Eater’s annual list spotlighting the most exciting new restaurant openings across the United States. It reflects emerging trends, regional diversity, and the chefs shaping contemporary American dining.
How many of these have you visited?
Discover on Pearl
Irving, United States
Named one of Eater's Best New Restaurants in America in 2025, Kafi BBQ in Irving, Texas brings Halal Texas-style barbecue to a register few operators have attempted: high-grade Wagyu smoked through a traditional pit program under Pitmaster Salahodeen. It sits at the intersection of two serious food traditions and executes both on their own terms. Find it at 8140 N MacArthur Blvd in Irving's Las Colinas corridor.
Houston, United States
Agnes and Sherman holds a 2025 Michelin Plate recognition for its Modern Asian American Diner format on Houston's 19th Street. The menu fuses Asian American and classic diner traditions into something the city's dining scene has few direct equivalents for: food that is simultaneously familiar and genre-resistant, grounded in an expansive vision of what American cuisine can be.
Los Angeles, United States
A ten-seat chef's counter in Little Tokyo, Restaurant Ki earned a Michelin star in 2025 within its first full year of operation. Chef Ki Kim, trained at Atomix and Jungsik in New York, delivers a seafood-centric tasting menu that draws on both Korean tradition and French technique. With a 4.9 Google rating and a place on Resy's 2025 Hit List, this is one of the most closely watched fine-dining openings in Los Angeles.
San Francisco, United States
Named one of the San Francisco Chronicle's Best New Bay Area Restaurants for 2025, The Happy Crane at 451 Gough St brings a tradition-rooted approach to Chinese cuisine that sits apart from the city's more familiar Cantonese and dim sum circuits. The kitchen works from time-honored references while applying considered technique, producing a menu that earns its recognition without leaning on novelty for its own sake.
Chicago, United States
NADU Regional Indian in Chicago presents contemporary Regional Indian cuisine, guided by Michelin Star Chef Sujan Sarkar. Must-try plates include Hyderabadi Biryani, a fiery Kerala curry, and the Tutti Frutti Cassata dessert. The restaurant emphasizes sharing plates and a $55 four-course tasting menu that traverses coastal south and bold northern flavors. Recognized by the MICHELIN Guide for "Good cooking" in 2025, NADU pairs authentic techniques with locally sourced ingredients and a warm, inviting atmosphere. Expect bright spices, layered aromatics, and textural contrasts that make each course vivid and memorable.
Houston, United States
ChòpnBlok brings West African cuisine into Houston's fast-casual conversation with precision and cultural specificity. Chef Ope Amosu's compact menu of bowls, salads, and snacks draws on Nigerian and broader West African flavors, from jollof jambalaya to suya-spiced beef skewers. Since opening its Westheimer Road location in October 2024, it has established itself as one of the city's more considered takes on accessible, flavor-forward dining.
Altadena, United States
BETSY is a live-fire neighborhood restaurant in Altadena, California, where wood-fired cooking over a centerpiece hearth drives a focused menu of rib-eyes, pork collar, and even cheesecake. The natural wine list is thoughtfully curated, and the atmosphere reads genuinely local rather than destination-seeking. Recognized on Resy's Best of the Hit List for 2025, it earns its place in Altadena's emerging dining conversation.
Los Angeles, United States
Los Angeles's first craft molino operates inside Mercado La Paloma, nixtamalizing 100% Mexican heirloom corn daily to produce masa for a focused menu of antojitos rooted in Mexico City street-food tradition. Awarded a 2025 Michelin Bib Gourmand and ranked 38th on the LA Times 101 Best Restaurants 2024, Komal delivers some of the most technically grounded tortillas in the city at single-dollar price points.
Washington D.C., United States
On H Street NE, Tapori brings the cadence of Mumbai's street food culture to Washington, D.C. — a cocktail bar and eatery from the team behind Daru, recognised on Resy's Best of the Hit List for 2025. Classic Indian street snacks meet an inventive drinks program in a format built for groups, celebrations, and the kind of evening that stretches well past its original end time.
New York City, United States
Opened in March 2025 in the East Village's former Momofuku Ko space, Kabawa brings a three-course Caribbean prix fixe to New York's tasting menu tier. Chef Paul Carmichael, Barbados-born and Momofuku-trained across Má Pêche and Sydney's Seiōbo, builds a menu of roti, braised goat, and coconut turnover that reads as regional memory made precise. New York Magazine named it among the 43 best restaurants in New York for 2025.
Atlanta, United States
Opened in October 2024, Avize brings an unlikely but coherent idea to Atlanta's West Midtown: Alpine cooking filtered through Southern ingredients. Chef Karl Gorline's Michelin Plate-recognized menu fuses the precision of French and German technique with Mississippi-rooted produce, producing dishes like fermented carrot Bolognese and lemon pepper frog's legs. The adjoining bar extends the concept with flammekuechen and venison brats.
Birmingham, United States
Bayonet in Birmingham is a contemporary seafood destination showcasing a raw bar and seasonal Gulf Coast plates. Must-try items include Dauphin Island oysters, a bánh mì stuffed with Gulf shrimp finished with a bold caramel sauce, and the Ora King salmon collar served with an acidic fruit salsa. Chef Rob McDaniel, a James Beard semifinalist, focuses on sustainable sourcing and precise techniques that preserve bright, briny flavors. Opened March 2025 in the historic Berry Building, Bayonet pairs a spirited cocktail program with desserts from pastry chef Candace Foster, from glazed peach hand pies to a watermelon icebox semifreddo. Expect lively service, hand-cut fries with lemon aioli, and menus that rotate with Gulf seasons.
Portland, United States
On Portland's East End, Luncheonette operates in the scratch fast-casual tier that defines much of the city's most interesting daytime eating. The menu draws on global small-plate traditions — tapas, meze, shared spreads — built around house-made sourdough and a kitchen that treats fast-casual as a format, not a ceiling. For a low-key celebration or a meal that rewards grazing, it holds its own in a city that takes casual food seriously.
Phoenix, United States
A casual Peruvian rotisserie chicken spot on East Thomas Road, Mister Pio runs one of the most focused menus in Phoenix: quarter, half, or whole bird, served with salad. Eater named it one of the country's best new restaurants of 2025. The format is deliberately spare, the execution is not.
Brooklyn, United States
A tiny Cambodian restaurant in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Bong earned a spot on Resy's 2025 Best of the Hit List for its direct, sour-forward take on Khmer cooking. The menu moves between traditional preparations and sharper modern interpretations, staying close to the cuisine's brash flavor profile throughout. Find it at 724 Sterling Place, Brooklyn, NY 11216.
Find out on Pearl and keep score across every place in 2025 Eater Best New Restaurants in America.
Overview
Eater's 2025 Best New Restaurants in America recognizes 15 establishments across 13 U.S. cities. The list spans coast to coast, with Houston claiming two spots—ChòpnBlok and Agnes and Sherman. Other featured cities include Brooklyn, Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Irving, and Altadena, representing a geographic spread of notable new openings.
This edition highlights 15 restaurants distributed across 13 American cities, showing no single market dominance. Houston places two restaurants on the list, while the remaining cities contribute one each. The geographic distribution stretches from Brooklyn to San Francisco, with significant representation in Texas (Houston and Irving), California (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Altadena), and scattered locations in the Midwest, South, and Pacific Northwest. The list includes ChòpnBlok, Bong, NADU Regional Indian, The Happy Crane, Agnes and Sherman, Luncheonette, BETSY, Komal, Avize, and Kafi BBQ among the featured establishments. The restaurant names suggest diverse culinary approaches, from regional Indian cuisine to barbecue concepts.
Eater's 2025 Best New Restaurants in America features 15 establishments across 13 cities, from ChòpnBlok in Houston to Kafi BBQ in Irving. The list spreads across the country with no clear regional concentration—California lands three spots (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Altadena), Texas claims two (Houston twice), and cities from Brooklyn to Portland fill out the rest. The selection includes restaurants with names suggesting specific culinary identities: NADU Regional Indian in Chicago, Komal in Los Angeles, and BETSY in Altadena. If you're planning restaurant travel this year, this list offers a starting point across major and secondary markets.
The 2025 edition recognizes 15 restaurants without ranking them numerically, spanning 13 different U.S. cities. Houston is the only city with multiple inclusions—ChòpnBlok and Agnes and Sherman both made the list. California accounts for three restaurants across three distinct cities: The Happy Crane in San Francisco, Komal in Los Angeles, and BETSY in Altadena. Texas adds a second state entry with Kafi BBQ in Irving, separate from Houston's two spots.
The geographic distribution touches multiple regions: Brooklyn represents the Northeast, Chicago and Irving cover the Midwest and South-Central areas, Atlanta anchors the Southeast, and Portland claims the Pacific Northwest. The restaurant names themselves signal diverse culinary approaches—NADU explicitly identifies as Regional Indian, while names like Bong, Luncheonette, and Avize offer less obvious cuisine cues. The list format presents all 15 restaurants without hierarchical ordering, making each selection equally weighted in Eater's assessment. For diners planning trips around new restaurant openings, this edition provides options across major metro areas and smaller markets like Altadena and Irving, rather than concentrating exclusively in traditional dining capitals.
