Californios (restaurant)

Chef Val M. Cantu ran a series of Mexican pop-up restaurants called Californios for two years.[1] He then opened the permanent location using the same name at 3115 22nd Street (near South Van Ness Avenue) of Mission District in January 2015.[2][3] Californios's seating capacity was eighteen in the dining room and six at the chef's counter.[4] Reservations only at least one week in advance were accepted.[2] Cantu's wife Carolyn designed the restaurant's interior settings, including greyed storefront windows, dark paneled walls, dark crystal chandeliers, and tufted banquettes.[2] The interior design was dark, and windows were tinted.[5]

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Californios's original location was closed in 2020.[6] The restaurant then in early 2021 was relocated to 355 11th Street of the South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood, the former site of Bar Agricole. The location's seating capacity, while partially under construction, remained the same, but "a private dining room" was added. The new location would have fitted at least one hundred diners, but Cantu limited the capacity "to maintain quality". Chandeliers and concrete booths belonging to Bar Agricole were removed. Floors and walls were remade. The new kitchen equipment included a custom hearth and custom smoker.[6]

The restaurant's capacity was doubled to about fifty seats later that year.[7] The SoMa location's size is 4,959 sq ft (460.7 m²), including an 1,742 sq ft (161.8 m²) outdoor patio. The location's lease was signed in October to Matarozzi Pelsinger Builders.[8]

Cantu's family ran a Mexican restaurant in Brownwood, Texas, in where he was raised.[9] His recipes have blended Mexican and northern Californian cuisines and have been inspired by his maternal grandmother Rosa's.[10][9] The menu has changed monthly with minor tweaks almost every night and has been set to fixed prices.[2][9]

Food critic Michael Bauer of San Francisco Chronicle visited the original location of Californios three times and then in March 2015 rated it overall, the food, service, and atmosphere three out of four stars each.[2] Later in October 2017, Bauer rated it overall, the food, and service four out of four stars each and its atmosphere three out of four.[9] He did not list Californios as one of his top ten new San Francisco restaurants of 2015.[11] Nevertheless, he listed it as one of his top 100 restaurants in 2016[12] and then in 2018.[4]

Californios received its first Michelin star in October 2015[13] and then its second in October 2017, becoming the first Mexican restaurant in the US to earn two Michelin stars.[14] As of August 2021, it remains the only two-Michelin-starred Mexican restaurant in the US.[15]

Val M. Cantu graduated in 2006 from the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied business and English literature.[9] Cantu began his hospitality career by working for a Japanese restaurant Uchi in Austin, Texas, and worked for other restaurants, such as a Mexican restaurant Pujol in Mexico City and a California-inspired restaurant Sons & Daughters as a sous chef in San Francisco.[1][9] While working for Uchi, he attended Austin Community College.[9]

Cantu, his wife Carolyn, and his sister-in-law Charlotte Randolph, beverage director of Californios and former employee of another restaurant the French Laundry, have co-owned the restaurant throughout its run in old and new locations.[2][6]

Food & Wine magazine named him one of "Best New Chefs" of 2017.[16][17]

• Cantu, Val (January 15, 2015). "Val Cantu talks Mexican cuisine, rancheros and Californios, now open in the Mission". SFGate (Interview). Interviewed by Paolo Lucchesi. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
• Mangan, Ben (2002). "Three's a Charm: The Warmth of Panchitas #3". SFStation. Archived from the original on February 21, 2003. Retrieved March 5, 2022.

• Official website
• Manos Nouveau at the Wayback Machine (archived October 20, 2014)