The Best Places To Eat In CA: 2024’s Ultimate List

CALIFORNIA — We all have a favorite place to eat in California, and food critics, magazines and networks, and other groups agree — including some of them in 2024 “best of” lists and awards.

One measure of the quality of restaurants and eateries in the Golden State is the number of James Beard winners and nominees.

This year, the Golden State was well represented among winners, which included a long-running, family-owned restaurant in Northern California and a SoCal chef who serves up modern Filipino food.

Making it to the semifinals also carries plenty of prestige. In California, there were 39 semifinalists this year, covering the following categories: outstanding restaurateur, outstanding chef, outstanding restaurant, emerging chef, best new restaurant, outstanding bakery, outstanding pastry chef or baker, outstanding hospitality, outstanding wine and other beverages program, outstanding bar and best chef.

Read Patch's full coverage of the James Beard Awards:

• James Beard America’s Classics
• James Beard Foundation Best Chef winner
• James Beard Foundation semifinalists

While the James Beard awards may be "the Oscars of food," there are plenty of other ways Golden State restaurants earned recognition in 2024.

That included numerous lists. Some were high-brow — like the Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards and the Michelin California Guide. Others were more about the vibe, like OpenTable's rundown of the country's most romantic restaurants.

Check out the following lists for a range of tastes:

• Esquire’s Best New Restaurants
• People’s 50 Most Beautiful Restaurants
• OpenTable’s 100 Best Brunch Spots in Northern California and Southern California
• OpenTable’s 100 Most Romantic Restaurants
• OpenTable's Top 100 Restaurants
• Food & Wine’s 21 Best Restaurants
• Wine Spectator Restaurant Award winners in Northern California and Southern California
• Michelin California Guide 2024 additions