Localis

These Are America's Next Great Food Cities

"A Michelin-starred restaurant celebrated for inventive, seasonally driven dishes that highlight the region's abundant farm-fresh ingredients and underscore the city's culinary renaissance." - Regan Stephens

Michelin 2025: Stars and Winners in the San Francisco Bay Area | Eater SF

"A Sacramento restaurant whose sommelier, Chris Barnum-Dann, won the Michelin Sommelier Award; the restaurant earned its first star in 2022 and its team remained engaged with the awards night, serving bites in the venue lobby before the ceremony." - Paolo Bicchieri

Here Are All the Michelin Starred Restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area | Eater SF

"The menu changes monthly at this Sacramento gem, but expect nothing but locally-sourced, seasonal ingredients thoughtfully prepared by chef Christopher Barnum-Dann and his team. Barnum-Dann added the Michelin Sommelier Award to his list of accomplishments in 2025. (1 star)" - Eater Staff

Christopher Barnum-Dann of Localis is The MICHELIN Guide California 2025 Sommelier Award Winner

"At my One-MICHELIN-Star Sacramento restaurant I run an always-changing, travel-inspired tasting menu and also curate the wine list — I see being chef and sommelier as symbiosis, not separate roles. I was the winner of this year’s MICHELIN Guide California Sommelier Award, and my pairings (for example, spicy Thai food with an off-dry Riesling, or an octopus piccata called the 'Sacred Dish for the Sacred Memory' paired with a bouncy, herbal Zweigelt from Weingut Frank in Austria) reflect a creative, sophisticated palate. I keep a full cellar of against-the-grain favorites and use tableside persuasion to create wine-lovers out of novices; because I cook a lot of Thai food I maintain a huge Riesling list, and because our menu changes every five to six weeks I need a wide arsenal of wines. Early on I even offered 60 wines by the glass to pour something for everyone, and my approach to guests who don’t know where to start is to ask what they usually drink and gently steer them — for example nudging a Rombauer chardonnay drinker toward an affordable Burgundy and then gradually broadening their palate." - The MICHELIN Guide

"Together with his tight-knit team, Chef/owner Christopher Barnum-Dann brings unusual warmth to this intimate setting. His enthusiasm is instantly palpable as he happily explains his inspiration behind particular dishes and even solicits feedback. This is especially true for diners who sit at the spacious counter.The freewheeling tasting menu is thoroughly Californian in its commitment to carefully sourced ingredients, while also drawing upon global cuisines, reimagining flavors from the chef's travels with impressive imagination. Whimsy is a common thread throughout, as in a puffed pillow of crisp potato filled with "Fancy French Onion Dip" and caviar, or "The Dish That Made Us," a single woodfire-roasted octopus tentacle with black peppercorn sauce and pickled cherries." - Michelin Inspector