We said the other day that it would be pretty mean-spirited of the Michelin inspectors to strip any restaurant of stars it earned in 2019, especially if it had been closed during the pandemic until recently, but they went there in the case of a couple of San Francisco favorites for reasons unknown.

The new 2021 Michelin Guide for California adds a whopping 22 restaurants to the one-star ranks, with five of those in San Francisco. And two local chefs whose stars were notably on the rise before the pandemic hit have joined the ranks of Michelin two-star chefs: former Saison chef Matthew Kammerer for Harbor House Inn in Mendocino County (Kammerer also won a Food & Wine Best New Chef honor in 2019); and former Benu, Saison, and Atelier Crenn chef Christopher Bleidorn, for his SoMa restaurant Birdsong that opened in 2019 and earned one Michelin star that year.

All of the Bay Area's three-star restaurants held their stars, as did the previous seven two-star honorees — including the recently relocated Californios, and the format-altered Lazy Bear. And Los Angeles still has no three-star restaurant, but it did gain two two-star entries: Chef Josiah Citrin's Mélisse in Santa Monica, and DTLA Japanese spot Hayato.

Among the big winners for SF restaurants are a couple of 2018 debuts that earn their first stars this year: chef Rodney Wages's prix fixe spot The Avery; and Financial District omakase spot The Shota, which recently reopened. Also, the top-floor fining spot at Union Square's ONE65, O’ by Claude Le Tohic, earned a star; as did Bernal Heights spot Marlena, which opened in 2020 and got kudos from the inspectors as a "New Discovery" as well; and the Omakase Group's Niku Steakhouse in the Design District.

One surprise for Healdsburg is the addition of 16-year-old Barndiva on the one-star list for the first time.

Strangely, a couple of restaurants that remain closed from the pandemic — Bar Crenn and Kin Khao — retained their stars, though their reopenings are all but guaranteed. Meanwhile, two acclaimed restaurants that have reopened to an adoring public, Rich Table and Octavia, were stripped of their stars. A similar fate befell Octavia's sister spot Frances several years back, and it never regained its star despite turning out consistently great food — and inspectors may have decided to leave it off while it regains its footing with a new chef de cuisine, but really when you've included two restaurants that are currently closed? And Rich Table has been back open for many months now with two outdoor parklets, serving still excellent food, but apparently an inspector was less than thrilled?

And perhaps we can take as evidence that not everything is hyper-organized over at the Michelin camp that In Situ, the permanently closed restaurant from the Benu team at SFMOMA, was kept on the one-star list until they were alerted to their mistake Tuesday morning.

See all the new additions for the rest of California on the Michelin site, and you can get the full guide by downloading the Michelin app. Below, the full 2021 list of star recipients for the Bay Area.

Three stars

Atelier Crenn, San Francisco

Benu, San Francisco

The French Laundry, Yountville

Manresa, Los Gatos

Quince, San Francisco

SingleThread, Healdsburg

Two stars

Acquerello, San Francisco

Birdsong, San Francisco (NEW)

Californios, San Francisco

Campton Place, San Francisco

Coi, San Francisco

Commis, Oakland

Harbor House Inn, Elk (Mendocino County) (NEW)

Lazy Bear, San Francisco

Saison, San Francisco

One star

Adega, San Jose (NEW)

AL’s Place, San Francisco

Angler, San Francisco

Auberge du Soleil, Rutherford

Aubergine, Carmel-by-the-Sea (Monterey County)

Avery, San Francisco (NEW)

Bar Crenn, San Francisco

Barndiva, Healdsburg (NEW)

Chez TJ, Mountain View

Gary Danko, San Francisco

Ju-Ni, San Francisco

Kenzo, Napa

Kin Khao, San Francisco

The Kitchen, Sacramento

La Toque, Napa

Madcap, San Anselmo

Madera, Menlo Park

Marlena, San Francisco (NEW)

Mister Jiu’s, San Francisco

Mourad, San Francisco

Niku Steakhouse, San Francisco (NEW)

O’ by Claude Le Tohic, San Francisco (NEW)

Omakase, San Francisco

Plumed Horse, Saratoga

The Progress, San Francisco

Protégé, Palo Alto

Rasa, Burlingame

Selby’s, Atherton (NEW)

The Shota, San Francisco (NEW)

Sons & Daughters, San Francisco

Sorrel, San Francisco

SPQR, San Francisco

Spruce, San Francisco

State Bird Provisions, San Francisco

Sushi Shin, Redwood City (NEW)

Sushi Yoshizumi, San Mateo

The Village Pub, Woodside

Waku, San Francisco

Wakuriya, San Mateo

Related: The 14 Best Michelin-Starred Restaurants That Have Reopened In San Francisco