MICHELIN TO INCLUDE SACRAMENTO IN REGIONAL GUIDE

For the first time, Michelin is creating a regional dining guide for a state in the United States, and it chose five California cities to include: Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Monterey.

More than 700 restaurants will be featured in the guide once it is published later this year, and Sacramento is expected to feature prominently. At a press event March 5 in which Michelin brought in some of its most famous starred chefs, including Thomas Keller of The French Laundry, they all praised Sacramento's access to fresh local food -- both proteins and crops -- as important to being able to produce quality food, with Keller saying that access to such products is instrumental in the ability for a chef to earn a coveted Michelin star.

Michelin will award stars to deserving chefs up and down the state at an event in Huntington Beach June 4. Sign up for the Dig In newsletter to stay up to date with all the latest news from America's Farm-to-Fork Capital.