Michelin awards: Can you really dine for $49 at these ‘affordable’ Bib Gourmand restaurants?

The Michelin Guide doesn’t just bestow stars on restaurants with exquisite $300 menus. The inspectors eat like real people between those swanky meals and recommend Bib Gourmand awards for restaurants that deliver “great food at a great value” — 141 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, thanks to inflation and other rising costs.

Really, $49?? I mean, we know they eat out for a living, but they do it on an expense account.

So we decided to check out the online menus at several of the 56 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, not the more affordable lunch ones. Here we go …

TOP HATTER KITCHEN (San Leandro): Hmm, the first dish that appealed to us on this eclectic menu was the Grilled Lemongrass Beef Short Rib, a dinner-only lettuce wrap ($22). We’ll add an appetizer of Young Jackfruit with sesame rice crackers and accompaniments ($11) and then move right to dessert, the Lemon Ricotta Zeppole ($7). That’s $40, leaving us enough to add a dipping sauce for those Italian doughnuts. We’ll go with the Earl Grey chocolate ganache for $2 more. TOTAL: $42. DONE!

THE BYWATER (Los Gatos): This will be challenging. My entree is a given: The dusky Seafood Gumbo File ($23), swimming with crab, oyster and crawfish. Hate to pass up the Shrimp & Avocado Remoulade as a starter but that will put me over the top price-wise. So I’m choosing the Mixed Green Salad ($14), with shaved fennel and cucumber in a sherry vinaigrette. That leaves just enough room under the Bib Gourmand price cap for the Butterscotch Pot de Creme ($12). TOTAL: $49. DONE!

JO’S MODERN THAI (Oakland): This is one of the new honorees for 2022. We’ve heard great things about the Pork Laab Burger with makrut lime mayo ($15), so that will be our main. Because that’s priced well, we can add any one of the starters, like the Monterey Squid Salad ($17). We like riesling with Thai food, and there’s an Austrian Weingut Aigner ($12 a glass) on the wine list. TOTAL: $44. DONE!

PAUSA BAR & COOKERY (San Mateo): Pricing a Bib Gourmand menu at a shared-plates restaurant requires some agreement. Looks like we’ll be sharing pizza tonight, and I’m picking. We’ll start with the Baby Lacinato Kale salad with compressed pear, romanesco and other goodies ($18, or $9 each). The Duck Confit Pizza, with housemade mozzarella and caramelized balsamic onions, sounds too delish to pass up ($29, or $14.50 each). We’ll supplement with a bright Lambrusco from Emilia-Romagna for $13 a glass. Wish they sold small tastes of their housemade salumi because we have money left over. TOTAL: $36.50. DONE!

GOOD GOOD CULTURE CLUB (San Francisco): At this new Bib Gourmand entry, the Good Good Ohana Menu sounds like a good deal — with lots of fun bites — for $60 per person, but that’s out of our budget. Looks like we need to go with the least-expensive (but very delicious sounding) entree of Mom’s Lao Sausage, with pickled broccoli rabe ($18). First we’ll nibble on the Lao Snack Plate ($16) — sesame beef jerky, beef tendon puffs, Japanese cucumbers and the Laotian eggplant dip called jaew. We’ll follow up with Pandan Bibingka ($10), with miso caramel anglaise. TOTAL: $44 or less, if we are sharing that appetizer plate. DONE!

MILLENNIUM (Oakland): The online menu offers a sampling of the types of dishes you’ll find at this creative vegan restaurant. We’ll nibble on Housemade Pickled Veggies ($7), then tuck into a main dish. The Millennium Burger ($19) satisfies even tried-and-true meat-eaters, but we’re going with the Mushroom Estofado ($26), a stew with grilled king trumpet, butter bolete and oyster mushrooms, tons of veggies and seared polenta cake. For dessert, we can’t resist the Apple Spice Cake with maple-calvados brandy ice cream, citrus-apple cider sauce and cookie crumble ($12). TOTAL: $45. 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 if you happened to be dining alone on the Bib Gourmand budget, consider the Wood-Fired Artichoke with aioli ($9) as an appetizer and the Branzino with olive and grape tapenade ($20) as your main. Wrap up the meal with a ramekin of Butterscotch Pudding ($7) topped with cocoa nibs and whiskey whipped cream. TOTAL: $36. DONE!

COMAL (Berkeley): We can eat well at this contemporary Mexican eatery and easily stay under the limit. Bitter Greens ($14), a seasonal salad with persimmons, pomegranate, spiced pepitas and Manchego, piqued our interest. Our main is even cheaper, the Chicken Tamales with Mole Negro ($12). We’ll stick with the theme for dessert and order the Oaxacan Chocolate Budino ($10). TOTAL: $36. DONE!

SPINNING BONES (Alameda): At this fusion rotisserie, where all the meats spend some time in a fermented marinade of shio koji, we decided on Pork Shoulder with garlic-jalapeno garum (a fish sauce), pickled cabbage slaw and watermelon radish ($22) and Corn Fritters made with rice flour and served with an intriguing addition, strawberry jam ($12). For our “plus” dish, we can select between Coconut-Butter Mochi Cake ($9) or a glass of sake or wine ($9). TOTAL: $43. DONE!

STOCKHOME (Petaluma): Swedish and Middle Eastern food! We need to try dishes off both menus, so we’ll order an appetizer of Fried Halloumi ($12), followed by a main dish of Swedish Meatballs ($24), served with mashed potatoes, pickled cucumbers and the obligatory lingonberry sauce. Then we’ll switch cuisines again and have Baklava ($10) for dessert. TOTAL: $46. DONE!

LUNA MEXICAN KITCHEN (San Jose, Campbell): We’re off to a good start, price-wise, with Queso Flameado ($10) from the appetizer menu. The melted cheese is studded with fire-roasted peppers and served with homemade tortillas. For a main, we’re eyeing the Lamb Barbacoa ($27), Niman Ranch lamb slow-cooked in a chipotle sauce, which comes with Rancho Gordo beans. Our glass of wine is going to be the House Sangria ($11), spiked not just with brandy but also with banana liqueur. TOTAL: $48. DONE!