Here’s Where to Eat in the West Right Now

The Sunset Travel Awards celebrate the best in travel in the West, and this year we had another record-breaking number of entrants of the highest level across all categories. These eateries are the 2024 winners of the Where to Eat: Restaurants category. Check out the complete list of winners here. For our definitive and searchable travel directory to help you plan your next trip in the West, click here.

Valle

Jordan Younis

In Oceanside, California, Chef Roberto Alcocer prepares intricate seasonal tasting menus inspired by Mexico’s Valle de Guadalupe. Tinged by the smoke of open fire and charcoal, the dishes are paired with northern Mexican wines and feature sustainably sourced ingredients plated on custom-made ceramics. It’s the sole Michelin-starred Mexican restaurant in Southern California and worthy of all the accolades.

sắp sửa

Casey Wilson

First-generation Vietnamese American husband-and-wife team Ni and Anna Nguyen started sắp sửa as a pop-up, and they recently opened the brick-and-mortar location in Denver’s East Colfax neighborhood. Their modern take on Vietnamese classics is inspired by their family recipes, including crave-worthy bắp cải luộc (charred cabbage with anchovy breadcrumbs and egg yolk) that was inspired by humble meals that Ni’s mom would make after work.

La Baleine Café

Courtesy of La Baleine Café

This Homer, Alaska, breakfast and lunch spot overlooking Kachemak Bay serves elevated cafe classics such as breakfast burritos and eggs Benedict (albeit made with locally sourced produce and executed with perfect technique) alongside dishes that express the breadth and excellence of local seafood. Think housemade ramen enriched with seasonal fish and an open-face Alaska crab melt. A Homer must-visit.

Caruso’s

Courtesy of Rosewood Miramar Beach

Winner of both a Michelin star and a Michelin green star for sustainability, the signature seaside restaurant at the opulent Rosewood Miramar Beach features mindfully sourced seafood exactingly prepared. Influenced by chef Massimo Falsini’s Italian heritage and built on the bounty of local ranches, farms, and waters, the menu is a celebratory expression of Central Coast cuisine.

BATA

Courtesy of BATA

With a wood-fired hearth at the center of the kitchen, Chef Tyler Fenton’s BATA in Tucson is the kind of elemental restaurant every city deserves. With a 400-mile sourcing rule, the restaurant uses micro-seasonal produce and local meats, with every dish containing an element that has been grilled, seared, smoked, charred, or cooked in the coals to create a new, fire-first Sonoran cuisine.

The Harbor House Inn

Matt Morris

This 20-seat restaurant overlooking the sweeping Mendocino coastline emphasizes hyper-local ingredients sourced from the property’s own farm, with a lens focused on making the most of the ocean’s bounty, particularly the harvesting of seaweed for items like nori broth and seaweed ice cream, as well as innovative zero-proof pairings like the “Seaweed Chardonnay,” which utilizes local sea vegetables and botanicals to match the menu.

Aphotic

Kelly Puleio

At this Michelin star- and green star-awarded restaurant, Chef Peter Hemsley and his team source exclusively from local aquaculture practitioners, relish elevating underutilized fish, and forge a new way in West Coast seafood cookery in a stunning, broodingly elegant space. The 11-course tasting menu, inspired by Bay Area seasonality, pairs perfectly with the in-house distilled spirits program. To book here is to taste the future of sustainable fine dining.

Arden Waikiki

Courtesy of Arden Waikiki

Helmed by husband-and-wife chefs Makoto Ono and Amanda Cheng, and nestled at the foot of Diamond Head crater, this welcoming restaurant—all warm teak, lush plantings, and woven fixtures—celebrates island produce, meats, and aquaculture in dishes like Maui venison tartare, Kauai prawn toast, and a romaine salad with macadamia nut tofu dressing. A culinary refuge in bustling Waikiki.

Loquita

Haley Garces

Located in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone, Loquita has been a mainstay for many years. The restaurant serves up Spanish cuisine that’s fitting considering the region’s mission history, including wood-fired tapas and paellas made with the area’s freshest catch, with Mediterranean wines and vermouths to match.

ōkta

Thomas J. Story

At his restaurant inside the Tributary Hotel, chef-partner Matthew Lightner shares the bounty of the property’s regenerative farm in his innovative menus and incredible in-room breakfast service. The ever-evolving dishes put the Willamette Valley terroir at center stage. Each beautifully composed element on the plate is painstakingly considered, from the pickled items conjured up in the fermentation lab down to the locally made earthenware.

Alma Fonda Fina

Shawn Campbell

Born and raised in Guadalajara, chef Johnny Curiel is showcasing ancient cooking traditions at his eight-seat Chef’s Counter in Denver’s LoHi neighborhood. Diners swoon over his take on dishes like Frijoles Puercos, a homage to his mother’s cherished recipe made with chorizo rojo and house-made chile de arbol salsa verde on sourdough flour tortillas topped with queso fresco.

Safta

Thomas J. Story

Located at Denver’s The Source Hotel and led by two-time James Beard Award-winning Chef Alon Shaya, Safta, named after the Hebrew word for “grandmother,” features Israeli recipes inspired by Shaya’s own safta. The modern Israeli menu includes exactingly prepared wood-fired pita, silky hummus with seasonal toppings like foraged mushrooms or lamb ragù, and a festive Israeli brunch with dishes like shakshouka and smoked salmon.

Manta

Courtesy of The Cape, a Thompson Hotel

Legendary Mexican chef Enrique Olvera’s Manta at The Cape remains one of Baja’s best restaurants. Expect tortillas made in-house from heirloom corn masa, aguachiles, ceviches, grilled seafood, and other preparations that take inspiration from Peru, Japan, Mexico, and beyond. Sit on the oceanside terrace, pick a sotol or mezcal from the extensive agave spirits list, and enjoy world-class modern Mexican food by the roiling surf of Cabo San Lucas.

Carmel-by-the-Sea

Erin Ng

Many know Carmel for the breathtaking 17-Mile Drive, which winds through a magnificent California coastline, and for being the location of the annual PGA Tour at Pebble Beach, but the dining scene is worth planning a visit for year-round. This small town has a whopping 60 restaurants within walking distance of each other, and in between, you’ll find locally owned wine-tasting rooms that highlight the best of Monterey County’s wineries.