The Can’t-Miss Restaurants From Coast to Coast in Summer 2022

If you’re looking for a celebratory meal, head to Genie Kwon and Tim Flores’ Ukrainian Village standout for a stunning Filipino tasting menu. Each dish, from the coconut cream-accented kinilaw to the lumpia and the scallop and mussel adobo, is spectacular, not to mention the colorful cocktails (and mocktails, too!). It’s no wonder Kasama came away with a Michelin star this year, the first-ever Filipino restaurant to do so.  A night here makes for a summery splurge, though stop by during the day for coffee and a more casual lunch menu as well. (Read more of the Chicago Hit List.)

—Ariel Kanter

If a cheffy Indian sports bar in a Silver Lake strip mall isn’t quintessential L.A., what is? And yet Pijja Palace has managed to offer a refreshingly new addition to the city’s restaurant scene. Chefs Avish Naran and Miles Shorey, whose combined resume includes Indian Accent in New York, the Restaurant at Patowmack Farm in Virginia, and the Culver City outpost of Roberta’s, have come together to craft an original menu of Indian American bar food. Think wings coated in Kashmiri red chile and garam masala with yogurt Stilton dipping sauce, malai rigatoni (similar to a spice-infused vodka sauce), plus design-your-own pizza with toppings like homemade Goan sausage and bell peppers jalfrezi. You can bet the game will be on, too. (Read more of the L.A. Hit List.)

—Emily Wilson

This latest restaurant from the team behind Oxalis encapsulates New Yorkers’ current obsession with Euro-centric wine bars, and does it exceptionally well. While the name is French, the menu draws mostly from Spain and Portugal, and the vibe here is all about easy-drinking wines and perfectly executed small bites: think lots of local seafood, especially. Whatever you do, don’t sleep on the skate wing. (Read more of the New York Hit List.)

—Deanna Ting

One of Miami’s most popular pandemic pop-ups is back in semi-permanent form with its first standalone location. For now, Rosie’s: The Backyard is an outdoor oasis seating 70 guests under the shade of a massive Banyan tree, while owners Akino and Jamila West work on renovating a historic house in Little River that will eventually become the full-fledged Rosie’s. Beloved for its soul food-style brunch, Rosie’s blends Southern comfort food with Italian influence. So book your table for all-day brunch, featuring deviled eggs, pastrami hash, and, yes, a cacio e pepe omelette. (Read more of the Miami Hit List.)

—Lyssa Goldberg

There may be plenty of summertime left to go, but we’re comfortable nominating Faccia Brutta as the season’s must-visit establishment (those with similar feelings may want to work on getting their Resy in order now). Why? The bi-level coastal Italian restaurant from Jamie Bissonnette and Ken Oringer warrants repeat visits to sample the housemade pastas, which range from familiar (bucatini aglio e olio with baby clams and bottarga) to obscure (pansotti stuffed with Swiss chard, ricotta, walnuts, brown butter, and fiddleheads). And that’s not even cracking its embarrassment of small plate riches, like razor clams with morel mushrooms and crab butter or swordfish spiedini with pistachio salsa verde. (Read more of the Boston Hit List.)

—Eric Twardzik

From the outside, Stina Pizzeria looks like an unassuming neighborhood pizza parlor, but the menu tells a completely different story. Alongside wood-fired pizzas you’ll find Mediterranean-inspired dishes like hummus, falafel, and Moroccan chicken kebabs. The Spanish octopus is a customer favorite. Slow-cooked for three hours and served with a black garlic puree, it’s one of the most exciting dishes on the menu. You can’t go wrong with ordering a pizza, but if you’re in the mood for a variation, try the pide, a Turkish style of flatbread baked with cheese and toppings. The merguez pide, stuffed with spiced lamb sausage, mozzarella, and tabbouleh, is spicy, doughy, cheesy, and all-around satisfying. (Read more of the Philadelphia Hit List.)

—Kae Lani Palmisano

At this new restaurant in Dallas’ Oak Cliff neighborhood, the emphasis is on contemporary Cajun fare, with a wide-ranging menu that spans shrimp and grits and fried chicken to the more inventive: vegan jambalaya, boudin lollipops, and eggplant pirogues. Inside the elegant restaurant, with its fleur-de-lis wallpaper and brass fixtures, diners are also enjoying other “culturally rich” food from Louisiana from chef/owner Michelle Carpenter, who has Cajun and Japanese lineage. On the weekends, brunch beckons, especially on the patio if the weather permits. Few places in Dallas offer eggs Benedict with jumbo soft-shell crab in such a convivial atmosphere. (Read more of the Dallas Hit List.)

—Anna Caplan

Already a neighborhood favorite in a part of town with plenty of star restaurants, Chasing Sage flexes its muscles as the summer harvest flows into the kitchen. A recent seasonal tart saw foraged and farmed goodies — green strawberries, peas, green beans, fiddleheads — arranged delicately on a pastry shell lined with goat cheese. Even a modest-sounding recent dish of radishes impresses, served three ways over avocado and topped with puffed grains and trout roe. Crisp veg touches also accent proteins on the menu, with green garlic, peppers, avocado, and green beans alongside the yellowfin crudo. And creative cocktails are ready for you — even on the dessert menu, where a locally foraged loquat sour has had a run. (Read more of the Charleston Hit List.)

—Sam Spence

There’s something really exciting about eating Korean comfort food in a sprawling courtyard in Texas. The menu has lots to explore, so ordering family-style is a good option. Korean barbecue fans will delight in the wood grill options, which come with all the fixings you need to create the perfect lettuce wrap. Pro tip: When you finish the noodles in your jjajangmyeon, mix the leftover sauce with some plain rice, and you’ve got yourself jjajangbap. (Read more of the Austin Hit List.)

Call 512-368-5700 for reservations.

—Madeleine Kim

A few months ago, this perennial farm-to-table favorite in the old Cass Corridor welcomed local beverage veteran Paul Fradeneck as general manager. The former Mabel Gray barman brings his operational prowess, most recently from the Shinola Hotel, to what is already a well-oiled machine, so it’ll be interesting to see what changes Fradeneck institutes at Selden. While Andy Hollyday’s kitchen isn’t quite back to its seven-day pre-COVID cadence, the restaurant now turns out its exemplary, Mediterranean-inflected plates of vegetable carpaccio and cacio e pepe Wednesday through Sunday. What’s more, the lush backyard patio is exactly the type of place you’d want to while away as many warm evenings as possible, making Selden Standard our must-visit pick right now. (Read more of the Detroit Hit List.)

—Mark Kurlyandchik

A tropical paradise awaits you at chef Christina Nguyen’s second restaurant, which started winning accolades almost as soon as it opened in 2018. Sitting on the patio, a casual space accented with sparks of Caribbean blue and turquoise, you feel like you could be beachside, lychee slushie or jackfruit sangria in hand. The cocktails — masterminded by Birk Grudem, co-owner and Nguyen’s husband — are a draw in and of themselves but also play nicely with the rock-star roster of Southeast Asian dishes: salt and pepper fried tofu, Vietnamese crepes, spicy Balinese cauliflower, beef laab lettuce wraps, crispy coconut shrimp toast. For dessert, choose from two ways to get your Vietnamese coffee fix, in pot de crème form or as a post-dinner drink, mixed with vodka, coconut, and amaro. (Read more of the Minneapolis Hit List.)

—Jennifer Buege

No need to plan a trip to Lima this summer. Instead, book a table at Causa, one of the latest additions to Blagden Alley, with a Peruvian tasting menu from Chef Carlos Delgado, and a highlight of D.C.’s dining this season. And for a truly summertime vibe, head upstairs. Above the restaurant sits Bar Amazonia, an upscale oasis with one of the largest samples of piscos in the United States. (Read more of the D.C. Hit List.)

—Tim Ebner

The big smoky flavors of a meal at Marjie’s are precisely what you want during the hellscape heat of a New Orleans summer. (Or anytime, really.) The menu changes constantly, but you can be sure there will always be the satiating draw of barbecued meat and wood smoke-kissed seafood and vegetables alongside the chile heat and acid zip of southeast Asian cuisine. A meal might include long-smoked pork jowl with chile shoulder with chile naam jim. Or wood-roasted eggplant with mushroom-chile paste. Or grilled chile butter shrimp with herbs. Whatever is available any given night will be reliably delicious, which is why we’re calling Marjie’s Grill a must-visit pick for the season. Dine on a Tuesday and there will be sake specials as well. (Read more of the New Orleans Hit List.)

—Scott Hocker

This Southern-inspired cocktail bar from Alba Huerta — a longtime Houston bartender whose impressive resume includes The Pastry War and Anvil — recently took home the Bayou City’s first-ever national James Beard Award for outstanding bar program. And anyone who’s moseyed up to the bar to try Huerta’s forward-thinking creations will confirm that it’s a much-deserved honor. You can’t go wrong with one of their namesake julep cocktails, which come in classic mint or enlivened with bold flavors such as tamarind, orange bitters, or spiced port. (Read more of the Houston Hit List.)

—Vickie An

Swimming in high esteem from seafood lovers around Atlanta, the word on Atlanta turf is Fishmonger’s instant success story of combining three separate entities — a restaurant, a seafood market, and a raw bar — to create one of Atlanta’s newest and buzziest spots. The late-April opening of Fishmonger has added hype to Poncey Highland’s already lively dining scene, through menu highlights that include chef’s choice oysters, chowder, fruit de mer, and peel-and-eat shrimp. There’s also super-fresh, sometimes-huge fish coming in daily, such as wahoo, snapper, swordfish, and more, sometimes pre-seasoned in their house marinades, which staff regularly post on Instagram as oceanic thirst traps. And of course there’s packaged deliciousness in the form of caviar and premium canned fish, which they’ve continued from the short-lived Ink Cocktail Bar inside 8ARM. It’s BYOB for now; but stay updated through Fishmonger’s IG.  (Read more of the Atlanta Hit List.)

—Mike Jordan

Eating at Shuggie’s is like tripping on acid — and we mean that in the best way possible. The colorful, psychedelic dining room features fun fare like skewered salads, and thin and crispy grandma-style squares, and offbeat natural wines to match with it all. (Read more of the San Francisco Hit List.)

—Omar Mamoon

Nashville dining contains multitudes, and summer is when a plant-based restaurant like AVO can truly shine. After the winter doldrums of root vegetables and greens, the kitchen finally benefits from the bountiful harvests of hot weather, when the herbs pack more punch and the tomatoes drip down your chin. Doesn’t a bowl of zucchini and kelp noodle cold pad Thai sound refreshing right about now?  (Read more of the Nashville Hit List.)

—Chris Chamberlain

A veteran of Thomas Keller’s famed Per Se, Shaun McCrain serves meticulously prepared and locally sourced food at his breezy Ballard spot. From a compressed summer melon with prosciutto ribbons and pickled chile peppers to a pork cutlet with orange, tamari, rosemary, and creamed morel mushrooms, every three-course meal is served under the affable care of his wife and partner, Jill Kinney. Snag one of the eight bar seats for a more simplified menu — or the full prix fixe. No matter how you dine, it will be a memorable meal, packed with lots of “wow” moments. (Read more of the Seattle Hit List.)

—Ryn Pfeuffer

The Republica team does not stop. The empire is in the middle of a growth spurt, opening its new daytime platos rotos spot La Fondita just last month and a new tacos spot this month. Together, La Fondita and Los Ponchos form two halves of the same space — within the former home of the Park Blocks’ Park Kitchen. These days, the long bar has been repurposed as a dining counter for folks digging into colorful plates of tacos fresh from the trompo. While there is a vegan option — nopales asada — this is a meat-lover’s haven, with taco fillings rarely seen in this city, like suadero, campechanos, and longaniza. Order a slate of tacos, a quesadilla, a side of frijoles de olla, and mezcal (in cocktail or sipping form) and you’re set for a great night ahead. Walk-ins only. (Read more of the Portland Hit List.)

—Samantha Bakall