One of the highest honors in the restaurant industry are the Michelin Awards, and they are back after a yearlong pause.

In an interview for LA Times Today, food writer Stephanie Breijo joined host Lisa McRee to share the Southland winners of the coveted Michelin stars. 

One of the winners of the 2021 awards is the highly acclaimed restaurant, Mélisse in Santa Monica.

"Mélisse is a beautiful tasting menu concept from Josiah Citrin," Breijo said. "He was one of the few winners when Michelin came by years and years ago. (He) was not on the 2019 guide. His restaurant was in sort of a changing state, and now it's back, and it is just as beautiful as ever. It's got a new dining room as of the last couple of years, and it's more relevant than ever, according to Michelin especially."

The Michelin Awards have a divisive star rating system for each winning restaurant. Breijo says Mélisse received a two-star rating.

"There are actually three stars available currently," Breijo said. "Sadly, Los Angeles still does not have any three-star restaurants, but one-star denotes a very good restaurant in its category; two stars means it is excellent cuisine and worth a detour. Three stars means that it is worth its own designated journey."

Another LA restaurant that received a two-star rating was Hayato in the Arts District.

"It is a lovely Kaiseki format Japanese restaurant in the Arts District in ROW DTLA, from a chef named Brandon Go. It offers these intimate, gorgeous dinners that are extremely detail oriented. And it also offers a lovely bento for lunchtime," Breijo added.

San Diego has become a big food destination, and Jeune et Jolie in Carlsbad was one of the one-star designations.

"Jeune et Jolie is owned by executive chef Eric Bost," Breijo said. "He, sadly, had to close his LA restaurant Auburn during the pandemic. But it's really wonderful to see him get recognized for this other project because I think a lot of us thought that Auburn might be somewhat of a Michelin contender when it opened. And so sad to see that close, but it is great to see him so recognized now in Carlsbad."

The stars that are given to Michelin-Award winning restaurants can be a big help for restaurants' revenue.

"There have been a lot of really good, important discussions that have been had about Michelin over the years, especially given the prevalence of French cuisine," Breijo said "It rose to sort of the foremost recognized sort of genre, Japanese food also. Fine dining a lot of times hits the stars here in the U.S. But if you go to Asia, there are Michelin stars awarded to dim sum houses that make beautiful, handcrafted dumplings."

"There has been a bit of a discussion about why is so much importance placed on French cuisine or fine dining," Breijo said. "What about all of LA's taquerias? What about these other forms of dining that we have? So, it's been interesting to see that evolve over the years and to see where it might hit."

Michelin stars are bestowed upon restaurants by a team of anonymous inspectors, but those stars have been a little controversial to Los Angeles in the last decade.

"In in Los Angeles, I think a lot of people felt a little jilted in terms of their abandonment of Los Angeles," Breijo said. "Michelin continued to award stars in San Francisco throughout that decade. It wasn't until they came back in 2019 with the statewide guides that they really paid attention to LA, but everyone who lives here and eats here knows that LA is an incredible world-class dining city with or without Michelin stars. I think there has been a lot of excitement to see it come back, and they are inarguably the most prestigious global dining awards. I think that a lot of people also know that Los Angeles is a great food city with or without stars."

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