Owner: Mirsad (Mike) Causevic
Chef: Executive Chef Dale Levitski
Cuisine: Contemporary French
The Buzz: Top Chef famous face Dale Levitski reinvented Sprout last fall, introducing a novel $60 prix fixe menu and a la carte options. Levitski left the décor unfinished, leaving the final color and art choices up to diners, for a “crowdsourced” redesign. “My favorite dish I’ve had was his take on surf and turf, which was pieces of Wagyu draped over brandade”
says Mike Sula, food writer for Chicago Reader. “Levitski’s doing really sophisticated, well-composed platings at a really accessible price.”
Owners: Ris Lacoste, Mitchell D. Herman
Chef: Ris Lacoste
Cuisine: Seasonal American
The Buzz: Chef and owner Ris Lacoste was known in foodie circles for her tenure as executive chef at 1789, a landmark D.C. eatery. She left in 2007 to open her own restaurant. Three years and $4 million later, Ris opened last December. “The Nantucket Bay Scallop Margarita appetizer…was one of the best new appetizers I had last year,” says Tim Carman, food columnist for Washington City Paper. “[Chef Ris Lacoste] had been out of the limelight for so long. I’d say she’s come out of the gate pretty strong.”
Laura Padgett
Owner: Danny Meyer/Union Square Hospitality Group
Chef: Nick Anderer
Cuisine: Italian
The Buzz: Danny Meyer is playing a hot hand—a four-star elevation for Eleven Madison Park, the burgeoning dominance of his Shake Shack burger chain—so anything coming out of his Union Square Hospitality empire arrives with immediate buzz and expectations. Especially if it’s his first take on Italian. Maialino, which opened on Veterans Day in Ian Schrager’s Gramercy Hotel, seems to have delivered. Anderer, a former No. 2 at Gramercy Tavern and a veteran of Mario Batali’s Babbo boot camp, delivers an ambitious take on a Roman trattoria. Think tripe laced with pecorino and mint served in a room centered by a bread station. As with all Meyer’s restaurants, service is exemplary.
Owner: Thomas Keller
Chefs: Thomas Keller, Chef de Cuisine Rory Herrmann
Cuisine: Classic French bistro
The Buzz: Thomas Keller earned his reputation as a polished French chef with the Yountville, California, eatery The French Laundry, which earned him a James Beard Award and three Michelin stars. He opened the original Bouchon in Yountville and has since expanded to Las Vegas, as well as on to bookshelves with the cookbook
Bouchon. The Beverly Hills locale is the first to feature Bar Bouchon, with wines-by-the-glass, artisanal beers, and small plates. “Beverly Hills has never experienced French bistro food so impeccably executed,”
said S. Irene Virbila, food critic for the Los Angeles Times.
Owner: Ken Oringer
Chefs: Jamie Bissonnette, Ken Oringer
Cuisine: Italian
The Buzz: Nestled in Boston’s South End, Coppa promises Italian fare with locally sourced flair. The menu of small plates includes homemade pasta and house-made charcuterie. Chef and partner Bissonnette worked under Oringer’s tutelage at other Boston hot spots Clio and Toro before the duo teamed up at Coppa.
“The place is tiny and crowded, like a little neighborhood party,” says Devra First, food reporter for the Boston Globe, via email. “The food is extremely well made. The flavors are just unexpected enough. Everything is high-quality, local, and seasonal, and the prices are very reasonable.”
Owner: Tim McEneny
Chef: Brian Sommers
Cuisine: American comfort food
The Buzz: Dish fuses neon interiors with simple cuisine. Owner Tim McEneny, known for other Dallas nightlife spots obar and LIFT, added bright recessed and chandelier lighting while Chef Brian Sommers created a menu that includes beef sliders, braised short ribs, and roasted chicken. “It felt sort of sleek in a way that is contrary to what you would expect from the trend toward neighborhood restaurants,” says Leslie Brenner, restaurant critic at the Dallas Morning News, of the restaurant’s ambiance. But the food is something more basic, she says. “It’s stylish comfort food, well-executed with good ingredients.”
Owner: Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
Chef: Pierre Gagnaire
Cuisine: Modern French
The Buzz: Chef Pierre Gagnaire, known for his eponymous restaurant in Paris, which garnered three Michelin stars and attracted attention for unique culinary combinations. Gagnaire is also head chef at London’s Sketch restaurant, but Twist, which opened in December, is his American debut. “He’s known for doing really odd flavor combinations and mixing things up that most chefs can’t get away with, especially in Las Vegas,” says Sarah Feldberg, new-media managing editor for
Las Vegas Weekly. The locale is original, too, with a floating lobby on the 23rd floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel with a view overlooking the Las Vegas Strip.
Owner: David Grossman
Chef: David Grossman
Cuisine: Modern American
The Buzz: Opening late last year in the Washington Avenue area of Houston, Branch Water Tavern combines a speakeasy atmosphere with reinvented American fare. The bar food offerings include duckfat popcorn and crispy stuffed olives, while dinner choices range from chicken fried oysters to New York strip steak. Owning up to its tavern name, Beverage Director Evan Turner curated an extensive drink menu that includes nearly 100 whiskey options.
