What America’s Best New Restaurants Say About Us
by David Klemt
Garnish that includes a clock? That’s an interesting choice, AI.
Bon Appétit‘s recent release of The 20 Best New Restaurants of 2025 provides deep insight into the state of restaurants, cuisine, and guest expectations.
Each restaurant on the list was opened between March 2024 and March 2025. That means that these restaurants have now been open for six to 18 months, at most.
The list organizes the 20 restaurants into four regions: the Midwest, the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, the South, and the West.
As someone who reviews a lot of “best of…” lists, I appreciate that New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Chicago don’t dominate this one. A restaurant from each city receives recognition (in the case of Los Angeles, two eateries), of course. But Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and more are also represented.
Below, the 20 restaurants chosen by Bon Appétit for this year’s list.
The Midwest
Feld (Chicago, IL)
Cuisine: Contemporary American, Global
Vinai (Minneapolis, MN)
Cuisine: Hmong
Wildweed (Cincinnati, OH)
Cuisine: Contemporary American, Italian, Japanese
The Northeast & Mid-Atlantic
Baan Mae (Washington, DC)
Cuisine: Laotian, Cambodian, Malaysian, Burmese
Dōgon (Washington, DC)
Cuisine: Afro-Caribbean
Fet-Fisk (Pittsburgh, PA)
Cuisine: Nordic, Appalachian
Ha’s Snack Bar (New York City, NY)
Cuisine: French, Vietnamese
Provenance (Philadelphia, PA)
Cuisine: French, Korean
The Wren (Baltimore, MD)
Cuisine: Irish, European, American
The South
Acamaya (New Orleans, LA)
Cuisine: Mexican, Seafood
Avize (Atlanta, GA)
Cuisine: Alpine
Perseid (Houston, TX)
Cuisine: French, Vietnamese, Creole
Recoveco (Miami, FL)
Cuisine: Contemporary American, Global, Seasonal
The West
Camélia (Los Angeles, CA)
Cuisine: French, Japanese
Giovedi (Honolulu, HI)
Cuisine: Italian, Pan-Asian
Komal (Los Angeles, CA)
Cuisine: Mexican, Latin American
Lenox (Seattle, WA)
Cuisine: Puerto Rican, Cuban, Latin American, Caribbean
Mezcaleria Alma (Denver, CO)
Cuisine: Mexican
Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement (San Francisco, CA)
Cuisine: Soul Food, American Comfort Food
Sun Moon Studio (Oakland, CA)
Cuisine: Contemporary American, Global
The State of Culinary in America
These days, categorizing a restaurant by cuisine isn’t as easy (or as relevant) as it once was.
Sure, some venues still wear their culinary identities on their sleeve, proudly representing a specific region or culture. Others showcase influence from one or more cuisines, presenting them in ways that are both deliberate and nuanced.
But increasingly, restaurants are embracing a global, borderless approach to food. However, it’s not fusion for the sake of novelty. Instead, it’s inventive, thoughtful, and driven by a desire to engage guests through flavor and curiosity.
While reviewing Bon Appétit’s 2025 Best New Restaurants list, I found it somewhat challenging to pinpoint the exact culinary focus of some of these concepts. I view that struggle as a good “problem” to have.
This ambiguity signals a broader movement: today’s guest is more willing than ever to explore global cuisines. They’re curious. They want discovery to be a key element of their dining experience.
This extends into comfort foods. A great strategy for easing someone into the unfamiliar is to bridge it with the familiar.
Take Sun Moon Studio’s Taiwanese sausage on steamed brioche. Visually reminiscent of a hot dog, it invites guests to try something new without overwhelming them. It’s an accessible entry point to a new experience.
Boston is a shining example of this culinary evolution. It’s one of the most competitive, restaurant-dense cities in the country, and also one of the most dynamic. From old-school neighborhood institutions to cutting-edge, globally influenced newcomers, the city proves there’s room for everything and everyone when the food is compelling.
The Rise of Experiential Dining
A number of the concepts on this year’s best new restaurants list embrace tasting menus. Provenance, for instance, offers a four-course tasting that actually includes 20 or more dishes. Their summer menu clocks in at 21.
Tasting menus tend to split the critics. Some hail them as a canvas for culinary storytelling, while others still see them as relics of highbrow, try-hard fine dining. But based on this list, the format is very much alive, and clearly still resonates with guests.
At the end of the day, it’s about delivering an experience. Guests aren’t necessarily chasing formality or prestige when they choose a multi-course tasting menu. The way I see it, guests who enjoy such experiences just want to feel something. They want to be wowed, and they want to remember the who, how, and why that made the experience memorable.
There are plenty of ways to create that moment. One strategy? Be the only one doing what you’re doing in your market. That might mean introducing a cuisine that’s underrepresented. It could be refining a hyper-focused vision so well that you’re in a category of your own.
Avize in Atlanta exemplifies the former: it’s the only fine-dining Alpine restaurant in the city. Acamaya in New Orleans does the latter, bringing Mexican coastal cuisine to a city known more for gumbo, po’ boys, and beignets than ceviche and mariscos.
Whatever the approach, the operators behind these concepts know how to satisfy their guests’ expectations. They’re aware that the experience falls flat if the food isn’t memorable, and if hospitality is treated as an afterthought.
The Guest Influence
Designing the look and feel of a restaurant is often one of the most fun parts for operators. Some people find enjoyment in selecting everything from furniture to flatware.
However, in our experience, one vital element is often overlooked: how guests will actually move through, experience, and interpret the space.
Does the vision translate to real-world usability? If a guest walks in and isn’t sure where to go, how to order, or what to expect, you’ve already missed the mark.
It’s important to keep in mind that people can make food at home or order delivery or takeout; they don’t need to visit your restaurant for sustenance. However, we are social creatures, and the need to gather, see and be seen, and feel relevant and cool is very real.
It follows, then, that starting the guest experience by making them feel uncertain is a huge misstep.
There’s also the matter of how the guest wants to engage with your vision. Sometimes, what you intended isn’t how the concept is actually received. And when that happens, operators have choices: stick to the vision, concede entirely to guest demands, or compromise to strike a balance.
There’s no universal “right” answer here. But there is a need to make a decision, commit to it, and communicate it clearly.
Examples
Providing a real-world example, one KRG Hospitality client had a specific vision for their bar. Without giving away too many details, the bar was intended to be open for the evening and late-night dayparts.
However, not too long after opening, guests were clamoring for the bar to open a bit earlier, and for the bar to be open on a few more weekdays. Our client crunched the numbers, liked what they saw, and delivered on their guests’ wishes.
Another example comes from two friends of mine who opened a few concepts. One of these was a high-end cocktail bar for sophisticated clientele. The venue was intended to be open for dinner and closed before late night.
Well, the movers and shakers in the market wanted the space to be their after-hours spot. They appreciated the sophistication of the space but wanted to use it as an energetic party spot late at night…and they were willing to pay to support that use case. My friends adapted, and soon bottle service was available during the late-night daypart, and the place was packed.
As far as an example from Bon Appétit‘s list, look at The Wren in Baltimore. According to the Bon Appétit staff, the owners envisioned a traditional Irish pub. No reservations, not even table service. There’s nothing wrong with that, but people have discovered that co-owner Will Mester is an incredible chef. So, as far as they’re concerned, The Wren is a restaurant, not “just” a pub.
Mester and his business partner have adapted. There are still no reservations. There’s still no table service. But The Wren’s guests have said “no problem, we’re still coming to eat,” and Mester and co-owner Rosemary Liss have responded with an “alright, let’s do this” attitude.
The Final Bite
What Bon Appétit’s 2025 Best New Restaurants list tells us isn’t just which restaurants are “the best.” Rather, it tells us what’s resonating with guests right now, and what might resonate through the new year.
We’re watching the traditional playbook get rewritten in real time. The demand for global cuisines continues to rise. Fine dining is becoming more accessible and playful. Guests are more empowered and curious than ever, and operators are meeting them in that space, sometimes by design, sometimes by adaptation.
The best restaurants today aren’t just delivering food, they’re telling stories and building communities. They’re creating moments of connection, whether that’s achieved over 20 courses or a dish that looks like a street-food staple but tastes like something entirely new.
The common threads? Relevance, purpose, and identity. And perhaps most importantly, a guest experience that makes people want to return.
AI-Generated Image: Microsoft Designer
