The Best Places to Eat and Do in the United States

Bagels arrive stacked on wooden dowels here, which tells you most of what you need to know about the vibe. This is Major Food Group's theatrical, not-quite-kosher take on a Jewish appetizing shop in Soho, where seed-crusted bagels anchor spreads of lox, sable, and sturgeon, and there's a full caviar section for when a schmear feels insufficiently dramatic. Budget accordingly; this crowd did not come to save money.

Ali's is a counter-service roti shop on Fulton where the menu runs from conch to liver to curry goat, all folded into dhalpuri, the soft split-pea flatbread that does the heavy lifting. It closed for a renovation with almost no warning, which rattled the regulars, and it came back with picture windows full of pepper sauce and bush tea. Halal, cash only, so stop at the ATM before you start deliberating over kingfish.

The pressed-tin ceiling and apothecary cases are original to the old drugstore this soda fountain has been around forever inside. It's the kind of Carroll Gardens spot that puts potato chips on a sundae and makes it feel obvious in retrospect. Ice cream floats run on housemade soda, and the sundaes come loaded with toppings, most made in-house. Order at the counter and find a stool; nobody here is in a hurry.

This is a Thai street food counter in the Arts District, run out of a kitchen roughly the size of a walk-in closet, which explains why most people take it to go. The pad see ew runs about fifteen dollars and arrives with thick, chewy noodles, broccoli, and shredded chicken. The neighbors have bigger dining rooms and louder reputations, and this place seems fine with that. Order the Thai iced tea, then decide how disciplined you feel about the mango sticky rice.

The Beaux-Arts clocktower has watched the Bay Area's commute patterns change completely, and the building just quietly became a food hall and farmers' market instead. Nearly 100 growers and vendors ring the plaza on Saturdays, with smaller markets midweek. Inside, the stalls run from coffee to chocolate to pantry staples you'll absolutely overpack into your carry-on. It rewards slow wandering over a decisive plan.

Kumoya is a stylish LoHi sushi bar where the fish list runs to monkfish liver, toro dry-aged for more than a month, and species most of us only meet on a menu, with an optional wasabi flight for anyone who wants to compare. The kitchen also fries a pork sando on milk bread, which 5280 put on its Denver sandwich list, and the bar pours Japanese whisky and rice spirits. Expect to dress a notch above a Tuesday.

Market Street Cafe is a big, cheap Hawaiian-leaning diner tucked inside the California Hotel, which makes it the logical landing spot for any group whose Vegas plans collapsed by noon. The menu runs on a clock: prime rib specials show up in the late afternoon, and the oxtail soup waits until after 11pm, a schedule that suits people with nowhere else to be. Wear whatever you slept in.

A few blocks from Ocean Beach, this old-school Northern Chinese restaurant in the Outer Sunset has been feeding the neighborhood forever. The cumin-spiced lamb is the reason regulars make the drive, though the beef pancakes, flaky and properly oily, make a strong argument for staying longer. Big bowls of thick noodles fill out the tables, and the date-stuffed mochi arrives warm and sugar-dusted. Fog outside, comfort inside.

Perilla is a Korean steakhouse tucked into a downtown Chicago hotel, where the staff cook the cuts on a grill at your table so you can supervise without technically lifting a finger. Wagyu and marinated short rib are the draw, but the Caesar with milk bread croutons and the Korean fried chicken keep the non-beef contingent fed. Since it's a hotel restaurant, steak and eggs start at 7 a.m. Eater lists it among Chicago's steakhouses.

Pizza Dada is a New York-style slice counter tucked inside the Sterling Food Hall, which makes it the Loop's answer to the question "what if lunch weren't a sandwich." The slices are big enough that two could pass for a meal, with a charred crust and a zippy sauce. Whole pies are available too, and sharing remains strictly optional. Expect office badges, lanyards, and people eating over paper plates.

This is a counter-seat oyster bar inside a Palace Station casino that never closes, which means a pan roast at 4am is a reasonable thing to want. The cooks work a maze of steam and running water a few feet from your stool, performing the whole thing for people who are mostly just hungry. Order the oysters first, then stir rice into the tomato broth, a move the regulars figured out long before you did.

The dining room completes a full rotation every 80 minutes or so, which means your view of the Strip shifts whether you ordered the short ribs or not. This is a fine-dining restaurant perched 800 feet up the Stratosphere tower, so the occasion practically dresses itself. The seasonal menu leans international, the sommelier is on hand, and the cocktail program takes itself seriously. The floor does the work either way.

Toukei is a Japanese izakaya off Bellaire where the kitchen keeps going until 1am and the menu covers sushi, yakitori, and ramen without ever settling on a lane. One wall is a floor-to-ceiling liquor cabinet, with a second stash stacked behind the bar for backup. It's a good fit for a pregame or an after-party, and ordering only water will make you the most conspicuous person in the building.

Neon lights, pop art, and retro arcade machines set the scene at this smash burger shop on West Fourth Street. The whole vibe skews cheerfully unserious, which makes it easy to miss that the kitchen is doing something careful underneath it all. A James Beard semifinalist for Best New Restaurant, it draws a crowd that lingers longer than a burger run usually warrants. The Ladykiller, with its black garlic sauce and local pickle chips, is the one everyone orders first.

A Gulf Coast fish-and-chicken restaurant in Independence Heights from a pitmaster who clearly didn't want to choose between the smoker and the fryer. Catfish and chicken share the spotlight, with shrimp po'boys, chargrilled oysters, and a pork belly BLT on Texas toast for people who read the whole menu. Gumbo comes with a Brussels sprouts salad, which counts as balance. Lunch is a casual Tuesday-through-Saturday affair.

Red Plate is a Cantonese fine-dining room tucked away at the Cosmopolitan, small enough and quiet enough that you forget you're a few floors above a casino. Tea-based cocktails share the menu with evening dim sum and roast meats, and a whole suckling pig or duck can be ordered ahead if you're organized or celebrating. The chef was a James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: Southwest.

Seafood flown in daily from both coasts and the Sea of Cortez keeps this polished seafood restaurant on Camelback Road from feeling like a landlocked afterthought. The dining room leans comfortable and upscale, the kind of place where booths fill with date-night couples while the bar handles happy hour with enough seriousness to earn a Best Happy Hour nod from Phoenix New Times. The cocktail list gets the same care as the fish.

Tijuana-style street food from a truck usually parked outside Cobra Arcade Bar on Second Street, running until 2 a.m. on weekends for a reason. The chef behind the counter built a menu around classics like tacos al pastor and vampiros, then added birria ramen for anyone who wants to confuse their stomach in the best way. Phoenix New Times named it the top late-night Mexican food truck two years running, which tracks with the crowd spilling out of nearby bars.

A seafood counter tucked inside Fair Isle Brewing, La Marea brings Mexican coastal cooking to a city that usually prefers its seafood left alone. Hamachi and tuna arrive over tostadas, sliced with a precision that suggests sushi somewhere in the team's past. The scallop aguachile and chile morita aioli do not shy from heat. The brewery's farmhouse ales and saisons make good company, and the shared space keeps the whole thing loose.

The pastry case up front, stacked with crepe and box cakes in flavors like durian and chestnut, hints that this Aurora-border spot plays by its own rules. It's a small, easy-to-miss Hong Kong-style restaurant where the chef's special section does the heavy lifting, and several of the greatest hits aren't on the menu at all. Ask about the salt-and-pepper tofu, and call ahead if you want crab or lobster.

The fried shrimp comes with aioli, the zucchini blossoms are stuffed, and the whole thing sits next door to Chez Panisse, which is either coincidence or not. Alice Waters is behind this too, a casual wine bar where the farm-to-table reverence is intact but the menu reads lighter and less ceremonious than its famous neighbor. The New York Times gave it two stars in 2026, which for a neighborhood spot serving butter beans is a lot to live down.

The pita comes straight from a pizza oven on the sidewalk, still puffed with steam when it hits the table. Yerord Mas is a tiny, no-frills Armenian restaurant in a former doughnut shop on San Fernando Road, and no, they don't do takeout. The chef pulls from diaspora kitchens across Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and beyond, treating the differences as a single, coherent argument for why Los Angeles exists. The New York Times put it on their 2026 Restaurant List.

The slices here are slender, which is a statement in a borough where bigger is considered better. F&F is a slice shop in Carroll Gardens running a quiet argument for restraint: a careful sauce-to-cheese ratio, toppings used sparingly and only when they add something. The New York Times put it on their short list of the city's best pizza places, and Grub Street agreed. Come hungry but not starving, because the line moves at its own pace.

Pizzeria Leopold is a Lakewood pizza shop that doubles as an Italian grocer, which means you can order a pie and leave with a jar of something imported. The sandwich menu has a cult of its own, led by a four-inch chicken cutlet stack that reads like a New Jersey deli trying to settle down in the Denver suburbs. Casual counter ordering, no dress code, and it turns up on Westword's list of the top restaurants in Denver.

Vegetarian Indian cooking that doesn't feel like a consolation prize for anyone at the table. Besharam, tucked into the Minnesota Street Project arts complex, is a sit-down restaurant where the chef came up through La Cocina and brings a South Asian pantry to bear with real confidence. The pickles and chutneys alone could anchor a meal. Prices stay reasonable, which in this city counts as a minor act of defiance.

The Indian-spiced Southern fried chicken has drawn pilgrims to this Indo-Pakistani restaurant in Houston's Gandhi District for years, and chef Kaiser Lashkari keeps adding reasons to return. Pakistani pastrami, Indian quesadillas, Hyderabadi and Punjabi curries, Goan salmon, mango tres leches: the menu moves around the subcontinent without apology. Anthony Bourdain came through, which tracks. A James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: Texas.

La Casa De Juliette is a relaxed Mexican spot in Centennial Hills, with big windows set into terra cotta walls and the kind of Tulum-style lighting that makes the northwest valley feel briefly coastal. The chef landed here after crossing paths with the Sand Dollar Lounge team over a bar. Expect street corn with bone marrow and an agua fresca that can be spiked with coconut rum.

This is a counter-service Hawaiian and Filipino spot in a Las Vegas strip-mall unit, decorated like a beach cottage that has never heard of the Strip, complete with an island mural and a "let your dreams set sail" sign. The cashier calls everyone sweetheart. Plates run big enough to split, and the Spam musubi travels well, which is useful if you're headed somewhere with a bar and a dim view of outside food.

This is a fast-casual smashburger counter in Centennial Hills, run by the same people behind Sorry Not Sorry ice cream, so the line-out-the-door routine arrived pre-rehearsed. Black Angus patties get pressed on a hot griddle until the edges go lacy, then land on a potato roll with American cheese and thin onions. The menu is short, the prices are fast-food friendly, and nobody is here to dress up for a burger.

A wood-fired pizzeria in the middle of Old Town Scottsdale that leans into the craft-beer-bar half of its personality as much as the pizza half. The dough is thin but sturdy enough to carry generous toppings without folding, and the homemade mozzarella shows up like it has something to prove. A serious Arizona craft beer list keeps the mood convivial. Ranked 29th on 50 Top Pizza USA, which is a lot for a place with a patio and wooden tables.

Nobuo Fukuda, a James Beard Award winner, runs this intimate Japanese small-plates bar in Scottsdale, where the menu reads like a quiet argument against doing anything halfway. Most dishes land under twenty dollars, from panko-fried tofu with green papaya curry to sunomono with watermelon radish. The sashimi spoons have their own cult following, and an omakase is available by reservation for when you're feeling like committing to the evening.

Fried chicken and Champagne share a menu at this retro-glam bowling lounge off Roosevelt Row, which tells you most of what you need to know about its vibe. A handful of lanes, a circular bar, pool tables, and DJs make it more of a night out that happens to involve bowling than the other way around. Sushi and nachos cover the snacking spread. Dress accordingly, because the decor is very much meant to be photographed.

Élephante lets you print a photo on top of your espresso martini, which is either the future of cocktails or a sign we've collectively lost the plot, possibly both. This lively Mediterranean restaurant on the sixth floor of Scottsdale Fashion Square draws a crowd that skews festive and photograph-ready. The espresso martini comes with a choice of vodka, mezcal, or tequila as the base, and the mocha variation leans into creme de cacao and vanilla.

The building is an old country store, white clapboard on a rural crossroads, and the back shelves still look the part, stocked now with natural wines, tinned fish, and housemade ferments. Up front, an ambitious farm-to-table restaurant turns out a local menu with sophisticated touches and zero attitude. The New York Times put it on their Restaurant List in 2024, and a James Beard semifinalist nod followed. Brunch is a fine excuse for the Midcoast drive.

The chef at this Brooklyn Vietnamese spot trained at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and it shows, though not in a pretentious farm-to-table way. Falansai is a tasting-menu restaurant where seasonal thinking meets recipes passed down from Saigon, the two pulling in different directions in ways that tend to be interesting. The New York Times gave it two stars and a Critic's Pick in 2026.

New York style slices done with the obsessive raw-material sourcing you'd expect from somewhere with a much more serious dress code. Pizza Baby is a casual pizza shop with two Charlotte locations, a tight Italian wine list, and bread good enough that they sell it separately. The pies run from a no-apology pineapple to a Sicilian, and the team landed a spot on 50 Top Pizza USA, which is exactly the kind of thing regulars mention while waiting for a table.

A wood-fired pizzeria on Mulberry Street where the margherita is the argument: light, airy dough with a properly blistered crust and ingredients that don't try to do too much. The room runs contemporary and lively, and on mild nights the outdoor patio makes the whole thing feel like a small favor from the city. The wine list is surprisingly deep for a pizza spot. Save room for the montebianco.

A Neapolitan pizza restaurant a few miles from Arlington Cemetery, run by the same Sicilian family for close to half a century. The pies follow STG rules, meaning a pillowy, charred crust, properly melty cheese, and a lot of the ingredients shipped over from Italy. The room skews elegant for a pizza place, and the menu stretches well past pizza into pastas and starters, with a wine list that takes itself seriously.

Wood-fired Neapolitan pizza in the middle of the Alps is a proposition that shouldn't work as well as it does. Acquaefarina is a pizza restaurant in Trento where the dough gets the serious treatment: slow-fermented, light enough to finish without regret, with a char on the crust that earns its place. The wine and beer list goes deeper than the usual pizza-joint afterthought. It ranked 32nd on 50 Top Pizza Italy, if you want a number to trust.

The coal-fired oven sits at the center of the room like the point it's trying to make, and the point is a New York-style pie with deep Italian roots cooked the way early immigrants did it, because wood was too expensive. This is a comfortable, full-service pizza spot with appetizers, a solid wine list, and a menu that ranges well past margherita territory. Ranked 31st on 50 Top Pizza USA.

The pizzas are named after Louisville neighborhoods, which tells you something about how this Neapolitan-style pizza spot sees itself. The crust leans more pronounced than a traditional Neapolitan, and everything from the appetizers to desserts is made in-house or sourced from local artisans. No delivery, by design, because the pie doesn't survive the trip. It landed on 50 Top Pizza USA, if you need a reason to go in.

The name comes from an obscure white Campanian grape variety, which tells you everything about how seriously this Lakeview spot takes its Southern Italian bona fides. It's a Neapolitan pizza restaurant, wood-fired and traditionally minded, with a patio that leans into the convivial-trattoria feeling. The crust has the soft, charred-edge character the style calls for. 50 Top Pizza USA has taken notice, landing it at number 43 on their national list.