Service Award went to Nick Peyton of Cyrus in Geyserville.

California’s new three-star holders are Providence in Hollywood, which was elevated from two stars; and Somni in West Hollywood, which vaulted onto the list at the three-star level.

The repeat three-star awardees were Dominique Crenn’s Atelier Crenn, Corey Lee’s Benu and Michael Tusk’s Quince, all in San Francisco; Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry, in Yountville; SingleThread in Healdsburg, from chef Kyle Connaughton and farmer Katina Connaughton; and Addison, in San Diego.

In addition to James Syhabout’s Commis, other two-star Bay Area honorees retaining that award included Acquerello, Birdsong, Californios, Lazy Bear and Saison in San Francisco.

In the South Bay/Peninsula, both the Plumed Horse in Saratoga, with chef Peter Armellino at the helm, and the Village Pub in Woodside, under the direction of chef Mark Sullivan and the Bacchus group, retained the one-star status they have held since 2009.

The other one-star honorees from this region include Protégé in Palo Alto from executive chef Anthony Secviar and master sommelier Dennis Kelly; Wakuriya, the contemporary Japanese restaurant in San Mateo from executive chef and owner Katsuhiro Yamasaki; and another Sullivan/Bacchus restaurant, Selby’s dinner house in Atherton.

Michelin again awarded a star to both San Francisco restaurants owned by chef-spouses Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski — State Bird Provisions and The Progress. Cupertino native Brioza (who grew up in Danville) and Los Gatos native Krasinski met at De Anza College in Cupertino.

One longtime standout lost its star after 17 years. George Aviet’s popular Chez TJ of Mountain View has been serving multi-course tasting menus in a Victorian house and garden under a succession of chefs.

As with all changes in star levels, Michelin inspectors — who review anonymously — make no comment regarding deletions or changes in star levels. That leaves owners, chefs and guests to speculate on what part of the dining experience may have been found lacking.

Michelin Guide officials say that their protocol requires inspectors to revisit all previous winners and new prospects with five criteria in mind: meal quality; harmony of flavors; mastery of technique; personality of the chef and cuisine; and consistency between each visit.