29 June 2026
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When the MICHELIN Guide California Selection was announced on June 24, 2026, two restaurants made history by joining the vaunted ranks of MICHELIN Three Stars. Enclos, in Sonoma, was one of the two (read about the other Three-Star, Californios, here).
Enclos opened in December 2024, earning Two MICHELIN Stars in the 2025 Guide. And, while the bounty of Sonoma is on display at the restaurant nestled inside an 1830s Victorian home in downtown Sonoma, Chef Brian Limoges also draws heavily on his New England upbringing, weaving connections between the two regions throughout the menu.
“We think about parallels, and a lot of it is seafood, coastal cuisine,” says Limoges.
A Sonoma Twist on Lobster Rolls and Clam Chowder
The first bite on the tasting menu is a lobster roll that delivers all the flavors of the classic sandwich, but in the form of a small, delicate croustade. The croustade is fried in beer batter to lend a yeasty quality that echoes a traditional bun.But it’s the lobster flavor that sings the loudest. The dish is typically made with spiny lobster, which takes inspiration from the Pacific, but the kitchen pivots to Maine lobster when spiny is out of season. The bite includes capers made from coriander buds, yuzu kosho crafted from local habanadas (a variety of habanero pepper that isn’t spicy) and a green goddess purée.
“I love a good lobster roll when there are a lot of chives in it, a lot of tarragon — so we make a green goddess with all of those things, and you get all those flavors together,” says Limoges.
Narrative is a key component of the Enclos experience. “It’s about being able to tell stories about my upbringing, and how that has been inspired by Sonoma and Sonoma ingredients,” says Limoges, “but it’s also about those ingredients through the lens of different techniques and cuisines: Japanese cooking, the Nordic sense of time and place, and French discipline and French technique.”
Another dish that speaks to Limoges’ roots is a clam chowder chawanmushi: a savory, delicate custard prepared with Pacific clams, 100-day-aged pork belly katsuobushi (dried bonito flake) broth, fermented white asparagus chowder, lemon and caviar.
“It packs an oceanic punch,” says Limoges.
How Storytelling and Seasonality Define the Menu
The experience goes beyond seafood.“When I first moved to Sonoma, I got to know the area by going on a lot of hikes. I've come across groups of deer in a clearing,” says Limoges. “The state animal of New Hampshire (where Limoges grew up) is the white-tailed deer,” he adds.
On the menu, a venison tartare served on an antler provides an opportunity for conversation about Sonoma as well as New Hampshire.
Guided by a respect for nature, seasonality and place, Enclos receives an abundance of produce from the estate gardens at Stone Edge Farm, which shares ownership with the restaurant. The partnership gives Limoges access to more than 100 varieties of heirloom vegetables and fruits, along with herbs, honey and eggs, often at times of year when they are not typically available.
“Sonoma has like a 30°-to-40°-degree swing from the morning to the night, which impacts the way vegetables grow,” says Limoges. “Depending on the type of season we have, we can grow something like husk cherries over the course of the winter. Where most people would get those gooseberries this time of year [May/June] when it gets a little hotter, we had them in February.”
The husk cherries are juiced and fermented or dried above the hearth and preserved in infused oil as a garnish for a savory Neapolitan pie. Fresh husk cherries are also used in a dish called “Fruits de Mer,” a new favorite of Limoges that combines all three iterations of the fruit with spot prawns, pink scallops and a tomato veil, balancing sweetness and acidity.
The ultimate goal?
“We try to evoke certain emotions through food, whether we talk about it [at the table] or not. I think that there's something special if you can capture nostalgia and a fine dining meal and wrap those things together. The emotions that come out with that are what I've always loved.”
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Hero image: Chef Brian Limoges prepping in the kitchen. © Colin Peck & Adahlia Cole
Thumb image: Spiny lobster roll croustade © Colin Peck & Adahlia Cole
