The Best Places in the United States

The steak tartare comes dressed with Thai papaya salad and malt-vinegar chips, which tells you everything about how the kitchen thinks. Ellie Bird is a casual New American restaurant in Falls Church where Yuan Tang, of Rooster & Owl, runs global mash-ups alongside rigatoni Bolognese and kimchi-rice brunch bowls. The New York Times put it on their restaurant list and Washingtonian ranked it among the DC area's favorites, so the room fills accordingly.

A converted house in Barrio Logan where you settle your bill at the deli counter and the most coveted seats are outside under the trees. This cozy Italian osteria earns a Michelin Bib Gourmand on a menu of handmade pastas, including a handful of gluten-free options, and the kitchen sends out complimentary focaccia with a mascarpone-ricotta dip before you've even made up your mind.

A horseshoe bar built for ordering another round and reconsidering your diet anchors this swanky Cherry Creek steakhouse. The open kitchen is positioned to do exactly what it sounds like, and watching seafood towers and massive chops roll past does tend to loosen the budget. Sushi rolls sit alongside the classic steakhouse trimmings, which is either ambitious or just honest about what people actually want. Save room for the chocolate ganache globe.

A modern Jewish deli operating out of an old firehouse in Ohio City, where the bread case alone causes problems for anyone trying to leave quickly. Babka, challah, rugelach, and knishes anchor one end of the menu; koji-cured pastrami sandwiches have become the thing people line up for. The chef earned a James Beard semifinalist nod in 2025, as did the pastry program, which tells you something about how seriously both sides of the counter are taken.

Bungalow is the Logan Square brewpub where the beer runs on wild yeast and the wine is made with as little intervention as the law allows. Tavern-style thin-crust pizza shows up on Tuesdays, cut in squares, but the toppings come from regional farms and the sauces wander off script. Order a pepperoni pie here and you'll feel like you've missed the point. The Beard folks named the beverage program a semifinalist in 2024.

Order at the wood counter, catch a glimpse of the kitchen behind it, and try not to eat the pastries before your food arrives. Liu's Cafe is a small, low-key Chinese diner on 6th Street where the seats fill fast and the menu leans into comfort: wontons, braised pork belly rice, chili oil noodles, a pot of milk oolong on the side. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the sesame cold noodles won a LAist Best Bites nod.

A Peruvian ceviche shop tucked just under the elevated train tracks in Richmond Hill, earning a Michelin Bib Gourmand without much fuss about its location. Tree stumps with cushions serve as patio seating, and Latin music hits you at the door. The leche de tigre arrives in a martini glass with octopus, scallops, and shrimp, and the pork tamal, steamed in bamboo, makes a quiet case for itself from the corner of the menu.

The line out the door in Sunset Park is a reliable fixture regardless of weather. This Sichuan restaurant holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and packs its two floors with backless stools and no-frills wooden tables, which keeps the focus on the food. The kitchen goes lighter on the chili oil than you'd expect, coaxing complex flavors rather than just heat. Staff with earpieces navigate the room efficiently and are happy to guide first-timers through the menu.

A small pierogi shop tucked into Greenpoint, the part of Brooklyn that still feels like it never left Warsaw. The menu does exactly what it promises, with stuffed dumplings running savory to sweet, plus borscht, golabki, and kielbasa that could carry a meal on its own. Bolesławiec pottery doubles as the serveware, which is either charming or showing off depending on your mood. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and a shot of Polish liquor is basically required.

No ocean in sight from this busy East Hollywood corner, but the seafood at Found Oyster doesn't seem to notice. It's a no-frills bar and seafood spot where the team applies a firm philosophy: impeccably sourced shellfish needs little beyond a squeeze of lemon to do its job. The oysters come from the general manager's family farm, which is either charming or unfair competition, depending on how you look at it. The New York Times and the LA Times have both taken notice.

The Cuban sandwich here starts with pork butt marinated for a full week before it ever meets the press. This old-school Little Havana sandwich shop holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and there's nearly always a line snaking through the narrow emerald-green room to prove the point. The lechon, shredded pork in garlic-cilantro aioli, is the heavier move if you can't decide. Come hungry and come ready to wait.

Red lights, pool tables, a game room, and flatbreads until 2 a.m.: The Little Woody refuses to be just one kind of place, and Arcadia has loved it for years because of that. It's a dive bar with cocktail lounge bones, where dart nights blur into dancing and the Gun Shy Sour keeps the bourbon crowd happy. Weekend nights draw a younger crowd who treat the arcade games as warmly as the drinks.

The pink building with green trim on Main Street signals something a little different, and the floral wallpaper and mismatched furniture inside confirm it. Cobi's is a lively, affordable Southeast Asian restaurant running Thai, Malaysian, and beyond on one broad menu. The Michelin Bib Gourmand crowd tends to look pleased about the curry puffs, the wood-grilled mains, and the fact that dinner here rarely requires a difficult conversation about the bill.

Nick Curtola's trattoria across from sibling bar The Four Horsemen handles regional Italian with the kind of restraint that makes everything taste more intentional. Braised beef tendon shaved thin over acidic onions is the opening move, and it tells you exactly what kind of kitchen this is. Handmade pasta and rustic mains follow that same logic. The tiramisu is feather-light and enormous. Reservations go fast, but the bar at opening is a fine consolation.

Floor-to-ceiling windows wrap a corner of Fishtown where chef Frankie Ramirez runs an ambitious, high-end Mexican restaurant closer in spirit to Mexico City than to anything else on the Philly dining scene. The cocktail list leans into sotol and other Mexican ingredients, and the menu is built for sharing, from tostadas to a whole wood-fired pulpo. A James Beard Emerging Chef semifinalist in 2026.

The wood-fired brick oven at the back of this Miami Beach pizza shop is the whole point. It's a Brooklyn transplant with plank floors and chunky tables that feel nothing like South Beach, which is part of the appeal. The 18-inch pie comes out lusciously charred with a light crust, fresh tomato sauce, and basil, and you can dress half differently if your table can't agree. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, which means the prices won't ruin dinner.

The bar actually rotates, one full revolution every fifteen minutes, carried on 2,000 steel rollers by a quarter-horsepower motor. It's a cocktail bar inside the old Monteleone Hotel on Royal Street, and the canopy above the 25-seat circular bar was carved by a carousel craftsman, which explains a lot. New Orleans being New Orleans, nobody finds this strange. It's a strong argument for arriving early enough to feel the room slowly turn.

A 110-foot water slide and a Flowrider wave machine in the same resort that houses the Agave spa, where the treatments draw on traditional Native American healing practices. This Scottsdale resort runs to ten restaurants, a championship golf course, and day camps that will absorb the kids entirely if you need them absorbed. It's the kind of place where "staycation" stops being a lazy word and starts making geographic sense.

Fried chicken and Chartreuse slushies share a menu here, which tells you everything about the spirit of this neighborhood bistro on Grand Avenue. The team behind the Morris in San Francisco brought their seafood-and-ferment instincts across the Bay, and the result is a wine bar with exposed brick, a vine-covered back patio, and wood-fired mussels that make the whole premise feel inevitable. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the top 100 restaurants in the Bay Area.

A converted power plant on the Savannah waterfront that now houses 419 hotel rooms, several bars and restaurants, and enough natural history exhibits to make the lobby feel like a museum that got distracted. Rooms are contemporary and comfortable, the river is right outside, and the property has organized enough activities, tours, and a scavenger hunt to keep a family busy without anyone agreeing on a plan. AAA Four Diamonds.

Hydration stations on each floor dispense still, sparkling, or ambient water, which tells you something about the tone of this AAA Four Diamond hotel in Savannah's historic district. The 173 rooms run bright and airy, with big windows that catch the light, and upper floors can pull in river views. The rooftop bar with live music on weekends draws a crowd that has no intention of going to bed early.

The hojicha canelé, flavored with roasted green tea and whiskey, tells you everything you need to know before you've found a seat. The Wayland Mill is an all-day café on the ground floor of a Wallingford office building, where the chef's Japanese heritage, Midwest upbringing, and years running Seattle restaurants converge on one menu. The Saint Paul Sando alone, a riff on St. Louis Chinese-American egg foo young pressed into precise tamago on shokupan, has made it a James Beard semifinalist.

1228 Main is a daytime bakery and cafe in the Arts District where the pastry case gets the best light in the building. The laminated stuff is the draw, from lemon cruffins to crème brûlée croissants, and most people could call it breakfast with just a cappuccino. There's also a croissant sandwich with gruyère, avocado, and jalapeño aioli. It's part of the Wolfgang Puck group, which explains the discipline.

A sun-drenched brunch and lunch spot where the dining room is essentially a greenhouse looking onto a gravel European garden, the patio alone drawing people who'd otherwise eat indoors without a second thought. Gerard Craft's team runs it, with a pastry chef background in the kitchen that shows up in the morning baking. The cacio e pepe eggs have their fans. Semifinalist for a James Beard Outstanding Restaurateur nod in 2025.

Sunflower yellow walls and tall windows that pull in light from every direction set the tone at this French bistro inside Hotel Saint Augustine. Chef Aaron Bludorn's menu leans into Gulf Coast flavors alongside the classics, so foie gras arrives with biscuits and crawfish sausage gets a Creole sauce. Breakfast runs all week, the patio is spacious, and the servers seem to understand that ease is its own kind of luxury.

A Korean restaurant in Park Slope where tteokbokki arrives topped with Oaxacan cheese and chorizo, which tells you everything about the kitchen's mood. The menu moves between savory vegetable pancakes, cod braised in sweet soy with daikon, and chilled soba noodles, then lands on beignets. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, and the room fills with the kind of regulars who already know what they're ordering before they sit down.

Temaki, or hand rolls, are the whole point here, served open-style and passed directly from the crew to the counter while the nori is still crisp. The room is all blonde wood and gray-blue cushions, casual and unhurried in a way that West Village sushi rarely bothers to be. The plant-based options get the same care as the fish. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, for whatever that tells you about the price-to-pleasure math.

The self-check-in kiosk where a reception desk would normally be sets the tone: citizenM runs lean so the rooms can punch above their price point in Times Square, which is a minor miracle of real estate math. Compact king rooms come with wall-to-wall windows, Italian linens, and a touchpad that controls lighting, movies, and the mood. The lobby lounge and rooftop bar are genuinely meant to be used, not just photographed.

A post-renovation boutique hotel sitting almost exactly halfway between Times Square and Columbus Circle, which is either perfectly convenient or a studied act of evasion, depending on your night. Rooms are compact but finished in Carrara marble with a sunny palette, allergen-free beds, and accents in chartreuse and aubergine. PHD Terrace puts Midtown views under an open sky with DJs and serious cocktails above it all.

Rooms that look like a glamorous private residence someone actually lives in, not a set dressed to suggest one. The Manner is a boutique hotel on Thompson Street that trades the minimalist downtown look, and its beige "quiet luxury" cousin, for richly colored, heavily textured interiors. The ground-floor restaurant and cocktail bar pull in their own crowd, but the hotel itself stays on the discreet side of the equation.

Pastels and soft watercolors replace the old primary-color scheme after a Rockwell Group renovation, which is genuinely good news when you're sleeping a few floors above Midtown's noise machine. The Time New York is a boutique-ish hotel a short walk from Times Square, with rooms that are compact but quietly pulled together, Frette linens, Margiela bathrobes, and suites for when compact just won't do.

Birds of a Feather is a Sichuan restaurant in Williamsburg from the couple behind Café China, and the owner designed the dining room herself, which explains why it feels like someone's taste instead of a mood board. The menu runs from numbing heat to sweet-and-sour, so you'll want a few friends and a willingness to over-order. It's on the Chinese Restaurant Awards' Elite 12 list for 2026.

The lamb vindaloo here gets its punch from vinegar, not just chile heat, which is the tell that the chef trained in Goa. This is a Sunnyside neighborhood restaurant, the kind where the menu runs long and the curries arrive properly hot. The tandoor breads are made for dragging through the sauces, and the kitchen takes its time whether or not you're in a hurry. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

A pizza shop in Flagler Village that's serious enough about pies to make squash blossom and burrata toppings feel obvious rather than showy. The menu leans New York-style, with a few pastas and salads rounding things out, but the crust is the point. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, and regulars tend to negotiate hard over whether to save room for the olive oil cake. They should.

The dining room at this steakhouse inside Park MGM keeps going longer than you expect, opening into smaller rooms hung with vintage art in a way that feels more Belle Époque supper club than casino corridor. Dry-aged bone-in ribeye is the main event, but the sides pull their weight and the mile-high carrot cake arrives looking like a dare. A proper old-school steakhouse, dark and comfortable, with prices to match.

Ferraro's is a white-tablecloth Italian restaurant just off the Strip, where the main attraction is somebody else's birthday. Private rooms fill up with families belting out the song, while the patio stays oddly peaceful for a city that never shuts up. It holds AAA Three Diamonds and has been the sort of place Las Vegas locals pick when the occasion needs a tablecloth, a bucatini, and a short drive from the neon.

Popovers instead of dinner rolls set the tone at this 70s New York-themed steakhouse inside the Venetian, where Spiegelworld (the circus people) have conjured a mythologized city-after-dark that lands closer to lived-in than costume party. Burnt orange booths, paisley-clad servers, and decade-specific memorabilia do the heavy lifting, while the kitchen goes au poivre on the burger and foie gras on the bread basket.

Local art lines the walls at this intimate American restaurant, and much of it is for sale, which sets the tone nicely: personal, a little unhurried, not trying to be a downtown event. The menu shifts with the seasons, leaning into house-made pasta and good sourced meat. The chef earned a James Beard semifinalist nod, and the front of house is run with the kind of warmth that comes from having an actual stake in the room.

Wood fire and a blazing wok run through nearly everything at this Pan-Asian restaurant on Porter Road, from the shishitos to the Wagyu brisket to a smoky half-chicken in wasabi white sauce. The menu roams freely across Asia without apologizing for it. The chef landed a James Beard semifinalist nod in 2025, and the New York Times put Noko on its Nashville list, which goes some way toward explaining why a reservation is the hardest thing to find in East Nashville right now.

Floor-to-ceiling windows in every suite frame Bahrain Bay without interruption, which is a strong opening argument for a hotel that needs no other. The Conrad Financial Harbour is an all-suite luxury property in the heart of the financial district, with Bahraini artwork threading through interiors that otherwise look ripped from a design magazine. A rooftop pool and a Sushisamba round out the package. It holds a Forbes Four Star.

A koi pond with an arched bridge over water lilies does a lot of heavy lifting for a hotel lobby, but Mirbeau leans into its French manor fantasy and the grounds more or less pull it off. The 34 rooms and four standalone cottages all come with fireplaces, and most guests seem to arrive with the 14,000-square-foot spa already on their itinerary. Forbes rates it Four Star. Skaneateles is quietly lovely, and Mirbeau knows it.

Mesquite fire anchors the kitchen here, and the Sonoran Mexican menu turns with the seasons around it. Tito & Pep is a full-service dinner spot with teal banquettes, polished concrete, and enough desert greenery to make the room feel intentional without trying too hard. The chef earned a James Beard semifinalist nod in 2022, and the New York Times put it on their restaurant list that same year, which is a lot of attention for East Speedway.

Michael Schwartz's waterfront Latin-inspired restaurant sits on Biscayne Bay, where the patio has the kind of views that make everyone at the table look better than they are. The menu pulls from across South America, farm-to-table in spirit, with dishes built for sharing under open sky. The drinks program is a James Beard Semifinalist, and the cocktails lean into the Florida-tropics overlap without apology. Go when the weather cooperates, which in Miami is most of the time.

Spanish Colonial buildings spread across 265 acres of gardens, hidden paths, and towering trees in San Diego's inland hills. This full-service resort runs to 286 rooms done in earthy neutrals, a spa tucked well away from the main action, a championship golf course, and three pools, which collectively make leaving feel like a logistical overcorrection. Craft breweries and hiking trails sit close by when the urge strikes.

Sitting on Gila River Indian Community land about twenty miles outside Phoenix, this resort takes its setting as a design brief rather than a backdrop. The Pima and Maricopa tribes shape everything from the spa treatments to the restaurant menus, two Troon-managed golf courses look out over the Sierra Estrella Mountains, and an equestrian center will put you on a horse if the pools and wildlife trails haven't already claimed your afternoon.

A championship golf course rolling out behind the lobby sets the tone at this resort hotel tucked into the leafy, upscale south side of Charlotte. Rooms run in chic gray and white, the two-story lobby pulls in natural light through a back wall of windows, and the terrace is where you want to be with a glass of Scotch watching the greens. Tennis, indoor and outdoor pools, and a spa round out the offering for guests who can't quite stop doing things.

Deer graze the golf course while guests roast s'mores at the fire pit, which tells you something about the vibe at this resort tucked into two canyons just across PCH from the beach. Eighty-seven acres of hills and ravines give it more of a nature retreat feeling than a seaside hotel. Laguna Beach has an old artist-colony identity beneath the resort gloss, and the Ranch, with its ranch-style rooms and coastal-chic sustainability angle, leans into that quieter story.

Handmade pasta is the whole argument at this Mission Italian restaurant, where an open kitchen and a roaring pizza oven set the mood before you've ordered. The menu shifts constantly, leaning into the California-Italian overlap the neighborhood has come to expect from it. Half-portions exist, which is the kitchen quietly admitting the pasta list makes choosing one impossible. It's been an old-school institution long enough to anchor the block around it.

A serious wine list paired with Chinese cooking in Chinatown, right across from Seward Park. Tolo is a compact wine bar where the chef brings real polish to familiar dishes, the kind of place where the small tables fill up fast and nobody seems to mind. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand. Zalto glasses and a long, considered pour list signal that the wine half of the equation is no afterthought.

Korean-style tabletop grills sit at the center of every table, and you cook your own pork bulgogi or galbi short rib over them while the kitchen handles everything else. The menu is part Korean family dinner, part Pacific Rim wandering, all shaped by chef Ben Alexander's own biography. A James Beard semifinalist, he also offers an omakase if you'd rather hand the decisions over entirely, which, given the range on offer, is not a bad idea.

The brisket comes sliced on butcher paper at this East Austin BBQ shop, where the pit crew turns out central Texas smoke across ribs, sausage, pulled pork, and lamb. The sides pull their own weight, especially a potato salad dressed with cider vinegar that has no business being this good. Save room for banana pudding, or don't, it's your afternoon. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the line outside tells you everything else.

Plastic stools, plastic tables, and a fermented shrimp paste so funky it has its own gravitational pull, this is a Vietnamese restaurant on the Lower East Side that draws a crowd large enough to colonize the sidewalk and occasionally a neighboring storefront. The menu runs through stuffed snails, grilled intestines, and frog sausage with the tiny bones crushed in. The New York Times placed it 26th on their 100 Best Restaurants in New York City list.

Chili pepper lights strung overhead and a line out the door set the tone for this Tex-Mex spot named for a Willie Nelson record. The flour tortillas are made in the open dining room, which is the kind of detail that keeps regulars honest about why they're there. Tacos, burritos, crunch wraps, a green chili cheeseburger, house hot sauces. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, and the frozen drinks have their own following.

The sisters behind the beloved Veracruz All Natural truck empire opened this taco shop and bar in Mueller, keeping the signature blue color on the walls and the blue corn tortillas coming fresh off the press. The menu stays in its lane, tacos and antojitos plus a few bigger plates, and the house cocktails lean agave. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, which tracks: the food is unfussy and the check won't sting.

Coca-Cola glazed pork belly and Doritos-dusted chilaquiles set the tone at this taco-forward Mexican restaurant in Cerritos, where the chef brings a fine-dining background to handmade tortillas and spicy salsas. The menu leans into LA's Mexican-American hybrid instincts, with truffle accents sitting comfortably beside beer-battered cod. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a spot on the LA Times taco list.

Handmade flour tortillas and hand-pressed masa are the foundation at this Mexican gastropub in downtown Santa Ana, where a post-pandemic reset trimmed the menu down to tacos, quekas, and churros and made each one count. The Bib Gourmand reflects that focus. Grilled tomato and dried chili salsa ties the tacos together; habanero salsa does the same for the quekas. Happy hour makes running the whole short list an easy call.

The soup dumplings in the crab version are reason enough to find a table at this polished SoHo Chinese restaurant, where the room runs lanterns and a front bar and the kitchen turns out food that feels more Flushing than fashionable. The scallion pancake martini is exactly the kind of thing you order to prove you've read the menu. The Michelin Guide has given it a Bib Gourmand, and the wine list is notably more considered than you'd expect.

A French brasserie on a corner of South Main, with big windows that let the street watch you demolish a crock of onion soup. The classics are all here, escargots and mussels and a boeuf bourguignon built on short rib, plus fries tossed in dry-aged beef fat that tend to vanish before the entrees arrive. It's a sit-down dinner, and a James Beard semifinalist chef is running it. Next door, the sibling bar handles the Bordeaux.

The bagels sell out most mornings, which tells you most of what you need to know. This East Thomas bagel shop turns out hand-rolled New York-style rounds with a crackly crust and a properly chewy pull, and the everything and jalapeño cheddar have built a quiet cult following across Phoenix. Bon Appétit named it among the top bagels in the country outside New York. Set your alarm, or find them at a handful of local cafes if you sleep in.

The complimentary chips arrive with a black bean and guajillo purée instead of the usual salsa, which is the first sign this wood-fired Mexican grill is doing something different. The room is sleek and loud, the patio fills fast, and the margaritas are everywhere you look. A New York Times Restaurant List pick and a James Beard semifinalist, it backs the festive vibe with an agave spirits collection that takes the bar seriously.

A Harlem cocktail bar run by artists, which explains why the drinks feel less like menu items and more like installation pieces. The house forager supplies wild edible plants that become bitters, liqueurs, and amari made in-house, so what ends up in your glass has a provenance most bars can't claim. The room is cozy and unhurried, and the crowd tends to treat the cocktail list the way other people treat gallery notes.