The Michelin Guide doesn’t just bestow stars on restaurants with exquisite $300 menus. The inspectors eat like real people between those upscale meals and recommend Bib Gourmand awards for restaurants that deliver “great food at a great value” — 123 of them in California this year.
How do they determine affordability? For years, the rule of thumb was a restaurant where you could order two courses and dessert or a glass of wine for about $40 per person. That price point moved up to $49 (excluding tax, tip) for the 2022 Michelin Guide and currently stands at $50.
Given the restaurant industry’s rising costs, we thought that number might have been raised to $60 or higher for 2025. But who are we to argue with Michelin? Unless our research proves otherwise.
We decided to check out the online menus at several of the Bib Gourmands in the Bay Area to see if we could find an appealing, innovative meal at that price. And, she chortles, we tried it with the dinner menus like we did in 2022, not the more affordable lunch menus.
Naturally, lunch and brunch prices are lower and, in this era of shareable plates, you get a lot more bang for your buck.
But here are our selections for a solo diner at the dinner hour:
EYLAN (Menlo Park); The Bay Area’s only new entrant on the Bib Gourmand list is this modern Cal-Indian restaurant from chef Srijith Gopinathan (of two-star Campton Place) and the team at Ettan in Palo Alto. The decor at this new restaurant is sumptuous, so we weren’t sure if we’d find a meal under the price limit. But it turns out there is a wood-fired Lamb Seekh Kebab small plate ($21) with smoked chile ghee. We’ll pair that with the “Tandoori” Butternut Squash and Pear Salad ($16) featuring a sprinkling of ‘goat cheese snow.” For dessert, the Masala Chai “Sundae” with whipped bourbon milk is priced right ($12). TOTAL: $49. DONE!
TOP HATTERS KITCHEN (San Leandro): On this eclectic menu, the Galangal Pork lettuce wrap plate ($20) caught our attention. We’ll start with a salad, Kohlrabi Slaw with Tamarind Dressing ($17) because (A) it sounds refreshing and (B) when was the last time you had kohlrabi? We could have saved $7 by ordering the $10 Savory Doughnuts appetizer, but we’re going with the Italian doughnuts for dessert. The Lemon Ricotta Zeppole ($10) brings a plate of eight and a dipping sauce, Earl Grey chocolate ganache or matcha cardamom cream. For a buck more, we can have both. TOTAL: $48. DONE!
THE BYWATER (Los Gatos): We don’t need to look at the menu to know what our entree will be at this NOLA tribute restaurant from acclaimed chef David Kinch (three-starred Manresa). Love the dusky Seafood Gumbo ($24), swimming with crab, crawfish and shrimp. We hate to pass up the Broiled Oysters Mosca with nduja as a starter, but that would put us over the top price-wise. So we’re choosing the Mixed Green Salad ($8 or $14 sizes), with shaved fennel and cucumber in a sherry vinaigrette. That leaves plenty of room under the price cap — if not the stomach — for the Manresa Bread Pecan Pie ($12). TOTAL: $44. DONE!
RANGE LIFE (Livermore): Among the seasonal offerings at this farm-to-table restaurant, the Liberty Duck Breast with Pickled Coral Cherries appealed to us, but that price ($38) wasn’t going to help craft an affordable three-course menu. So we’ll select the Radiatore with Smoked Tomato and Fried Eggplant ($26) and, as our appetizer, Cucumber & Caroselli Melon with baba ghanoush ($14), leaving us $10 for wine or dessert. The signature Milk & Honey dessert ($9), with malted milk ice cream and burnt honeycomb, does the trick. TOTAL: $49. DONE!
LUNA MEXICAN KITCHEN (San Jose, Campbell): We’re off to a good start, price-wise, with Camote ($10), charred sweet potato served with chipotle aioli. For our plato grande, we’re eyeing the Chile Relleno Picadillo ($20), a fire-roasted poblano with a “fragrant stew” of Niman Ranch grass-fed beef, tomato, peas, carrots, onions, herbs and spices sauteed in an egg souffle, and served with arroz roja and handmade tortillas. Our glass of wine is going to be the House Sangria ($13), spiked not just with brandy but also with banana liqueur. TOTAL: $43. DONE!
JO’S MODERN THAI (Oakland): At this creative Cal-Thai restaurant, we’d like to order the Drunken Noodles with smoked brisket, but we can’t quite make the pricing work. So we will go with the spicy Pork Laab Burger ($15) with makrut lime mayo or the vegetarian Japanese Eggplant Stir-Fry ($15) with fresh ginger off the entrees menu. Because that’s priced well, we can add nearly any one of the starters, like the Crispy Catfish Salad ($19). We like riesling with Thai food, and there are a couple on the wine list ($14 a glass). TOTAL: $48. DONE!
PAUSA BAR & COOKERY (San Mateo): This one is a challenge. Whereas other Bib Gourmand restaurants have a price range that makes it easy to craft a few options, Pausa is limited if you are trying to keep the tab at $50 for a solo diner. We would need to order the lowest-priced starter, a choice of one housemade salumi ($17), and the lowest-priced dish among the pizzas, pastas and entrees, which would be the Margherita pizza ($24), with 72-hour dough. Now, with $41 spent and $9 to go, there is just one option for dessert, a glass of limoncello ($9). Otherwise, desserts are $17 each and glasses of wine start at $14. And yes, we realize the options are much more varied if we dine here with a companion and share one of the specialty pizzas. TOTAL: $50. DONE!
SPINNING BONES (Alameda): At this fusion rotisserie, we figure we will need to start with the small appetizer of Pickled Vegetables ($10, cabbage-daikon kimchi, cucumbers, red onions) if we want to try an entree like the Pork Shoulder or Salmon ($28 each) and not a sando or burger. For the “plus” dish, we will select among the Coconut-Butter Mochi Cake, the Choco PB Torte and Banana Pudding with dulce de leche and bruleed bananas ($10 each). Yeah, we can’t resist bruleed anything. TOTAL: $48. DONE!
PETISCOS (San Jose): Choices abound at this small-plates Portuguese place, the sister restaurant to the upscale Adega in the Little Portugal district not far away. The menu at Petiscos, which was first named to Michelin’s Bib Gourmand list in 2023, is divided into Leaves & Legumes, Shells & Claws, Tentacles & Scales, Feathers & Bones, plus bread, starters and dessert. We will go with a surf-and-turf-style combo of Shrimp in Garlic Sauce ($18) and Flaming Chourico ($16) for our two “courses” — plus bread ($7) to mop up the sauce. We’ll wind down with the country’s famous Pastel de Nata ($6) for dessert. TOTAL: $47. DONE!
LOS CARNALITOS (Hayward): The Michelin inspectors praised this eatery for delivering Mexico City flavors and dishes rarely seen on typical taqueria menus. With that in mind, we’ll start with a Flor de Calabaza Quesadilla ($13), with squash blossoms, then try a guajillo-sauced Pambazo ($12), stuffed with Tinga de Res, beef with onions in chipotle sauce. Or we could order one of each meat-filled taco (asada, pastor, pollo, carnitas, suadero, chorizo, cochinita, cabeza, lengua) and the tally would be under $30. For dessert, we’re deciding between the housemade Chocoflan ($8) or Churros ($9). TOTAL: $34. DONE!
ORCHARD CITY KITCHEN (Campbell): Folks generally go to OCK with others so they can share a number of creative small plates on the ever-changing menu. But since we’re dining solo for our faux meal on the Bib Gourmand budget, we’re thinking of the Tempura Mushrooms ($14) with ginger and white pepper as an appetizer. For the main, two selections sound particularly appealing: Seared Hokkaido Scallops ($26), with chrysanthemum pesto and pickled asparagus, and Mary’s Seared Duck Breast ($26), with rhubarb and snap peas. Dessert will be Butterscotch Pudding ($9), topped with cocoa nibs and whipped cream, to fit under the price cap. TOTAL: $49. DONE!
CHINA VILLAGE (Albany): If you’re a fan of spice, this Solano Avenue mainstay has your number. We’d love to try one of their signature dishes, but we need to see if the Bib Gourmand pricing works out. We’ll start with Cucumber with Spicy Garlic Sauce ($10.95) from the cold appetizer list, then jump to the dessert menu to find an affordable offering. Looks like that will be the Sweet Red Bean Pancake ($9.95), leaving just enough for the Famous Five-Spice Pork Shoulder ($28.95) as our main dish. If you want to go in a different direction or spend less money on your meal, you’ll have a staggering array of options — we counted more than 210 dishes on the menu, from clay pots to “exotic sweetmeats.” TOTAL: $49.85. DONE!