The Best Places in the United States

A food hall in West Adams where the stalls read like a who's-who of L.A.'s best operators: Thai fried chicken from the Holy Basil crew, tlayudas from Poncho's, tamales and weekend barbacoa from Tamales Elena. The rotating pop-up slot keeps regulars guessing, and Sook sells Levantine pantry goods alongside pre-packaged dishes for the commute home. The full-service Maydan restaurant anchors the back with hearth-fired Lebanese-leaning spreads and whole roasted mains.

Mean Sandwich is a small sandwich shop with a giant open mouth for a logo, which is also the face you'll make at the counter. The room keeps the old deli feel, but the corned beef is housemade and thick-cut, and the mint shows up by the fistful. Even the bread pudding comes from day-old buns, and a backyard patio handles warm-weather sandwiching. Order at the counter, bring napkins, expect no ceremony.

Meskerem is a cozy, casual Ethiopian spot on South Grand, with walls covered in old Visit Ethiopia travel ads that make a strong case for a vacation you can't take tonight. Dinner arrives on one enormous round of tangy injera, which you tear and use as both fork and spoon. The combo platters bring a pile of vegetarian and meat dishes for around $18, so bring friends and sample most of the menu.

A Greek restaurant in the Gaslamp that mostly skips the blue-and-white postcard act in favor of California-leaning Mediterranean plates and portions sized for a table that's still arguing about who's driving. Someone usually flambés shrimp in ouzo beside your chair, which counts as dinner and a show. There's a patio for watching Gaslamp foot traffic and a happy hour that runs Sunday through Friday afternoons.

Mi Luna is a Spanish tapas restaurant with Moorish touches, tucked into the Montrose Collective. It spent two decades in Rice Village, vanished for a while, then reappeared in a shinier address, which is the Houston way. The menu leans on shared plates, a paella built from seafood, meat, and chicken, and a sweet-and-savory Moroccan chicken pie. Come hungry and with friends, because ordering for one defeats the point.

Mian is a casual Sichuan noodle shop on Bellaire Boulevard, a California transplant in a stretch of Chinatown that has no shortage of Sichuan. You order everything from your phone at the table, which keeps service quick and conversation with the staff to a minimum. The beef noodle soup and the red oil dumplings are the comfort-food move, a steaming bowl that listens to your problems and never offers advice. Expect a tingle, not a fight.

MingHin is a big, banquet-style dim sum hall in the Loop, with white tablecloths that promise formality and a room full of families that never got the memo. The menu runs long, and the sesame buns tend to start a small stampede toward the middle of the table. It makes a sensible pit stop once the boat tour, the Sears Tower, and the Bean have all been checked off for your out-of-town guests.

Mink is an oyster and tinned seafood bar in Corktown where the shuckers are the floor show, so grab a seat at the counter and watch them work. It's small and low-key, the sort of place a first date can pretend was casual all along. You can graze on oysters from around the country, or book the monthly five-course tasting menu, which reads like a church potluck that went to culinary school.

Mirisata is a counter-service Sri Lankan spot on Belmont, and it's fully vegan, worker-owned, and tip-free, which covers three Portland personality types in one stop. The daily rice and curry arrives on a banana leaf, with four rotating dishes at different heat levels. The roti and pastries are worth a second order if you're bringing company. Eat inside or at the patio picnic tables, and it's listed among Eater's 38 Best Restaurants and Food Carts in Portland.

Mistral has been a French institution on Ventura Boulevard for what feels like forever, and a new team has stepped in after the founding owner retired, refreshing the room and the menu without abandoning the bistro bones. French onion soup arrives crowned with a Comté grilled cheese, and four versions of steak frites suggests a kitchen that takes the assignment seriously. A sommelier handles the wine list, and a full cocktail menu is there if you need it.

Modu is a Highland Park bakery that started as a pandemic baking hobby and now has a bright, spare room that looks like Copenhagen was asked to keep it down. The Korean-leaning pastries sit in a glass case like museum pieces, which makes ordering feel faintly like an acquisition. Bring a few people and split several, since a cinnamon roll, a mochi bar, and a tart each look too good to commit to alone.

A build-your-own instant ramen bar does a lot of the talking at this Korean cafe and market tucked behind a Highland Park pocha. The team behind Be Bright Coffee runs the drinks side, with the 2024 U.S. Barista Champion pulling banana matcha lattes alongside grab-and-go banchan, Spam musubi, and a braised oxtail hand pie. It's the kind of neighborhood spot that makes a convincing case for ramen at any hour.

Momento Cantina is a sprawling, pink-lit Mexican restaurant with self-serve tequila machines and a soundtrack better suited to a Cancun pool deck than a Monroe Street block. It's the kind of place you'd expect in the West Loop, yet here it sits, a short walk from the symphony. The freshly made corn tortillas carry the menu, showing up under birria, tuna tostadas, and a whole fish in zarandeado sauce.

Mona Lisa is an old-school Italian deli and red-sauce restaurant on India Street, run by the family's third generation and still stocked like somebody's nonna is checking the shelves. The market side carries packaged goods and wine, and the counter builds the kind of sub that needs two hands and a napkin strategy. Next door, lasagna and pasta come in half portions, which feels like the restaurant admitting you also have a day to finish.

Dominique Crenn, the three-Michelin-starred force behind Atelier Crenn, set up her Los Angeles return on the top floor of the Dior flagship on Rodeo Drive, which tells you almost everything about the vibe before you sit down. It's an all-day restaurant with a full tasting menu, à la carte options, lounge bar plates, and an afternoon tea complete with the requisite tower of sandwiches and sweets, all served somewhere between a couture house and a dining room.

Mootz is a downtown Detroit pizzeria that sells New York-style slices by the wedge, plus a menu that keeps going once you've dealt with the pizza. There's a meatball situation involving beef, pork, and a grandmother, and the pastas and oversized salads are there for anyone who came for a sit-down dinner instead of a fold-and-walk. It all runs casual and cheap enough to wear whatever you already have on.

Mr. Beef is a no-frills Italian beef stand, and the building you'll recognize as the exterior of The Bear's sandwich shop, though the cameras only borrowed the outside. The beef gets cooked on-site rather than reheated from a bag, which Chicagoans treat as a matter of principle. Expect a line, a cheap sandwich you'll eat standing up, and a wall of celebrity photos to study while you wait.

Beijing duck carved tableside is the move at Mr. Chow, the Beverly Hills fine dining institution that helped reframe what Chinese food could look like in America. The room leans glamorous, the prices lean ambitious, and the clientele leans toward people who treat both as a given. Dumplings, hand-pulled noodles, and stir-fries round out a menu that draws from upscale pre-revolution Chinese cooking rather than the takeout canon. Steely Dan wrote about it, which tells you something.

A grab-and-go musubi counter inside the Aqua Pacific Monarch Hotel, with the largest menu of the three Waikīkī locations. Fresh rice gets packed around fried chicken, salmon with roe, or any number of Spam variations, including one loaded with avocado, bacon, and egg that operates as a breakfast sandwich in musubi form. The space is small, the turnover is fast, and the whole operation runs on the principle that rice pressed around a good filling is a complete argument.

A Korean noodle shop on Bellaire Blvd, imported from LA's Koreatown, that has the casual, order-at-the-counter feel of a food court at a mega-spa. The handmade cold noodles, chewy and tinted green from chlorella, arrive in bowls piled with spice, funky kimchi, and cold vegetables. In a city that's hot as hell most of the year, it's a filling meal that won't leave you crawling to your car.

Naia is a Greek-leaning, see-and-be-seen restaurant on the Chicago River, and the view is good enough that the kitchen could have phoned it in. It didn't, which is how you end up with crab on the falafel and caviar offered for the potato fritters. There's a roving hummus cart and a cheese course that catches fire, so dress like someone who expects to be looked at, and be ready for the next yacht to steal your attention.

Nolita Hall is a big, loud Italian American restaurant and bar at the quiet north end of Little Italy, away from the strip. It runs on a wood-fired oven, a horseshoe bar, communal tables, and projector screens for the game, with a fireplace lounge in between, so every mood in your group has a place to sit. Midweek there's a Girl Dinner deal with vodka pasta and an espresso martini.

Oba Boba is a boba trailer, a chrome Airstream permanently parked in Downtown Summerlin with a boba-sipping panda on the side and a colorful window that does all the business. Milk teas, lemonades, and seasonal drinks come with adjustable sweetness, and a bag of chips or a Cup O' Noodles covers the savory side. It's a quick, cheap stop, and parking nearby is a small act of faith. It's on Eater's list of the best restaurants in Downtown Summerlin.

Officina is a multi-story Italian restaurant on the Wharf, and the second-floor dining room looks like a Campari ad, all art deco light fixtures and golden-green everything. The menu roams the whole country with a strong lean toward seafood, plus housemade pastas for when you want a linguine that stays on message. Upstairs, a plant-filled terrace gets a lovely view south and a less lovely one of the overpass north. Dress like you're in Milan.

One Roast is a Cantonese-style roast meat counter on Bellaire Blvd that, unlike most of its takeout-only neighbors, has actual diner seating, so you can eat the duck before it cools in a bag. The three-meat plate is the move, with portions generous and prices modest. The good stuff sells out before closing, so treat 6pm as a deadline. The pineapple slushie is for people who finish early.

Zaba's is a Vegas-born mini chain in Downtown Summerlin, the kind of counter-service Mexican grill where you build a bowl, burrito, or quesadilla by choosing a protein and pointing at things. Grilled shrimp, shredded beef, and battered fish all get a turn. The Valencia heat tacos toss orange slices in chile powder, which sounds like a dare and eats like a plan. Wear whatever you wore to the farmers market, and expect to be out in twenty minutes.

A Turkish American tech worker turned pitmaster drives an hour a day just to source the right bread for his chopped beef sandwiches, which tells you everything about the commitment level here. This is a Texas-style BBQ beer bar in Fremont where the brisket, salt-and-pepper only, runs through the smoker for upward of twelve hours and comes out glossy and dark-edged. The sweet pickles in the potato salad are made in-house purely to be an ingredient, not a garnish.

Pachi-Pachi is an izakaya-style lounge near Fremont East, which means the drinks and the snacks get equal billing and nobody pretends to be there for just one. Hand rolls, katsu sandos, and fried deviled eggs you can spike with wasabi sit alongside highballs and a martini infused with kimchi and nori. The pub burger arrives under molten Japanese beer cheese, a combination that sounds like a dare and eats like a plan.

Pal's is a seafood restaurant tucked against a yacht club at the far end of Hayden Island, which means you get the marina views without the dock fees or the mildew. Oyster platters and seafood towers sit alongside calamari nachos, a combination that sounds like a dare and goes down easily. It's a casual, convivial spot, best timed so the sun drops into the Columbia while a paloma is in your hand.

Pancho's is a Mexican restaurant that came to Summerlin from Southern California, and it brought the margarita list with it. More than forty tequilas sit behind the bar, plus a Cadillac or two, and the decor is lush enough that you'll feel overdressed in a ball cap. Daily happy hour covers the chicken-and-cheese egg rolls, and the combination plates of enchiladas and tamales arrive without any reinvention.

Papa Noodle is a fast, casual Chinese noodle shop a short walk from a good chunk of SoMa's office towers, which explains the lunch-hour line of people holding badges. The menu is a handful of bowls, including pork or chicken noodles, beef noodle soup, and a vegan option, with noodles made daily. Every order comes with a White Rabbit candy, the closest thing to a dessert menu or a raise.

Peaches HotHouse is a casual Bed-Stuy counter-service spot for Nashville hot chicken, back when that was a rare find in the city and long before the chains with celebrity backing showed up. You pick your heat (regular, hot, extra hot) and your bird, shrimp, or catfish, then add grits and collards. Dress for a paper-lined basket and a mild sweat. Eater lists it among the best places to eat in the neighborhood.

Perenn is a bakery-cafe in a farmhouse-styled outdoor plaza, where the wifi password is "glutenlover" and the pastry case is clearly the main event. Everyone orders at one counter, so the line doubles as browsing time, with croissants, griddled banana bread, and cakes to stare at while your patience gets tested. The Turkish eggs and a salmon cooked just past rare cover the savory side, and it's come-hungry, order-at-the-counter casual.

Petite Edith is a French bistro on the ground floor of a luxury apartment building, which means the neighbors can claim it without ever putting on a coat. The big U-shaped bar seats solo diners comfortably, and the banquettes in back suit a quiet dinner for two. The kitchen takes French classics through a Midwestern filter, so you get two kinds of bread, and brunch brings duck fat hash browns.

The broth at this Chinatown pho shop has been going since 1987, and regulars treat it accordingly, never opening a menu. A sprawling Southern Vietnamese lineup covers nearly 60 dishes, but the namesake bowl, available in more than two dozen variations, is the reason most people brave the line. The imperial egg rolls, crisp and stuffed with pork and wood ear mushrooms, make a strong case for arriving hungry enough to order both.

Fruit tarts are the whole point at this Taiwanese bakery in Alhambra, where the crusts are milled from Tehachapi Sonora wheat and the fillings lean on local farms, including strawberries from Harry's Berries. The chef trained at Le Cordon Bleu and did time at Milo and Olive, and the drinks menu runs single-origin espresso, hojicha, and seasonal sparkling sodas alongside. A focused, careful little shop doing one thing with very deliberate ingredients.

Pink Tiger is a Wharf cocktail bar and restaurant where everything arrives in some shade of rose, from the patio umbrellas to the drinks, which seem to have been color-matched to the walls. The menu wanders between Southeast Asian, American, and Mediterranean ideas, so go in with a loose itinerary. Expect a dressed-up, mildly flamingo crowd and a tab that matches the waterfront address.

Pizzana is a Neapolitan-leaning pizzeria on West Gray, a Los Angeles import that gave Houston its own Tex-Mex pie with spiced porchetta and a chipotle salsa. The cacio e pepe pizza made the trip too, along with a Negroni di Napoli and a ranch water that knows where it is. You can also buy the dough to go for $5, in case River Oaks wants to pretend it made dinner.

PJ & Company is a diner-style breakfast spot dressed as a Route 99 saloon, with mismatched dining rooms, neon signs, and racing memorabilia on the walls. Eggs Benedict is the main event, and most versions arrive under a cream cheese sherry sauce whether the menu mentions it or not. Breakfast runs until 11:30 on weekdays and 1 on weekends, and after 5 a separate Tex-Mex menu takes over. It's listed among Eater's best Reno restaurants and bars.

Planta Queen is an upscale vegan restaurant on North Clark, part of a chain that dresses its plant-based menu in design-forward rooms. The sushi stands in for fish with eggplant, watermelon, and carrots, which is a lot of faith in a carrot. Monday brings unlimited maki for $35, and lunch has a two-course special. Expect a polished crowd that came for dinner, not a lecture.

POST Market is a food hall under one very cool roof, where deciding what to eat becomes a group negotiation with dozens of vendors. Suya beef skewers, pad Thai, Filipino barbecue, hand rolls, and hot chicken all share the same neighborhood, so nobody has to lose the argument. Order at the stalls, grab a drink at one of the bars, and carry it up to Skylawn for a Downtown skyline view.