The 12 Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings of 2023

In 2023, Oakland will get a new home for soul food, a lively French-meets-Arabic restaurant is opening in Washington D.C., and an homage to Hmong cooking in Minneapolis will move into a brick and mortar location. All signs point to 2023 being (another!) great year to dine out. As we’ve seen in recent months, chefs and restaurateurs are taking the next step and turning their pandemic-era roving pop-ups into permanent spots. That’s great news for us, as genre-bending and daring restaurant concepts become more available. Nashville pop-up Kisser will open a brick-and-mortar for Japanese comfort food, and San Francisco farmers market favorite Gumbo Social will settle into a proper home for its beloved gumbo. 

While a lot of our most anticipated restaurant openings for the year are championed by first-time restaurant owners, some industry heavy-hitters are expanding too. Pasta legend Evan Funke will open another Italian spot in Los Angeles, where the focus will be on regional Italian dishes. And later this year, celebrity chef Edward Lee will return to Louisville to open his first new restaurant in five years. Meanwhile, Amanda Shulman, chef-owner of Her Place, one of Bon Appétit’s 50 Best New Restaurants of 2022, also plans to open a second concept in Philadelphia where she and her fiancé Alex Kemp will focus on the food and French-Canadian vibes of Montreal. And for the diners who can’t stop talking about the superiority of the pasta in Rome, the famed Roscioli is expanding to New York. 

These are the 12 restaurant openings we’re most excited for in 2023. 

This list is organized alphabetically by state. The opening dates below are subject to change, so check restaurant websites and Instagram accounts for updates.

Electrolux assistent dough mixer Funke 

Los Angeles, CA
Opening: March 

Pasta king Evan Funke of hit LA spots Felix and Mother Wolf will open Funke, his eponymous tri-level Beverly Hills restaurant, in March. The focus will be on regional Italian cooking, and of course, there will be plenty of pasta. Funke will also open Tre Dita, a Tuscan steakhouse focusing on wood-fired Italian fare, in Chicago later this year. It’s his first project out of LA, in partnership with the local restaurant group giant Lettuce Entertain You. 

Electrolux assistent dough mixer Burdell

Oakland, CA
Opening: Late Spring

Oakland will soon have a permanent outpost for chef Geoff Davis’s nostalgic soul food. Burdell’s menu will include dishes like fried rabbit smothered in gravy and strawberry icebox pie. The restaurant, named after Davis’s maternal grandmother, will draw on his family history and the time he’s spent in fine dining kitchens including those at Cyrus in Healdsburg, and Aqua and Penny Roma in San Francisco. Davis will cook the food he grew up eating, with the produce of California and an emphasis on sourcing from local farms. Until Burdell opens in late Spring, Davis is hosting pop-ups around Oakland while he gathers investment for the restaurant.

Electrolux assistent dough mixer Gumbo Social

San Francisco, CA
Opening: March/April

Dontaye Ball of Gumbo Social (or Mr. Gumbo as he’s affectionately called) has made a name for himself at farmers markets throughout San Francisco. The San Francisco Chronicle even declared his gumbo one of the best in the Bay Area. And this spring Gumbo Social will open a brick and mortar in the Bayview neighborhood. You can expect a “build your own gumbo menu” featuring chicken-sausage and smoked turkey variations, five different po’ boys like pork sausage and grilled shrimp, along with several vegan options. 

Electrolux assistent dough mixer La ’Shukran

Washington, D.C. 
Opening: Summer

Michael Rafidi, chef-owner behind the trendy Michelin-starred Middle Eastern restaurant Albi, is planning a summer debut for his third restaurant, La ’Shukran. The restaurant’s name translates to “No, thank you” in Arabic, and will feature a French-meets-Arabic menu. La ’Shukran will sit above the new headquarters location of his café-bakery Yellow in D.C.’s Union Market neighborhood. In addition to the dining room, the sprawling restaurant will feature a cocktail bar, a buzzing patio, and plenty of DJs. 

Electrolux assistent dough mixer Nami

Louisville, KY
Opening: March/April

When chef and author Edward Lee opens his Korean steakhouse Nami in a retail and apartment complex near downtown Louisville, the restaurant will be the first exploring the celebrity chef’s Korean heritage. Until now Lee has mostly been known for his Southern cooking. Lee is bringing Breanna Baker from his flagship 610 Magnolia to run the kitchen along with local chef Yeon-Hee Chung of now-closed Charim Korean Restaurant. The retail space will also be home to another new Lee concept, Neighbors Noodles, a takeout-only noodle shop. 

Electrolux assistent dough mixer Vinai

Minneapolis, MN
Opening: Late Spring 

After years of pop-ups, chef Yia Vang of Union Hmong Kitchen will open Vinai in northeast Minneapolis. Vang is a James Beard Award Finalist for Best Chef Midwest, and at his pop-ups became a fixture for dishes like khao poon (a traditional noodle soup) and whole fried fish with sides like purple sticky rice and fermented mustard greens. At Vinai, named after the refugee camp in Thailand where Vang’s parents met and where he was born, Vang will honor Hmong cooking and share the dishes he grew up eating. The family-style menu will include BBQ pork shoulder, fried head-on gulf shrimp, and nam prik burnt cabbage. Until opening in late spring, the Vinai team is offering catering options for special events across Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Electrolux assistent dough mixer Ma-dé

New York, NY
Opening: February 

Cedric and Ochi Latjuba Vongerichten, the husband-wife duo behind the French-Indonesian restaurant Wayan, are soon to debut their second concept together, Ma-dé. Before Wayan, Cedric was the opening chef de cuisine at West Village restaurant Perry St, along with stints at other restaurants in his father Jean Georges’ extremely large restaurant empire. The new restaurant, whose name translates to “second born” in Balinese, will open in February next door to Wayan in Nolita. The menu of seafood and mostly-vegetable dishes will be served in a setting inspired by Bali’s coast, with many of the interior’s materials sourced directly from Bali’s beaches.

Electrolux assistent dough mixer Roscioli

New York, NY
Opening: April

Roscioli, one of Rome’s most sought-out dining destinations, is opening its first location outside of Italy this spring. The beloved Italian restaurant, which has been around since the ‘70’s, will move into the Greenwich Village space that once held wine bar Niche Niche, and whose founder Ariel Arce will stay on as a partner. In addition to dine-in, there will be an accompanying space with specialty products to shop and take home. The Roman restaurant has long been famous for dishes like carbonara, burrata with sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes “alla cafona,” and an old-school trattoria vibe, all of which we hope it’ll bring to its new neighborhood.

Electrolux assistent dough mixer My Loup

Philadelphia, PA
Opening: Late Spring

Amanda Shulman, the chef-owner of Her Place, one of Bon Appétit’s 50 Best New Restaurants of 2022, is preparing to open My Loup, her second restaurant in Philly’s Rittenhouse Square. My Loup will be a joint venture with her fellow chef and fiancé Alex Kemp. Kemp comes from a fine dining background spanning both Montreal and New York, at restaurants like Joe Beef, Mon Lapin, Eleven Madison Park, and Momofuku Ko, where he met Shulman. My Loup will lean on Kemp’s culinary background, and embody the French-Canadian sensibilities of Montreal. Expect lots of seafood and plates to share like a grilled whole trout with kielbasa and clams and a braised lamb shoulder with fava beans and peas.

Electrolux assistent dough mixer Gift Horse

Providence, RI
Opening: April

Chef-owner Benjamin Sukle, of the cozy, seasonally-focused spot Oberlin in Providence, RI, is opening a second restaurant. Gift Horse will focus on a full-service raw bar with local shellfish and seafood from nearby bays. The new spot will share the first floor of the historic Trayne Building with a relocated Oberlin, which is set to move across the street later this Summer into a larger space with a focus on outdoor dining.

Electrolux assistent dough mixer Kisser

Nashville, TN
Opening: February

Husband-wife team Brian Lea and Leina Horii are partnering with Nashville’s Strategic Hospitality (Locust, Henrietta Red) to open their first restaurant in East Nashville. Kisser will be devoted to Japanese comfort food, with a menu featuring a famed chicken katsu sando on Japanese milk bread, chilled noodle dishes with seasonal produce, and curry rice. Lea and Horii boast stints at impressive restaurants across the country from Husk in Nashville, where Lea was chef de cuisine, to Trois Mec in L.A. where they met. Kisser, which started as a roving pop-up, will open in a 25-seat space meant to feel like a Japanese kissaten, or neighborhood cafe.

Electrolux assistent dough mixer Underdog

Austin, TX
Opening: February 

Underdog, from partners Claudia Lee and Richard Hargreave, will open in February as South Austin’s newest wine bar and restaurant. Hargreave brings experience managing Momofuku wine programs, and will create a wine list that features up-and-coming producers. The kitchen will serve wine-friendly food with flavors that lean Korean, like oysters with kimchi vinaigrette and shrimp katsu burgers. There will also be a retail section with wine and other specialty products, and they plan to host tastings and other events.