Restaurants & Bars
13 CA Restaurants Among Best New Eateries In America: New List
These California restaurants were named among the 50 best new eateries in America this year by the magazine Esquire. See the list here.
CALIFORNIA — Thirteen restaurants in California were named among the 50 best new eateries in America this year by the men’s fashion, style and culture magazine Esquire.
The 2023 list, published Tuesday, includes restaurants from well-known food hubs such as New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as other major metro areas including Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Miami, Atlanta, Honolulu, Chicago, Louisville, New Orleans, St Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and more.
In alphabetical order, here are the restaurants from California that made the list.
Auro | Calistoga (Napa Valley)
Auro opened in October 2022 serving up New American Cuisine. Within eight months, the eatery had earned one MICHELIN star.
From website: "Calistoga’s naturally temperate climate serves as the inspiration for Auro, Executive Chef Rogelio Garcia’s debut fine dining concept at the Four Seasons Resort Napa Valley. The restaurant’s ever-changing tasting menu shines the spotlight on abundant, fresh ingredients with each change of season. California’s hot, dry summer bears perfectly ripe avocados, heirloom tomatoes, and berries and the wetter winter creates the perfect environment for beets, oranges, and dark leafy greens to flourish.
"At Auro, guests are wowed by Chef Garcia’s expertly crafted 5-course tasting menu, with wine pairings thoughtfully curated by on-site sommelier, Derek Stevenson. With the benefit and sustenance of five of the world’s leading purveyors—ranging from local farmers to renowned ranchers—Auro ensures that the highest quality, seasonally-driven ingredients are the spotlight of each dish for an elevated farm-to-table experience."
From Esquire, in part: "Fine dining in Napa wine country is as essential to the experience as a power nap after a day of visiting vineyards. Did you really do Napa properly if you didn’t have some A5 topped with caviar in the evening? While there’s no shortage of places in wine country that will give you the luxe tasting-menu treatment, Auro, helmed by chef Rogelio Garcia, does so with precision and California ease. — K.S." Auronapavalley.com.
Burdell | Oakland
From website: "Burdell is a Soul Food restaurant in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland from Chef Geoff Davis.
"Named for and inspired by his maternal grandmother, Burdell reflects her love for well-set tables, shared meals and laughter. Burdell is centered on nostalgia, family recipes and sourcing — and on the forgotten impact of Black farming, ranching, fishing, foraging and culture on American cuisine and hospitality.
"The menu highlights the farmers and artisans harvesting and creating excellent products around us. Paired with the food is a robust list of wine and beverages from producers from around the World; focused on wine farmed and crafted with care and sustainable practices."
From Esquire, in part: "The 'barbecue' shrimp with brown butter and Worcestershire is so umami it’ll have you licking your plate. Combining his fine-dining chops with his interpretation of the nostalgic food of his youth, Davis’s retro-cool restaurant is flipping the script. —Omar Mamoon" Burdelloakland.com
Chez Noir | Carmel
From website: "An elevated, community-driven restaurant rooted in coastal California cuisine, Chez Noir is the passion project of husband-and-wife team Chef Jonny Black and Monique Black. Tucked away in the village-like streets of Carmel-by-the-Sea, guests will discover a modern, seafood-centric menu showcasing pristine ingredients sourced from throughout the Monterey Peninsula.
"Rather than a traditional take on fine dining, Chez Noir offers everyday luxury through an abundance of micro-seasonal ingredients, thoughtfully prepared, and the warm hospitality of a family-run restaurant.
"From baked goods, to charcuterie, preserved produce, dry-aged fish and fresh pastas, each dish shines with the flavors of housemade ingredients inspired by Chef Black’s Michelin-starred experience and ongoing exploration of French and northern Spanish cuisines. Whether served in the restaurant’s intimate dining room, at the eight-seat bar or in the exterior courtyard, the restaurant’s transportive, terroir-driven approach elevates an unassuming neighborhood haunt to destination dining status."
From Esquire, in part: "... Chef Jonny Black and his wife Monique Black live on the second floor above their restaurant, located in a charming old Craftsman home just off the edge of downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea. They’re throwing a dinner party every night, and you’re invited. The sea-centric, French-meets-Spanish menu changes often and with the season, but skewers of grilled abalone smothered in a funky rich sauce made from its liver, and gildas, with the addition of grilled squid, are two bites that’ll never leave the menu or your memory. It’s as romantic as it sounds. —O.M." Cheznoircarmel.com
Dalida | San Francisco
From website: "We built Dalida on the hospitality, culture, fresh ingredients and familiar flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean. Our food is best enjoyed shared across the table. The legacy of Istanbul, once Constantinople, is greater than meets the eye. It's the palace and the countryside, the business and cultural capital. It's a little Turkish, a little Greek, Armenian, Jewish, Arabic and Persian. From the Eastern-most to the Western-most point of the Western world, we tell a story of an Istanbul that could have been, a story of the Eastern Mediterranean that manifests itself in San Francisco, a city also built on seven hills, one that welcomes, empowers and celebrates all that want to be here."
From Esquire in part: "At Dalida, located in a beautiful, historic brick building in the Presidio, San Francisco’s gorgeous national park, you’ll find a massive menu that celebrates all cultures and foodways of the eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. —O.M."Dalidasf.com
Dunsmoor | Los Angeles
From Esquire: Chef Brian Dunsmoor’s Glassell Park restaurant is always buzzing. "Imagine a group of six gathered around a communal wooden table, in an art deco building, with golden candlelight, and then a feast of Southern-inspired deep cuts that feel like they’re from another time. Bison tartare, laden with sunchokes, smoked trout sauce, and mullet roe. A rainbow trout, kissed by hearth flames and dressed with wild mushrooms, pine nuts, and brown butter. Plus, two mind-blowing standards: a pork and green chili stew and a sour milk cornbread. (If I were dining solo, this would be my meal.) It’s a time-traveling, American heritage fantasy that feels more real than anything Hollywood could ever produce. Time to make some new friends. —K.S." Dunsmoor.la
Hitokuchi | San Diego
From website: "After more than three years in development, Chef-Owner John Jong launched Hitokuchi to serve shareable, amuse-bouche-sized dishes of luxurious Japanese cuisine, with ingredients sourced from around the globe, including directly from Japan’s renowned Toyosu Fish Market. He works with premium raw seafood, all bite-size with a modern twist. For the hot food, we are focusing on small bites paired with a large variety of sake. Chef-owner John Hong also focuses a lot on umami and how to bring out the best flavors in the ingredients we serve. Each bite Hitokuchi will be umami."
From Esquire: "Don’t worry. You’re in the right place. From the street, you might see the drive-through for a fast-food spot, but Hitokuchi is squeezed in the back. Pass through the heavy door and you’ll find some of the most exquisite cooking in San Diego’s Convoy District. Chef John Hong does not hold back when it comes to premium ingredients, and the prices reflect that. But his uni-and-caviar dish is a local legend for a reason: Imagine a tower of sushi rice in which each individual grain has been coated in oceanic luxury. —Jeff Gordinier" Hitokuchisd.com
Kiln | San Francisco
Two [prepaid] tastings of 18-20 servings are offered nightly Tuesday-Saturday at Kiln. Co-owned by chef John Wesley and Julianna Yang, who met while working at Sons & Daughters and left to open Kiln in early 2023.
From Esquire, in part: "It looks simple, but days of prep and years of experience go into this single dish [fillet of mackarel] along with the other nineteen or so courses. Kiln is a study in restraint and an exercise in fine-dining minimalism." Kilnsf.com
Mabel's Gone Fishing | San Diego
From Esquire: "Take Iberian cuisine, give it a touch of the California coast, casually wrap it up in a neighborhood bar and restaurant, and you’ve got Mabel’s. There are surprises to the simplest things. The pan con tomate is made with a rustic grilled sourdough, with the option of boquerones: Do it. The oysters (get the ones from Baja) come with a house-made hot sauce that you’ll want to use throughout the meal." Mabelsgonefishing.com
Poltergeist | Los Angeles
From website: "Estrano’s Diego Argoti begins his new menu, Poltergeist, inside Button Mash. It is a permanent home for one of LA’s most talented, and frenetic chefs.
From Esquire, in part: "...Familiar foods gone gonzo: a Thai Caesar salad fragrant with lemongrass and crowned with croutons remixed as a mountain of puffed rice; Chinese takeout broccoli beef done up as short ribs and oxtail in ravioli; a whole dorade fried in masa, like a fish taco reimagined for a Dalí painting. Poltergeist is haunting, but like Casper the Friendly Ghost, you’ll want to hang with it. —K.S." Buttonmashla.com/#poltergeist
Rory's Place | Ojai
From website: "Rory’s Place is a collaboration between us—sisters Rory and Meave McAuliffe. We grew up playing in the kitchen of our mom’s bakery in Santa Monica in the 90’s, and have been cooking together ever since.
"For us, the kitchen is a place where people join in celebration, experimentation, connection, and kinship. Rory’s Place is our way of sharing the warmth and excitement of our childhood kitchen here in Ojai. Our menus are inspired by the fresh, seasonal produce, seafood and livestock from Ojai, Santa Barbara, and the surrounding areas. But our mission is about much more than great ingredients: we’re here to create partnerships and support our vibrant community of local farmers, ranchers, and fisherpeople. These relationships are what make this endeavor worthwhile for us — and they are key to building a healthy, sustainable food system.
"We are indebted to the legacy of generations of California chefs and farmers, and we aim to carry their traditions forward, using live-fire cooking and other timeless techniques, while weaving in new ideas, approaches, and flavors from our travels around the world.- Rory & Chef Meave"
From Esquire, in part: " ... The local gentry come ambling into Rory’s Place for avocado salads and golden tangles of fries and towers of Channel Islands seafood. The food is a bit French, a bit Italian, a bit Cape Cod, and yet 100 percent Californian." Rorysplaceojai.com
Urbuntu | Los Angeles
From website: "UBUNTU is the new plant-based restaurant inspired by West African ingredients and helmed by 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist Shenarri 'Greens' Freeman (Cadence, NYC).
Ubuntu is run, in partnership, with Overthrow Hospitality, founded by 2022 James Beard Award nominee Ravi DeRossi. Located on Melrose Ave in West Hollywood, Ubuntu, inspired by Shenarri's travels and a desire to explore her roots, transports guests to the African continent with twists on traditional dishes from Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, and West Africa.
"Vegetables are front and center in signature dishes and are complemented by wines from black-owned vintners. Our full bar offers a cocktail program composed of African ingredients designed by acclaimed mixologist Colin Asare-Appiah, author of 'Black Excellence: A Comprehensive Guide To Black Mixology,' renowned as a trendsetting pioneer of the spirits industry."
From Esquire, in part: "... That means fragrant, spicy jollof arancini; luscious grits made from the African heritage grain fonio; and, the home run, a comfort food that you’ll wish you could’ve eaten every day after school: a riff on the Nigerian meat pie made with lion’s mane mushrooms and dipped in tamarind applesauce. —K.S." Ubuntula.com
Valle | Oceanside
From Esquire, in part: "Chef Roberto Alcocer’s tasting menu is one of poetic riffs on the essences of Mexican cooking: You’ll get the heavy smoke in a deeply charred caramelized-onion tart, blacker than black, with a glistening quenelle of Kaluga caviar on top. And a chayote in the shape of a rose, with shiso leaves atop crab and a bright-green aguachile, is the essence of surf and turf in Baja. —K.S." Valleoceanside.com
YESS | Los Angeles
From Instagram: A progressive Japanese restaurant from Chef Junya Yamasaki.
From Esquire, in part: "In early July, you might get a plate of tempura-fried anchovies, followed by a bowl of hyper-fresh stone fruits. A month later, the menu will have changed. Yamasaki listens to the seasons, and you should listen to him. —J.G." Instagram.com/yess.restaurant
ALSO SEE: CA Michelin Guide 2023: New Restaurants
Esquire noted that authenticity was a major theme this year among the restaurants. That was true for its Restaurant of the Year winner, Ilis in Brooklyn, where the chefs “prepared the fish as it would have been done centuries ago, wrapped in bark and cooked over flames.” It was also true across the country at Poltergeist in Los Angeles, where the chefs “gave us a wild, experimental take on the fish taco, which was dipped in masa and fried. Both felt genuine, and each was delicious.”
The magazine also named two eateries that earned Comeback of the Year titles and the coveted claim to Pizza Joint of the Year. Baroo in Los Angeles closed in 2018, but is now “decidedly all grown up,” Esquire wrote in naming it the comeback winner this year for the West Coast. On the East Coast, Superiority Burger in the East Village of New York City earned the comeback honor, with its tantalizing vegan burger offerings.
Meanwhile, sure to stir the pot among pizza aficionados is Nonno’s Family Pizza Tavern in Houston, which was named Pizza Joint of the Year.
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