14 of the Hottest New Openings Across the Country Right Now
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The nights are getting longer, school is in session, and restaurants are once again filling as they play host to weeknight dinners, post-work happy hours, and celebratory meals. This is always the season when we welcome new restaurant openings, and this year’s group of newcomers is arriving with determination.
Whether flagship spots from first-time owners like Chicago’s Esmero, from the Alinea Group’s Adair Canacasco Chicago; or bigger, bolder spaces from longstanding locals — such as Liars from the Spoke Wine Bar team in Boston — and ambitious shots in new locations including Jersey City’s Punjab Meet House from GupShup chef Zahir Khan, we diners have an exciting fall on the docket.
To find the newest spots in cities from coast to coast, New On Resy is always your guide. And with all that intel, we wanted to share some of the most exciting openings right now across the land. So, kick your fall planning into high gear. Book that hot new table. Get your Notifies in line. Whether it’s a famous name expanding their roster, or a new talent you want to be able to tell your friends about, we have you covered, with this season’s hottest debuts.
Il Ponte MILWAUKEE | Juneau Town
Chef Adam Siegel has come to be an integral part of the Milwaukee food scene, known for timeless cooking that channels the French Mediterranean, which secured him a Beard honor for Best Chef Midwest in 2008 at Lake Park Bistro, and a nomination for Best New Restaurant for his flagship Lupi & Iris in 2023. Now, he’s expanding his reach with Il Ponte, reframing his beloved classic cooking with a more comforting and familiar New York-inspired Italian American menu. Expect hearty housemade pastas and seasonal fare, with room to relish in the 7000-square-foot dining room.
LIARS BOSTON | West Somerville
Those familiar with chef Paul Butler’s creative hyper-seasonal menu at Somerville’s Spoke Wine Bar will know to expect the unexpected at the newly opened Liars; those uninitiated will want to buckle up for this culinary adventure. If Spoke is the mature and refined older sibling, Liars is fittingly bringing looser and louder vibes to the neighborhood. The larger and more casual offshoot is taking a brasserie-style approach, while maintaining the originality and playfulness of the team’s first–born. Think dishes like beef tongue steak with peppers and onions served on a sizzling platter, or elk served saam-style with peppercorn-soy dipping sauce.
Sargent ATLANTA | Old Fourth Ward
Lucian Books and Wine took hold of the hearts of Atlantans when it hit the scene with its part bookshop, part wine bar concept in 2021. The team has expanded its offerings with Sargent. Taking inspiration from its namesake, artist John Singer Sargent, the restaurant is a celebration of the arts with book-lined walls and a menu that’s equal parts American and French. Between the meticulously layered club sandwich and quintessential duck leg confit, the wine list pulls from global estates while focusing on smaller producers for a dynamic selection that’s great for perusing.
Read more about Sargent, here.
Cut Club Seattle SEATTLE | Downtown
Amid the recent wave of neo-steakhouses popping up across the country, Beard-nominated chef Ethan Stowell’s (Goldfinch Tavern, How to Cook a Wolf) Cut Club at Hotel Max is a well-edited version free of extravagance. It showcases both surf and turf in a balanced menu that can be easily molded to the occasion. There are classic cuts from filet to ribeye from Double R Ranch and Snake River Farms, a double cut pork chop with spring onions, apricot, and hazelnut compote, but also lighter options, including raw bar dishes, plus a mushroom burger with braised onions, Comté, and fennel pollen aioli. Guests can also look forward to the team’s upcoming Lime Social, a Mexico-inspired cantina in Kirkland’s Totem Lake.
Elder NEW YORK | Hudson Yards
This sister to Chicago’s Michelin-starred tasting menu restaurant, Indienne, adds a twist to its fine dining backbone to match New York’s appetite for boisterous group outings, lavish experiences, and hearty cuisine. Elder combines Indienne’s roots — classic Indian flavors transformed with highly innovative technique — with British steakhouse traditions for a one-of-a-kind menu of things like beans on sourdough kulcha “toast,” a vindaloo-spiced Berkshire pork chop, and at the bar, the Elder Gibson with London dry gin, pearl onion, and gooseberries. Chef Sujan Sarkar draws inspiration from his time spent cooking in London, as well as from New York pillars like Korean steakhouse Cote to imbue the place with a dynamic third culture spirit.
Read more about Elder here.
SAAM SAN FRANCISCO | China Basin
Few cities rival Bangkok when it comes to fine dining, with restaurants like Le Du and Nusara earning regular international acclaim for highly technical cooking and expert choreographed service. But when chef-owner Thitid Tassanakajohn set roots in San Francisco for the first time — despite it being one of few cities than can compete — he decided to take a more homey approach to Thai cuisine. Saam serves a concise menu of family-style dishes, with a dedicated section of curries made to-order from housemade curry pastes, all with the finesse Tassanakajohn has come to be known for.
Perlée WILLAMETTE VALLEY | Dundee
The Austin family has owned this 70–acre stretch in the Dundee Hills of the Willamette Valley for four decades and counting — but Perlée is a brand–new space for intimate, only-in-Oregon wine tastings and fine dining. With tall glass windows overlooking the estate’s edible garden, the restaurant aims to celebrate the surrounding landscape in every part of the experience. Reservations are required to secure one of twelve spots in the dining room, where chef Brian Barker, formerly of Chicago’s three-Michelin-starred Smyth, constructs elegant multi-course meals to pair with estate and local wines. Perlée champions traditional method sparkling wines, currently featuring their inaugural Limited Edition Blanc de Blancs, to ensure a festive experience every time.
Esmero CHICAGO | Lincoln Park
After nine years with The Alinea Group, chef Adair Canacasco is setting out on his own with Esmero. The limited-run residency showcases flavors from Canacasco’s Mexico City heritage, with obvious influence from the fine dining kitchens of Chicago: dishes like dry-aged Rohan duck with hoja santa and mole negro, confit lamb with kohlrabi escabeche, and cacao mousse with morita chile caramel. Guests can expect an experience as immersive and artful as any Grant Achatz and company has come to be known for.
Read more about Esmero here.
Punjab Meet House JERSEY CITY | Paulus Hook
Jersey residents have reason to celebrate, and Manhattanites have reason to cross the Hudson: The team behind New York favorites GupShup and Bungalow have taken residence in Jersey City with Punjab Meet House, a sparkling space for Indian classics and creative originals. Chef Zahir Khan’s generous menu is built for festive feasts, covering street food-style snacks like crispy battered river fish with sirca pickle tartar, smoky grilled vegetable dishes and kebabs, and hearty curries and family-style spreads like 24-hour roasted leg of lamb with mint chutney (pre-order required). You’ll want to bring a crew.
Oberon NEW YORK | Lower East Side
If you enter through The New Museum, it’s easy to mistake Oberon for another exhibition: a mysterious windowless cube plopped in an otherwise bare concrete space and shielded by frosted glass. But inside the restaurant, vibes are lively and ever evolving. It’s a collaboration from the team behind Rucola, Rhodora Wine Bar, and June Wine Bar and the museum — a brand new venture for the property — along with a selection of artists curating the space with art, lighting, design, and snacks. For lunch and dinner, chef Ali Ghriskey (formerly of K’Far Brooklyn) serves an equally artful menu of seasonal market-driven favorites like charred broccolini with tahini, fettucine with peas and mushrooms, and an already sought-after burger with gruyere.
So. Fox ATLANTA | Virginia-Highland
Whether because of their beloved butchery, sandwich, and sundry shop, Kinship, or from this year’s highly popular K|n pop-up, locals know to follow whatever chef Myles Moody is cooking up next. Now with So. Fox, he and the team have a permanent space for full dinner service in Virginia-Highland five nights a week. He’s maintaining his locally-driven philosophy on sourcing, while tailoring the food to match a fine-tuned wine list from sommelier Rachael Pack (think sweet corn dumplings with foraged chanterelle mushrooms paired with wine from Arnot-Roberts) for a refreshing take on the wine bar experience.
Read more about So. Fox here.
San Damian LOS ANGELES | Venice
One of the latest restaurants making a case for stateside mariscos is San Damian — chef Enrique Olvera’s Venice Beach sibling to downtown’s Mexico City-inspired Damian. The focus is Pacific Coast seafood, from Ensenada kanpachi to Bay Area squid, complementing the team’s house-nixtamalized masa in many forms, and cocktails from former Eleven Madison Park beverage director Sebastian Tollius. It’s all about California coastal ingredients through a Mexican lens, with aguachile, ceviche, and grilled seafood served with laid-back oceanside vibes.
Read more about San Damian here.
Songbird RALEIGH | East End
Part of the burgeoning East End Market, Songbird is a bar that aims to fill a tall order: coffee house by day, cocktail bar by night, with a seamless through-line of quality hospitality and precious North Carolina ingredients. The day starts with Willow House coffee and garden espresso tonics (currently made with fresh local strawberry) and as the sun heads west, bartenders replace baristas armed with hand-chipped ice and a slew of seasonal cocktails. Drinks like daiquiris with cold–pressed snap pea and martinis with distilled foraged Piedmont pine and Carolina chile oil showcase the sense of place, along with locally made glassware and ceramics. To round out the experience, the kitchen will play host to rotating chefs in residence bringing dynamic bites via tasting menus and dinner parties.
The Oak Room WASHINGTON D.C. | Georgetown
To engrain himself in a place like Georgetown, a neighborhood where tradition is celebrated and history runs deep, chef Tim Hollingsworth (a former French Laundry chef de cuisine) took inspiration from some of the great American restaurants of the country’s past. Cocooned in mahogany, exposed brick, and velvet, The Oak Room aims for polished yet bustling steakhouse energy, down to the menu of grand raw bar plateaus, crab cakes, prime rib, and creamed spinach. Classic cocktails are the way to go at the bar or in the dining room, while upstairs, Bernadette’s complements the restaurant with a plush lounge-style space to enjoy Champagne and live music from the 1920’s Steinway.
Read more about The Oak Room and Bernadette’s here.
Everything You Need For Great Dining This Fall
We’re excited for an epic restaurant season ahead — at every level. The tasting menu is making a comeback, in exciting new ways. Seafood is leading the arrival of a great era for Mexican dining from coast to coast and in between. And we have the latest on brand new spots staking claim in cities big and small.
