Chaatable
Jessica Sloan
Nashville, Tenn.
November 2018
Maneet Chauhan’s fourth concept, in Nashville’s Sylvan Heights neighborhood, centers around the idea of “chaat,” a snacky category of Indian street food that actually means “to lick.” There’s something playful about this restaurant, with décor a vivid, Bollywood-style flashback to Chauhan’s college days in India.
Partners in life and business
Jessica Sloan
Founding partners of Chaatable include Maneet Chauhan and her husband/CEO of Morph Hospitality Vivek Deora.
Chaatable food
Daniel Christopher Photography
The menu features playfully named dishes like “Street Ballin’,” a potato fritter vada pau on a buttered roll with chutney, and “The O.G.,” tandoori-roasted butter chicken. Pictured is a vegetarian sloppy joe.
Engaging customers
Jessica Sloan
There’s a “Build Your Own Bhel” section on the menu at Chaatable, with choices “to create your own culinary adventure.” On the cocktail menu is the “Pani ‘Rita,” an Indian margarita with tamarind and chaat masala.
Aix and Tin Tin
Andrew Thomas Lee
Atlanta
December 2018
Chef Nick Leahy is aiming to put a little “ooh la la” into Atlanta’s Stockyards development with Provencal-flavored Aix (pronounced “ex”) and neighboring wine bar Tin Tin.
Chef Nick Leahy
Henri Hollis
Leahy, previously at London restaurant and farm Daylesford Organic and Saltyard in Atlanta, is taking his inspiration from his childhood summers spent in Aix-en-Provence, with its blue waters and sunny skies.
Crab Gribiche
Andrew Thomas Lee
The menu at Aix will feature southern French dishes such as bouillabaisse, a salmon crudo with dill and crème fraiche and this crab gribiche.
Radish au beurre
Andrew Thomas Lee
The secret-snack combo of radishes and butter is unlocked in an elegant manner at Aix. Small plates and a more casual atmosphere are available at the adjoining wine bar Tin Tin.
Beckon
Beckon
Denver
December 2018
The inaugural menu for the nightly 18-seat, pre-paid, chef’s table, tasting-menu-only dinners at Beckon is titled The Cold Moon, “in observance of winter and the pleasures we take in staying warm, well-fed and content.” The next two are The New Moon (appropriately on New Year’s Eve) and The Wolf Moon.
Influences
Beckon
Each dinner will serve two seatings of no more than 34 diners for eight set courses. Beckon’s first menu touches on Holmes’ experiences in Northern Europe and Northern California, with Scandinavian aebleskivers, oysters breaded in rye and topped with caviar, smoked Colorado trout and celery root roasted in coffee.
Beckoned to gather around
Beckon
The open kitchen and surrounding seats are designed to make diners feel an intimacy with the chef and the food and drink. Holmes also leads the team at Call, Beckon’s sister restaurant and neighbor (forming the word play “beck and call”).
Dramatic drinks
Beckon
Beckon’s cocktails offer drama, and wine is chosen for each course by sommelier Zachary Byers.
Pikunico
Kristen Hastings
Los Angeles
December 2018
Chef Kuniko Yagi’s first standalone project, Pikunico, opened in the mixed-use ROW complex in Downtown LA. The casual dining/takeaway concept was developed with the Kaizen Dining Group and the name is a combination of “picnic” and “Kuniko.”
Karaage
Jakob Layman
Pikunico specializes in karaage, Japanese-style fried chicken, which she combines with American fried chicken’s crunchy craveability. Karaage traditionally uses thigh meat marinated in ginger, garlic, soy sauce and sake, then battered in organic rice flour, potato starch and seaweed salt.
Chef Kuniko Yagi
Pikunico
“After so many incredible experiences working in fine dining restaurants, I took a lot of time to really reflect on what I wanted to pursue next,” said Yagi, who spent the past few years as a consultant. “The journey led me to realize that my heart is ultimately with my customers.”
Peppervine
LS3P
Charlotte, N.C.
January 2019
Husband and wife team Chef Bill and GM Anita Greene partnered with restaurant group Imagine One for Peppervine, which promises intense Southern charm with a global twist in the form of baked-to-order pimento cheese scones with pepper jelly and sorghum butter, smoked Peking duck breast with eggplant and shishito, squid-ink bucatini with charred octopus and bone marrow, and Alaskan king crab with yuzu butter and pineapple kimchi. The staff is reportedly doing rigorous training so none of the Southern charm is left to chance.
Madame Vo BBQ
Madame Vo BBQ
New York City
December 2018
Owners Yen (Madame) Vo and Chef Jimmy Ly’s second restaurant, Madame Vo BBQ in the East Village, is focused on homestyle family recipes from the husband-and-wife duo. The cooking style is tabletop grilling, seen in the streets of Vietnam, and the flavors are Southeast Asian all the way.
DIY Summer Rolls at Madame Vo BBQ
Matt Taylor Gross
The 85-seat restaurant has enough room for hands-on experiences. Guests can roll their own summer rolls using grilled meats, rice paper, rice vermicelli noodles and fresh fruits and veggies.
BBQ Vietnamese Steak at Madame Vo BBQ
Matt Taylor Gross
On the grilling menu is a modern take on traditional Bo 7 Mon (Beef 7 Ways), with à la carte items including this Vietnamese steak with dry-aged strip steak in bone-marrow butter and roasted garlic scallion fat.
RH Yountville
RH Yountville
Corte Madera, Calif.
December 2018
This wine-country compound, a collab between RH Hospitality chairman and CEO Gary Friedman and restaurateur and founding president Brendan Sodikoff, is an amalgamation of food, wine, art and design with an indoor-outdoor restaurant framed by century-old olive trees, huge crystal chandeliers and ornate water fountains.
Truffled grilled cheese at RH Yountville
RH Yountville
The menu at RH Yountville is seasonal with classic dishes like half a roasted chicken, Dover sole with brown butter and vegetable crudité. And then there’s some new-wave menu items like avocado toast on sourdough, a kale Caesar salad and a truffled grilled cheese.
Ma(i)sonry at RH Yountville
RH Yountville
A two-story wine vault is home to Ma(i)sonry, where guests can taste limited-production wines and champagnes from the region’s top small producers in the trellis-covered outdoor dining rooms.
Benne on Eagle
Johnny Autry
Asheville, N.C.
December 2018
Chef John Fleer created his third Asheville restaurant, Benne on Eagle, as an homage to the history of African-American culinary traditions that once thrived in The Block, the neighborhood surrounding the restaurant. The building used to be a metal foundry (it now is also home to the soon-to-open Foundry Hotel) and Savannah, Ga.-based Rethink Design Studio planned the restaurant’s look and feel.
Crispy fried quail with field pea and collard green salad
Johnny Autry
Benne on Eagle will feature small plates, entrees, desserts and special family-style suppers. Fleer is working alongside Culinary Mentor Hanan Shabazz and Chef de Cuisine Ashleigh Shanti, creating dishes inspired by the bounty of Southern Appalachia.
Baked mac and cheese
Johnny Autry
Benne on Eagle’s menu includes a signature mac and cheese.
Root & Bone
Michael Pissari
Miami
December 2018
New York City standing-room-only style makes a crash landing into Southern flair with Root & Bone, chef-partners Jeff McInnis and Janine Booth’s Miami location of their NYC concept Root & Bone, a partnership with Grove Bay Hospitality Group, which will offer dinner nightly and a live-music Sunday brunch. Weekday lunch starts in January.
Grandma Daisy’s Angel Biscuits at Root & Bone
Root & Bone
With honey chicken jus, sea salt and benne seeds, these aren’t your grandma’s biscuits; they’re Grandma Daisy’s.
Hai House
Hai House
Palm Beach, Fla.
December 2018
It’s been a packed house ever since Hai House opened as owner Manuel Bornia of Collab Hospitality and Chef James Strine’s vision of “refined yet approachable Chinese-American dining.”
General Tso’s Chicken at Hai House
Hai House
Hai House is serving dim sum, noodles, seafood and fresh takes on classic Chinese-American standards like this General Tso’s Chicken and also Mongolian beef and broccoli with dry-aged strip steak, Peking duck with steamed buns, salt-and-pepper squid with fried garlic and ginger, char sui ribs to share, forbidden black rice and wok-fired Chinese long beans.
Dune
Tamz Photography
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
December 2018
Part of Auberge Resorts Collection’s Auberge Beach Residences & Spa, Dune is a windswept indoor-outdoor restaurant and bar on the oceanfront of Fort Lauderdale. Executive Chef Edgar Beas, most recently at Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi in Santa Fe, is creating dishes that evoke a sense of place: specifically, the ocean. A look at the menu reveals Latin flavor profiles: seared scallops with aji amarillo and octopus a la plancha with sofrito.