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25 Restaurant Openings Across America We're Excited About In 2023

A grocery store omakase counter in NYC, a new Seattle soul food spot, and many more restaurant openings to look forward to this year.
25 Restaurant Openings Across America We're Excited About In 2023 image

There’s a lot to get excited about when a new year rolls around, like another opportunity to throw your dog a surprise birthday party, a chance to plan that vacation over President’s Day Weekend that you already need, and a solid slate of new restaurant openings to look forward to. On this list, you’ll find what we consider to be the most exciting, including legendary Italian imports headed to New York and Los Angeles, a soul food classic reopening in Seattle, and the return of a beloved Miami steakhouse.


EAST COAST

Comfort Kitchen

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Boston, MA

Now Open

2023 is looking to be the year for long-awaited restaurant openings that have been years in the making. Comfort Kitchen was originally slated to join Boston’s growing list of African restaurants in the summer of 2020 (and then got delayed), but hosted plenty of pop-ups that kept folks hyped for their upcoming brick-and-mortar space. Once Comfort Kitchen is fully up and running, they also plan to provide affordable pop-up space to local food entrepreneurs. Comfort Kitchen finally opened in late January with an all-day menu that highlights ingredients and flavors from the African diaspora, with snacks like jerk jackfruit sliders, seared okra with masala spiced yogurt, and mains like za’atar brown butter trout and yassa chicken. 


photo credit: Noah Devereaux

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Superiority Burger

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New York, NY

Expected to Open: TBA

At this point, waiting for Superiority Burger to actually open feels like keeping your fingers crossed for Rihanna to announce R9 at the Super Bowl and perform it in its entirety: unlikely, but we’re still hopeful. This staple for vegetarian fast food in the East Village closed in 2021, and to say people are hyped for them to come back would be an understatement. They’ve done salad pop-ups here and there since, but have teased out frustratingly little about when they’ll open their larger space and serve what made them awesome in the first place: juicy tofu burgers, veggies stuffed into slices of sourdough focaccia, and daily flavors of gelato and sorbet. 


New York, NY 

Expected Opening: Summer/Fall 2023

Okay, this opening isn’t a restaurant per se, but it will combine two things people go feral for: Wegmans and omakases. While Wegmans is, in fact, a grocery store where you can grab a rotisserie chicken and exceptional chocolate chip cookies, the Manhattan location (second in all of New York City) will also have an expansive seafood restaurant inside the store with its own omakase counter and oyster bar. Having a sit-down omakase meal and picking up your favorite alt-milk don’t sound like two things you should be able to do at the same spot, but there are definitely weirder things around Astor Place.


photo credit: Mary Stuart

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Roscioli

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New York, NY

Expected To Open: April

You’ve probably seen Roscioli on every Rome restaurant guide, and their NYC location will likely follow suit. The beloved half-trattoria, half-deli will open in Niche Niche’s Soho spot, and will include a restaurant serving their legendary pastas and pizzas, a wine bar, and a small shop with a limited takeout menu. They’ll also host wine tastings and events in the basement with the Niche Niche team, who plan on staying involved after Roscioli takes over. 


Washington, D.C. 

Expected to open: TBA

It’s cool to see the growing trend of restaurants that make it their mission to uplift their community. Kitchen Savages in D.C. is the latest spot to do just that by offering both comfort food and educational opportunities for those interested in food and hospitality careers. While they’re currently operating as a pop-up and takeout spot, they’re looking to open a 40-seat cafe in early 2023 with salads, seafood sandwiches, eggrolls, and savage fries, which come loaded with cajun cheese sauce, crab, and sauteed shrimp. 


American

Little River

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Miami, FL

Expected to Open: TBA

Sunny’s was one of our favorite places in Miami to eat beef and get a little drunk with our friends before it closed for renovations in 2022, but the steakhouse is set to reopen later this year in the same vibrant space. A DJ, crisp martinis, and the giant tree at the center of the patio will make you feel like you’ve stepped into a combo of Avatar mixed with the patio of a really excellent house party.


WEST COAST

Seattle, WA

Expected to Open: TBA

Seattle is already full of great Filipino restaurants, and fast-casual spot Kilig looks to be the next hotspot. Kilig will specialize in noodle dishes and bulalo, a rich beef soup, and comes from the team behind Musang, one of the best restaurants in the city. Musang is known for its excellent garlic rice and fun dinner-party energy, so prepare yourself for high piles of noodles and rich beef soups at Kilig. 


Ms. Helen's Soul Bistro

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Seattle, WA

Expected to open: TBA

This legendary soul food spot was a favorite among celebrities like Muhammad Ali, Richard Pryor, and B.B. King before it was destroyed by an earthquake in 2001. But Ms. Helen and her daughter are set to open a new restaurant with the same signature stewed oxtails, fried chicken wings, and pork chops. The opening reflects the city’s conscious effort to stave off gentrification in Seattle’s historically Black Central District by prioritizing locally-owned businesses like Ms. Helen’s. Expect Southern classics like chicken gumbo and sausage and eggs over grits, plus a wide selection of sides like silky greens and candied yams.


San Francisco, CA

Expected to open: March

Gumbo Social has already been an awesome pop-up at farmers markets throughout San Francisco, serving its namesake gumbo, po’boys, and other soul food. But they’re now planning to open a brick-and-mortar space in 2023 with a “build your own gumbo” menu and plenty of California greens, sandwiches, and vegan options. They’ll also serve desserts from Yes Pudding, a frequent neighbor to Gumbo Social at its farmers market stands. 


Oakland, CA

Expected to Open: TBA

Burdell in Oakland will be a modern soul food restaurant that honors the impact Black farmers, ranchers, fishers, and foragers have had on American cuisine with dishes that date back to 1800s street food. The soul spot will also incorporate Oakland’s own food history, with influences from its Black, Vietnamese, and Mexican cuisines, all while featuring excellent California produce and ingredients. There’s no official opening date or menu yet, but we hope dishes from Burdell’s pop-up days, like cherries and white cheddar with shavings of country ham, make an appearance. 


Los Angeles, CA

Expected to open: TBA

This famous Florence spot is known for their giant Italian sandwiches and crisp, fluffy schiacciata, and while they already have a shop in New York City, the west coast will get its first permanent location in Los Angeles following multiple sold-out pop-ups. Expect piles of prosciutto and mortadella layered with creamy spreads, and, if the Florence and NYC locations are any indication, long lines. 


Los Angeles, CA

Expected to open: Winter 2023

Jemma Di Mare is the latest project from the team behind Jame Enoteca and Ospi—two places where you can reliably take down a bowl of tagliatelle or cavatelli and think about something other than egg-flation. The latest spot will focus on Italian American cuisine (think New Jersey-style red sauce joints), which marks the rare instance where someone from LA wants anything to do with the East Coast. You’ll likely see lots of grilled and fried seafood, as well as staple pasta dishes like linguine alle vongole, when they open later this winter.


Los Angeles, CA

Expected to open: February

We love LA’s Cha Cha Chá as much as they love alliteration, so we can’t wait to see what its team does with a new Mexican seafood spot in Frogtown. Za Za Zá will be a huge addition both literally and figuratively—the space can fit more than 100 people, and will serve charcoal-grilled seafood and Sinaloa-style mariscos just a block away from the LA river.


Los Angeles, CA

Expected to open: February

Lingua Franca is another addition to Los Angeles’ Frogtown neighborhood, this time from the folks behind sandwich standby Wax Paper, which is known for their massive vegetable and sprout-filled sandwiches, yet is unlike anything else in the city (see: its location inside of a shipping container). The new morning-to-night spot will be a bit more upscale than Wax Paper with a long list of natural wines and lots of New American/Californian classics, like vegetables and braised chicken thighs.


Denver, CO

Expected to open: Spring

There are only a handful of Vietnamese spots in Denver, which is why it's easy to get excited about Sap Sua. The place will be all about modern riffs on dishes like bò kho and chả cá lã vọng inspired by the chefs’ upbringings in suburban Orange County and Colorado. The duo behind Sap Sua has already made lots of friends (and fans) via pop-ups since they moved to town three years ago, so expect the place to be busy cranking out remixed classics like a bắp cải luộc with smoky charred cabbage and anchovy breadcrumbs when they open. 


Molotov Kitschen + Cocktails

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Denver, CO

Now Open

Molotov Kitschen and Cocktails is an Eastern European restaurant from the team behind Denver’s Misfit Snackbar. Misfit became a local favorite for its personality-filled menu—one dish is simply titled “my f*cking burger”—and unexpected ingredient pairings, like brussel sprouts with cranberry char siu and pork and beans with a honey lavender glaze.

But with Molotov, the chef is focusing on the Ukrainian dishes and flavors like braised duck and sour cherry borscht and rabbit in a clay pot with creamed mushrooms and pickled shallots. The space is also filled with odes to Eastern European and Ukrainian culture, including a large floral art piece that resembles traditional Ukrainian flower crowns, photos of the chef’s grandmothers, and vintage wheat-pasted posters on the walls. 


MIDWEST

Le Select

This spot is Permanently Closed.

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Chicago, IL 

Expected To Open: TBA

Le Select is one of those places that’s been so highly anticipated for so long, we’re starting to wonder if it’s actually real or a pipe dream. It was originally slated to open in summer of 2022 and comes from the chef behind Le Coucou, so you can expect something like a giant French brasserie ideal for dinner with your in-laws where you’d casually drop $500. While there aren’t a ton of details about the menu yet, you can expect French dishes like grilled proteins in beurre blanc sauce and deboned roasted chicken.


Chicago, IL

Expected to Open: TBA

This Japanese spot in Chicago's Southport comes from the chef behind Momotaro, one of the city’s best sushi spots. While Momotaro is the type of place where you’d roll in 12-deep for a birthday dinner or with a hefty per diem, Itoko is a more intimate spot where you’d want to take someone for a date to talk about your hopes and dreams over hand rolls. Itoko was slated to open in winter 2022 and the hype will likely continue to build, so it’ll probably be a madhouse from day one.


Minneapolis, MN

Expected to open: TBA

Vinai will be one of the first restaurants in the United States to highlight the food and culture of the Hmong people, a group indigenous to Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. Vinai’s chef has cultivated years of hype with his food stall, Union Hmong Kitchen, which serves purple sticky rice, whole fried fish, and Hmong sausage. While there’s no concrete opening date, in the meantime, you can check out the chef’s noodle pop-up in Uptown, which opened in January.


THE SOUTH

Austin, TX

Expected To Open: TBA

Uptown Sports Club was once a mid-century bar on Austin’s East side, but now it’s reopening as an all-day cafe run by Franklin Barbecue’s owner serving po’boys and other Texas-meets-Louisiana food. There will also be plenty of free-flowing coffee and cocktails throughout the day, so it looks like it’ll be a great spot for firing off some emails before having post-work drinks with friends. 


Austin, TX

Expected to Open: TBA

This new spot from the team behind Emmer & Rye and Hestia hopes to add more great Mediterranean food to Austin’s food scene. The menu at Ezov will have lots of shareables and a long wine and cocktail list that features some bottles and dishes from Texas and the diverse cuisines found in Galilee.  


Houston, TX, 

Expected to Open: Late January

Jun by Kin will be the second spot from the team behind Houston’s byKin, and is a collaboration between a Top Chef alumna and a chef who’s worked at places like Llama Inn and Sauced. The menu will focus on Southeast Asian cuisine, and their pop-ups around town have shown off dishes like pork belly in kombu broth and eel sauce and cod and caviar dumplings. 


Dallas, TX

Expected to open: June

This Japanese izakaya is from the folks behind Shoyo, a hot ticket omakase spot that’ll have you refreshing reservation websites and dropping $200 on dinner. Kaiyo will be a more casual cousin to Shoyo, with plenty of room for walk-ins, lots of Japanese cocktails, and shareable dishes like marinated chicken, takoyaki, and sushi. Japanese restaurants in Dallas tend to be swanky places where you’d see a bunch of Teslas in the parking lot or sleepy neighborhood joints with reliable weekday lunch specials, but Kaiyo hopes to be a happy medium. 


Atlanta, GA

Expected to open: Early 2023

The second location of Southern National, a Southern restaurant and community space, comes to Atlanta by way of Mobile, Alabama. It plans to give back to its Summerhill neighborhood by hiring local residents and establishing a community garden to provide fresh produce for food-insecure neighbors. There’s no set menu yet, but it’ll likely pull influences from the chef’s travels throughout the Northwest and Southern regions of the United States. 


New Orleans, LA

Expected to open: Fall

The family behind Kingsway first made a name for themselves with Saffron, a popular modern Indian restaurant in New Orleans. The new spot will be just across the street, but will be totally different from their previous concept—they plan on creating a New American menu with a blend of East Asian and French influences. Not a ton of other details are available yet, but they’re currently renovating the restaurant’s space with plans to open sometime in the fall if all goes well. But if watching Love It Or List It has taught us anything, it’s to never expect things to run on schedule.


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