The Best Places in the United States

The mochiko fried chicken, made with dark meat only, has apparently non-negotiable opinions about itself. This Hawaiian plate lunch spot grew from pandemic-era pop-up dinners to a downtown Chicago address, serving huli huli chicken, loco moco, and grilled pork belly to a city where 60 degrees is not, in fact, considered freezing. The New York Times named it one of Chicago's 25 best restaurants right now.

Carpeted walls and glass cases displaying the day's ingredients signal that this isn't your average dim sum hall. Dragon Beaux is a contemporary Cantonese spot in the Richmond where the siu mai comes topped with crab roe and the barbecue buns have a crunchy sugar crust that makes you rethink every bun you've had before. Save room for the custard dumplings, which arrive looking demure and then absolutely don't.

The Ferry Building and Bay Bridge fill the windows of this upscale Cantonese restaurant and dim sum spot in Embarcadero Center, which feels more like a special-occasion destination than a Sunday cart-and-stamp-card affair. The space runs large, with sun-drenched rooms, intimate nooks, and an outdoor patio. Lunch brings an extensive dim sum menu; dinner leans into Cantonese classics. The coffee lava buns are the kind of thing you'll think about afterward.

The name means "twelve" in Japanese, which is exactly how many seats this NoPa omakase counter holds, with each chef responsible for just four guests at a time. The pacing is unhurried, the nigiri precise and uncluttered, and the room skews toward young professionals with occasion money and good taste in fish. The meal closes with miso soup that makes every other miso soup feel like a rough draft.

A 25-seat handroll bar in Capitol Hill where almost every spot goes to walk-ins, so the line outside is part of the deal. The chef's Nikkei style means cones of crackly nori packed with koshihikari rice and fillings that pull from both Japanese and Peruvian traditions. Ceviches, tiraditos, and small plates round things out. The pace is quick by design, so think of it less as dinner and more as something you inhale with a sense of purpose.

A small Ethiopian restaurant in SoMa where the injera arrives lined with careful, spiced preparations and the meatless plates hold their own against the meat without anyone making a fuss about it. The kitchen leans into berbere and slow-cooked sauces, and the house-made cheese is the kind of quiet addition that makes you order it. It doubles as a community gathering space with deep roots in the Tigrayan diaspora.

The warm Frena arrives with pistachio butter, olives, and pickled peppers, and that's more or less the tone of the whole meal. Okto is a Mediterranean restaurant that draws a devoted Sunday brunch crowd, the kind that photographs first and eats immediately after. The cocktail list gets as much attention as the food, and the espresso martini seems to outnumber the people ordering coffee.

The bolo bao here comes out warm, its lacquered sugar crust crackling under your fingers, and the move is to order it with a pat of cold flavored butter, maybe pandan, maybe salted egg yolk. This Chinese bakery in the Sunset keeps things focused: egg tarts and mooncakes round out the case, but the pineapple bun is the whole argument. Lines form with conviction, so an online order saves time. Cash only in person.

The birds go in whole and come out deeply browned, every slice carrying crackling skin and a soft layer of fat underneath. This tiny strip-mall Thai restaurant in East Hollywood keeps things focused: duck over rice, duck over thin jade noodles, or duck as the salad. The carcass goes into the pot for a dark broth that becomes duck noodle soup, which regulars treat as a second visit folded into the first.

The Omakase Room is a ten-seat sushi counter tucked inside the louder, more casual Sushi-san, so you walk past the regular dining room to get to the quiet part, except it isn't quiet. Eighteen courses run about $260 a head, and the chefs actively encourage you to talk to them and the strangers on either side of you. The sake list is one of the city's biggest, which pairs well with chatting.

A mahogany bar anchors one end while a giant abstract mural anchors the other, and in between, marina lights hang above wooden booths full of regulars who clearly regard this as their personal dining room. Sur Lie is a tapas-style New American spot where small, eclectic plates rotate through whatever the kitchen finds interesting. A James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Hospitality, the warmth here is structural, not performed.

Alon Shaya's first restaurant outside Louisiana sits inside Denver's Source Hotel, and the entrance doubles as a coffee counter before wrapping into a full Israeli Mediterranean dining room. The menu reads like a grandmother's repertoire run through a more adventurous kitchen, hummus dressed with roasted chanterelles, duck matzo ball soup, pomegranate lamb shank. Brunch draws a crowd that knows to arrive early.

The Sunday wait stretches to three hours, which tells you most of what you need to know about this South Indian restaurant tucked into a former Tex-Mex spot on Highway 635. The menu leans into Andhra Pradesh home cooking: dosas in several forms, idli, bisi bele bath, filter coffee, all landing on tables full of Telugu conversation. The New York Times put it on their Restaurant List in 2024, and the regulars looked unsurprised.

The space was a wood furniture showroom before it became a coffee shop, and you can still feel the woodworker's eye in every detail. The team leans into herb-forward syrups, so the lattes run closer to a garden than a pastry case. Phoenix Magazine handed Case Study its Best Americano nod, and the breakfast burrito has its own following. A comfortable place to open a laptop and stay far longer than you planned.

The old firehouse brick is still there, but the menu skews izakaya, routed through Connecticut and landing somewhere delightfully hard to categorize. Chef Bill Taibe runs a freewheeling Japanese kitchen where kung pao karaage shares space with kimchi udon finished like carbonara. The bar is walk-in only and pairs well with sake or cocktails while you figure out whether to order one more round of small plates or just order everything.

The smell hits before you sit down: salt air, grill smoke, charred shells, then garlic butter. This is an oyster bar and smokehouse perched on a deck above Tomales Bay, an hour from San Francisco and a world away from it. Raw and grilled oysters from Tomales Bay Oyster Co. are the move, though there are fish tacos and sandwiches too. Deck seating is first come, first served, so arriving early is less a suggestion than a strategy.

The mid-century bones, globe lights, and tall windows looking onto South Main suggest a certain kind of restaurant, and then the menu arrives to politely disagree. This fusion dinner spot folds Indian, Mexican, Thai, and Italian into each other without apparent anxiety, and the corn mash, which the New York Times flagged as one of the standout dishes of 2024, is a case study in how that audacity pays off. The chef earned a James Beard semifinalist nod in 2026. Portions run large, so bring company.

The $12 daily daiquiri sets the tone at this Williamsburg rum bar, where the menu runs from a lager-and-rum shot combo to oysters with tepache mignonette. The couple behind it know their way around spirits, one having run the editorial side of Punch, the other having shaped Chicago's beloved tropical bar scene. A basement rum bar called Undercurrent adds another layer for anyone who shows up and doesn't want to leave.

The fajitas arrive on a sizzling cast-iron skillet, prime Niman Ranch beef with charred onions and tortillas made from brisket trimmings, which tells you everything about how this Tex-Mex restaurant operates. From the team behind the Pit Room next door, Candente is enormous, patio and all, and the kitchen swings for the scale. Weekend brunch turns into a full production. The Michelin Guide has it listed among their selected Houston picks.

The house motto is "a little bit class, and a little bit trashy," which tells you everything you need to know about this Gulf Coast seafood spot in Midtown Houston. Crawfish come dry-seasoned or wet in a buttery Viet-Cajun sauce, and the broader menu runs from raw oysters and po'boys to shrimp and grits. Biscuits arrive with seasonal jam and whipped butter. The Michelin Guide has it listed, and Texas Monthly named it among Texas's best new restaurants.

The mashup that writes itself on paper sometimes falls apart on the plate, but Korean and Cajun cooking share enough soul food DNA that at KJUN it holds together. The chef trained under the legendary Leah Chase in New Orleans, and the Murray Hill dining room reflects both that Southern lineage and her Korean roots, with fried dishes, rice, banchan, and Louisiana classics sharing the menu without any of them feeling like they wandered in from somewhere else.

The honey cardamom toast alone sends a signal about where the Noortwyck's head is at. This West Village neighborhood restaurant comes from Eleven Madison Park alums, and the menu moves between oysters and cinnamon rolls without blinking. The New York Times gave it two stars. Service has that unhurried quality that makes you feel less like a table and more like a regular, even on your first visit.

The tap pours house wine, which tells you something about this Italian restaurant's priorities. Via Triozzi, on Lower Greenville, runs one of the deeper natural wine programs in Dallas, sourced from small family vineyards, and the kitchen matches that energy with a lasagne al forno that commits fully to its Bolognese. Texas Monthly named it among the state's top new restaurants, and Eater lists it as essential. The room fills early and stays that way.

A warm gougère lands on the table before you've even settled in, which tells you something about the pace of this French restaurant in downtown Paso Robles. The room keeps it simple, pressed concrete and Edison bulbs, while the kitchen leans toward steaks and shareable plates built for a wine country crowd. The Los Angeles Times named it one of California's 101 best restaurants, and the Michelin Guide has it selected.

A bakery by day and a Burmese restaurant by night, The Dutchess occupies a charming old building in the center of Ojai without taking itself too seriously. The menu runs through snacks, curries, and sharing plates, and the tea leaf salad alone explains why the Los Angeles Times put it on their list of California's 101 best restaurants. Save room for dessert, because the pastry side of this operation clearly hasn't clocked out.

Newsprint wallpaper lines the hallway at this perpetually packed East Village Indian canteen, which relocated from Queens and came back louder. The kitchen runs on fierce seasoning and ornate presentations, often arriving in Le Creuset Dutch ovens that make the table feel like a small occasion. Order rice, order the crispy parathas, and plan to use them both. A Michelin Selected restaurant with a loyal following that doesn't really need to be told to come back.

Tables sit on burlap coffee bags pressed under thick glass, and the dining room fills with tall greenery, so the room already has a point of view before the food arrives. This is a contemporary Ethiopian restaurant where the kitchen swaps beef for tuna in the kifto and keeps a long roster of vegan dishes most spots skip. Honey wine and craft Ethiopian beer round out a meal that the San Francisco Chronicle has put on its Top 100 list.

Funicular is a restaurant at the top of the Mtatsminda funicular, so the view comes with the ride and the pantheon of Georgian writers is a short stroll away for anyone feeling reflective. The chef is from Madeira, which explains why the seafood and the European dishes outshine the Georgian standards. It holds two Gault&Millau toques, and it suits a date or a meeting where you'd like the city kept at a flattering distance.

Fried chicken in five flavors, ranging from OG to Nashville hot, is the organizing principle at this Southern comfort spot tucked into East Providence. The menu reads like a greatest-hits of the genre: pimento mac and cheese, sweet potato tater tots, cornbread with honey butter. The chef earned a James Beard semifinalist nod in 2025, which is not a bad argument for crossing a state line for a thigh, a drumstick, and Texas toast.

Duck confit done pad Thai style sits on the same menu as lamb burger with green chile stew, which tells you exactly what kind of place Joseph's Culinary Pub is: a full-service bar and restaurant in Santa Fe where the kitchen roams freely across cuisines and nobody seems bothered by that. Walk-ins are welcome, the bar pours wine, beer, cider, and sake, and the chef earned a James Beard semifinalist nod in 2025.

Hand-pulled noodles are the whole point here, stretched to order and served in broth or dry, inside a no-frills shopping center on Buford Highway. This is a noodle shop that pulls Sichuan dishes into the mix alongside the namesake soups, and the roast duck bowl, bone-in and bobbing with bok choy, tends to stop conversation. A Michelin Selected restaurant with a James Beard semifinalist nod, it draws a serious lunch crowd that knows exactly what it's ordering before it sits down.

The name means "apple" in Japanese, which is the first clue that this Greenpoint comfort-food spot isn't playing by anyone else's rules. The menu takes American and European classics and folds in Japanese technique until neither side is quite recognizable, in the most compelling way. A Hokkaido beef curry baked into a golden oval pie is the thing people talk about. Selected by the Michelin Guide, and a 2025 James Beard semifinalist.

A noodle bar that started as a pop-up and earned a permanent address in St. Augustine, Lotus is the kind of ramen spot where the broth gets made with three-month Kyoto white miso and the dessert lands a quenelle of caviar. The chef picked up a James Beard semifinalist nod in 2026, which tracks. Grab a stool at the noodle bar and let the duck tan tan ramen do what it came to do.

The wood-fired oven does most of the talking at this compact Santa Monica pizzeria, turning out perfectly blistered pies with paper-thin crusts and a pound cake finished with honey and whipped cream that tends to upstage everything before it. Pasta and seasonal produce from the farmers' market round out the menu. Counter seats put you close enough to watch the whole operation, which is half the reason to sit there. Weekend brunch draws a crowd.

A carved wooden owl marks the door to this intimate Hayes Valley tasting menu restaurant, which feels like someone's very tasteful living room if that person happened to know exactly what they were doing. The multicourse menu shifts with the seasons, and the kitchen's plating leans toward composed and precise without tipping into fussy. The adjacent Linden Room cocktail bar is a natural warm-up act.

Fort Worth's nickname spawned this BBQ shop, which started as a food truck before graduating to a spot with both indoor and outdoor seating. Central Texas-style offset smoking is the foundation, but the menu slides comfortably into Tex-Mex territory with brisket burritos and street tacos. Arrive early, because the lines are not theoretical. Texas Monthly named it among the 50 best BBQ joints in the state.

Flatware dangling from pot racks overhead sets the tone for this tasting-menu spot on Florida's Emerald Coast: charming, a little offbeat, nothing like the beachy seafood shacks nearby. Communal tables and counter stools facing an open kitchen keep it casual in feel if not in ambition. The kitchen runs a short rotating menu of contemporary American courses built around whatever the season offers. A 2025 James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: South.

An L-shaped pewter bar anchors this compact seafood spot tucked into the ground floor of a Back Bay rowhouse. The menu shifts with the catch, running from daily crudo and Maine uni toast to whatever oysters and shellfish came in that morning. The plateau de fruits de mer is the move if you're with someone you like, or someone you want to impress. A James Beard semifinalist, 2025.

Prime beef has been the main event here since the 1980s, with the kitchen turning out steaks at a consistency that keeps the regulars from ever really needing the menu. It's a classic North Jersey steakhouse, lobster and fine seafood rounding things out, plus a sushi and sashimi program that feels less like a gimmick and more like a genuine reason to stray from the beef. Just over the George Washington Bridge for Manhattan types making the case for New Jersey.

The walls at this dim Roosevelt Row cocktail lounge are lined with polaroids of patrons who've shed a little more than their inhibitions, all tasteful enough that you'd call it art if pressed. The drinks from the veteran team change often and lean experimental, which pairs nicely with the dark, slightly conspiratorial atmosphere. Named a Regional Top 10 Honoree at the Spirited Awards, it earns the recognition without trying too hard to.

David Chang's Asian-American restaurant on the second floor of the Boulevard Tower has Strip views and the kind of casual-cool energy his name has meant for a long time. The pork belly bao is the thing people come back for, soft bun, supple meat, hoisin, done. The bar runs passionfruit spritzes, Milk Bar sits next door, and the spicy rice cakes alone justify skipping whatever you had planned for dinner.

The tacos here are pinned with toothpicks and dropped straight into the fryer, which tells you most of what you need to know. This snug taco shop on Ballard Ave serves deep-fried tacos built around Lebanese-spiced beef or herby cauliflower, a family recipe from the chef's grandmother. Soups round out the short menu. Pale pink walls and floral oilcloths set the scene. Esquire named it one of America's best new restaurants in 2025.

The oxtail Italian beef sandwich, melting with cheese and spiked with giardiniera, tells you right away what kind of chef is running this upscale New American kitchen. Hush is an intimate room in a Scottsdale strip mall, open kitchen sending smells out front, nostalgic rock at a volume that invites conversation. The menu shifts often, but the kitchen's touch with vegetables, fish, and meat stays constant. Reservations through Tock are a smart move.

Vegetables get top billing here, but the duck confit is quietly on the menu for anyone who needs convincing. All Saints is a casual-ish dinner spot where the kitchen coaxes produce into the kind of food you order twice, and the cocktail program runs from raspberry spritzes to zero-proof drinks that don't taste like an afterthought. The former Bardo space on Hennepin feels lived-in and easy, the sort of room that doesn't announce its ambitions.

Twenty seats, one turn per night, and a tasting menu that changes with whatever the season insists on. Demi is Gavin Kaysen's intimate counter restaurant, a deliberately small operation that sits in the shadow of his better-known Spoon and Stable nearby. The room is close enough that you can watch the kitchen work through every course, which is either thrilling or slightly stressful depending on your personality.

A falafel banh mi or hummus topped with kimchi sounds like a fever dream until you're eating it and it makes complete sense. This casual counter-service spot on Lyndale blends global pantries without apology, and the Moroccan-spiced fried chicken stuffed into a cheddar scallion biscuit is the kind of menu item that shouldn't work on paper. Order at the counter, grab a seat, and walk next door to Milkjam Creamery when the mood calls for it.

On the 60th floor of Circa, this rooftop lounge opens onto a sweeping outdoor terrace with fire pits and a view that makes the Strip look like a diorama. Inside, red velvet banquettes and illuminated sculptures of Vegas legends set the mood, and 500 custom gold bars frame the entryway like the lobby of an excellent bad decision. Housemade cocktails and large-format drinks handle the rest.

The dry-aging locker runs along the front window so you see the USDA Prime slabs before you even open the door, which is a very Gallaghers way of setting expectations. This old-school Midtown steakhouse has been around forever, and the walls of jockey photos and the rolling dessert cart are not ironic. Hickory-grilled steaks, creamed spinach, a bar that hums, and a menu that still winks at Prohibition. Ranked among the World's Best Steak Restaurants.

Las Almas Rotas is a Dallas agave bar that stocks small-batch mezcal, bacanora, and raicilla instead of celebrity tequila, which means the flights can include pechuga mezcal, distilled with raw poultry, and bottles that fit no known category. It was a James Beard Outstanding Bar Program semifinalist. Margaritas and palomas let the spirits do the talking, and carne asada tacos and pozole rojo keep the evening from getting too educational.

Dân Dã calls its cooking "comfort cuisine," which undersells a menu that runs from curried beef claypot to salads piled with jellyfish, cuttlefish, and pickled lotus root. It's a Vietnamese restaurant on East Colfax with an enormous menu and a full bar that leans into tamarind, guava, and lychee, so the drinks keep up with the food. The dining room packs in tightly, which gives the whole place an energy that suits the cooking.

No octopus, no branzino, no horiatiki. Bar Vlaha is a Greek restaurant that tells a narrower story: the Vlachs, mountain shepherds from northern Greece who foraged forests and fished freshwater streams rather than the Aegean. The menu follows that logic, so beef cheeks braise with prunes in clay pots and the tzatziki gets a drizzle of honey. The New York Times named it among Boston's 25 best restaurants right now, which feels about right for a room this specific.

Moëca is named for a soft-shell crab and runs on the same idea: something from the sea, handled with care, at the right moment. It's a neighborhood seafood restaurant in Cambridge that reads as date-night territory without making a thing of it, low lighting and a room that actually works. The menu is built for sharing, with global flavors pulled across small and large plates. Bon Appétit named it one of America's Best New Restaurants in 2023.

Tequila-spiked Gatorade on the patio is a real menu choice, and somehow it makes complete sense once you're here. Odie B's is a boisterous Mexican-leaning coffee shop and sandwich counter in Sunnyside where the morning bleeds into afternoon without anyone particularly minding. Focaccia sandwiches, griddled banana bread, and spiced bloody marys keep the regulars cycling back. A second location sits in RiNo for when you're on the wrong side of town.

Oma's Hideaway is the loud, shiny little sister of Gado Gado, a Division Street restaurant where psychedelic Indonesian music plays over a menu that treats the word "restraint" as a rumor. Salted egg yolk curry fries come with sambal ketchup, and lamb satay arrives tucked inside a fried steam bun. The bar glitters like a disco ball, so the drinks keep pace, and nobody here is quietly checking their phone.

Reserve 101 is a downtown whiskey bar with over a thousand bottles, a number that makes the menu feel less like a list and more like a library with a liquor license. It sits in an early 1900s building near Toyota Center, so the pre-Rockets crowd mingles with people comparing 50-year-old pours. The cocktails are serious too, and it made the Spirited Awards' regional top 10 for U.S. cocktail bars.

Named for the Aztec goddess of agave and fertility, this Mexico City-inspired restaurant in Autry Park takes the naming convention seriously: the agave bar runs on additive-free spirits and the cocktail list splits neatly into light-and-refreshing versus smoky-and-heavy. Netflix-familiar chef Luis Robledo Richards brings the kind of menu that sits just below fine dining in category but not in ambition, with brunch drawing the weekend crowd for chilaquiles and a Mexico City eggs Benedict.

At 300 square feet, Matryoshka Coffee is less a place to linger and more a place to collect your espresso and marvel at the rainbow decor before heading back into the world. The micro cafe sits inside an apartment complex on the south side, and the menu leans into the same spirit as the walls: specialty drinks arrive with sprinkles and edible glitter, and the food options are instant ramen and cereal. Somehow this is not a bit; it's just the vibe.

A coffee shop where you can also get clay under your fingernails, PIP Coffee + Clay pairs a small cafe with a ceramics studio on North 24th Street. Wheel-throwing classes run about two hours, keep group sizes small, and require you to put your phone away, which turns out to be the whole point. Your mug may come out lopsided. That's fine. Grab a coffee or a beer while the creative juices do their thing.

The name means "foreigner," which sets the tone for a modern Indian restaurant that treats the cuisine as a starting point rather than a finish line. Tucked into a Chandler strip mall, it runs cocktails spiked with masala chai vodka or ghee-washed whiskey alongside small plates, large plates, and pani puri worth sharing around the table. The room skews upscale without being stiff about it.

A smoked rabbit and pecan pie with sharp cheddar and mustard gelato will tell you everything you need to know about this LoHi all-day cafe. The chef behind it has cooked her way through Italy, Israel, and Mexico, and the menu shows every mile, running from posole verde at lunch to butterflied branzino at dinner without ever feeling scattered. Come morning for the bakery case, stay because the room earns it.

Flora + Fauna is a coffee shop in the Highland Yards development, where the nature theme is understated enough that nobody will ask you to hug a tree. The drinks menu keeps rotating through inventive flavors, and there's a lunch menu with seasonal pancake specials for dates who want a real meal. It's the sort of place people bring someone they like, and the parking lot helps. Nashville Scene named it Best Place for a Coffee Date.

The Coco Puffs, chocolate cream puffs blanketed in frosting, are what most people come for, but Liliha is equally a diner, and the counter at the Kuakini Street original is where you want to sit. Short-order cooks work at a pace that makes you forget your coffee is getting cold. Crisp waffles, char-grilled burgers, oxtail soup, butter rolls with aggressively red jelly: the menu reads like it was written by someone who never overthought anything.

A neighborhood dive bar that fully commits to the bit: vintage furniture with backstories, a cigarette machine, free arcade games, and a jukebox that always has Marty Robbins on deck. The drinks are cold, the Old Style is colder, and the backyard patio with lawn games fills up with the kind of crowd that looks like they've been regulars for years, even if they just discovered it last week.