America’s restaurant industry is gearing up for a busy—and buzzy—2024. From tried-and-true operators expanding to new cities, to chefs venturing out with second and third projects, it seems that dining out domestically is picking back up to pre-pandemic ideals.
What’s on tap for the year ahead? Below, 16 restaurants from coast-to-coast that we couldn’t be more excited to try.
CHICAGO
Tre Dita
Key Players: Evan Funke, Lettuce Entertain You
Estimated Debut: January 2024
Pasta prodigy Evan Funke of Los Angeles’ acclaimed Felix and Mother Wolf Italian restaurants has teamed up with Chicago’s Lettuce Entertain You hospitality group to launch Tre Dita, a vast 8,600 square foot, bi-level Tuscan steakhouse on the second floor of The St. Regis Chicago hotel in The Loop. Expect an open-hearth wood-fired grill and a temperature-controlled pasta lab. London-based David Collins Studio has designed a Tuscan-inspired aesthetic with columns, marble, and 40-foot windows.
COLORADO
Makoto Vail
Key Players: Makoto Okuwa, Mark Stone
Estimated Debut: February 2024
Chef Makoto Okuwa, of Washington, D.C.’s MICHELIN recommended Dear Sushi at Love, is prepping to debut his third domestic sushi spot. Makoto Vail is a partnership with Grand Hyatt Vail and manifests as a 110-seat à la carte restaurant that pays tribute to traditional Edomae-style sushi (there will also be an additional to be determined omakase experience) with some more contemporary touches. San Francisco’s HBA design firm schemed an aesthetic inspired by the restaurant’s natural landscape that reflects minimalism and refinement.
LOS ANGELES
Maydān Market
Key Players: Rose Previte
Estimated Debut: Summer 2024
Rose Previte, co-owner of Washington, D.C.’s One MICHELIN Star Maydān, is expanding her hearth-centered Middle Eastern restaurant to 4301 West Jefferson Blvd in West Adams. The 10,000 square-foot market will include an outpost of Maydān, in addition to Previte’s internationally-driven restaurant and cocktail bar Compass Rose, plus five additional businesses centered around family recipes.
Somni
Key Players: Aitor Zabala
Estimated Debut: Spring 2024
At long last, chef Aitor Zabala is gearing up to re-open his modern Catalan meets California tasting counter Somni after his split from The Bazaar in Beverly Hills where he earned Two MICHELIN Stars. Since shuttering Somni in 2020, Zabala has found a new 3,700 square foot home in West Hollywood at 9045 Nemo Street, which affords him twice as much space as he had in the past. He plans to cook a multi-course tasting menu for 14 guests per night with just one seating. Expect courses like The Bone, which melds sweet and savory elements including an apple meringue, smoked eel, fresh Granny Smith apple, bone marrow emulsion, and caviar for a salty hit.
Sushi Nakazawa LA
Key Players: Daisuke Nakazawa, Alessandro Borgognone
Estimated Debut: Winter 2024
One of New York’s top sushi bars is expanding to Los Angeles. Daisuke Nakazawa, best-known as the apprentice to master Jiro Ono in cult documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, will open a 14-seat counter (plus 20 seat dining room) on Robertson Boulevard next winter. Los Angeles-based Studio UNLTD is onboard to design the 2,000 square foot space, which will be outfitted in deep blue and shimmering golds tones, inspired by the ocean. While the omakase price and number of dishes is still up in the air, for the first time it will include hot dishes in addition to nigiri. Beverage Director Dean Fuerth is building the brand’s deepest sake list to date with around 120 options.
Vespertine
Key Players: Jordan Kahn
Estimated Debut: Early 2024
Vespertine in Culver City has been generally quiet since chef Jordan Kahn ceased the former two Michelin-starred restaurant’s dinner service almost four years ago. But the tasting menu boîte is coming back, wild-foraged ingredients, futuristic serviceware included. This time around, Kahn promises an evolution of the restaurant which includes collaborations with artists that work in other mediums such as music (Kahn is teaming up with Icelandic vocalist Jónsi and American producer/composer Paul Corley on Vespertine’s score); diners will continue to move through the restaurant’s various unique dining spaces as they experience the $395, 16-course menu.
NEW YORK
Amado Grill
Key Players: Ignacio Mattos
Estimated Debut: February 2024
New York hit-maker Ignacio Mattos (Estela) will go the fine dining tasting menu route with Amado Grill, located within the Lower East Side’s chic Nine Orchard hotel between Corner Bar and The Swan Room. Pressed white linens and porcelain set the cozy 38-seat restaurant’s tone, where Mattos will serve a four-course menu for $125 within a 750-square-foot cornflower blue-hued space. Expect a more refined menu that the chef serves at his next-door bistro, though one that’s hinged on seafood and charcoal-kissed preps such as squab à l'orange with Belgian endive and quince.
COQODAQ
Key Players: Simon Kim, Seung Kyu Kim
Estimated Debut: January 2024
Simon Kim, the commander behind One MICHELIN Star Cote Korean Steakhouse, is gearing up to debut his second concept centered around fried chicken. Just a throw from his Flatiron Korean barbecue hit, he promises that the Rockwell Group-designed restaurant and bar—which blends traditional Korean patterns and art nouveau touches—will be a family-friendly, contemporary space outfitted with communal dining tables plus banquette seating. Cote’s former corporate chef Seung Kyu Kim is in charge of rejiggering the classic American dish with Korean touches.
Kappo Sono
Key Players: Rahul Saito, Mitsunobu Nagae, Howard Chang, Chikara Sono
Estimated Debut: Second half of 2024
Kuma Hospitality Group, the team behind places like Tribeca’s One MICHELIN Starred French-Japanese tasting menu l'abeille and Sushi Ichimura, have joined forces with beloved kaiseki chef Chikara Sono of the shuttered, MICHELIN Starred Kyo Ya. Fans of the lauded East Village restaurant will be delighted to know that 10-counter seat Kappo Sono will not be a huge departure, and will embrace the same style of traditional kaiseki dining as chef was known for in the past.
Penny
Key Players: Chase Sinzer, Joshua Pinsky
Estimated Debut: Spring 2024
Chase Sinzer and chef Joshua Pinsky, the duo behind one of the city’s hottest restaurants, Claud, will open a 1,400 square foot raw bar named Penny just above in the East Village. They’re working again with Edsel on the casual seafood spot’s aesthetic, which they describe as “warm modernism.” Think primarily counter seats and a focus on sterling seafood—including crudos, plateaus, and even a few cooked shellfish dishes. Sinzer has earned street cred for this exceptional small-producer wine list at Claud, and guests can expect a similar ethos with a focus on Champagnes and whites.
San Sabino
Key Players: Scott Tacinelli, Angie Rito, Michael Stillman
Estimated Debut: January 2024
In 2017, husband and wife/chef team Scott Tacinelli and Angie Rito debuted their perpetually-packed Italian-American staple Don Angie, which is one of the most in-demand reservations in New York City. And in January they’ll launch hotly anticipated, 55-seat San Sabino directly next-door. Continuing the Italian-American theme, San Sabino will lean into seafood preps and house-made pastas, such as black garlic-laced Lobster Casonsei in a white vodka sauce, and Shrimp Parm in a sweet and sour arrabbiata, accented with Thai basil.
Yamada
Key Players: Isao Yamada, Kooth Hospitality
Estimated Debut: Feb/March 2024
Chef Isao Yamada—who trained at Kyoto’s globally-acclaimed Kitcho before moving to the US and helming David Bouley’s Brushstroke—will open a namesake 12-seat omakase counter this winter in Chinatown. A collaborative project with Kooth Hospitality, Yamada joins the dining group’s two other lauded Japanese restaurants Kono and Nakaji in Canal Arcade just off Bowery. Expect a seasonal 10-course, $300 kaiseki meal that incorporates western ingredients such as golden osetra caviar and foie gras, the latter of which he weaves into a steamed egg custard with lobster.
LAS VEGAS
Ito
Key Players: Masa Ito, Kevin Kim, VCR Group
Estimated Debut: January 2024
MICHELIN selection Ito—Tribeca’s popular, wagyu and caviar-accented omakase—has a second location planned for Sin City’s newly opened Fontainebleau Las Vegas hotel. The intimate 12-seat counter is set to debut within the property's members only club, Poodle Room, on the 67th floor, and like New York, it will feature fish flown in daily from Japan; 22 courses will run $400.
ORLANDO
Bar Kada
Key Players: Michael Collantes, Benjamin Coutts, Mike Vang
Estimated Debut: February 2024
Chef and owner Michael Collantes’ modern take on a traditional sushi omakase earned him a Michelin star at Soseki, and he’s now back with a new effort: Bar Kada. Slated to open at 957 Fairbanks Avenue adjacent to Soseki in Winter Park, Collantes is working with Soseki vets, 2023 Michelin "Sommelier of the Year" Benjamin Coutts and chef de cuisine Mike Vang, on this 30-seat sake and wine-led concept. Vang will oversee seasonal small plates that pay tribute to not only Central Florida produce, but also local seafood. Drinks will highlight low-touch wine and ancestral sakes, plus sake-based cocktails.
SAN FRANCISCO
Eylan
Key Players: Srijith "Sri" Gopinathan, Ayesha Thapar
Estimated Debut: Summer 2024
Former Taj Campton Place chef Srijith "Sri" Gopinathan, who earned Two MICHELIN Stars during his tenure there, is on a roll. Along with partner Ayesha Thapar, the duo have yet another trick up their sleeve following the hotly anticipated debut of Copra (and before that Ettan and Little Blue Door). Next up for the Cal-Indian chef comes 200-seat, earthy-toned Eylan, heading to new residential complex Stanford Middle Plaza in Menlo Park. Think seasonally-minded Indian eats fired over a wood-fueled grill, iterations on regional Indian breads, and a snack cart proffering chaats, farsans, and other popular Indian snack foods.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Reverie
Key Players: Johnny Spero
Estimated Debut: February 2024
Tragically, chef Johnny Spero’s Reverie in Georgetown completely burned down last year shortly after the Nordic-learning tasting menu spot earned its first MICHELIN Star. But he spent the last year rebuilding the restaurant, which will return with a completely new look by local design firm Edit Lab. The 2,200 square foot space no longer has a dining counter, instead there’s a 36-seat dining room with an option kitchen. While the menu is still in development, Spero says he’s shooting for a tasting menu similar in length to the last, around 14 to 16 courses priced at $250 (the old menu ran $225). Like before, Spero will continue his vision of a naturalistic, coastal seafood-centered tasting menu. Expect ingredients like Maryland crab and Spanish turbot accented with house ferments and light, high-acid sauces; and some Japanese touches like kombu-cured scallops in a buttermilk and dill emulsion.
Hero image: Courtesy of Reverie
Thumbnail: Gary He/COQODAQ
