It’s Official: Three-Michelin-Star Manresa Is Closing at the End of the Year

Is there such a thing as Manresa without chef and owner David Kinch? It seems the answer is, sadly, no. In a press release shared Monday morning, November 7, Kinch announced plans to close the esteemed 20-year-old Los Gatos restaurant, which holds three Michelin stars. Still, the news shouldn’t come as a complete shock to those paying attention; in August, Kinch announced his plans to part ways with the landmark restaurant at the end of this year. At the time, Kinch also said he was looking to sell the property on which the restaurant sits and the business itself, noting that he hoped the restaurant would be able to continue without him.

Now it seems those aspirations for the future of the restaurant just didn’t come to fruition. In Monday’s announcement, Kinch and the Manresa management team say they’re looking forward to a big final month for the restaurant. Reservations for the standard tasting menu ($595 tasting menu; $255 optional wine pairings) will be available from December 1 through 30, though the restaurant’s only open Wednesday through Sunday with the exception of the final two weeks of the year, when it will serve dinner Tuesday through Saturday night.

Kinch opened Manresa two decades ago to bring seasonal and ingredient-driven fine dining to the Central Coast; he’s credited with helping bolster the Bay Area’s reputation as a fine dining destination. On top of earning three Michelin stars for six consecutive years, Manresa and Kinch have racked up a laundry list of the restaurant industry’s highest accolades including a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Pacific, a AAA Five Diamond Rating, and inclusion in World’s 50 Best. Manresa alumni have also gone on to open highly regarded restaurants of their own including Jeremy Fox (Birdie G’s, Rustic Canyon) and James Syhabout of Oakland’s Commis, who was named a finalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef: California in 2021.

For the final night of service on December 31, Kinch and the Manresa team are planning a special blowout menu with “luxury additions at every turn,” the press release says. And as long as the $725 tasting menu (plus $325 optional wine pairings) doesn’t make you flinch, there’s the promise of no added supplement charges for ingredients such as truffles, caviar, and “treasures from the wine cellar.”

Anyone wanting a last taste of Manresa will want to mark their calendars for 12 a.m. PST on November 14, when reservations will be released on Tock. After Manresa closes on January 1, Kinch will shift his focus to his more casual dining concepts including the Bywater in Los Gatos, Mentone in Aptos, and bakery Manresa Bread, which has locations around the Bay Area.