The Best Places in the United States

A photo of Keanu Reeves in the window is this Tenderloin Thai spot's unofficial marquee, and the barbecued pork shoulder is the reason he keeps coming back. The fish sauce marinade gets charred on a grill and turns up three ways: over fried rice, in a salad with toasted rice powder, or straight with a dipping sauce. A cash-and-plastic neighborhood joint where the regulars look comfortable enough to be furniture.

Saigon Seafood Harbor runs a hybrid system: you fill out a paper order slip, then carts bring the food anyway. It's a dim sum parlor in a Sunnyvale strip, and the barbecue pork buns arrive with that glassy, lacquered top that signals someone is paying attention. The siu mai gets a drizzle of chile oil, and the scallop dumplings are translucent little parcels with enough celery to keep things bright. Weekend tables fill fast, so come early or come hungry enough to wait.

Saint Germain is a French bakery and cafe at the Interlock, with Parisian-style tables roomy enough that you can set up a laptop and stay until closing without a single glare. The display cases hold frilly cakes so decorated you hesitate before the first forkful, briefly. The macaron selection runs past twenty flavors, lavender to pistachio, which is a lot of decisions for someone who only came in for coffee.

French technique meets Japanese flavors at this Cleveland Park bakery, where cruffins come filled with lychee and grapefruit and the matcha shows up in mochi rolls alongside lavender. The pastry case leans into seasonal and Japanese ingredients in a way that feels less like a gimmick and more like a genuine point of view. Weekend mornings draw a line worth joining, even if you tell yourself you're just stopping in for coffee.

A halal market in West Oakland where the grocery aisles give way to a dining room out back serving pita sandwiches, mixed grill plates, and a rotating spread of Yemeni specialties. The saltah, a lamb and fenugreek soup served in a stone bowl, arrives bubbling and practically orders the flatbread for you. Stock your pantry, grab lunch, or do both, which most people here seem to be doing.

Goth velvet paintings and band prints share wall space with a rotating bean roster at this laid-back coffee shop tucked inside the Freight Gallery in the Lone Star District. The specialty drink menu is long, and tea gets the same serious treatment as coffee, which is rarer than it should be. Community events spill in from the adjoining gallery, giving the place the feel of a neighborhood hangout that happens to take your cup seriously.

The name itself tells the story: "San" for San Francisco, "Jalisco" for the Mexican state where the family's roots are. This homey, generations-run breakfast and lunch spot on South Van Ness has been feeding the Mission's hangovers with chilaquiles and huevos rancheros for decades. The weekend birria special draws its own crowd, served either as a rich stew or dry with the broth alongside, which is the move.

Twenty-seven taps pour at the Beer Hall HQ, which is the anchor of a local brewing outfit with locations across Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Food comes from whatever truck is parked in the courtyard that day, ranging from barbecue to Cubanos, so check the website before you go. The sprawling outdoor lounge makes it easy to lose an afternoon, which is probably the point.

Sartiano's is a high-end Italian steakhouse on the Strip, with a patio that looks out over Wynn's private fairways and the Sphere glowing behind them. It sits next door to the celebrity-heavy members' club Zero Bond, and the room carries some of that hush. Expect an expense-account crowd, caviar cannoli to start, and meatballs that quietly steal the show from the steaks. It's polished without being stiff.

Saturn is a New Center coffee shop that opened recently and already has people camped at its tables with laptops and paperbacks. The room is sunny and quiet enough to hear yourself think, which in a coffee shop is practically a luxury amenity. The flat whites and iced matcha lattes are the draw, breakfast sandwiches on biscuits are cheap, and in summer your dog gets a 50-cent pup cup. Eater counts it among Detroit's best coffee shops.

A downtown Latin restaurant where the salsa section gets its own dedicated menu real estate, which tells you something about priorities. The chef, a Wilmington native, does BLT arepas and blackened tuna over cilantro-lime quinoa alongside tacos and tostadas at lunch. Sunday brunch draws a crowd large enough that you'd be wise to plan ahead. The vibe is casual and local, the flavors are bright, and the room moves.

Scotty Simpson's is a nautical-themed corner fish fry in Brightmoor that has apparently never been told the decor trend moved on, and that's fine by everyone in the booths. You order the cod in its light house batter with fries, slaw, tartar sauce, and soft dinner rolls, and the fish flakes apart in big, tidy pieces. The fried frog legs are thick enough to need a second opinion, and the pie goes fast, so ask early.

A cafe and pub in Troy Hill where no one has a job title because everyone is cross-trained to do everything, which somehow produces a vibe closer to a house party than a service industry shift. The brunch menu leans into local partnerships, and the beer and cider list stays tight and neighborhood-focused. Bring a weekend morning and no particular plans.

The Rufina Taproom sits a short walk from Meow Wolf, which tells you something about the crowd rolling in. This is a brewpub, casual and spacious, with house beers, burgers, and a Cuban sandwich that regulars treat as non-negotiable. The Cajun-leaning sides, spiced tater tots included, are a small surprise on an otherwise straightforward menu. Live music fills the room on weekends, and nobody seems to be in a hurry to leave.

A cozy Ethiopian lunch spot tucked into a San Jose shopping center, where regulars sip tea and read newspapers like they've been coming for years. The vegetarian combo is the move, with lentils done two ways and a shiro with a deep, bouquet-cube savoriness that's hard to place but easy to finish. The injera has a smooth, almost elastic pull to it. Pair everything with hot tea, because that's what the room does.

Follow the signs through an industrial neighborhood off Dravus, past the fluorescent hallway, past the distillery, and you'll land in a small cocktail bar that smells like a very good apothecary. SennzaFinne makes its own amaro here, and the open bins of calendula and angelica aren't decorative. The chalkboard rotates, the hours are short, and the crowd that finds it tends to feel quietly smug about that.

Sepia is a coffee shop and the first storefront for a Black-owned roaster that sources directly from Black and brown farmers across the Americas, Africa, and the Indian Pacific. The bags are named for the Detroit neighborhoods that once anchored Black life, so you can order a Paradise or Blk Bottom and learn some local history before the caffeine kicks in. The menu is hand-painted on the wall, and there's a pastry case, which saves you from a tragic breakfast.

The in-house stone mill sets Seylou apart from every other bakery in D.C., whole grains going from kernel to loaf under one roof. The team ferments the dough and bakes in a wood-fired oven imported from abroad, which explains the crust on those pain au levain loaves. Mornings bring whole grain croissants and an espresso bar, and on Wednesday nights the sourdough becomes the base for pizza, which is either a great idea or a threat to your routine.

Shady Acres Saloon is a Heights dive built to look like a small-town square, complete with an outdoor stage that resembles a country general store. The cornhole and horseshoe setups are generous, which feels like a zoning requirement in this part of town. Lone Star tall boys and banana pudding shots come cheap, the single pool table starts arguments, and whoever's on stage keeps the two-steppers busy.

A cocktail bar tucked inside the Roost food hall on Capitol Hill, Show of Hands leans hard into herbal liqueurs and brown spirits, with a menu organized by mood rather than spirit. The low-ABV side of the list is taken seriously, not grudgingly. Pop-up menus occasionally pay tribute to celebrities, which sounds gimmicky until you realize the drinks are the point and the theme is just the excuse to show up.

Shyboy is an underground Downtown bar where the soft-serve machine shares the building with serious DJ talent. Cocktails run to fizzy Japanese highballs and lychee sours, and the main room is big enough to dance and still find a table. The real draw is the Blue Room, a lounge behind a vault door with couches and a sound system that makes listening sessions feel like a small religious experience. Tickets are cheap, so dress for dancing.

Sift is a bakery-cafe with a giant stick of butter painted on its exterior, which is the closest thing to a mission statement you'll find on a building. Inside, the case runs to tiramisu brownies, apple crumb tarts, and cherry almond breakfast cakes, with a box of six getting you a sixth free. The coffee and tea come from the Dose people, so the golden chai arrives under soft whipped cream. The maritozzi is how you end up buying a second box.

A Vietnamese restaurant that gave the North Bay's food scene something to talk about, Simmer runs an expansive menu with serious attention to vegetarian and gluten-free options alongside the classics. The crispy tofu with lemongrass, herbs, and rice noodles is a reason to skip the meat entirely, and the filet mignon phở eases in anyone still finding their footing with the canon. Casual, affordable, and easy to bring everyone to.

Sine Wave is an Ocean Beach coffee shop that pours a chocolatey batch brew from a roaster based in Scottsdale, which is a long commute for a bean. The breakfast menu runs bigger than a coffee counter has any right to, and the tomato jam turns up on the sandwich and the calzone. There are chargers for everyone and a basket of local surf photos to flip through while you procrastinate. It's on The Infatuation's San Diego coffee shop list.

Skinny Dennis is a honky-tonk dive that moved down from New York and blended in so well you'd swear it grew up on Gallatin Pike. The drinks are cheap, the music is live Americana, and the frozen coffee arrives in a blue bodega cup, which is a lot of cowboy for a coffee. Line dancers take over the back while pool players try to negotiate through them. Sundays bring a vintage market, so you can buy the fringe jacket on the spot.

A two-story coffee shop a few steps off the Jackson Square, where the beans are roasted locally and the drink menu goes wherever you point it. The tea side holds up too, with a London Fog that arrives in a mug sized for lingering. Upstairs and down you'll find colorful dishware, bar seating for laptop people, and a pastry case from a local bakery that makes the donuts here rare for town: fresh. The Infatuation lists it among Jackson Hole's best.

The Huang family has been pressing organic artisan tofu here for decades, and the shop has quietly grown into a full hub for Taiwanese vegetarian cooking. Pick up frozen dumplings, house soy products, or pull up to the hot bar and have things ladled into a bento box. Not every item is vegan, but the staff will tell you exactly where anything lands. The San Francisco Chronicle named it one of the Bay Area's top vegetarian and vegan spots.

Soro Soro is a small Korean coffee shop on East Burnside where the drinks come layered like geology, with black sesame-pandan cream, crispy rice, and Okinawan brown sugar. Yuzu sodas and cherry blossom slushes sit alongside cat-face cheesecakes and dog-shaped cookies, so expect a line of people photographing their order before anyone takes a sip. The Infatuation put it on its list of Portland coffee shops.

The 12th-floor balcony of this penthouse lounge looks out over RiNo, and the room inside, all emerald banquettes and moon-like pendant lights, is doing its level best to compete with the view. Cocktails lean botanical and a little precious, saffron gin and rose water that kind of thing, which fits the vibe perfectly. The snacks are luxe and unapologetic. Eater named it among Denver's best bars, and the crowd tends to dress for the occasion.

A cioppino so loaded with Dungeness crab, mussels, scallops, and clams that the bowl barely closes is the reason most people show up to this old-school North Beach seafood house. The parklet on Green Street buzzes like the neighborhood's living room, and the Boston clam chowder travels home in quart containers for those who plan ahead. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the Bay Area's top seafood restaurants.

Bacon-wrapped meatloaf with a tomato jam glaze is the signature at this Southern comfort food and craft beer spot just across the river from campus. The patio is the main event on game days, and the menu leans hard into the classics: prime rib rolls, collard greens, sweet potato tots, biscuits. It's the kind of place where the sides could carry the whole meal on their own, which in Alabama is not considered a problem.

Southern Sweets is a Decatur bakery where the display cases of tarts, pies, and cookies are basically a decoy for the giant layer cakes in the back, which come in 17 flavors. The old-fashioned chocolate has a slice-sized pound of melted chocolate in it, and the gluten-free and vegan crowd gets real options, including a plant-based strawberry cake that will have you eyeing the whole one on the way out.

Spella is a tiny downtown espresso bar built the Italian way: a marble counter, a narrow ledge to lean on, and no chairs, so nobody is writing a novel here. The menu sticks to the classics, macchiatos and lattes and espresso with a pleasant bitter edge, all of it ordered, drunk, and finished in about the time it takes to check your phone. It's a coffee break in the original sense, minus the laptop. The Infatuation put it on its list of Portland's coffee shops.

SPKRBOX is a downtown Detroit coffee shop that answered the question "what if this also served negronis" and kept going. The second-floor seats overlook the street, the espresso drinks get fancy, and the cocktails come with coffee syrup in them. The basement is a soundproofed, futuristic lounge called the Orange Room, so the 3 p.m. latte and the 11 p.m. second wind both have somewhere to go.

Spot Lite is a bar, gallery, record shop, and event space on the East Side, which is a lot of jobs for one building, and it seems to be handling them. You can get a morning coffee, an after-work draft sangria, or a DJ set that spills into the night, depending on when you wander in. Wings, vegan smash burgers, and loaded fries come from the kitchen out back, so nobody has to leave to eat. It's on Eater's list of Detroit's best bars.

Carbonara croquetas dusted with cured egg yolk tell you everything about what Michelle Bernstein is doing at her first restaurant with her name on the door in nearly a decade. It's a Spanish-Mediterranean dinner spot in Coral Gables where the menu traces her life, from a Jewish Argentine upbringing to time spent cooking with grandmothers across Spain, Morocco, and Hungary. The result is personal in a way that most "globally inspired" menus only pretend to be.