Here’s to great dining in 2023.
(Bloomberg) — If the restaurant industry has found any silver lining from the pandemic, it’s been the way chefs and operators turned make-shift operations into success stories.
In the US, lockdown-born projects like Nashville’s dumpling specialist Locust and New York’s Cantonese-America destination spot Bonnie’s have become bona fide hits and encouraged many chefs to make temporary spaces permanent. That trend continues in 2023. Take for example, chef Ryan Poli, formerly of Nashville’s acclaimed Catbird Seat. His self-described, at-home “underground pandemic dinners” for paying customers have become the basis for Iggy’s, his upcoming pasta-focused dining spot. Across town, the popular Japanese-oriented pop-up Kisser will open as a full time restaurant. (The Tennessee city might as well double as the country’s Number One restaurant incubator.)
Poli is the latest in the ongoing stream of chefs who have unbuttoned their fine dining chef’s coats to focus on more casual cooking. In New York, Jua chef Hoyoung Kim is turning his hand to more approachable Korean cuisine at Moono.
Other established chefs see 2023 as a way to expand their brand, whether its by launching dining rooms outside their home towns or by experimenting with cuisines outside their traditional zones. The pasta king of Los Angeles, Evan Funke, is opening a new Italian place in Chicago as well as in his hometown. And in New York, chef Alex Stupak, who has built his Empellon empire around homemade tortillas, is launching his first non-Mexican concept Mischa. He calls it an “an exploration of what a new American restaurant can be.”
In other words, there will be a lot of eating to be done in 2023, from Los Angeles to Vegas to DC, with highlights that feature the return of a sushi master and a dining room from a Noma co-founder. Read on to see where you should be booking your future tables.
Miami
Pastis
Star restaurateurs Stephen Starr and Keith McNally are opening the second outpost of New York City’s iconic French brasserie Pastis in Miami’s Wynwood District at NW 26th Street. The massive 8,000-square-foot restaurant plus sprawling outdoor patio is designed by McNally and Paisely Design’s Ian McPheely, who also created the N.Y. location). The restaurant will serve the French classics they’ve become known for, like escargots swimming in garlic butter, croquet Madame or Monsieur and hangar steak frites.Projected Opening: February
Nashville
Kisser
Strategic Hospitality, the concept creators behind The Catbird Seat and Locust, are partnering with chef Brian Lea and his partner Leina Horii on Kisser, a brick-and-mortar manifestation of their popular pandemic pop-up of the same name. Slated to launch within new East Nashville development Highland Yards, fans can look forward to casual Japanese fare like milk bread sandos, curry rice, and onigiri (rice balls).Projected Opening: February
Iggy’s
For three years, Ryan Poli served as executive chef of Nashville’s most acclaimed fine dining spot, The Catbird Seat. After taking time off to cook at the acclaimed Potato Head Beach Club in Bali, the chef is back in Music City to open his first solo project. Iggy’s is a casual, 60-seat pasta-centered restaurant in Nashville’s up and coming Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood. There will be both counter seating and tables, with a grab-and-go market in the front stocked with staples like fresh pastas and sauces. Poli’s brother Matthew, former Catbird Seat beverage director, will oversee the eatery’s classic cocktail and amaro-based beverage program.Projected Opening: May
New York
Moono
Hand Hospitality—who are responsible for myriad Korean concepts around the City, including Atomix, currently, the number 33 ranked spot on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants —are behind Moono, the second Korean concept from chef Hoyoung Kim. Unlike Kim’s Michelin-starred Jua, Moono will offer an à la carte menu with more casual dishes priced between $20 to $30 that leans intro traditional Korean cooking, with selections of jeon (Korean pancakes) and twigim (Korean fritters). Projected Opening: February
Mischa
Taco titan Alex Stupak is taking over Midtown. A few steps from his popular Mexican dining room Empellón, the chef is launching a 150-seat restaurant in the Citicorp Building on 53rd St. To honor Midtown standards, he plans to serve salads, steaks and sandwiches but in non-traditional formats. His hot dog will manifest as dry aged beef brisket in a natural casing warmed in dry aged beef fat and served on a house-made potato roll. His single burger option is built from a hen of the woods and shiitake mushroom, served with five-inch-long tater tots.Projected Opening: February/March
Sushi Ichimura
Iconic New York sushi chef Eiji Ichimura—formerly of Brushstroke, then Uchu where he earned the place two Michelin stars —is making his return to counter service with a namesake eatery in partnership with L’Abeille chef Mitsunobu Nagae and his business partner Rahul Saito. (In fact, the 10-seat counter will be next door to L’abeille in Tribeca.) Slated to debut this spring, expect a haute omakase experience priced around $450 showcasing fish imported from Japan and various seafood aging techniques for which the chef is known.Projected Opening: Spring
Ilis
After years of planning, Noma co-founder Mad Refslund is gearing up to debut his long-awaited Greenpoint restaurant. In partnership with Alinea alum Will Douillet, the restaurant’s 50 seats are oriented for a view of the central open kitchen. Diners can look forward to a menu that features hyper seasonal dishes focused on vegetables. Projected Opening: Spring
Louisville, Ky.
Nami
For his first new opening in five years, noted chef Edward Lee pays homage to his heritage with this Korean steakhouse. He’s tapped Breanna Baker from his flagship 610 Magnolia, to run the kitchen, along with local chef Yeon-Hee Chung. Besides lots of grilled meat, their menu will highlight favorites like the rice dish bibimbap and mandu (dumplings). The top floor of the two-level Nami will feature Korean grill tables and a private karoake room. Next door, the team will operate the Neighbors Noodles shop, with dishes like Spicy Korean Ramen for take out. Projected Opening: March/ April
Los Angeles
Funke
Evan Funke, owner of the city’s popular spots Felix and Mother Wolf, is teaming up with real estate agent Kurt Rappaport to open Funke’s third Italian concept, this one devoted to regional fare and his cultishly beloved pastas. The tri-level restaurant on South Santa Monica Blvd., will boast 180 seats and a rooftop bar.
Later in the year, Funke will open Tre Dita in Chicago. Its his first project outside LA and in partnership with local hospitality behemoth, Lettuce Entertain You. Located on the second floor of the St. Regis Chicago, the Tuscan steakhouse will feature open hearth, wood-fueled Italian leaning cooking, and, of course, pasta.Projected Funke Opening: March; Projected Tre Dita Opening: Fall
Somni
Aitor Zabala has already earned two Michelin stars for Somni, the progressive Catalan-California tasting menu that was located in the acclaimed imaginative tapas boîte, The Bazaar by José Andrés. But it shuttered in 2020. Now, Zabala has relocated the restaurant to a 2,000-square-foot Beverly Hills space as a solo project. Though he now has nearly twice as much room, he’ll only cook for 14 guests a night. The chef says to expect unexpected preparations, like the Pollo L’ast: chicken skin cut in the shape of a roast chicken and stuffed with chicken liver mousse.Projected Opening: August
St. Louis. Mo.
Sado
Chef Nick Bognar has received accolades for iNDO and Nippon Tei; now his fourth restaurant, Sado is highly anticipated, around town. On Shaw Ave in The Hill neighborhood, the 120-seat Japanese restaurant will focus on raw and cooked fish preparations like black tea-cured kanpachi, and binchōtan-grilled kinmedai with green curry. In the dining room Bognar will offer an a la carte menu; part of the space for a six- to eight-seat omakase counter.Projected Opening: January
Washington
La’ Shukran
Michael Rafidi, the chef behind the the perpetually-packed, Michelin-starred Middle Eastern restaurant Albi, lauded for its piping hot puffy pitas and wood-fired plates, is working on this third restaurant. The name translates as “No, thank you” in Arabic, and the space will be a hybrid 80-seat Levantine restaurant, cocktail bar, and DJ-fueled late-night hang out. Located in D.C.’s Union Market neighborhood, the space will have a rooftop bar and dining room right above the forthcoming third location of Rafidi’s café and bakery, Yellow. At La’Shukran, expect a mix of French and Arabic influence via dishes like shawarma frites.Projected Opening: Summer
Houston
The Marigold Club
Later this year, restaurant developer Goodnight Hospitality (the team behind March and Rosie Cannonball) will bring this long-awaited revamp of the group’s honky tonk bar Goodnight Charlie’s to the Montrose neighborhood. The live music will continue, now via a baby grand piano, and chef Austin Waiter will lead the modern continental menu with dishes like a Kaluga caviar sandwich and duck confit Wellington; June Rodil, chief executive officer and beverage director, will make sure the drinks are expertly poured. Expect an Art Deco-designed, 69-seat dining room with Murano glass chandeliers.Projected Opening: September
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