Chris Wolfgang
Audio By Carbonatix
Each year, Esquire seeks out the best new restaurants in America. Places with a creative flair that offer comfort and some distinct or remarkable vibe, all of which is backed by an amazing kitchen. But what about that sweet spot where all of those sings in harmony? The creators of this year’s list from Esquire anoint that magic as “pixie dust.” Ah, yes, a sprinkle of something special and impossible to source.
Esquire writer Joshua David Stein discovered that dust at RVR in LA, a farm-to-table izakaya located a few blocks from the beach, and reigns atop this list of 33 spots as the single best new restaurant in America.
Diversity Reigns
RVR is from a pair of chefs with eclectic and varied backgrounds: Ian Robinson is a New Jersey-born surfer whose parents “adhered to a macrobiotic diet,” per the article. And Travis Lett’s mom drove hours to buy farm-fresh ingredients.
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Woven through this list of 33 restaurants is an interesting story of dining in America, rich with influences from all corners of the globe: Rajasthani lamb, Anarkali chicken, Malwani fish tikka, blue-corn bread, heirloom beans, Jamaican fruit salad and one buss up shut, a roti from Trinidad and Tobago.
Not on the list, however, is a single restaurant from Dallas. Or Austin. Or San Antonio, which collectively has 88 entries in the Michelin Guide, including 12 one-star restaurants.
Space City
Houston has one restaurant, Chopnblok, which received a Bib Gourmand selection in Michelin in its freshman season and was also on The New York Times’ 50 Best Restaurants in America. Owner, Houston-born Ope Amosu, whose parents are from Nigeria, studied business at Rice University and worked in oil and gas before leaning into African staples like jollof, curry and plantains.
Locally, this spot reminds us of Cafe Nubia, from Kenechi “KC” Nnamani.
Some other stats from the list that are either indicative of where the editors are based or the bastions of the culinary scene in America (or both): four restaurants are in L.A., seven in New York City and one in New Orleans (Emeril’s from Emeril Lagasse’s son).
There’s only one steakhouse on the entire list, and even that one blurs lines of tradition. There’s also a taco stand (Lupe’s Situ Tacos in Seattle) and Komal in L.A., a “shrine to heirloom corn and to Mexico’s millennia of artistry with the holy kernel.”
We always feel a little pang when we don’t get picked for the kickball team at recess, or a national list of good restaurants. Can’t win ’em all. But Dallas is rife with amazing restaurants and plenty of hidden gems.
