The Best Places to Eat in the United States

Kothu roti, the Sri Lankan street staple of shredded roti, meat, and egg, landed on the New York Times list of top dishes in the city, which tells you something about what the kitchen is doing here. This Upper East Side restaurant draws on the chef's upbringing in Kanyakumari, where southern India and Sri Lanka blur together, and the cooking tastes like it. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, and the Times ranked it among the city's top 100 restaurants.

The dining room sits on the second floor of a Victorian house that has been many things over the years, and it still feels lived-in. Modern French cooking with a Pacific Northwest accent is the move here, seasonal and unshowy, the kind that makes you want to book the chef's counter and stay while the afternoon light changes. The New York Times named it among Portland's best. A glass from the thoughtful wine list and a couple of small plates, and it's easy to see why regulars never really leave.

A tiny Filipino coffee shop in Bowmanville where the menu leans on flavors you won't find at any other cafe in the city. Pandan, ube, and macadamia nuts show up where oat milk and brown sugar usually do. The room is small enough that regulars eventually stop ordering off the menu and let the baristas improvise. Its sibling spot, Drip Collective, handles the Fulton Market crowd if you need more elbow room.

The concept here is a Japanese jazz kissa, a vinyl-focused listening bar, filtered through a chef who thinks huitlacoche and yuzu belong on the same plate. The food runs "Nikkei-Mexa," meaning Mexican and Japanese ingredients trading places freely, and the cocktails follow the same logic: sotol meets sake, charanda meets shochu. A taco cart parks out front most nights. Small room, big sonic ambitions, and a crowd that showed up for all of it.

Crystal chandeliers hang over dark-paneled walls covered in jazz-themed artwork, which is either perfect or a lot, depending on your mood. This Southern fusion dinner spot runs on house-infused spirits and live music, and the kitchen leans New Orleans by way of the Southwest: gumbo with Andouille and hush puppies, pasta soaked in lobster broth and crawfish. The kind of room that feels designed for a date night where everyone is trying slightly harder than usual.

A small Vietnamese soup counter in a Southeast Powell strip mall, open each morning until the pots run dry, which happens faster than you'd expect. Two or three soups rotate daily, with Saturday drawing people specifically for the cao lầu, a Hoi An regional noodle dish that rarely makes it this far from home. The Vietnamese iced coffee hits harder than you're ready for. Come early, bring cash, and don't stress the menu because there isn't much of one to stress about.

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.

This is a second-story steakhouse under a glass dome inside the Plaza, where the Casino dinner scene was filmed, so expect at least one table of suits murmuring "they filmed Casino here." The room was named for a former mayor who also worked as a mob attorney, which explains the menu. A zipline now blocks the Fremont views, but the burger with its pile of fried onions still outpaces the steaks.

Ajja is a Mediterranean restaurant in Five Points where the backyard patio is practically its own neighborhood, and the dining room inside is painted so brightly you'll feel underdressed in beige. The menu runs on shared plates, with vegetables doing most of the heavy lifting and the cocktails keeping pace. It holds a Bib Gourmand, and was a James Beard semifinalist for Best New Restaurant.

The house-made Spam in the kimchi fried rice is either the menu's punchline or its thesis statement, depending on your attitude. Ravi Kapur's Californian-Hawaiian restaurant on Sutter runs on strong cocktails and shareable plates, with an open kitchen keeping the room loud and sociable. The New York Times has called it one of San Francisco's 25 best restaurants, and it's held a Michelin Guide selection since the buzz was at its loudest.

A cocktail lounge called Ok Yeah tucked into the back tells you everything about the vibe here. Hey Kiddo is a playful, Asian-inflected restaurant and bar on the third floor of a Tennyson Street building, with a rooftop deck most people don't find on the first visit. The menu runs on shareable plates, and the team behind it earned a James Beard Outstanding Restaurateur semifinalist nod. The room skews young and loud in the best way.

The smash burger with house-cured pork jowl and jeaw condiment is either a flex or a provocation, possibly both. Taurus Ox is a casual Laotian restaurant that moved out of its original counter spot into a proper dining room, and the menu came with it. Khao poon and a family sausage recipe built around lemongrass anchor the Lao side of things, while that burger quietly complicates any notion of what the restaurant is supposed to be. The New York Times named it among Seattle's 25 best.

The photo wall by the door, stacked with chefs, actors, and politicians, tells you everything about how long Park's has been the go-to Korean BBQ spot in LA. Servers manage the tabletop grills for you, slicing and flipping prime cuts from bulgogi to galbi, with American Wagyu for the committed. The kimchi pancakes arrive on cast-iron skillets, hot and crisp, and the cold noodles cut through all that smoke.

A snug wine cafe in Mission Hills where the menu has a section called Farmer's Giving, which is the most polite way to say vegetables have the run of the place. The shaved Brussels sprout salad with cashew dressing gets its own fan club, and a chilled glass of Spanish wine seems to be the house-approved accessory. Small room, low voices, and plenty of couples doing their best impression of people who aren't on a first date.

Vaulted ceilings, white tablecloths, and tall windows looking out over Healdsburg's downtown square set the tone at Charlie Palmer's prix-fixe dining room attached to Hotel Healdsburg. The menu leans contemporary New American with a farm-forward sensibility, moving through a few courses with enough range to keep things interesting. The crowd tends toward wine-country celebratory, which fits the room perfectly.

Glittery chandeliers and wax candles do a lot of heavy lifting in this handsome fine dining room on Tchoupitoulas, where exposed brick and white tablecloths split the difference between grand and comfortable. The chef is a Louisiana native steering contemporary Creole cooking, and the kind of place where birthdays and anniversaries have been showing up for years. Friendly servers keep it from tipping into stiff-necked territory, which takes some skill when the room looks like this.

Silk curtains, monogrammed seatbacks, and a glassed-in conservatory make the name almost a prank, but The Sardine Factory is a white-tablecloth seafood institution that has been doing fine dining since before fine dining needed to be ironic about it. The menu runs from crispy sand dabs to lobster ravioli in cream sauce, the bread basket is generous, and the staff treats the whole production with genuine ceremony. Bring a relative who remembers when this was the move.

The wood-fired oven sits dead center in the room, which tells you everything about priorities at this intimate pizzeria in the Warehouse Arts District. Naturally leavened crusts, house-stretched mozzarella, and locally sourced toppings keep the menu short and the focus narrow. The minimalist space, warm lighting, and low hum of a neighborhood crowd make it feel like someone's very well-appointed living room, if that living room produced excellent pizza.

The sweet corn bibingka is topped with what looks like white chocolate but turns out to be Cheddar, which tells you everything about how this all-day cafe operates. Mornings run on Asian-American pastries and a line out the door; evenings pivot to Japanese-inflected yōshoku cooking. The team earned a James Beard nomination for Outstanding Pastry Chef and a nod from Bon Appétit's best new restaurants list, and the Cincinnati chili ramen has developed its own local mythology.

Loui's is a Hazel Park pizza parlor with wood paneling, a dining room that hasn't been redecorated since sometime before most of its customers were born, and a ceiling hung with chianti bottles signed by diners, like a very boozy guest book. The Detroit-style squares come out thick and airy under a crown of caramelized cheese. Order a pitcher, settle into the dim, and don't plan on being productive afterward.

Pandan honeycomb cake in a shade of green that has no business being that vivid sets the tone at this Vietnamese-French bakery in Chinatown. Lauren Tran, formerly of Gramercy Tavern, started as a pop-up during the pandemic and landed in a brick-and-mortar that draws a line before most people have had coffee. Chiffon cakes, macarons, and savory scones packed with Chinese sausage and cheddar fill the case. A James Beard Outstanding Bakery semifinalist in 2026.

The bread program at this neighborhood bakery runs from sourdough with serious tang to laminated pastry so thin it reads as architecture. The team behind it trained at Gjusta and Bien Cuit, which explains a lot. Seasonal baked goods shift the menu toward the sweeter side, and the cafe itself gives Healdsburg a proper morning anchor. A 2025 James Beard Outstanding Bakery semifinalist and a New York Times pick for top American bakeries.

Roselily is a South Bend dining room where the multi-course tasting menu comes in a form you can actually walk into without a tie, though you'll want to look like you tried. It holds AAA Four Diamonds, and the menu changes often enough that regulars can't coast on habit. Vegetarians and vegans get real attention, white gazpacho included, and brunch on weekends and monthly wine tastings give you reasons to come back.

Red and cream lanterns glow over a warren of nooks on St. Marks Place, where a line almost always trails out the front door. Che Li is a Shanghainese seafood-leaning restaurant with an ambitious menu, so asking the server about regional highlights beats scrolling to the familiar end. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand, and the fish stew with Sichuan peppercorns tends to be the last thing standing on the table.

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.

A sandwich shop on Haight doing exactly one thing from New Orleans: the muffuletta, served in a wedge like a slice of savory pie, toasted or cold. The meat version layers prosciutto, mortadella, soppressata, and provolone under a spicy olive spread; mushrooms and scallions handle the vegetarian side. The pickled egg salad with potato chips stuffed inside is its own argument. Seating is tight, but Buena Vista Park is a short walk away, which seems intentional.

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.

Three cauldrons of rice and soup stay warm at the bar up front, which tells you a lot about how Odre thinks about hospitality. This East Village prix-fixe leans into Korean comfort at a pace that feels considered rather than rushed, with a set menu that moves through banchan, a main like grilled duck with black garlic, and snow crab mandoo that the New York Times singled out. Michelin gave it a Bib Gourmand, and the room is narrow, minimalist, and usually full.

Tocabe is a fast-casual spot where you shuffle down the line pointing at things, Chipotle-style, except the thing you're pointing at is fry bread folded around spiced bison. The recipes come from the Osage side of the family, and the berry BBQ-glazed ribs are the sort of detail no chain has ever bothered to invent. It's counter service, so come as you are, and the online shop sells blue corn pancake mix if you're feeling ambitious.

Smashed cucumber on labneh is the opening move, and it sets the tone for this lively family-style Mediterranean and Middle Eastern restaurant from the team behind Emmer & Rye. The table fills fast with kebabs, fire-roasted eggplant, and dipping sauces nobody agrees to share, which is fine because the wine list is thoughtfully organized and keeps the peace. The New York Times put it on their Austin shortlist, and it's a Michelin Selected pick.

The dining room is dressed up like a British Raj club, which is exactly the kind of setting that makes sense a few blocks from the White House. This is traditional Indian fine dining where politicians have been settling into the half-moon banquettes for decades, and the polished cooking moves across the subcontinent, from northern grilled meats to southern coconut-laced seafood. The Washington Post named it among D.C.'s 40 best restaurants.

Edible flowers and precisely packed sashimi boxes are the visual signature at this Japanese restaurant in Spring Valley, where the chef came up from Strip kitchens at Mizumi and Morimoto. The food reads as both serious and showy, crispy rice with glazed salmon, Wagyu tartare brightened with pear, sea bass tucked into butter lettuce. The kind of place where the dishes photograph before you eat them, and that turns out to be fine.

VHS tapes line the walls and neon washes over the tile at this Magazine Street restaurant from the chef behind Turkey and the Wolf. Mason Hereford runs his kitchen the same way he always has, cooking loud, maximalist food that borrows freely across cuisines and somehow lands in harmony every time. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and named to Bon Appétit's best new restaurants list. Subtlety fans may want to eat somewhere else.

A custom oak door sets a quietly clandestine mood before the room opens into a flora-and-fauna mural that covers most of one wall. This is an upscale Mexican restaurant in Presidio Heights where the chef draws from her home state of Guerrero, running smoke, citrus, and heat through a Northern California filter. Sourdough tortillas, heirloom corn from Mexico, and cherry mole show up together on the same plate without any of it feeling forced.

The marble-topped bar by the window is where regulars settle in for the long haul at this French bistro on California Street. The cooking leans California without making a fuss about it, rustic and careful in equal measure. Desserts come from B. Patisserie next door, which means skipping them would be a genuine act of self-sabotage. The Michelin Guide has it listed as a selected restaurant.

Spanish-Asian doesn't sound like it should work, yet Tracy Chang's Cambridge restaurant has held a Michelin Bib Gourmand for making it feel inevitable. The menu roams from patatas bravas to crab laksa to pork belly bao without ever seeming lost. Beyond dinner service, the team runs cooking classes and whole suckling pig dinners, so the place is always up to something. A James Beard semifinalist two years running.

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.

The cheeseburger, griddled and stacked with onion aioli and double cheese on a toasted sesame bun, has its own reputation to manage. But The Loyalist is a proper basement brasserie doing quiche Lorraine, anchovy toasts, and trout grenobloise with a polish that quietly nods to the tasting-menu restaurant upstairs. It sits below Smyth, which holds three Michelin stars, and the kitchen shares the same sensibility at a fraction of the formality.

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.

Freya is a tasting-menu restaurant where the courses change daily and a pierogi gets dressed like a Coney dog. It's fine dining, but the room is loose enough that you can flip through a binder of the owner's vinyl and request a song, which is not a sentence you hear at most places with a James Beard Semifinalist nod. The wine list leans toward small, sustainable producers, and the Dragonfly bar next door handles cocktails.

A French-leaning wine list runs deep at this cozy New American bistro on Western, but the kitchen earns its share of the attention. The menu is short and seasonal, built around what the market turned up that week rather than any fixed idea of itself. The cooking is restrained in the way that actually requires confidence. Wine Enthusiast named it one of the top new restaurants in 2025, and the Michelin Guide has it selected.

Sourdough crusts fired in a hot electric oven, topped with combinations like chorizo, romesco, and Castelvetrano olives, are the organizing principle at this maximalist pizzeria inside Mercantile on Morris. The warehouse bones and exposed brick give it a casual, stylish feel, but the kitchen is serious. Meatballs and desserts pull their weight too. A Michelin Bib Gourmand and a James Beard semifinalist nod for Best New Restaurant add some context to the hype.

Tortillas pressed from heirloom corn varieties anchor the menu at this lively Mexican restaurant tucked into a Woodlands strip mall. The chef, a James Beard semifinalist, grew up in Jalisco and cooks like it, with lamb shank slow-braised in agave leaf and a tableside al pastor that gets lit on fire, because apparently subtlety is optional. The crowd that fills this place on a Friday night suggests the mall address puts nobody off.

Nautical decor that stops short of kitsch anchors this seafood restaurant on the Southwest waterfront, where the patio looks straight out over the marina. The menu pulls from Chesapeake waters and a D.C. urban fish farm, so northern puffer fish arrives whole and crispy fried, and a Maryland crab crumpet nods to the place's Scottish sister spot. Save room for the Virginia peanut tiramisu, which sounds like a dare and tastes like a good idea.

The mole menu alone runs seven or eight deep, which tells you what kind of Mexican restaurant this is. Red Iguana has been an old-school Salt Lake institution long enough that regulars treat the wait like a ritual, and there is always a wait. House-made corn tortillas, deeply worked sauces, the kind of cooking that takes all day. A neighborhood place that happens to draw the whole city.

Dark sea-green walls, plush booths, and a covered parklet out front set the mood at this French bistro, where California ingredients do their best impression of a Parisian menu. The wine list splits evenly between Burgundy and Sonoma, the cocktails are serious, and the frites come with Dijon mayo in case you needed a reason. Bar Zola next door handles the cocktail crowd if the dining room is full.

Pandan piña coladas and crackling pork belly set the tone at this contemporary Filipino restaurant in Oakland's Temescal neighborhood, where aquatic blue tiles and trailing vines give the room a loose, coastal ease. The menu swings between dinner and weekend brunch, and both hold up well. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, it draws a crowd happy to wait at the bar, cocktail in hand, for a table that's worth the patience.

Lemon-yellow walls hung with paintings of overflowing produce set the mood at this Mediterranean-leaning Marin restaurant, where California ingredients meet Middle Eastern flavors in a white-tablecloth room that never feels stiff. The kitchen leans hard into mezze and grilled meats, and a takeout counter in the back stocks house-baked bread, salads, and condiments for people who planned ahead. The Michelin Guide has awarded it a Bib Gourmand.

A live-edge wood counter and closely spaced tables give this Fairfax izakaya the feel of a Tokyo side street, which is a reasonable trick to pull in Marin County. The small-plates menu moves through takoyaki, okonomiyaki, and a short but careful nigiri selection, with a sake list overseen by an actual sake sommelier. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand. No reservations, so weekend lines form early and move slowly.

Bagels hang in metal racks draped with white sheets, a nod to the coin-operated laundry this place used to be. Now it's an all-day pizza and bagel shop on Balboa, mornings given over to coffee from Grand Coffee and a solid bagel lineup that runs from egg to rye, with schmears folded through green onion or spiked with Calabrian chiles. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the top bagels in the Bay Area, and a Top 100 restaurant pick followed.

Other Mama is a Japanese neighborhood spot in a Durango Drive strip mall, where the fish comes in so fresh you'll forget you're in a desert. The daily catch and oysters live on a chalkboard, and the French toast caviar started as a special and never left. The room feels like a polished dive bar, with the chef's trinkets on display, so jeans and a low-stakes date night both fit.