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NYC
Opened: September, 2015
The latest NYC restaurant from celebrated chef, restaurateur and cookbook author Laurent Tourondel restaurant features an Italian-American menu. With a name that means “friend,” the comfortable interior is reminiscent of a farmhouse, with Windsor chairs and two copper-clad wood-burning ovens in a kitchen that opens up to the 90-seat dining room. The menu was inspired in part by Tourandel’s childhood summers in the Southern Italian countryside and includes items like pipe rigate with veal shoulder Bolognese; and skirt steak with charred cauliflower and pepderoncino. On warm days, the large street-facing windows open to blur the lines between the restaurant and its bustling Chelsea neighborhood.
Asheville, NC
Opening: October, 2015
While Southern cooking is on-trend right now, Justin Burdett’s first restaurant really caught our attention. The outspoken Burdett (of Miller Union, Atlanta and 5 & 10 in nearby Athens) describes his style as “modern redneck,” inspired by authentic Appalachian cooking. When this chef says he's taking a “progressive approach to the area’s food culture,” he's not kidding. Burdett says he hopes that in his cooking, locals will recognize dishes that have been “on their family dinner tables for generations.” But did Grandma ever plate anything this beautifully? Delicately presented menu highlights include buttermilk curds and whey (shown); green peanut risotto; sorghum pork belly; whey fermented carrots; sweet tea brined quail with charred apple jus; Georgia rabbit served four ways and a selection of preserved meats and produce.
Nashville
Opened: October, 2015
Le Sel, in Nashville's midtown neighborhood, offers up French classics such as skate in brown butter, but also takes its cue from what's happening in France right now: Simple preparations, with less emphasis on dairy and reductions. The folks at Strategic Hospitality tapped Rene de Leon, an alum of Chicago's Alinea and Next, to create the menu. In addition to items like braised radicchio topped with shaved cured egg yolk, there is a full raw bar and seasonal seafood platters. The main dining room is a bit playful, with shades of pink, red and salmon. Downstairs, The Bar at Le Sel (shown) is warm, clubby and whimsical and features a separate menu of small plates including crab-stuffed squash blossoms and foie gras macaroons—a cinnamon macaroon with pomegranate pate.
Las Vegas
Opened: September, 2015
Sitting atop the shimmering Delano Las Vegas are the new Rivea restaurant and Skyfall Lounge by the inimitable Alain Ducasse. “Rivea will bring the soul of the French and Italian Rivieras to Las Vegas. It’s sparkling and relaxing, secret and select, chic and low-key,” says Ducasse of the project. In a space designed by Jouin Manku, Rivea focuses on Mediterranean flavors using West Coast-sourced ingredients. Signature dishes including crispy socca (a chickpea pancake), gilt-head bream with a minestrone reduction, and lemon shortbread with a limoncello sorbet. Rivea’s focal point is a lighted “wave wall,” made from hundreds of glass squares and designed to mimic the lapping motion of the Mediterranean Sea. Skyfall Lounge, serving items like squid fritters with spicy pink dipping sauce, features theater-style seating with a 180-degree view of the city as well as an expansive outdoor patio.
NYC
Opened: October, 2015
Brooklyn restaurateur Chelsea Altman (Allswell, Bar Bolinas, Pequena) is serving up traditional Korean fare with a global twist. The twist comes from chef Liz Kwon’s travels abroad, where she was inspired to incorporate unexpected ingredients into her Korean fare. The results: dishes such as jaeyook rice gnocchi (shown, center: pan-fried rice cakes with sautéed spicy lardons) and White Tiger chicken liver pate with pickled peppers and chicken skin crisps. Items like Korean fried chicken wings stick closer to stick to Kwon’s culinary roots. Must-try cocktail? Straight Outta Gangnam, with Bulleit bourbon, Averna, Korean cinnamon tea, maple and lemon.
NYC
Opened: August, 2015
The carnivorous contingent at RH might be persuaded to give this vegan thing a try if Chloe Coscarelli’s new restaurant is as good as the buzz surrounding it. We liked what we saw of Coscarelli on Food Network’s Cupcake Wars in her pre-vegan days. Since then, she’s upped her vegan street cred with three cookbooks, partnered with multi-concept operator ESquared to open By CHLOE and racked up praise from the likes of the New York Times and New York magazine for items like her mac and cheese (the “cheese” is actually sweet potatoes) topped with crunchy shiitake “bacon.” The eclectic fast-casual spot is as cute as a button, but will her vegan cupcakes (pumpkin with toasted marshmallow Fall!) live up to her Food Network eminence? We’re ready to find out.
Houston
Opened: October, 2015
The cheeky team at multi-concept operation Treadsack in Houston is on a roll with can’t-miss concepts. Its newest, the playful Hunky Dory, is inspired by English fare. A country manor-esque dining room serves up items like roast rabbit leg with a hearth-smoked bacon rasher and a potato and pear gratin, while the a more casual pub space offers a silver platter (shown) loaded with an assortment of homemade sausages, meat pies, Scotch eggs, pickled onions, mustards, breads, and gentlemen’s relish (anchovy paste). “My favorite hobby was reading old cookbooks with crazy-weird recipes," says executive chef Richard Knight, who grew up on England’s Southern coast. "We wanted to put humor into the restaurant’s food."
NYC
While Resto is not new, we’re super-curious about Koren Grieveson’s new menu at the Belgian bistro. Grieveson—a Food & Wine Best New Chef in America and recipient of the James Beard award for Best Chef in America: Great Lakes during her tenure at Chicago's Avec—was named executive chef at Resto this month. She’s is injecting Mediterranean and African inspirations while maintaining Resto’s Belgian roots. What’s cooking? sunchoke brandade with crispy sunchokes, potato, chives and garlic toast; steak tartare with marinated mushrooms, thyme, smoked beer, mustard pretzels and crispy shallots; beer braised beef tongue with smashed fingerling potatoes, sour cream, candied sesame and escarole; and moules & frites with house harissa, Brussels sprouts, spaghetti squash, celery, fennel and herbs.
Miami Beach, FL
Opened: October, 2015
Miami Beach has been buzzing about Jamie DeRosa’s New England-style fish house since it was first announced more than a year ago. DeRosa, also chef and a partner at Miami’s Tongue & Cheek, has helmed a kitchen for Wolfgang Puck and worked under Mark Peel at Campanile, Joachim Splichal at Patina and Geoffrey Zakarian at Tudor House. The Yankee is keen to introduce Southern Florida to rich, buttery lobster rolls, oysters, cod, fish & chips and clam bellies. The restaurant features plush leather banquettes, metal mesh details suggestive of lobster traps, and accents of teal, chartreuse, coral and navy. A sweeping mural by Claudio Picasso depicts an octopus that drifts across the white-washed brick walls.
San Franscisco
Opened: August, 2015
Dominique Crenn's casual second restaurant is a cozy departure from her two-Michelin-starred Atelier Crenn. Petit Crenn pays homage to Crenn’s mother and grandmother and recalls her childhood meals in Brittany (just without the meat). The vegetable and fish-centric concept is based on Crenn's dream dinner party: There are two seatings each night, and guests take part in a $72 prix fixe, five-course, family-style dinner that changes daily. A typical evening might include: gougères, followed by salmon en croûte, cheese, tarte tatin and, finally, mignardises. A wine list offers French whites, roses and Champagnes. The white, breezy, minimalist interior is accented with walnut tables, soft pillows, vintage silverware and knotted rope pendant lights—a nautical nod to Brittany’s maritime heritage.
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