Esquire's 2022 Best New Restaurants: The Complete List

Kann is Portland's James Beard Award-winning live-fire Haitian restaurant from chef Gregory Gourdet, ranked #117 on Opinionated About Dining's 2025 Casual North America list. Wood-fired cooking anchors a Caribbean-inspired menu that is entirely gluten and dairy-free, backed by a 550-bottle wine list weighted toward France and Oregon. Open Tuesday through Sunday from 4pm at 548 SE Ash St.

Yangban Society, the visionary project from chefs Katianna and John Hong, reimagines modern Korean-American cuisine through a lens of bold technique and intimate artistry. Within a moody, industrial-chic setting softened by sculptural paper lanterns and lush greenery, the menu balances indulgence and nuance—think golden Hokkaido scallop toast glossed with brown butter and grated egg, ocean trout nestled in beurre blanc brightened with white kimchi, and double-fried wings lacquered to crystalline crispness. A nod to Korean flavors with unexpected Jewish deli inflections, Yangban’s spirit is both communal and couture, drawing discerning diners who savor inventive craft, textural extravagance, and a palpable sense of place.

Ranked third on Esquire's Best New Restaurants list in 2022, Neng Jr.'s brought Filipino cooking to Asheville's West Haywood corridor at a moment when the city's dining scene was already drawing national attention. The restaurant operates within a small-plates tradition rooted in the Philippines, placing it alongside a growing cohort of Southeast Asian kitchens earning serious critical recognition across American cities. With a 4.8 Google rating across 243 reviews, it holds its ground in a competitive local field.

Canje brings Guyanese and broader Caribbean cooking to East Austin's 6th Street corridor, earning an Esquire Best New Restaurants #4 ranking in 2022 and a Pearl Recommended designation in 2025. With a 4.6 Google rating across more than 1,100 reviews, it occupies a distinctive position in Austin's dining scene — a city better known for barbecue and New American tasting menus than for the flavors of the Anglophone Caribbean.

At 45 Rockefeller Plaza, Le Rock translates the French brasserie format for one of Midtown Manhattan's most architecturally charged addresses. The team behind Frenchette brought the same Francophile conviction here, earning OAD recognition and a 2025 James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurateur. Dim Art Deco interiors, a high-velocity bar program, and a menu anchored in classical technique make it one of the more serious French dining rooms in the Rockefeller Center corridor.

The sister izakaya to n/naka brings Niki Nakayama and Carole Iida-Nakayama's Japanese-California sensibility to Mid-City at a register far easier to book. Head chef Yoji Tajima runs a menu that moves between crudités with mochi flatbread, seasonal donabe rice, and cocktails built on aged sake and California produce. Opinionated About Dining ranked it #196 in North America for 2025, and the LA Times placed it at #90 on its 2024 list of 101 best restaurants.

Kasama occupies a rare position in American dining: a Filipino restaurant holding a Michelin star and a James Beard Award, operating as a daytime bakery and café before transforming into a 13-course tasting menu destination by night. Located in Chicago's East Ukrainian Village, it draws on the culinary pedigrees of Genie Kwon and Timothy Flores to reframe Filipino cuisine within the language of contemporary fine dining.

Opened in 2022, Saffy's brought a sharp reappraisal of Middle Eastern cooking to East Hollywood, earning a Michelin Plate and a rank of #22 on the LA Times 101 Best Restaurants list. The team behind Bestia and Bavel applies serious technique to kebabs, shawarma, and a roster of appetizers that draw from Levantine, Persian, and North African traditions. Open nightly from 5pm, with a daytime café serving pastries, shakshuka, and lunch.

Audrey brings Sean Brock's deep engagement with Southern Appalachian foodways to a progressive tasting format on Nashville's Meridian Street. Recognized by Michelin, Opinionated About Dining, and Esquire since opening, it occupies the thoughtful, research-driven end of Nashville's fine dining spectrum. Weekend brunch service extends the kitchen's reach beyond the evening menu.

San Ho Won brings Michelin-starred Korean BBQ to San Francisco's Mission District, where Corey Lee applies the same precision that defines his three-star Benu to charcoal-grilled meats and fermented banchan. Ranked #38 in Opinionated About Dining's North America list for 2025, this is Korean BBQ operating at a tier well above the genre's casual default — serious cooking in an accessible price bracket.

Semma brought Tamil Nadu's regional cooking to Greenwich Village in 2022 and has not softened its position since. Chef Vijay Kumar's 2025 James Beard Award for Best Chef: New York State and a Michelin star confirm what the room already signals: this is South Indian food argued on its own terms, with fermented dosas, gunpowder spice, and falling-apart lamb that answer to no fusion brief.

Across a glittering stretch of Puget Sound, Seabird awaits on Bainbridge Island—an elegant hideaway from chef Brendan McGill where Pacific Northwest bounty is rendered with quiet bravura. The menu is a love letter to coastal terroir: briny-sweet uni on buttery French toast, halibut ceviche brightened by electrifying leche de tigre, and vegetables like roast salsify crowned with a runny duck egg that command equal reverence. Candlelit warmth, a maritime breeze, and polished service complete an experience that feels both intimately local and decisively world-class, a destination dining room worth the ferry crossing and the lingering conversation it inspires.

At Fishmonger, the sea’s rarest expressions are translated into exquisite, modern plates that honor provenance and purity. A calm, coastal-inspired room—soft-lit, linen-smooth, and artfully understated—sets the stage for line-caught fish, hand-selected shellfish, and chef-driven tasting menus that balance restraint with revelation. Expect impeccable sourcing, a sommelier-led cellar deep in mineral-driven whites and graceful Champagnes, and service that anticipates desire without intruding. It’s where the tide meets tailoring: an intimate, polished haven for those who appreciate seafood at its most eloquent.

Baobab Fare brings East African cooking to Detroit's New Center neighbourhood, earning a spot on Esquire's Best New Restaurants list in 2022. The restaurant has built a following around sourcing integrity and recipes rooted in the Horn of Africa, offering a cuisine category that remains rare across the Midwest. With a 4.8 Google rating from nearly 1,400 reviews, it has earned broad credibility well beyond the local dining scene.

A Michelin Plate-recognised Southern steakhouse on Charlotte's Plaza Midwood strip, Supperland earned an Esquire Best New Restaurants nod in 2022 and holds a 4.5 Google rating across more than 900 reviews. The wine program runs to 305 selections and 1,650 bottles, with California, France, and Italy as the core pillars. Dinner is served nightly in a format that balances Southern cooking traditions with the weight and ritual of a serious steakhouse.

Comedor Lilia on NW 8th Ave earned an Esquire Best New Restaurants spot in 2022 for its Mexican-Pacific Northwest cooking, a fusion that reads less like a trend experiment and more like a considered regional argument. The space and the plate operate in the same register: deliberate, specific, and worth the detour. Google reviewers rate it 4.7 across 240 reviews.

Named one of Esquire's Best New Restaurants in 2022, Valentine occupies a considered space on North 7th Avenue where Southwestern cooking gets the design-led treatment Phoenix's dining scene has been moving toward. Google reviewers rate it 4.5 across more than 700 responses, placing it firmly among the neighbourhood's more consistent performers. The address on 7th Ave sits within a corridor that has become one of the city's more interesting stretches for serious independent restaurants.

A Brooklyn Italian American spot on Union Street that earned an Esquire Best New Restaurants nod in 2022, Cafe Spaghetti works within a tradition of red-sauce revival that has reshaped how New York treats its own culinary past. The 4.7-star Google rating across 503 reviews points to consistent execution rather than novelty. It sits in a different tier from Manhattan's tasting-menu circuit, and that distance is part of the point.

A Michelin-starred tasting menu operating out of a Northwest Houston strip mall, Tatemó reframes Mexican cuisine through the lens of heirloom corn and masa craft. Chef Emmanuel Chavez works with nixtamalized grains sourced across Mexico to produce a format that sits closer to a serious tasting counter than a tortilleria, despite its modest exterior. Bring your own wine — the restaurant operates without a liquor license.

Since opening in the East Village, Nudibranch has built a following around New American cooking with deep Korean and Spanish cross-currents, earning a spot on Esquire's Best New Restaurants list in 2022 and the Opinionated About Dining Top Restaurants in North America ranking in 2025. The wine program, overseen by Wine Director Sammi Schachter, holds a White Star from Star Wine List and runs to 605 selections. Two-course pricing sits in the $40–$65 range, placing it at a midpoint well below the city's high-ticket tasting-menu tier.

Viennese grandeur defines Koloman New York City, where Michelin-starred chef Markus Glocker transforms traditional Austrian cuisine through French technique in Russell Sage Studio's Vienna Secession-inspired NoMad sanctuary, creating the city's most sophisticated Franco-Austrian fine dining experience.

Bar Le Côte brings a Spanish-California seafood lens to Los Olivos wine country, earning consecutive Michelin Plates in 2024 and 2025 alongside an Esquire Best New Restaurants nod in 2022. Under Chef Brad Mathews, the kitchen frames the Central Coast's maritime proximity as a serious sourcing advantage — a proposition that reads as quietly ambitious for a town better known for Pinot Noir than Pacific catch.

Mother Wolf brings Roman-rooted Italian cooking to Hollywood, where Chef Evan Funke's pasta-forward menu sits inside a category where handmade technique and regional specificity are taken seriously. Ranked in Opinionated About Dining's North America Casual list every year since 2022, it occupies a different tier from Los Angeles's tasting-menu circuit — more convivial, less ceremonial, and built around the kind of food that rewards a well-chosen Italian wine list.

A French-Japanese seafood restaurant on Post Street in San Francisco's Japantown corridor, Le Fantastique earned a spot on Esquire's Best New Restaurants list in 2022 and holds a 4.9 Google rating across 84 reviews. The format merges classical French technique with Japanese seafood sensibility, placing it in a small peer set of cross-cultural fine dining rooms in the city.

Birdie's Austin pioneers "fine-casual" dining where Chef Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel and James Beard Award-winning sommelier Arjav Ezekiel serve Michelin-quality contemporary American cuisine through an innovative counter-service model, earning recognition as Food & Wine's 2023 Restaurant of the Year.

Okta is a progressive tasting menu restaurant on McMinnville's main street, where chef Matt Lightner builds multi-course menus from the foraged, farmed, and fished ingredients of the Pacific Northwest. Ranked #240 in Opinionated About Dining's 2024 North America list and named among Esquire's Best New Restaurants in 2022, it occupies a serious position in Oregon's fine dining tier without requiring a trip to Portland.

Callie brings Michelin Bib Gourmand-recognized Mediterranean-Californian cooking to San Diego's East Village, with a wine program spanning 3,500 bottles across France, Italy, and California. Chef Travis Swikard frames the menu around what the region calls Cuisine du Soleil: produce and seafood aligned to Southern California's growing seasons, translated through the cooking logic of the Mediterranean basin.

Bonnie's brings Cantonese-American cooking into a retro Hong Kong diner frame on a nondescript corner of east Williamsburg. Chef Calvin Eng works Cantonese regional traditions with contemporary technique, producing dishes that landed the restaurant on Opinionated About Dining's Casual North America list in both 2024 and 2025. The $$$ price range makes it one of Brooklyn's more compelling value propositions in serious Chinese cooking.

Her Place Supper Club on Sansom Street distills the supper club format to its most functional appeal: a multicourse set menu that rotates every two weeks, served simultaneously to a full room with French and Italian technique running through the cooking. Named among Esquire's Best New Restaurants of 2022, Chef Amanda Shulman's Rittenhouse address runs closer to a well-organized dinner party than a conventional restaurant service.

Tomo occupies a specific position in Atlanta's Japanese dining conversation: a Michelin Plate holder with consecutive Opinionated About Dining recognition since 2023 and an Esquire Best New Restaurants nod in 2022. Operating under the direction of Hidekazu Tojo, the Buckhead address runs a sushi-forward Japanese-American menu across lunch and dinner service, with pricing at the upper tier of the city's Japanese options.

Among Cambridge's dining options, La Royal brings Peruvian cooking to Concord Ave at a moment when Latin American cuisines are gaining serious editorial recognition across the United States. Esquire named it one of its Best New Restaurants in 2022, placing it in a peer set well above the local average. With a 4.4 Google rating across nearly 300 reviews, the consistency holds across multiple visits.

Animo Sonoma showcases chef Joshua Smookler's acclaimed Korean-Basque-Jewish fusion cuisine, where signature dishes like whole grilled turbot and kimchi fried rice earned national recognition as one of Esquire's best new restaurants in America.

Twice awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand, Twelve sits in the shadow of one of Europe's tallest working windmills in Thornton-Cleveleys and has been quietly redefining what a neighbourhood restaurant can achieve for over two decades. The kitchen, led by chef Colin Wyatt, delivers Modern British cooking with real flavour from deceptively simple ingredients, while a cocktail bar and wine list of 300 selections round out an evening worth the drive from anywhere on the Fylde Coast.

Shuggie's Trash Pie on 23rd Street in San Francisco's Mission District has built a serious reputation around upcycled ingredients and unconventional pizza, earning a spot on Esquire's Best New Restaurants list in 2022 and Resy's Best of the Hit List in 2025. The kitchen treats surplus and byproduct ingredients as the starting point rather than an afterthought, producing a menu that sits well outside the city's fine-dining mainstream — and closer to it in quality than the price point suggests.

Indienne brings a tasting-menu-only approach to progressive Indian cuisine in Chicago's River North, earning a Michelin star in 2024 and an Opinionated About Dining ranking of #469 in North America (2025). Chef Sujan Sarkar draws on French technique alongside the breadth of the Indian subcontinent, with parallel vegan, vegetarian, and non-vegetarian menus served in a room that mixes warehouse bones with white tablecloths and rose-pink booths.

Reviving rare Thai recipes with modern finesse, KRU in New York City—led by husband-and-wife chefs Ohm Suansilphong and Kiki Supap—pairs scholarly tradition with sleek, contemporary dining and a smart, pairing-friendly wine program.

An Esquire Best New Restaurants honoree (2022, #38 nationally) operating out of Newfield, New Jersey, Sweet Amalia Market & Kitchen brings an oyster bar format to South Jersey's agricultural back roads. The 4.7-star Google rating across more than 300 reviews signals consistent execution well above the regional baseline. For seafood focused on sourcing proximity, it earns serious attention.

Bar Spero brought Chef Johnny Spero's Basque-inspired seafood mastery to Washington D.C., where an open-fire kitchen and spirited pintxo culture created one of the capital's most acclaimed dining experiences before closing in 2023.

Among Philadelphia's tasting menu options, Roxanne operates on its own terms: a sparse, purple-painted dining room in Queen Village where Chef Alexandra Holt's small, flavor-driven menu resists both trends and convention. Named to Esquire's Best New Restaurants list in 2022, the room splits between conventional seating and Japanese tatami tables, and the cooking pairs boldness with restraint in equal measure.