The Best Places in the United States

A seasonal rooftop pool a few blocks from Columbia University is not something you expect from a hotel on 126th Street, which is part of the point. The George sits in a former industrial stretch of Harlem that's been pulled into the present without losing its bones. Rooms run compact and modern, the outdoor lounge leans chic without trying too hard, and the Broadway line is close enough to make Midtown feel like a minor inconvenience.

Mole negro shows up on nearly everything here, the rich, dark kind that takes days to make and coats burritos and chilaquiles alike. Alebrijes is a casual Oaxacan cafe in Litchfield Park with indoor tables, bar seats, and a shaded patio, the sort of place where the specials board does the real work. Concha French toast and coffee cocktails share menu space with pozole. Expect a wait, which the regulars seem entirely unbothered by.

The glazed donuts here come out warm if you time the drive to east Mesa right, and that detail explains most of what you need to know about this family-owned donut shop. The menu stays classic on purpose: pillowy raised donuts, apple fritters, old-fashioned buttermilk bars. No novelty toppings, no Instagram bait. Phoenix New Times named it Best Doughnuts in 2024, and the regulars in line at opening would find that completely unsurprising.

The ice cream sandwich here comes on a fresh-sliced doughnut, which is either genius or a personal liability depending on your self-control. This small-batch ice cream shop keeps a core menu of eight flavors, rotates in new ones weekly, and does fruit sorbets for the dairy-free crowd. The original location sits in a tiny historic building on Grand Avenue, which gives it more character than a strip mall scoop shop ever could.

The staff does the grilling here, scissor-slicing premium cuts tableside with the focus of someone who takes beef very seriously. An upscale Korean barbecue restaurant where the room leans steakhouse but the energy leans party, with A5 wagyu and pork jowl sharing the menu alongside an unusually good banchan spread. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the South Bay's top restaurants. Your shirt will smell like smoke for the rest of the night, which is just the price of admission.

A craft brewery where a pizza food truck parks just outside and freshly popped popcorn sits on the counter inside, which tells you everything about the vibe before you've even ordered. The patio spills into a grassy area with picnic tables where kids have room to run while the adults work through a rotating tap list. Come as you are and stay longer than you planned.

The name comes from the owner's childhood in Guerrero, where he and his siblings sold radishes at the market and got saddled with the nickname Cinco Rabanitos. This is a casual Pilsen taqueria, the order-at-the-counter, nobody-dresses-up kind, and the menu runs from tacos to tortas to caldos. Guerrero shows up in the slow-roasted pork in red mole and in the cecina, and Eater has it on its list of Chicago's best Mexican spots.

Abu Omar Halal started as a food truck and eventually got a roof, which is the kind of upgrade people at 2 a.m. appreciate. It's a casual counter-service spot built around shawarma, which arrives in wraps, over rice, loaded on fries, or as a salad bowl for the self-appointed healthy one. The family order comes panini-style on sesame bread, sliced like pizza. It stays open until 3 a.m., and until 5 on weekends.

A vegetarian Reuben built around roasted beets and smoked Thousand Island tells you where this Washington Park deli's loyalties lie, though the kitchen is happy to add bacon when asked. Part neighborhood grocery, part cafe, it runs breakfast, lunch, and weekend brunch, with a coffee bar that also does beet and turmeric lattes for anyone who wants their caffeine to feel like a wellness decision.

The coffee here is grown and roasted entirely on Maui, which you'll notice before you finish the first sip. Akamai is a specialty coffee shop with baristas who take the technical side seriously, turning out foamy cappuccinos and cold brew done New Orleans-style with chicory alongside seasonal espresso drinks. Avocado toast and Belgian waffles round out the menu for anyone who needs something to eat. Two drive-up windows serve the island if you're moving fast.

Rattan furniture, grass skirts, and cocktails arriving in vessels that would embarrass a prop department set the tone at this tiki cocktail bar on East Central. The drinks are genuinely stiff under all the kitsch, and the signature comes in a schooner glass, fuschia-hued and finished with a flaming sugar cube on a lemon slice. South Pacific camp done with a straight face, which somehow makes it funnier.

The Rock sits 1.25 miles offshore, close enough that prisoners could see the city lights from their cells, which was apparently the whole problem. A 12-minute ferry gets you there, and audio tours walk you through the cell block, laundry, and chow house. The burned-out Warden's mansion is worth finding: it was torched during a 19-month Native American occupation in 1970, a chapter the gift shop tends to underplay.

The Alley burger comes stuffed with foie gras if you know to ask, which tells you most of what you need to know about this craft cocktail bar and small-plates spot tucked into downtown Durham. The seasonal cocktail menu rotates with actual intention, and the food goes well past bar snacks. A James Beard nominee for Outstanding Bar Program, it draws the kind of crowd that takes both the drinks and the kitchen seriously.

This is a gelateria in a Shea Boulevard shopping center, where you order on an iPad before you ever meet a human, which feels very Scottsdale until the scoops arrive. Flavors lean adventurous, with mesquite honey lavender and a ricotta studded with fig sharing the case with mint cookies and cream. You can taste before committing, and each cup or cone gets a crisp wafer on top. Cheap enough, casual enough, flip-flops welcome.

Raclette, schnitzel, spätzle, and a frosty Bavarian beer in a chalet-style dining room: Alpenrose leans into Alpine tradition without apology. This cozy European restaurant has been an old-school Vail institution, and a 2018 ownership change by the team behind neighboring Almresi kept the Old World spirit intact. Summer brings a flower-filled patio; winter makes the case for staying inside with something warm and melted.

Amore is a casual neighborhood pizzeria that brings Chicago to the desert, which is a long way to carry an opinion about crust. The tavern-style pies come out thin and cut in squares, and the deep-dish is there for the purists. Start with fried pickles or garlic bread, finish with mini cannoli, and eat the whole thing in a room that asks nothing of your wardrobe. Eater listed it among the best pizza in Las Vegas.

A state park sitting in the middle of San Francisco Bay, Angel Island has been a Coast Miwok home, an immigration station, and a Cold War missile base, which makes the hiking trails feel unusually layered. Rent a bike, join an open-air tram tour, or walk to the Immigration Station museum. The views of the bay and city skyline are the kind that make you forget you took a ferry to get here.

Anthony's is the M Resort steakhouse in Henderson, where the Sunday brunch buffet runs on a steakhouse budget and carries a price tag closer to a Strip dinner than a morning meal. The spread skips the usual sad chafing dishes for snow crab legs, beef Wellington, and prime rib. The patio looks out at the Strip from a safe distance, and reservations are limited, so book early.

Antonio's is an old-school Italian pizzeria on Hillcroft where the name is a promise: dough gets tossed overhead, and the staff has clearly done it more than a few times. The pies run up to 16 inches, and if you can't decide on toppings, the folks behind the counter will decide for you, which feels like the right amount of authority. Calamari and pasta share the menu, so nobody at the table gets stuck with just bread.

Shokupan, the pillowy Japanese milk bread, is the anchor of this quiet strip mall pastry shop near Fujiya Market. The egg salad sandwich built on thick slices of it has a following all its own, and the matcha rolls, red bean buns, and strawberry cakes lean subtle rather than sweet. A couple of tables invite lingering over green tea cheesecake, but the filled crepes and melon pan tend to disappear early, so arriving with a plan is not the worst idea.

A Beaux-Arts building that used to be the city's main library now holds one of the largest Asian art collections in the Western hemisphere, spanning India, China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, and beyond. Pottery, weapons, calligraphy, snuff bottles, and a fully reconstructed Japanese tearoom share space with a standout Chinese bronze collection. The redesigned galleries organize the sprawl around 15 anchor masterpieces, which helps considerably.

Tucked inside the historic Wheeler Opera House, this New American pub is where Aspen locals go when they've had enough of the scene and just want a bison burger and a beer. The menu roams widely, from Nashville hot chicken to tikka masala fries, without making a fuss about it. The European-style outdoor tables are the spot when the weather cooperates, and the whole place runs smoothly before and after shows next door.

A neighborhood shop in the Sunset that stocks handmade home goods, locally printed graphic tees, and vintage finds sourced from local makers and the occasional road trip. It has the feel of a very good flea market find without requiring you to actually dig through one. The shirts are designed and printed in San Francisco on US-made blanks, which is either a detail you care about deeply or proof that you do now.

Aya Sushi is a Bellaire sushi restaurant where a Tokyo-trained chef runs an omakase that costs $159 before the sake pairing adds $85. That is a real dinner out, so dress like you meant it. The menu also holds a bone marrow in shoyu butter and a Japanese-style ceviche with its own portmanteau name, because the sushi alone apparently wasn't dramatic enough. Eater lists it among Houston's best sushi spots.

Cuban bakery on Westheimer where the coffee comes strong and the pastries come sweet, which is exactly what the name promises. The capuchinos, spongy yellow cones soaked in spiced syrup, are the thing to know about, along with flaky pastelitos stuffed with guava, beef, or cheese. A cortadito or café con leche keeps things civilized; a café Cubano does not.

The shelves at this Eastern European deli and market run floor to ceiling with imported snacks, spices, and things you won't find at a regular grocery store. Grab a piroshki from the deli counter, a yeasted hand pie stuffed with beef and cheese, and ask them to warm it. The samsas and chebureki are worth the indecision. A courtyard out front makes it easy to eat standing up, which is probably for the best given the portions.