There’s much more on the way with the forthcoming 2026 Las Vegas openings of Scott Sartiano’s Zero Bond and Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse at Wynn, Kwame Onwuachi’s Maroon at Sahara, Gabriela Camara’s Cantina Contramar at Fontainebleau and Eugene Remm’s The Corner Store at a prime Strip location that will be announced soon. In the meantime, you can head to the Arts District for chips and caviar paired with tom kha fizzes at the Doberman Drawing Room, enjoy birria nachos from one of L.A.’s most beloved chefs and slices from a new-school New York icon at the Venetian’s Via Via food hall, or visit Caesars Palace for the red sauce and the decadent desserts at Stanton Social Italian. 

Here are the best new places to eat and drink in Las Vegas at the beginning of what promises to be a delicious year.

Gymkhana

• 3730 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89109

The Las Vegas opening of Gymkhana, the only Indian restaurant in London with two Michelin stars, is a true game-changer. “It’s like the Indian Carbone,” a New York real estate mogul says as we discuss how posting an Instagram story from the Vegas Gymkhana resulted in DMs from globetrotting DJs, prominent chefs, crypto pioneers, a UFC ring girl and L.A. actors and models, who are all clamoring to eat at this hot spot inside the Aria casino-resort.

“This is the best lamb I’ve ever had,” a former food editor who’s now a caterer to the stars declares as she grabs another of Gymkhana’s signature tandoori lamb chops with her fingers. An Indian friend smiles widely as we cover our plates with juicy quail seekh kebabs and beautifully unctuous and intoxicatingly fragrant venison biryani. The butter chicken and the creamy black lentil dal make us want to eat more bread and rice. Only-in-Vegas dishes like the nicely spicy wagyu keema naan and luxurious Goan lobster curry (with meat pulled out of the claws and put into the head for an attractive and user-friendly presentation) are show-stoppers. Even if you’ve traversed the globe to drink clarified milk punch at famous cocktail bars, the pina col-lassi at Gymkhana might floor you. Desserts like gold leaf gulab jamun (fried milk dumplings with rose syrup) and the saffron pistachio ice cream falooda are resolutely Indian with the proper amount of Vegas-worthy spectacle. 

JKS Restaurants, founded by siblings Jyotin, Karam and Sunaina Sethi, and MGM Resorts are clearly resetting the dining scene in Las Vegas with Gymkhana. Bold flavors, uncompromising cooking, family, heritage, pride, glitz, culture, new experiences. This is the intersection of all of it.

Carbone Riviera

• 3600 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89109

We’ve eaten at Major Food Group’s new seafood wonderland as part of a large group and also as a two-top. Whether you go big here or prefer an intimate date, Mario Carbone’s restaurant, perched next to the Fountains of Bellagio, is a total spectacle. 

Take a crew and feast on exquisitely plated whole sea bream crudo, whole king crab and two-pound lobster fettuccine. Or build a meal around what could very well become a new set of Carbone greatest hits. Bouncy lobster polpette fra diavolo and habit-forming jumbo shrimp Parm are terrific new-school nods at meatballs and veal Parm. Cappelini AOP with crab is simultaneously simple and splendid—one of the best pastas Major Food Group has ever created.

And if you do want the original greatest hit, you can, of course, order spicy rigatoni. For dessert, there’s a fruit platter that includes delightful sorbetti inside fruit, a spectacle in itself.

Cote

• 3355 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89109

With stadium seating, a crow’s-nest DJ booth and VIP skyboxes, Simon Kim is blending galbi, jjigae and clubby vibes at his high-energy Korean steakhouse at the Venetian. Your best intro to the culinary world of Cote is the butcher’s feast that comes with four cuts of beef that are grilled at your table and served alongside banchan and stews. This is proper, elegant, excellent Korean barbecue. 

There’s also a more extravagant steak omakase for even beefier baller meals. Or you can elevate your butcher’s feast, which starts with truffle-infused bone consommé and ends with soy-sauce-caramel-topped vanilla soft service, by adding A5 wagyu. We recommend getting oyster sotbat, a hearty, comforting and sumptuous rice pot, for some terrific surf with your turf. The steam from the sotbat and the sizzle of the steak cooking at your table is a wondrous combination at a restaurant that feels like a party.

Stanton Social Italian

• 3570 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89109

Chef Chris Santos and Tao Group Hospitality have evolved their Stanton Social brand into a lively destination for red sauce, pasta and steaks at Caesars Palace. Garlic bread comes with flavor-packed arrabbiata sauce. Cavatelli is topped with crowd-pleasing wagyu Bolognese. Extra-crispy chicken Parm and a dry-aged ribeye (resting in a bath of French butter) are substantial main courses. A standout side of crispy eggplant comes with vodka sauce. For dessert, there’s limoncello tiramisu and a decadent “spumoni milkshake” that you cut with a knife. Enjoy the surprise.

Doberman Drawing Room

• 1025 S. 1st St., Las Vegas, NV 89101

This new Arts District cocktail destination from Ryan Doherty’s Corner Bar Management likes to take you around the world. The space feels like an old-world mansion (with vintage seating and the requisite cabinets of curios), but signature drinks like mixologist Juyoung Kang’s tom kha fizz and the Nine Countries cocktail that blends mezcal, honeydew, yuzu and green yuzu-koshō are thoroughly modern. The creativity extends to multicultural mocktails like the Lucky Buddha with green tea, Tajin, pineapple and yuzu. 

The bar snacks here include an assortment of top-tier tinned seafood and kettle chips with sour cream and onion dip. This is off-Strip Vegas, a world away from overheated Strip nightlife, so maybe you want to linger and add an ounce of caviar to your chips and dip.

Via Via Food Hall

• 3355 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89109

With its citrus adobo chicken tacos (on heirloom organic corn tortillas), birria nachos and specials like a wagyu crunchwrap, L.A. chef Ray Garcia’s B.S. Taqueria at the Venetian’s new food hall is the best casual Mexican-food option inside a Vegas casino. The Via Via food hall also dazzles with exemplary slices at Scarr’s Pizza, the hot chicken at Howlin’ Ray’s and the breakfast sandwiches at Turkey and the Wolf. Hot tip: Close Company, the cozy cocktail bar hidden inside the food hall, serves an espresso martini and tonic if you need a post-meal pick-me-up after Ivan Ramen’s mazemen or All’Antico Vinaio’s salumi-laden sandwiches. 

The Guest House, a scene-making modern American steakhouse known for its prime tomahawk, caviar-topped tuna cones, theatrical cocktails, dramatic tableside presentations and over-the-top desserts in Austin and Las Vegas, will open in Scottsdale on Friday, January 9.

The new Arizona restaurant, where chef Todd Mark Miller will serve spicy rigatoni, wagyu pastrami and crowd-pleasing buttermilk chicken tenders, is taking over the former Etta space at Scottsdale Quarter. It’s part of the rapid expansion of RDM Hospitality, which in 2024 debuted The Guest House Austin and opened The Guest House Las Vegas with funding from restaurant-financing powerhouse inKind. 

The Guest House, which has served guests including Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant, Aaron Rodgers, Conor McGregor, Kevin Hart, Dasha, Ella Balinska, Steve Aoki and Gordon Ramsay in Austin and Las Vegas, is a restaurant brand that blends destination dining and nightlife in a setting that’s comfortable and not stuffy. DJs, including nightclub headliners like Cedric Gervais, Francis Mercier, Chantel Jeffries, 15 Grams and Dimitri, set the tone every night, but dinner is the main event. 

RDM CEO Raj Kumar tells Observer that there are plans to open Guest House locations in Dallas, Houston and Denver.

“Having inKind support RDM has helped us open three restaurants in less than two years and gives us the confidence to scale to the next three because we have the best financing and non-dilutive capital,” Kumar says.

Instead of giving loans or taking equity, inKind funds restaurants by pre-purchasing food and beverage credit at a discount and then selling this credit to customers on its app.

RDM Hospitality is a thriving business, but it’s also a side project for founder Johann Moonesinghe and partner David Mulugheta, who both have extremely prominent day jobs. Moonesinghe is co-founder and CEO of inKind, which recently raised $450 million in capital from backers including Magnetar and Jay-Z and Robbie Robinson’s MarcyPen. In 2024, Mulugheta, who is president of team sports at management firm Athletes First, became the first agent to negotiate more than $1 billion in NFL contracts in a single year. 

“RDM is about learning how to operate profitable restaurants, and we take those learnings and teach them back to the restaurants that are part of inKind,” Moonesinghe tells Observer.

When The Guest House opened in Austin on February 18, 2024, inKind had funded 1,407 restaurants. On Tuesday, when Observer spoke to Moonesinghe, that number had grown to 5,756 restaurants. Moonesinghe says his goal at inKind is to fund another 8,000 restaurants in 2026.

Before inKind purchased the Etta restaurant group out of bankruptcy, Etta Scottsdale was generating about $400,000 a month in revenue. Moonesinghe credits Kumar for increasing the revenue to more than $1 million a month at Etta Scottsdale, but then RDM realized it had an even better asset in The Guest House.

“The most important part of RDM is for us to learn, and what we’ve learned is that it’s really hard to build multiple brands at scale,” Moonesinghe says. “And Guest House is such a successful brand and we have so much opportunity to scale it that we decided to focus on just the Guest House brand. We expect to open our Dallas location later this year and then two more locations next year.”

Mulugheta, who has spearheaded Guest House activations including a Super Bowl pop-up in New Orleans and “celebrity waiter nights” with NFL players like Micah Parsons and CJ Stroud moonlighting as servers and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity, likes having a lively, welcoming and safe place where he can send clients and friends. 

“The first time I walked into Guest House, it was something different than anything we had in the city of Austin,” Mulugheta says. “Johann and Raj have created a place that has phenomenal food and phenomenal service, and the vibe is even better. You get a mix of people from all different backgrounds. There’s a cultural intersection. And Raj has been super intentional on who he’s hired. It’s like that TV show, Cheers. Everybody knows your name. This isn’t somewhere where you come to dinner once every six months. It’s somewhere that you want to be anytime you have some free time. It’s really a community.” 

“The focus is on building a social dining experience,” Kumar says. “We’ve created a place with a broad, approachable menu where people can go three times a week and have three different meals while enjoying the music and the vibe.”

Scottsdale, where Catch recently opened and where Din Tai Fung and Boa Steakhouse are on the way, is a booming restaurant market that will likely welcome this vibe. InKind already works with several Scottsdale destinations, including Toca Madera, Élephante, Bottled Blonde, 40 Love and Zinque. Moonesinghe’s goal with RDM is to cultivate customers who regularly support multiple restaurants. 

“We’re not competing with all these restaurants that inKind funds,” Moonesinghe says. “What happens is we get a lot of people coming into Guest House who we then send to the other restaurants in our network. It’s important that we help build the ecosystem in these cities.”

Kumar and Mulugheta echo this rising-tide sentiment.

“Over the last two years, we’ve seen an increasing number of high-value guests,” Kumar says. “When we look at our reservations, we see that inKind users tend to spend a lot more.” 

Mulugheta tells his clients to download the inKind app to see what restaurants they should frequent when they’re on the road.

“They’re definitely looking at the app to see where their next meal is,” he says.

They can also peruse the app to see where to drink and where to party, given that inKind also funds bars and nightclubs. RDM is working to debut its new Guest Room concept in Las Vegas, a cocktail spot/ultra lounge attached to Guest House, which will also open in Dallas, Houston and Denver.

“This isn’t just about dinner,” Kumar says of his plans at Guest House and RDM. “It’s about an experience that builds.”

Marea will open at The Snow Lodge within The St. Regis Aspen Resort on December 22, and executive chef PJ Calapa has a clear vision for his version of après-ski dining. 

“When we toured the space, they were like, ‘Eat your carbs and drink your chlorophyll water,’” Calapa tells Observer. “And I was like, ‘Well, I’m bringing all the carbs.”

Marea is an elegant Italian seafood restaurant that’s been a fixture on New York’s Central Park South since 2009. It opened its second location in Beverly Hills last January. Like in California, Marea will serve its most popular plates (like its fusilli with octopus and its lobster with burrata) while unveiling new dishes at its Aspen residency. 

Calapa is bringing staples like his branzino tartare and his caviar-topped garlic bread bruschetta to Aspen, while also considering the winter weather and appetites he’ll encounter at The Snow Lodge.

“I don’t want it to be so cookie-cutter in the sense that you go to Marea anywhere and it’s going to be the same,” Calapa says. 

Cooking in Los Angeles led Calapa to create dishes like avocado filled with spot prawn tartare and a shaved artichoke salad. In Aspen, Marea will have a new crab-and-caviar dish and a new frisée salad with tuna lardon.

At the same time, “We took a little inspiration from Aspen and the mountain and went a little less seafood-centric,” Calapa says.

One new dish is rotolo, essentially a rolled lasagna, with white Bolognese.

“I think it’s going to track very well in Aspen and be something a little bit heartier that you would have at, like, your grandmother’s house that makes you feel warm inside,” Calapa says. “It’s probably the first time we’re opening a place where people are going to show up very hungry in the best of ways. I’m excited about the actual hunger levels of some people coming off the mountain.”

The rotolo is part of the house-made pasta selection at the Aspen Marea, which also includes spaghetti with clams, mafaldine with shrimp and pappardelle with crab. Carbs and crab, that’s the Marea way.

Marea is planning to serve early dinners for the après-ski crowd that’s looking for sustenance and a relaxed night after strenuous days hitting the powder on Aspen’s slopes.

“We’re building out the reservation book now, and I was like, we need to open at least at 4 p.m. and make a 6 o’clock reservation the second seating,” Calapa says.

He’s down to open earlier if he sees the demand for 3 p.m. meals.

“I think it’s big pasta and a piece of meat,” Calapa says of the dining experience many Snow Lodge guests will be craving.

So Marea will, of course, have its tomahawk with rosemary salt in Aspen. Calapa makes a duck dish that changes with the seasons, and he’ll serve it at The Snow Lodge with a butternut squash puree and toasted pepitas. Visitors looking for an extravagant seafood main course can savor Dover sole.

For Altamarea Group founder and CEO Ahmass Fakahany, opening in Aspen is about following his customers and the demand he’s seen for Marea. Altamarea Group, which put an outpost of Crazy Pizza in East Hampton this past summer, likes seasonal locations.

“My thought was St. Regis and Marea and Aspen makes a lot of sense,” Fakahany says. “Logically, it’s where our clients move toward, and we’re migrating with them.”

Marea at The Snow Lodge is a residency that concludes at the end of March, but Fakahany very much wants the space to look and feel like Marea. 

“It’s going to have our decor, our team, our process, our chefs,” he says.

In Aspen, Fakahany is bringing in furniture and installing honey onyx, which is a key design feature of Marea. Everything from the banquettes to the candleholders will make it clear that you’re at an outpost of Marea. Fakahany is even having paintings that Marea displays in New York redone in smaller versions for Aspen.

This location will have about 80 seats, which is about half as many as the other Mareas.

“It’ll be more cozy and intimate, which I think works well for après-ski,” Fakahany says. “I think that sense of conviviality will work well. And there’s a nook near the bar, so there will be a little atmosphere near the bar where you can linger and eat and kind of congregate and hang out.”

Fakahany is open to the idea of Marea returning to The Snow Lodge after this residency. But it took him more than 15 years to open a second location of Marea in Beverly Hills, so he’s not a man who rushes into any decisions. He’s happy to let this first season in Aspen play out and go from there.

At the same time, he’s also been thinking about where else he could take Marea.

“I think Marea is definitely a new-age luxury brand,” Fakahany tells Observer. “We call it relaxed glamour. It’s a dinner party for people who are invited without being a club member. And I think there’s an appetite for that model. For us, it’s about selecting markets where there is appetite for it and also looking at some seasonal spots. It can be Europe, it can be a couple places in the United States—but very selectively.”

He’s gotten a lot of requests for Marea in different locations, and he’s open to the idea of spinoffs.

“A lot of incoming demand is also subcomponents or splinters,” Fakahany shares. He sees a future where his next ventures could be something like Marea Crudo and Caviar Bar or Marea Beach Club. Marea Crudo Lounge and Marea Crudo and Pasta are also among the concepts he’s considering.

In the meantime, he likes how so many things are connected in Aspen. St. Regis Aspen owner Stephane De Baets, who previously created New York’s Chefs Club (a restaurant with high-profile chef residencies at a prime downtown location that’s now home to Torrisi), cares deeply about top-tier dining. The Snow Lodge (founded by New York nightlife veteran Jayma Cardoso) is a spinoff of The Surf Lodge, which is a big part of the East End summer scene. Fakahany likes how this is all in the “same ecosystem.”

Marea in Aspen is about luxury and a high-energy environment, but it’s also about comfort and slowing things down.

“We want that feeling of a Sunday supper at grandma’s house, but it could be any day of the week,” Calapa says. “And it gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling and creates memories where you would like to do this multiple times in a week. I think we’re also getting people in very much of a vacation mentality. It’s a wonderful thing to have at your fingertips, people being very open to enjoying the time and the space and indulging a bit.”

Mario Carbone had the wildest span of his life this year, as he and his core team embarked on what they called the Rigatoni World Tour, opening restaurants in London, Dubai and Las Vegas in back-to-back-to-back months. Elizabeth Blau, who first made her name in Las Vegas, has her eyes on the Middle East as she continues to work on restaurant development for clients like Wynn. Thanks to the curation of Blau, Wynn Al Marjan Island in the United Arab Emirates will boast a dining and nightlife collection including an Alain Ducasse steakhouse and an outpost of Delilah.

Las Vegas, of course, has long been driven by this kind of curation. The goal is bringing in the strongest global brands, including New York’s Cote (at the Venetian) and London’s Gymkhana (at Aria), to create razzle-dazzle experiences powered by luxury dining with elements of nightlife (like the DJ booth and VIP skyboxes at the Las Vegas Cote). 

Las Vegas is also where best-in-class operators that focus on accessible dining can flourish. Scarr’s Pizza, which recently opened at the Venetian’s food hall, is a slice joint. But pizzaiolo Scarr Pimentel used to mill his own flour in his New York basement before he found organic flour up to his standards. Din Tai Fung, a Taiwanese soup-dumpling powerhouse that dates back to 1958, now thrives in California, Las Vegas and New York with its open kitchens where guests can see chefs hand-fold dumplings.

There are clearly trend-setters on this list, but one refreshing thing about the top tier of hospitality is that it’s anti-trend. The future of dining and nightlife isn’t ghost kitchens or superfoods or avatar DJs or Instagram-friendly presentations. What’s moving the industry forward is a desire to create new paths. And hospitality, as always, is about the resilience of human beings.

In Los Angeles, where everything from Hollywood strikes to devastating fires to Ozempic to the rise in minimum wage has hobbled the restaurant industry and led to many closures, adept operators continue to cautiously grow. For prolific restaurateur Jerry Greenberg, this means working to debut two locations of spinoff restaurant Cheesesteaks by Matū in L.A. while also planning the expansion of Uovo to New York. Uovo, not incidentally, has become a sensation by serving pasta that’s hand-crafted in Bologna. The human touch clearly still matters a lot.

Across the industry, leaders are grappling with a persistent labor shortage that is reshaping how restaurants and bars operate. As Cherif Mbodji notes, “The biggest challenge remains labor—finding, developing and retaining great people.” This sentiment is echoed by Jihan Lee, who cites “finding team members who understand the pace and discipline the industry demands” as a major hurdle. “Younger workers enter with different expectations around balance and commitment, which creates tension in a field built on consistency and resilience,” Lee says. The path forward, many suggest, lies in deeper investment in training, mentorship and treating hospitality as a long-term career. Roni Mazumdar frames it as a fundamental shift in mindset: “Hospitality should be treated as a skilled, sustainable profession, not a passion project held together by burnout.” Part of the problem, according to Gavin Kaysen, is that hospitality is a craft that cannot be taught quickly. “It is something you learn over time and with a great amount of practice. We need to meet the generation coming into this profession with empathy, as they are growing up in different times than we did. It does not make our time or their time worse or better, just different.” To do that, JP Park wants the industry to push frameworks that prioritize education, well-being and collaboration among restaurants, producers and cultural institutions. “Many talented individuals are leaving this industry because the system doesn’t support long-term balance or growth,” Park tells Observer. “The future of hospitality will depend on how sincerely we invest in people.”

Hospitality at the highest level, of course, is about creating multiple successful businesses. So whether you’re Strategic Hospitality (the group that has the only three Nashville restaurants with Michelin stars) or MML Hospitality (a dominant force in Austin that recently hired April Bloomfield, expanded Clark’s Oyster Bar all over California and purchased New York’s Nine Orchard hotel) or the New York team behind critical darlings Claud and Penny as well as a forthcoming wine bar, the goal is to always keep things moving at every moment. 

In New Orleans, Emeril’s is the only restaurant with two Michelin stars. E.J. Lagasse, the 22-year-old son of the iconic, 66-year-old Emeril Lagasse, is running the kitchen and has turned this restaurant into a next-generation tasting-menu destination. Beyond becoming the youngest chef to helm a two-Michelin-starred restaurant in November (when the first Michelin stars for the American South were awarded), E.J. has had a spectacular year with a glowing New York Times review in October and a spot on the inaugural North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list in September. Sometimes, having the right person in the right place at the right time is as simple as looking within your own family. 

Another significant trend is the shift away from alcohol consumption, which is changing beverage programs and business models across the industry. Lisa Limb notes that this has “opened up a whole new avenue for the beverage world” and brought a surge of creativity around spirit-free drinks. But it’s also impacting revenue, as Aaron Bludorn points out: “Seeing our revenues decline for many reasons: lower alcohol sales, people spending less in general and dining out less.” For an industry traditionally reliant on alcohol sales, adapting to this new reality is a challenge. “Rents are going up, the price of goods is going up, salaries are going up,” Eugene Remm says. “You have to do more with less.” Yet, challenges are also opportunities to innovate. “We need systems that support fair wages, reasonable hours and accessible pathways to ownership, while also encouraging innovation in sourcing, waste reduction, and energy use,” Fidel Caballero says.

Beyond these operational pressures, a growing number of consumers are seeking deeper meaning and story behind their dining experiences. Sofia Ostos captures this shift: “People want to understand why something is on the plate, not just how it tastes.” JP Park wasn’t the only honoree to echo this sentiment, nearly verbatim, noting that diners “want to understand the ‘why’ behind what’s on the plate.” In an era of transparency and values-driven consumption, restaurants are being pushed to communicate more sincerely and design experiences that, in Dominique Crenn’s words, “feel personal and emotionally textured.” Or, as Vijaya Kumar puts it: “Real stories, real flavors and places that feel human.”

Humanity is still the most vital ingredient in hospitality, and that isn’t changing anytime soon.

1. Ellia & Junghyun Park

• NA:EUN Hospitality | CEO & Owner, Chef

Ellia and Junghyun ‘JP’ Park, the visionary co-founders of NA:EUN Hospitality Group, have been instrumental in introducing Korean fine dining to the United States. Their journey began with the opening of Atoboy in July 2016, a restaurant inspired by the concept of banchan, the small side dishes that accompany every Korean meal. The couple’s follow-up venture, Atomix, opened in 2018, and their empire expanded with the opening of Naro in Rockefeller Center in 2022 and Seoul Salon in Koreatown in 2023. This year, Atomix was honored with the James Beard Award for Outstanding Hospitality, named the best restaurant in North America and ranked 12th on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. In fact, it was the only restaurant in the U.S. to make the World’s 50 Best list. The Parks also just debuted their first restaurant in Seoul, JP at Louis Vuitton. Looking ahead, they are set to make their mark on the European stage with the upcoming launch of Kiji, an elevated Korean barbecue experience at the luxury development 60 Curzon in Mayfair, London, next year.

What JP wants in 2026: “I hope 2026 will be a year where the hospitality industry rediscovers sincerity, a return to genuine purpose and craft. For my team and our restaurants, I want to continue building spaces that represent hospitality with depth and emotion, while providing experiences that bring people together across borders. Ultimately, I want our work to contribute to a more thoughtful and balanced global dining landscape.”

What Ellia wants in 2026: “I hope this year is one in which depth is truly valued. In a time when so much passes by quickly and easily, I hope food, restaurants and culture can move toward a direction that is more thoughtful, lasting and leaves a lingering impression.”

2. Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi & Jeff Zalaznick

• Major Food Group | Co-Founders

Last month, Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi and Jeff Zalaznick debuted Carbone Riviera at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. October saw the introduction of No. 1 Steak, a glitzy prix-fixe steakhouse concept nestled within Sadelle’s in Dallas, and the grand opening of Carbone in Dubai at the luxurious Atlantis The Royal. In September, the trio opened Carbone in London. The most recent venture by Major Food Group, announced this week, is a 15,000-square-foot, three-story penthouse in Villa Miami, a 56-story waterfront residential tower slated to open its doors in late 2027. Villa Miami, a collaborative effort with Terra (David Martin) and One Thousand Group (Kevin Venger, Louis Birdman, Michael Konig) marks Major Food Group’s inaugural foray into branded residential towers. The crown jewel of the tower will be The Copper Club, a three-level private club and the group’s first private club conceptualized exclusively for residents. On the ground floor of Villa Miami, Major Food Group will open a waterfront restaurant.

Carbone’s year in three words: “Over the top.”

What Zalaznick wants in 2026: “Charting new territory in vertically integrated hospitality and shifting the paradigm of what is possible.”

What inspired Torrisi this year: “Marrying my wife.”

3. Lois Freedman & Jean-Georges Vongerichten

• Jean-Georges Restaurants | President/Co-CEO & Chef/Proprietor

Lois Freedman, the unsung hero behind Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s restaurant empire, has been a driving force in the group’s operations and creative direction for four decades. Throughout their enduring partnership, Freedman has played a pivotal role in bringing to life some of the most ambitious projects in the group’s portfolio, such as the market- and food hall-inspired Tin Building at New York’s historic Seaport and the much-anticipated ABC Kitchens in Dumbo this October—which marked Vongerichten’s first foray into Brooklyn. The duo’s collaborative efforts have yielded an impressive 60 restaurants worldwide, 14 of which are located in New York City, including the flagship crown jewel, Jean-Georges, the acclaimed farm-to-table ABC Kitchen, ABC Cocina and ABCV. Freedman’s influence extends to the group’s private clubs, including the perpetually popular Chez Margeaux, which opened last year in New York. As the restaurant group continues to expand, Vongerichten has announced plans to open ABC Kitchen within the upcoming Miami Tropic Residences, a 49-story luxury residential tower in the Design District, set to open in 2028.

What inspired Freedman this year: “To be able to design a restaurant on my own without compromise and have my vision come to life as I imagined it. I approached ABC Kitchens in Dumbo as if designing my home, filling it with objects, furniture and lighting that I’ve collected over the years. Investing this much of myself personally has been an unexpectedly rewarding experience.”

If Vongerichten could time-travel for an epic night out: “I would love to travel back to France during the days of Louis XIV and be part of one of the grand feasts. Like the movie Vatel but without the tragedy.”

4. José Andrés & Sam Bakhshandehpour

• José Andrés Group | Executive Chair/Chef & CEO

With José Andrés Group (JAG) CEO Sam Bakhshandehpour, José Andrés expanded his empire this year, with the fall opening of Bazaar Meat at The Venetian and Zaytinya in the Bay Area. JAG is set to launch multiple new dining experiences at the W Hotel in Nashville in early 2026, including Zaytinya, Bar Mar and Butterfly—adding to the company’s 40 existing bars and restaurants.

Chef Andrés on his biggest kitchen disaster: “When I was a much, much younger cook, I worked in a restaurant in the small seaside town of Roses on the Costa Brava of Spain. One day, we had a big order from a well-known family in town for a large tray of canelones, a filled pasta that’s often eaten for holidays. I put a huge amount of work into those canelones, making the béchamel and the filling, boiling the pasta, and broiling it all perfectly with cheese. When the family was ready to pick it up, I insisted on presenting the large, heavy tray alone, instead of taking help from a server who had offered. As I walked out the kitchen door, it swung right back … and hit me and the hot, heavy tray out of my hands—and into the restaurant’s fish tank, right in front of the hungry customers, sizzling all the way down! I went  straight back into the kitchen and did it again—noodles, bechamel, filling, cheese, and  back out in 25 minutes…but learned that I should always, always accept help when it’s offered.”

What Bakhshandehour wants for JAG in 2026: “I aim to prove that the future of hospitality belongs to hotels built around exceptional F&B experiences. We’re eager to showcase a unified food and beverage platform that delivers margin, culture and brand heat better than fragmented partners. It drives both guest emotion and asset value.”

Chef Andrés’ 2025 in three words: “Hello (to new friends and new restaurants) / Goodbye (to my friend Jane Goodall) / Empathy (to build longer tables, not higher walls).”

5. Simon Kim

• Gracious Hospitality Management | Founder & CEO

This year, Simon Kim opened Cote at The Venetian. In 2026, Gracious Hospitality will open its newest project, at 550 Madison, a three-restaurant endeavor which Kim calls “a masterpiece” he’s been developing for four years, “the longest and most meticulous development process we’ve ever undertaken…We’re collaborating with the very best craftsmen—the Olayan Group, David Rockwell, chef Masahiro Yoshitake—and I couldn’t be more excited to finally share what we’ve been building.”

If Kim could time-travel to any era or city in history for one epic night out: “I’d go back to the earliest days of humankind, to understand the most primal ways of eating and drinking. Think: The Jurassic ages, dinosaurs and primates. I’ve always been curious about humankind and how we began celebrating. I’d want to experience sitting around a fire—the original version of dining that civilization didn’t alter.”

If he could switch places with any other leader in dining for 24 hours, it would be: “Thomas Keller—the hallmark of excellence in this industry, truly the barometer and the north star for what exceptional hospitality looks like…The first thing I’d do is visit The French Laundry as him, not just as a guest, but as the owner, and enjoy a dinner while seeing the restaurant through his eyes.”

6. Chintan Pandya, Roni Mazumdar & Vijaya Kumar

• Unapologetic Foods | Executive Chef/Partner & CEO & Executive Chef/Partner

In June, Chintan Pandya, Roni Mazumdar and Vijaya Kumar’s Semma was crowned the #1 eatery in New York by The Times, and co-owner and executive chef Kumar was honored with the Best Chef: New York State title at the 2025 James Beard Awards. Semma has consistently held a Michelin Star since 2022, a testament to its exceptional cuisine. Unapologetic Foods, led by Pandya and Mazumdar, saw continued success with the relocation of Adda to the East Village in May, following the closure of its Long Island City location. They also announced plans to open another Adda outpost in Philadelphia later this year. Adda, which first opened in 2018, has been instrumental in the rise of Unapologetic Foods’ burgeoning empire, which now also encompasses Semma and the critically acclaimed Dhamaka, Naks and Masalawala & Sons.

What Pandya wants in 2026: “For Indian food to keep pushing forward and make it mainstream—more ambition, more respect and no dilution of identity.” 

Mazumdar on the biggest shift in consumer preferences: “People want to understand why a dish exists, not just how it tastes. That shift rewards businesses that operate with clarity of purpose, and it’s pushing the industry toward more thoughtful, identity-driven cooking. I want 2026 to be the year the industry fully embraces cultural honesty in food. Not trend-chasing, not watered-down narratives — but real, rooted, personal expressions from chefs and restaurateurs.”

What inspired Kumar this year: “The farmers and producers who keep showing up, no matter how chaotic the world gets.”

7. Eric Ripert & Maguy Le Coze

• Le Bernardin | Co-Owners

As expected, Eric Ripert and Maguy Le Coze’s Le Bernardin maintained its status atop the prestigious La Liste survey in 2026, sharing its impressive 99.5 score with only one other American establishment, SingleThread in Healdsburg, California. This recognition followed the restaurant’s retention of its coveted three-star rating from the Michelin Guide. Le Bernardin also secured the 9th spot on the 2025 North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list. As the establishment approaches its 40th anniversary in 2026, Ripert and Le Coze reflect on the enduring legacy of their culinary vision, which began with the original Paris-based Le Bernardin, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022. Ripert’s influence reaches far beyond the streets of Manhattan, as evidenced by the 20th anniversary of his Caribbean outpost, Blue, at The Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman in 2025—an occasion marked by the unveiling of a stunning redesign by the acclaimed Champalimaud Design firm.

Ripert on the biggest shift in consumer preferences: “What we see this year is a shift, especially in Gen Z. We have never seen this many customers ordering the tasting menu and wine pairing, especially our younger guests. This generation really wants an overall experience. They are very engaging with our team, asking questions that our staff have never even heard before.”

If Ripert could switch places with another hospitality leader, it would be: “Nobu Matsuhisa. He’s extremely talented. I admire what he has created and that he has been able to mix Japanese sushi culture with Peruvian culture. He has made sushi restaurants sexy. If I were in his shoes, I would take more vacations.”

8. Eugene Remm & Tilman J. Fertitta

• Catch Hospitality | Partner
• Fertitta Entertainment | Owner

Yesterday, Eugene Remm and Tilman Fertitta revealed their plans to bring The Corner Store to a luxury casino-resort on the Las Vegas Strip in 2026. Since opening in 2024, The Corner Store has remained one of New York’s most popular restaurants. In February, Remm and Fertitta unveiled plans for a 75-seat Mediterranean dining establishment in Soho, slated to welcome patrons in early 2026 under the direction of executive chef Nadav Greenberg, previously associated with the Michelin-starred Israeli restaurant Shmoné. September witnessed the grand opening of The Eighty Six, a cozy 35-seat steakhouse nestled in the West Village, alongside the inauguration of Rockwell Group-designed Catch Scottsdale, the seventh outpost from the esteemed hospitality brand. 

Remm on the greatest shift in consumer preferences: “The most significant shift, in my opinion, has been that there is no middle. If you are not creating extreme experiences or extreme conveniences—either fast casual on the convenience side or the kind of elevated experience like what we are creating—people are no longer accepting just a nice, normal meal at a normal restaurant.” 

What inspired Fertitta this year: “As the U.S. Ambassador to Italy, I have certainly been influenced by the country’s culture and hospitality. Experiencing their restaurants first-hand and seeing their passion for food at every meal has inspired me the most.”

9. Johann Moonesinghe & Andrew Harris

• inKind | Co-Founders

To date, inKind and its co-founders Johann Moonesinghe and Andrew Harris have provided over $500 million in funding to more than 5,000 restaurants, including destinations from operators like José Andrés Group and Mina Group, as well as 20 Michelin-starred destinations and 50 James Beard Award nominees. The company’s innovative financing model gives restaurants funding in exchange for food and beverage credits, rather than equity or debt, enabling restaurants to cover operational costs and maintain profit margins. In 2025, inKind closed an impressive $450 million in capital to accelerate its platform growth, with plans to expand to an additional 10,000 U.S. restaurants over the next year. The fundraiser was led by Magnetar and included prominent backers such as Jay-Z’s MarcyPen Capital Ventures, Värde Partners, Alpha Wave Global and even all four members of the band Metallica. The company’s success is evident in its consistent growth, with an over 100 percent increase in gross order volume (GOV) for four consecutive years (2020-2024) and a projected $350 million in 2025. In October, Moonesinghe and Harris announced a groundbreaking partnership to implement Dogecoin (DOGE) as the first cryptocurrency accepted across inKind’s extensive nationwide restaurant network, which boasts over 3 million app users. Moonesinghe’s separate hospitality group, RDM, provided funding for Guest House in Austin, which expanded to Vegas under the leadership of RDM founder Raj Kumar last year.

Moonesinghe on the inspiration behind inKind: “Restaurants are the heart of our communities, and they deserve partners who understand the unique support they need to thrive. Traditional restaurant financing models can drain equity, cash flow and long-term viability. We created inKind to change that—offering a smarter, more sustainable way to fund restaurants without the burdens. Our model helps operators maintain cash flow, access capital quickly and build more resilient businesses, and thanks to our partners that led the funding we’re able to amplify those efforts on a massive scale of up to 10,000 additional restaurants. We’re proud to support thousands of locally owned restaurants nationwide, not just with funding, but as true partners in their success.”

10. Kwame Onwuachi

• Tatiana, Dōgon & Patty Place  | Chef, Author & Restaurateur

By the end of the year, James Beard Award-winning chef Kwame Onwuachi is set to open Maroon, a modern Caribbean steakhouse, at the Sahara in Las Vegas. This venture follows the success of his acclaimed restaurants Tatiana in New York City and Dōgon in Washington, D.C., the latter earning a spot on the inaugural North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Onwuachi has recently expanded his reach with Patty Place locations at Citi Field and the Barclays Center, as well as joining the team at Las’ Lap’s new Miami Beach outpost at the Daydrift hotel. In September, he signed with the prestigious William Morris Agency, further cementing his position as a trailblazer in the culinary world.

If he could switch places with another hospitality leader for 24 hours, he’d choose: “Simon Kim, because he leads a very thrilling life and is a fun person to be around. First thing I would do is eat unlimited galbi.”

On the industry’s biggest challenge: “The biggest challenge is figuring out profitability. Fixed costs eliminate the ability to turn a profit in a way that other industries don’t face. We as an industry need to band together to look for tax breaks and advocate for our rights, which will lead to a better industry.”

11. Albert Yang

• Din Tai Fung North America | CEO

Din Tai Fung North America is experiencing rapid expansion, with 18 locations in North America out of 165 restaurants worldwide, serving over 7 million customers annually. The chain’s average annual sales per location reached $27 million last year, more than double that of The Cheesecake Factory and the highest among 1,500 restaurant chains tracked by Technomic. In October, the company announced plans for a second East Coast location in New York, set to open in 2027, 27 years since its first U.S. restaurant opened in California. Aaron Yang has transitioned to the board, leaving Albert Yang as the sole CEO. “Asian dining is one of the fastest-growing segments in the industry,” Albert tells Observer. “Authentic dining is now more relevant than ever and becoming truly mainstream, and Din Tai Fung is very proud to be a part of this shift.”

What inspired him this year: My car mechanic told me he saw me on TV for our grand opening in Santa Monica and had his whole family come over to watch with him. He told me, “You make me proud to be Taiwanese,” and that inspires me to do better every day. 

His biggest kitchen “fail”: Trying to reformulate the recipe for the chocolate in our chocolate xiao long bao. I remember having about 20 different types of cacao sitting on my desk and wasting countless hours trying different recipes. I think I made the right decision by giving up. Today’s recipe is our #1 dessert and a top menu item overall. 

12. Nobu Matsuhisa

• Nobu Restaurant Group | Co-Founder & Chef

In November, Nobu Matsuhisa debuted Nobu Hotel & Restaurant Roma in collaboration with longtime partner Robert De Niro, while January saw the launch of Nobu Hotel Caesars New Orleans, designed by Rockwell Group. Maui welcomed its first Nobu restaurant, the second in Hawaii, in April at  Grand Wailea, a Waldorf Astoria Resort. May brought the opening of Nobu Del Coronado at the historic Hotel del Coronado, followed by the unveiling of the Nobu Hotel in Toronto in June. The Nobu Hotel Madrid is slated to open its doors in early 2026, while the Nobu Hotel, Restaurant and Residences in Abu Dhabi are expected to be completed in 2027. Matsuhisa has also announced plans to establish a Nobu Hotel in Nashville. The original Tribeca Nobu opened in 1994, and there’s a 2025 documentary, simply titled Nobu, about that restaurant and the empire that grew out of it.

13. Stephen Starr

• Starr Restaurant Group | Founder & CEO

In August, Stephen Starr opened his largest Philadelphia restaurant yet: Borromini, a $20 million, 15,000-square-foot colossus in Rittenhouse Square. Though Starr is credited with transforming Philadelphia’s dining scene from the 1990s through the early 2010s, his expansion over the last 15 years has established him as a major national player. Borromini joins a roster of 40-plus establishments operated by Starr Restaurants, spanning Philadelphia, New York City (including Pastis and the recent revamp of Babbo), Washington, D.C. and South Florida. After exiting in 2020, Starr returned to Atlantic City this summer, with the opening of two concepts, Sunny’s and Chez Frites, at the Ocean Casino Resort.

14. Michael Mina

• The Mina Group | Chef & Owner

The Mina Group, led by Michael Mina, has experienced significant growth and expansion over the past year, with a focus on portfolio acceleration and geographical diversification. The group opened several new restaurants in 2025, including two in San Francisco’s Westin St. Francis (Bourbon Steak San Francisco and The Eighth Rule, a collaboration with Steph Curry—the basketball star’s first hospitality partnership), Bourbon Steak locations in Delray Beach, Florida, Orlando and Charlotte, North Carolina (set to open in fall 2026), Taleed by Michael Mina in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, The Beach House on The Ritz-Carlton Yacht, and a new Italian concept, Acqua Bistecca, in Washington, D.C.—with plans to expand the latter to Estero Bay, Florida in February 2026.

What inspired Mina this year: “This was a major growth year for us, and that alone was incredibly inspiring. The projects we were fortunate to take on—The Eighth Rule, Bourbon Steak San Francisco and Beach House on board The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection’s newest vessel, Luminara—really energized our entire team. The unity we’ve built coming out of the pandemic has been something special. A lot of the vision and direction we set years ago truly came together this year, and seeing the team bring it to life across these openings has been the most inspiring part for me.” 

His advice for industry hopefuls: “Seek leaders who teach systems, not just dishes. Learn the bar, the pass, the floor and the business. Your edge will be curiosity, humility and follow-through: show up, solve problems, and maintain standards when the room is full and the clock is against you. Finally, invest in relationships. Mentors and peers are the network that sustains a career measured in decades, not moments.”

15. Scott Sartiano

• Zero Bond Hospitality | Founder

This year, Scott Sartiano announced plans to open Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse at the Wynn, next to his Vegas outpost of Zero Bond, which debuts in February. The NY-based private club is frequented by many an A-Lister (most recently, America’s most overexposed lovebirds). “As we enter Las Vegas, I want to bring what makes Zero Bond and Sartiano’s special—the sense of community, attention to detail and genuine connection—into a new market with its own character and rhythm.”

What inspired Sartiano this year? “The renovation of Zero Bond for its fifth anniversary and our work with The Mercer both reinforced how spaces can evolve to meet people’s changing needs while staying true to their essence. That balance between growth and authenticity continues to guide everything we do.”

If he had to eat at the same restaurant for 30 days straight? His own. “Sartiano’s. I’ve actually done it. By day 30, I’m still ordering the veal chop Parmigiana. It never gets old.”

16. Dominique Crenn

• Crenn Dining Group | Founder & Chef

In September, Dominique Crenn’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant, Atelier Crenn, secured the 46th spot on North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list and further solidified its status by earning a coveted three-star rating from the New York Times. Shortly thereafter, in October, chef Crenn unveiled Monsieur Dior by Dominique Crenn in Beverly Hills, marking the first restaurant outside of Paris for the prestigious House of Dior. Looking ahead, Crenn has announced a partnership with Waldorf Astoria Residences Texas Hill Country, where she will oversee the development of the signature restaurant at the highly anticipated resort, slated to open in 2027. Crenn’s achievements are nothing short of remarkable, as she became the first female chef in the United States to earn three Michelin stars in 2018. Crenn is featured in HexClad’s “Open to Close” docuseries, which premiered on December 1st and showcases the brand’s Culinary Council members, offering an intimate look at the passion and dedication required to operate top-tier restaurants.

What excites her the most: “The blurring of boundaries. Dining is no longer confined to the table; it is a living conversation between many disciplines, all speaking to one another (fashion, film, design and nature). Guests today crave emotion as part of their dining experiences, whether as a memory, a shimmer of beauty, or a moment that lingers. Weaving these disciplines together creates that experience.”

Her advice for industry hopefuls: “For those beginning their journey, remember that a dish is never just a dish, and a restaurant is never merely a restaurant. They are vessels for emotion, memory and imagination. Allow yourself to think beyond the plate, and beyond what you believe a space or a menu should be. Seek out mentors who challenge you to see differently and expand your sense of what is possible. The most important skill you can cultivate is the ability to stay open—to observe, to feel and to be moved. The future of this industry will belong to those who create experiences that invite people into a story, not just a dining room.” 

17. Chris Shepherd

• Southern Smoke Foundation | Founding Director
• Eat Like a Local | Host

Chris Shepherd, the culinary powerhouse behind a celebrated restaurant empire in Houston, has also emerged as one of the most significant humanitarians in the food industry. Through Southern Smoke Foundation, Shepherd has made an indelible impact on the lives of countless individuals working in the hospitality sector. The Foundation’s annual food and beverage fundraising event, held in Houston this past October, shattered records by raising an astonishing $1.7 million—the highest amount ever generated from a single fundraising event for the organization. The funds will directly support those employed in the hospitality industry through the Foundation’s Emergency Relief Fund and its mental health initiative, Behind You. Since its inception, the Southern Smoke Foundation has distributed more than $15 million in grants to food and beverage workers. Moreover, since 2020, the Foundation has provided over 9,000 no-cost counseling sessions to food and beverage workers across 13 states, including California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington, D.C. 

What he wants in 2026: “I would like to see the continual growth and awareness of Southern Smoke Foundation. Specifically, I would love to see the Behind You program expand into more states and for more industry professionals to start coalition programs in their states to support free access to mental health care programs. It’s getting harder and harder for owners to take care of their staff. For many reasons, margins are even thinner, which makes it harder for owners to provide living wages, health insurance and access to benefits like mental healthcare. I believe that Southern Smoke Foundation, with our crisis relief grants and access to no-cost counseling, can help, but we really need to see significant policy changes for the industry to see a real difference. I always say that our goal is for the industry to evolve so much that Southern Smoke is no longer needed, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”

What inspired him this year: “On a professional level, having the opportunity to work with the Southern Smoke team and to watch the magic that they do to literally save the food and beverage industry. On Eat Like a Local, I am inspired by the drive of restaurant owners and chefs, and I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to tell their stories of community through food. I don’t take that opportunity lightly. On a personal level, I am inspired by my wife, Lindsey Brown, as she battles breast cancer. She is diligent and clear-eyed on what needs to happen in this fight. She is focused on the finish line as she goes through her weekly treatments with power and resilience. I am in awe of her daily.”

18. Larry McGuire

• MML Hospitality | Managing Partner & Co-Founder

As the head of Austin-based McGuire Moorman Lambert (MML) Hospitality, Larry McGuire boasts an impressive portfolio of over 30 restaurants, all of which have remained open, and a growing collection of hotels. In June, McGuire announced that renowned chef April Bloomfield would join MML as executive chef, bringing her culinary expertise to the group’s ongoing projects and future ventures. One of McGuire’s most significant moves this year took place in August when MML purchased the Nine Orchard hotel in New York City, along with its restaurant/bar spaces—Corner Bar, Swan Room and Blue Room—in a $92 million deal, marking the group’s first project in the Big Apple. Additionally, MML embarked on a $100 million renovation and restoration of the historic Mountain Chalet in downtown Aspen this summer, with plans for a grand opening in the summer of 2027. The group has also been expanding its presence in California, with the opening of Clark’s Oyster Bar in Montecito, Menlo Park and Malibu within the past year. MML is also working on Austin’s Herzog & de Meuron-designed Sixth&Blanco mixed-use development, set to open in 2027. 

McGuire on the industry’s biggest challenge today: “It’s become increasingly hard to attract young people to the industry, and current immigration policies are not doing our industry and the downstream supply from farmers, ranchers and wine growers any favors. We have to become really good employers that create meaningful careers for people so they stay or are attracted to the industry.”

What inspired him this year: “The public’s recognition and elevation of landmark style restaurants and hotels—the classic places we enjoy and try to build seem to be coming back into fashion.”

19. Jerry Greenberg

• Sushi Nozawa Group | Co-Founder

Jerry Greenberg’s latest venture, Cheesesteaks by Matū, is set to open two locations—one on Pasadena’s East Colorado Boulevard and another at The Commons at Calabasas in the winter. These new outposts will share space with Greenberg’s next location of HiHo Cheeseburger, which celebrated its tenth anniversary this year. Greenberg’s restaurant empire also includes the renowned Nozawa Bar, Sugarfish, KazuNori and Uovo. Uovo, which first opened in Santa Monica in 2017 and now boasts five Los Angeles locations, is poised to make its New York debut in spring 2026 in NoMad. This expansion comes on the heels of the opening of the eighth KazuNori location in Pasadena this fall.

What inspired him this year: “The same thing that inspires me every year. Seeing people come back week after week just for our food. It may seem like a simple thing, but that’s what it’s all about for us.”

If he could time-travel to any era or city in history for one epic night out: “I’d travel back 100 years to the Rite Spot in Pasadena to have the original cheeseburger—that’s top-of-mind as we celebrate HiHo’s 10th anniversary. And I would go to Rome/Amatrice for the original versions of cacio e pepe and amatriciana. Then cap it off and experience the origins of our sushi in Edo (Tokyo).”

20. Andrew Carmellini, Josh Pickard & Luke Ostrom

• Noho Hospitality | Co-Founders

Andrew Carmellini, Luke Ostrom and Joshua Pickard’s Café Carmellini, which opened its doors in 2023 at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, secured the 39th spot on this year’s North  America’s 50 Best Restaurants list. The hotel’s Portrait Bar, another NoHo Hospitality venture, also made its mark by being included in the 51-100 extended list of North America’s 50 Best Bars in 2025. The Fifth Avenue Hotel itself earned a place on the World’s 50 Best extended list of the best hotels around the world. The fact that Café Carmellini, The Portrait Bar and The Fifth Avenue Hotel achieved this feat less than three years after opening is a testament to the exceptional quality and innovation offered by NoHo Hospitality. In April, Carmellini expanded his culinary empire with the opening of Little Fino (“until the next” in Italian) at the William Vale hotel in Brooklyn. The establishment joins NoHo Hospitality’s impressive roster of restaurants across New York, which includes Lafayette, Bar Primi, Locanda Verde and the Dutch.

Carmellini’s year in three words: “Unsure what happened.”

Pickard on the most significant shift in consumer preferences: “There has been a shift to an earlier dining scene, which is now often the main social event of a night, requiring it to be equally welcoming, tasty and entertaining. This shift has also helped fuel the popularity of member dining clubs in NYC.”

If Ostrom could time-travel for an epic night out: “I think I’d choose my birth year and travel back to NYC in 1977. Dinner at Maxwell’s Plum, drinks at Elaine’s, midnight at CBGB and late night at Studio 54.”

21. Ahmass Fakahany

• Altamarea Group | Founder & CEO

Undeterred by the challenges presented by the L.A. fires, Altamarea Group visionary Ahmass Fakahany successfully opened Marea in Beverly Hills in January, marking the first West Coast expansion for the prominent restaurant group. Marea has been a standout in the culinary world since its opening on Central Park South in 2009. The Beverly Hills location, one of the most anticipated openings of 2025, is set to be followed by another outpost at The Snow Lodge within The St. Regis Aspen Resort later this month. The Altamarea Group boasts a portfolio of over 25 restaurants worldwide. The group’s flagship restaurant concepts encompass Marea, Ai Fiori—Wine Spectator’s 2025 Grand Award Winner—53, Morini Brands and Nicoletta Brands. On the international stage, Altamarea’s offerings are punctuated by the Michelin-starred grill concept 11 Woodfire, Mohalla Indian Cuisine, Tezukuri Japanese, SoBo 20 and the highly anticipated Scarpa.

If he had to eat at the same restaurant for 30 days straight: “Honestly, and I may not be alone here, it is likely Hillstone. It is consistent, comfortable and delicious with a range of salads, meats and fish. By day 30, I would opt for their rainbow sushi Roll, which ranks in my view.”

On the biggest challenge facing the industry: “It is harder to find capital to grow from traditional sources. Also, there has been a talent withdrawal from the industry that has to be rejuvenated. This and other challenges have made this the era of bringing heads together, just as in other industries, through joint ventures, partnerships and collaborations. This can be with hotels, developers, sponsors or like-minded operators.”

22. Mashama Bailey & Johno Morisano

• The Grey | Chef/Partner & Co-Founder/Managing Partner

Mashama Bailey and Johno Morisano, the visionary team behind The Grey in Savannah, Georgia, marked their eleventh year in the culinary industry in 2025. Known for elevating Savannah’s dining scene and credited with making the southern city a culinary destination, the duo recently ventured into the international market with the July launch of L’Arrêt by The Grey in Paris. “Opening the Paris restaurant has been so inspiring!” Bailey tells Observer, noting their goal is to maintain the location’s community-centric atmosphere while presenting a unique French menu inspired by subtle influences from Port City Southern fare. “Shopping for Southern ingredients in the City of Light has introduced me to neighborhoods I don’t normally visit while in Paris.” In May, Bailey showcased her commitment to her local community by creating a special dish for Savannah’s Meals on Wheels program in honor of its 65th anniversary. In September, Bailey penned the Time 100’s World’s Most Influential Rising Stars entry for Ashleigh Shanti, praising Shanti’s voice and the importance of reflecting, researching, serving and inspiring through Black food stories.

The most significant shift Bailey has noticed: “For The Grey, there has been a shift in eating pork. We cooked a lot of pork at The Grey 10 years ago and began to get a lot of feedback about it from our guests. Now, we are super aware of balancing our menus so they are not heavy in pork, beef or gluten. Today, we have more vegetables, seafood and whole grains.” 

Morisano on the industry’s greatest challenge: “Building a team—by far. Those of us in the industry need to be kind to each other. This is a young business. Young folks ain’t always kind. I’m 58, so I’ve been there, done that. But it’s an ecosystem; a small one. Savannah, Paris, NYC. All of it. Both micro and macro. We must be kind to each other.”

23. Michael Cimarusti

• Providence | Chef-Owner

Chef Michael Cimarusti’s acclaimed seafood-focused Los Angeles restaurant, Providence, has reached new heights in its 20th anniversary year. The esteemed establishment was awarded three Michelin stars and retained its green star in the 2025 Michelin Guide, solidifying its position as a leader in sustainable fine dining for the third year in a row. Providence also made it on the inaugural North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list at #47, with chef Cimarusti receiving the prestigious Chef’s Choice Award. The restaurant continues to innovate, with sous chef Danielle Peterson developing a fermentation program that repurposes ingredients into unique flavors, while the rooftop garden has become a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Pastry chef Mac Daniel Dimla has introduced a zero-waste chocolate program, and the bar team has crafted a refined zero-proof pairing experience alongside a tableside cocktail program featuring rare spirits.

Cimarusti on the biggest challenge the industry faces: “The labor market is shrinking and becoming ever more competitive. It is harder and harder to find talented individuals. We are investing heavily in developing talent, trying to create an environment where even relatively inexperienced people can be trained to execute at a very high level. This is only possible if you have a culture that welcomes and embraces new team members and actively participates in their training.”

The meal he could eat for 30 days straight: “The wood-roasted Belon oysters, Edna’s corn bread and the steak with bone marrow at Dunsmoor in Glassell Park.”

24. David Rockwell

• Rockwell Group | Founder & President

David Rockwell and his firm, Rockwell Group, have left an indelible mark on the global hospitality industry over the past four decades. With an impressive portfolio encompassing nearly 1,000 restaurants across more than 200 cities and six continents, Rockwell Group has showcased its versatility and innovation in design. Notable projects in recent years include New York’s 450-seat Din Tai Fung, Catch Hospitality’s The Corner Store and Catch Scottsdale, Simon Kim’s Coqodaq and highly anticipated Cote Las Vegas, which has been hailed as one of the hottest openings of the year. Rockwell Group’s long-standing partnership with Nobu has resulted in the design of more than 30 hotels and restaurants across 28 cities, further cementing their reputation as a leading force in the world of hospitality design.

If he could time-travel for an epic night out: “Having spent part of my childhood in Mexico, I’d go to Mexico City in the 1920s. It was a moment when art, music and political imagination were sparking off one another. I’d invite Frida Kahlo, of course, but also the painter José Clemente Orozco, photographer Tina Modotti and a young Cantinflas (an actor and director known as the Mexican Charlie Chaplin). We’d start with dinner at Sanborns, one of the first soda fountains and lunch counters in Mexico City, and we’d wander through a mural-filled plaza, and end up in a smoky cabaret.”

What inspired him this year: “Traveling to Mexico City, Japan, Rome, Milan, Chicago, and Las Vegas for recent project openings and family trips reminded me how local culture, ritual and craft can transform spaces and experiences into something emotionally resonant. There’s really nothing like walking into a room and seeing strangers form an instant community because of their collective experience.” 

25. Elizabeth Blau

• Blau + Associates | Founder & CEO

Renowned for transforming Las Vegas into a world-class culinary destination, Elizabeth Blau continues to shape the international food scene by bringing acclaimed chefs and restaurateurs to mixed-use real estate projects and luxury resort developments. She spearheaded the launch of the Wynn Las Vegas Revelry food festival in 2024 and introduced the Women in Hospitality Leadership Conference at Wynn this year. Blau also played a pivotal role in bringing the World’s 50 Best to Las Vegas and is collaborating with Wynn to curate all food and beverage offerings at the Wynn Marjan Island property in the United Arab Emirates, including partnerships with Alain Ducasse and Delilah. As Blau and Wynn prepared to revive Revelry in late summer with fresh food and mixology programming, she remained on the lookout for emerging talent. With one of her business partners, Hunt Realty, involved in the massive Fields development in Frisco, Texas, Blau may expand her presence in the Lone Star State. In recognition of her outstanding contributions, Blau was honored with the prestigious Augie award from the Culinary Institute of America in May.

If she had to eat at the same restaurant for 30 days: “I’d choose Casa Playa at Wynn Las Vegas, where chef Sarah Thompson creates some truly extraordinary coastal Mexican cuisine. On day one, I’d order her ceviche, which is fresh, vibrant, balanced and full of life. And on day 30? I’d still be ordering the exact same thing. Some dishes never lose their magic.”

What she wants in 2026: “If I could choose one word for 2026, it would be stability. The hospitality industry has weathered nearly a decade of disruption from the pandemic to supply chain issues, staffing shortages and shifting guest expectations. Restaurants are built on rhythm and consistency, and my hope is that 2026 is finally the year we regain steady ground, rebuild stronger systems and focus less on surviving and more on thriving.”

26. Aaron Bludorn, Cherif Mbodji & Victoria Pappas Bludorn

• Bludorn Hospitality Group | Partners

Aaron Bludorn, Victoria Bludorn and Cherif Mbodji, the dynamic trio behind the Bludorn Hospitality Group in Houston, have made significant strides in 2025. In January, they launched Perseid, a modern French bistro located in the luxurious Hotel Saint Augustine, showcasing chef Aaron Bludorn’s culinary expertise. The group also announced a partnership with Howard Hughes in August, revealing plans for Bar Bludorn at The Woodlands, set to open in summer 2026. This expansion marks chef Bludorn’s first venture outside central Houston, offering a unique twist on the original Bar Bludorn’s contemporary American bistro menu infused with Texas flavors.

Bludorn’s year in three words: “Planting tomorrow’s trees.”

What Mbodji wants in 2026: “I’d love to see 2026 become a year of renewed balance where restaurants can operate sustainably without compromising creativity, and where hospitality groups collaborate more intentionally across cities. For our business, I want continued growth that feels purposeful: expanding concepts, elevating our teams and strengthening our presence in Houston while staying true to who we are.” 

27. Michael Stillman

• Quality Branded | Founder & President

In September, Michael Stillman unveiled Limusina, a Mexican eatery in Hudson Yards. Earlier this year, in March, he announced plans to bring Bad Roman to Beverly Hills (in 2026), marking the restaurant’s inaugural venture on the West Coast. Twin Tails, Stillman’s bold foray into Asian cuisine, opened its doors at The Shops at Columbus Circle in 2024. Despite a mixed reception during its initial launch last fall, the Thai restaurant has since garnered praise, with some even comparing it to the iconic Indochine. Quality Branded’s diverse portfolio includes an array of establishments: Don Angie, Smith & Wollensky, Zou Zou’s, San Sabino and Quality Meats, to name a few.

Stillman’s year in three words: “Sevens, not sixes.”

If he had to eat the same meal for 30 days: “Elio’s on the Upper East Side. Risotto Milanese.”

28. Gavin Kaysen

• Soigné Hospitality Group | Chef & Owner

Gavin Kaysen, the culinary mastermind at the helm of Soigné Hospitality Group, has been a driving force in transforming the gastronomic scene of Minneapolis, Minnesota. His celebrated establishments, which include Spoon and Stable, Demi, Mara Restaurant and Bar and two outposts of his latest venture, Bellecour, have garnered widespread acclaim since his homecoming to the Midwest in 2014. Kaysen’s dedication to fostering the next wave of culinary artists shines through his position as president of Mentor’s Team USA, where he collaborates with his esteemed mentor, chef Daniel Boulud, and also Thomas Keller. This week, the two-time James Beard Award laureate ventured beyond the borders of Minnesota for the first time with the unveiling of The Merchant Room, a New American Brasserie, at the newly launched Naples Beach Club, A Four Seasons Resort. Earlier this month, Kaysen revealed the debut of Bellecour in Minneapolis, his first opening in three years, his most intimate undertaking to date and his inaugural French bistro concept. This fall, Kaysen promoted Alexandra Motz, one of the founding members of Soigné Hospitality Group, to oversee the pastry program for Spoon and Stable, Demi and Bellecour. Zachary Byers, previously associated with Denver’s acclaimed The Wolf’s Tailor and Beckon, has taken on the role of head sommelier, bringing a fresh perspective to elevate the wine offerings across the restaurant group. 

What he wants in 2026: “For my business, I want to continue to show that mentorship, positive leadership and growth are some of the most important attributes for success. I want our profession to own the dialogue of how we can collectively become better by way of teaching the next generation, while not dismissing or forgetting the generation that led us here.”

What he sees as the most significant shift in consumer behavior: “At the end of the day, what seems to stay consistent is that people enjoy the experience of the meal by way of restoration through the food and the hospitality we provide. I see that coming back even stronger in the years to come. We are losing the connection of person-to-person, and I know that as hospitalitarians, we can provide that personal touch.”

29. Michael Solomonov & Steven Cook

• CookNSolo Restaurants | Co-Founders

Philadelphia Israeli-food powerhouses Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook expanded their CookNSolo portfolio this year. In March, they opened Aviv at the 1 Hotel in Miami Beach. Since debuting their first restaurant, Zahav in Philadelphia, in 2008, Solomonov and Cook have built a culinary empire that includes Federal Donuts, Dizengoff, Laser Wolf and Goldie. Beyond their restaurant ventures, the duo have also made a significant impact in the CPG market with their brand, Zahav Foods. In June, their signature Zahav hummus debuted in 485 Target stores across 20 East Coast states, following a successful 2024 launch at Whole Foods, where it quickly became the region’s top-selling hummus brand.

Cook on the most significant shift in consumer behavior: “The home is becoming more and more the center of where people eat with delivery and ghost kitchen options, which means restaurants need to double down on creating a memorable and celebratory experience of eating communally in a restaurant.”

Solomonov on the industry’s biggest challenge: “The cost of goods and labor continues to rise as more and more excellent restaurants come online, which has meant that we are constantly hyper-focusing on the product and how we differentiate and get a little bit better each day.”

What they want for 2026: “We would love people to start eating later again, for the cost of goods to stabilize, and for immigrants who are the backbone of the industry to have the opportunity to feel safe.” 

30. Lisa Limb, Takahiro Sakaeda & Jihan Lee

• Launchpad Hospitality | Managing Partner & Chef Partners

Lisa Limb, Taka Sakaeda and Jihan Lee, the dynamic trio behind Launchpad Hospitality, have taken the culinary world by storm since opening their first Nami Nori restaurant in 2019. Drawing on their shared experience working under the tutelage of Masa Takayama, the team has cultivated a thriving portfolio of establishments that embody the Japanese art of gracious hospitality, or “omotenashi.” Their signature open-style temaki, which sparked a global sensation following the success of Nami Nori in New York City’s West Village, has been the driving force behind the group’s expansion to New Jersey, Miami and Virginia Beach. Alongside their temaki restaurants, Launchpad Hospitality introduced the Japanese bakery Postcard in New York in 2024 and the omakase counter and lounge Matsuyoi in Miami. The team’s innovative approach and engaging community have led to collaborations with renowned brands such as Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co. and Auberge Resorts. With partner Pharrell Williams, who advises on creative growth strategy, the group launched two new ventures, Nami Nori and Matsuyoi, in Miami’s Design District in the last year and brought Nami Nori to Williams’ hometown of Virginia Beach in the fall.

What inspired Limb this year: “The Atlantic Park development in Virginia Beach where we opened our new Nami Nori location in October is a $350 million project that started out as a dream, and has been 20 years in the making. It was the architecture school thesis of Alec Yuzhbabenko, a local architect who conceived of building an entire neighborhood centered on a surf park. Seeing it come to life from the ground up shows us what is possible when vision meets commitment and community. We are honored to be a part of it.”

If Sakaeda could time-travel for an epic night out: “New York City, circa 1975, before I was born and right around the time my parents emigrated to America. I’d love to see the city through my parents’ eyes. I’d invite Siddhartha Gautama, Marcus Aurelius and Lao Tzu. A night with that mix of curiosity, discipline and stillness would be unforgettable.”

If Lee had to eat at the same restaurant every day for a month: “I’d pick Atomix without even thinking. They’ve had over 150 different tasting menus since opening, so honestly I could go for 30 days straight and still try something new every time. And then on day thirty, after a whole month of the most refined Korean food ever, I’d look at them and say, ‘Can you make me a cheeseburger?’ Because as much as I love fancy food, I was born in America—and sometimes you just crave a good burger.”

31. Lindsay & Michael Tusk

• Quince & Co. | Co-Founders

Lindsay and Michael Tusk’s flagship San Francisco restaurant, Quince, not only earned a spot on North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2025 but also boasts three Michelin stars and attracts high-profile patrons, including former President Barack Obama. In October, the Tusks further elevated Quince’s dining experience by hiring Davide Franco as the new hospitality director, bringing nearly 20 years of expertise from Michelin-starred establishments in Italy and London. Looking ahead, the Tusks announced their latest venture, Bar Coto, an all-day Italian café set to open in the spring of 2026. Inspired by the vibrant cafés of Milan, such as Bar Basso, and the acclaimed Bar Pisellino in New York City, Bar Coto promises to be a welcome addition to the couple’s impressive portfolio of Jackson Square establishments. This includes Quince, the ever-popular Cotogna and the recently revived French-inspired wine bar Verjus, all of which have earned a place on the San Francisco Chronicle’s list of the 100 best restaurants in the Bay Area.

What inspired Michael this year: “The redesign at Quince, and moving within the space. I wanted the food to reflect the natural materials—working with knifemakers, glassblowers, artisans of all kinds. Getting rid of the electric rotisserie and putting in fire. Gentle nuances of smoke and dehydration.”

Lindsay on the most significant shift in consumer preferences: “The rise of non-alcoholic beverages and increased demand for private dining.”

32. Joshua Pinsky & Chase Sinzer

• Penny, Stars & Claud | Chef-Partner & Restaurateur

Chase Sinzer and Joshua Pinsky, the duo behind the acclaimed East Village establishments Claud and Penny, are set to unveil their latest venture, Stars wine bar, at 139 East 12th Street. Slated to open its doors this month, the intimate 12-seat space will feature an impressive selection of over 1,000 wines from around the world. Sinzer and Pinsky’s existing restaurants have garnered significant praise, with Claud, which debuted in 2022, and Penny, a raw bar that opened upstairs in 2024, both earning coveted three-star ratings from former Times food critic Pete Wells in their respective opening years. The pair’s culinary prowess was further recognized in 2025, as both Claud and Penny secured spots on The Times’ list of the best restaurants in New York City, with Penny impressively claiming the 7th position. Additionally, Penny’s acclaim extended beyond the city, as it earned the 40th spot on the 2025 North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list.

If Sinzer had to eat the same meal for 30 days straight: “Cervo’s chicken and fries.”

Pinsky on the greatest shift in consumer preferences: “Experience > price. Being true to your intentions and being transparent really hits with guests and our industry.”

33. Gregory Gourdet

• Printemps US | Culinary Director

Gregory Gourdet, Portland’s most renowned chef, made waves with the opening of his first restaurant, Kann, in 2022 at the age of 46. The establishment quickly garnered national recognition, earning a spot on the New York Times’ 2022 list of America’s Best Restaurants. In 2023, Kann was awarded the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant, and the following year, Gourdet himself won the Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific award. Gourdet currently serves as the culinary director for all five restaurants at the first U.S. location of Printemps, which opened in New York in March. The restaurants under his direction at Printemps at One Wall Street include fine dining stunner Maison Passerelle, Café Jalu, Salon Vert, Red Room Bar and Champagne Bar, all of which showcase French-style offerings infused with influences from Gourdet’s Haitian heritage. Prior to his success as a restaurateur, Gordet honed his skills under the tutelage of Jean-Georges Vongerichten, working his way up to the position of chef de cuisine over the course of nearly seven years. 

If Gourdet could time-travel to any era for an epic night out: “‘Haiti’s golden era, from the 1940s to the 1960s. Haiti was beaming as a hub for global travelers. It was one of the most vibrant, artistic and electric scenes in the Caribbean. People came for art, music, fashion and the beaches.”

What he sees as the biggest challenge facing the industry today: “We are living in a TikTok attention-span world with endless options at our fingertips. The hospitality industry, at its core, isn’t based on that. It takes years to hone your craft, often years for a restaurant to turn a profit, and decades of experience to truly see it all. I think better mutual understanding within teams—slow and steady and together—is the most sustainable way.”

34. E.J. Lagasse

• Emeril’s | Chef/Co-Owner
• The Emeril Group | Vice President

E.J. Lagasse, the prodigious son of Emeril Lagasse, has taken the gastronomic world by storm at the tender age of 22. Following his return to New Orleans three years ago to assume the role of chef and co-owner at his father’s eponymous restaurant, Emeril’s, which recently celebrated its 35th anniversary, E.J. has garnered unprecedented attention and accolades. In October, he guided Emeril’s to a prestigious three-star rating from the New York Times, and just a month later, he became the youngest chef in history to helm a kitchen with two Michelin stars. E.J.’s remarkable achievements are underpinned by his extensive training at some of the world’s most esteemed establishments, including the three-Michelin-starred Le Bernardin, Core by Clare Smyth and Frantzén, as well as Café Boulud.

The dish he could eat for 30 days straight: “Le Bernadin’s tuna carpaccio.”

What inspired him this year: “How the restaurant community in the U.S. continues to grow with chefs collaborating with each other, learning from each other and working together to push things forward.”

35. Greg Galy

• Riviera Dining Group | Founder & CEO

Gregory Galy, the driving force behind Riviera Dining Group (RDG), has achieved a remarkable feat with the group’s flagship restaurant, Mila Miami, which has been recognized as the highest-grossing independent restaurant in the United States, generating an impressive $51,115,747 in sales for the 2025 list. This achievement marks a steady rise for Mila, which ranked #5 in 2022 and 2023, and climbed to #2 in 2024 with $49,088,032 in sales. Mila now stands alongside renowned establishments such as Pastis in New York City, Le Diplomate in Washington, D.C. and Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami. Beyond the main restaurant, Mila houses three distinct concepts: the exclusive 10-seat Mila Omakase, one of Miami’s most luxurious sushi counters; Mila Lounge, a sought-after nightlife venue redefining the city’s after-dinner scene; and Mila MM, a members-only destination that has expanded to four locations across RDG’s portfolio. Galy’s culinary empire continues to grow, with the February opening of Claudie, a French-Mediterranean restaurant in Brickell, helmed by chef Michaël Michaelidis. Last month, RDG also unveiled a second outpost of AVA MediterrAegean in Coconut Grove, following the success of the first location in Winter Park. 

What inspired Galy this year: “Seeing Miami emerge as a true global city. The energy, creativity and ambition shaping Miami right now are extraordinary. It has become one of the world’s most influential lifestyle destinations.”

What Galy sees as the biggest shift in consumer behavior: “Guests are craving experiences over status; they want to feel a sense of belonging, wellness and purpose. We see a growing shift toward daytime celebrations, lighter drinking and more health-conscious choices while dining out—without compromising on taste expectations.”

36. Sam Fox

• Author & Edit Hospitality | Founder
• Fox Restaurant Concepts | Founder

Sam Fox continues to make waves in the culinary and entertainment world with the announcement of a second location of The Twelve Thirty Club, a collaboration with Justin Timberlake. Set to open in Austin, Texas, in 2027, the $30 million project will transform a historic three-story limestone building, once a U.S. Post Office, into a nearly 35,000-square-foot dining and entertainment destination designed by the renowned AvroKO studio. This expansion follows the resounding success of the original The Twelve Thirty Club in Nashville, which has become a must-visit spot for locals and tourists alike. Closer to home, Fox (an Arizona-based hospitality mogul whose foray into hotels with the top-tier Global Ambassador in Phoenix has been spectacular) has partnered with the Arizona Cardinals to elevate the premium seating experience at State Farm Stadium with the launch of Casa Roja at The Fifty. Developed, designed and curated by Fox, Casa Roja is an exclusive club featuring 500 seats clustered around the stadium’s East-side 50-yard line with membership priced from $15,000 to $17,000.

What Fox wants in 2026: “Honestly? More profit. This is a tough industry to be financially successful in, and I want to see the restaurant and hospitality industry thrive. That means investing in our people, our places and creating experiences that remain with our guests long after they leave. If someone walks away feeling like they had an experience they’re excited to share, we’ve done our job.”

What inspired him this year: “London. The food and hotel scene there is on another level. Maison Estelle really stood out, a reminder of how much design, energy and atmosphere really shape creating an unforgettable experience.”

37. Yavuz Pehlivanlar

• Hakkasan Group | CEO

In October, Yavuz Pehlivanlar was appointed CEO of Mohari Hospitality’s newly established Hakkasan Group, which Pehlivanlar tells Observer is “a privilege and a responsibility.” Pehlivanlar oversees the Hakkasan, Yauatcha, Ling Ling and Sake No Hana brands—which include several restaurants opened by Tao Hospitality Group, which Mohari previously acquired. Pehlivanlar previously served as chief operating officer of Caprice Holdings Ltd., helming a portfolio that included Balthazar, Sexy Fish and Scott’s Mayfair. His experience spans several other executive roles at 50 Eggs Hospitality Group, Zuma and Mina Group.

What Pehlivanlar wants in 2026: “A return to human hospitality. As leaders, we can’t rely on dashboards alone—we need to invest in culture, creativity and the teams who bring personality into a room. I want to see experiences that feel personal, memorable and full of character.”

If he had to eat the same meal for 30 days straight: “Le Bernardin. The lobster roll from the lounge menu, and a glass of Chassagne.”

38. Bee Emmott

• Artfarm | CEO

Bee Emmott assumed the role of CEO at Artfarm hospitality group on January 1, succeeding Ewan Venters. Emmott, who joined Artfarm in 2018 as chief of staff and later transitioned to the creative director position, has been instrumental in overseeing the development of the group’s expanding portfolio alongside founders Iwan and Manuela Wirth. Artfarm’s recent ventures include the opening of Chesa Marchetta, a historic 16th-century guesthouse turned 13-room hotel in Sils Maria, Switzerland, and the second Manuela restaurant in Soho, New York, which boasts a seasonal American menu and an impressive collection of artworks by Hauser & Wirth artists. The group also launched a second outpost of Fish Shop in Washington, D.C., following the success of the first location in Ballater, Scotland, which received a Bib Gourmand award and a visit from King Charles III. Emmott’s appointment comes as Artfarm prepares for international growth and the opening of the first Groucho private members’ club outside of London in Yorkshire in 2026.

Emmott’s year in three words: “NY, D.C., Switzerland.”

If she could time-travel for one epic night out, she’d visit: “Braemar, in Scotland, in the early 1940s, when Francis Farquharson moved there following her marriage to the Laird of Invercauld. A Vogue contributor and ex-editor of Harper’s Bazaar, Francis was a colorful and creative force in the fashion world. Having spent last weekend in Braemar at our hotel, The Fife Arms, attending our Festival of Fashion, I learnt about Elsa Schiaparelli’s deeply personal relationship with Francis. Cocktails with the two of them, I’m sure, would be a blast!”

39. Pavan Pardasani

• JKS Restaurants | Global CEO

Pavan Pardasani, a seasoned hospitality executive with an impressive background working for Tao, Hakkasan and Catch, was appointed as global CEO of London’s esteemed JKS Restaurants in September. In his new role, Pardasani oversees the group’s Indian-food portfolio, which includes renowned establishments such as Trishna, Gymkhana, Brigadiers and Ambassadors Clubhouse, across various global markets. His leadership commences at a crucial juncture, as JKS Restaurants embarks on its expansion into the United States with two highly anticipated openings: Ambassadors Clubhouse, a restaurant inspired by the culinary traditions of India’s Punjab region, is set to open in New York City this winter, while Gymkhana, the group’s two Michelin-starred London flagship, recently made its debut at Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, marking the first Indian fine dining restaurant on the Strip. 

Pardasani on the biggest shift in consumer behavior: “I would say discovery. Guests seem to rate recommendations from strangers on social media based on how their content hits over traditional trusted sources. Very few operators can survive at scale without playing the game to some degree.” 

What inspired him this year: “Watching the city of Los Angeles rally around the Pacific Palisades and Altadena after the fires was remarkable. Those communities and the city as a whole are still suffering, but the spirit of Angelenos remains strong. I often see the best in people when tragedy strikes.”

40. Thomas McNaughton & Ryan Pollnow

• Flour + Water Hospitality Group | Co-Founder/CEO/Co-Chef & COO/Co-Chef

Ryan Pollnow and Thomas McNaughton’s Flour + Water Hospitality Group (FWHG) has been steadily expanding its culinary empire in the San Francisco Bay Area. The group is working on the opening of their first Oakland restaurant, which will be the third location of their popular Flour + Water Pizza Shop. This new outpost will join their current portfolio, which includes the flagship Flour + Water restaurant, Penny Roma, Flour + Water Pasta Shop, Flour + Water Pizzeria and a partnership in Trick Dog. Flour + Water, the group’s first restaurant, opened its doors in 2009 and has become a staple in the Mission District. Flour + Water Pasta Shop, which supplies homemade sauces and over 12 shapes of pasta to both Flour + Water and Penny Roma, has been instrumental in the group’s success. FWHG ventured beyond the Mission District with the opening of Flour + Water Pizzeria in North Beach. In August, Pollnow and McNaughton further expanded their offerings by launching a frozen pizza line, adding to their growing selection of restaurant-quality CPG products. All restaurants within the FWHG family are members of Zero Foodprint, an organization that funds grants for farmers transitioning to regenerative practices.

What McNaughton wants in 2026: “I want 2026 to be the year we prove that growth and sustainability can coexist. For Flour + Water Hospitality Group, it means scaling our Pizza Shops with integrity through an all-electric, hub-and-spoke model that raises the bar for consistency, creativity and environmental responsibility. For the industry, I hope we move toward valuing people as deeply as we value product. In practice, this means developing real career pathways with work-life balance, and investing in every individual who makes hospitality possible.”

What inspired Pollnow this year: “While one of my words for this past year is ‘terrifying,’ the moments when I felt humbled by the enormity of what we’re trying to accomplish were countered by the confidence I have in our people. They are why I feel excited about where we are as a group today, and where we’re headed tomorrow. With every challenge (learning how to produce retail frozen pizza, scale a Pizza Shop and operate a commissary), I’ve continuously found my ground in every individual on our team who is growing and learning alongside us.” 

41. Jeffrey Bell

• One Cornelia | Founder

Jeff Bell, the mastermind behind the iconic speakeasy PDT, has been making waves in the culinary and mixology scenes. This year, he spearheaded PDT’s first significant expansion in nearly two decades, introducing a multifaceted space at One Cornelia Street that houses the East Coast debut of L.A.’s beloved Tacos 1986 and Mixteca, an agave bar helmed by his longtime PDT bartender Victor Lopez. Simultaneously, Bell has juggled multiple projects, including overseeing the cocktail program at the highly anticipated Waldorf Astoria revival, crafting a special menu for a collaboration between Kith Treats and Katz’s Delicatessen, bringing PDT to Barclays Center, and making pop-up appearances at Coachella. In January 2026, Bell is set to unveil his subterranean cocktail bar, Kees, at One Cornelia Street, the third and final concept within his West Village space.

The industry trend that excites him the most: “More variety in the cocktail space and the movement toward broader nonalcoholic selections at dedicated bars, not just restaurants.”

His key to success: “The answer always comes back to the customers and the team. Earning and maintaining one’s customers’ loyalty helps, despite the uncertainty of our industry. My team, whether they’re from the original PDT or completely new to the world of One Cornelia, helps me stay the course with humor, hospitality and an almost frenetic drive to deliver fresh and engaging cocktail experiences.” 

42. Benjamin & Max Goldberg

• Strategic Hospitality | Co-Owners

Strategic Hospitality,  the Nashville-based company founded by brothers Benjamin and Max Goldberg in 2006, celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2026. The company’s diverse portfolio includes renowned establishments such as The Patterson House, The Catbird Seat, The Band Box, The Country Club at First Horizon Park, Bastion, Henrietta Red, Locust, Kisser and multiple venues at Nashville International Airport. In August 2023, chef Josh Habiger joined as a partner, and the company opened Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk, owned by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, in November 2023. Spring 2025 saw the opening of Babychan, a Japanese-influenced all-day bakery and café in Germantown, from chefs Brian Lea and Leina Horii. The Goldberg brothers have been nominated for the James Beard Foundation Outstanding Restaurateur award multiple times, with chef Habiger also being recognized in the 2025 nomination. Bastion, Locust and The Catbird Seat became the first Nashville restaurants to earn Michelin stars in 2026, and The Catbird Seat was bestowed two stars.

The meal Max could eat for 30 days straight: “Katz’s pastrami sandwich with spicy mustard, pickles, and extra crispy fries. Similar to taxes and death, that sandwich is undefeated.”

If Ben could time-travel for one epic night out, he’d visit: “Nashville in 2003—the year I opened my first bar, Bar Twenty3. I’d go right back to that moment. The city was buzzing, we were young and threw ourselves into it, not knowing what we were doing, but in the thick of it with so many incredible people doing really cool things. I’d bring together all the folks we hung out with seven nights a week back then and relive that experience.”

43. David Nayfeld

• Back Home Hospitality | Co-Founder & Executive Chef

David Nayfeld, a Bay Area native and co-owner of Back Home Hospitality, has established himself as a culinary force in San Francisco. With an impressive background working alongside renowned chefs like Joël Robuchon and Daniel Humm, Nayfeld has garnered numerous accolades for his restaurants, including Che Fico, Che Fico Pizzeria, Che Fico Parco Menlo. In June, he opened fast-casual Jewish-inspired dining concept Bubbelah in Menlo Park. In September, he returned to fine dining with the opening of Via Aurelia. Nayfeld has been a vocal advocate for the restaurant industry, co-founding the Independent Restaurant Coalition and securing substantial financial support for vulnerable establishments during the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, Nayfeld published his first cookbook, Dad, What’s for Dinner?, which was named Bon Appétit’s best cookbook of 2025.

What inspired him this year: “Reentering the fine dining pantheon after a decade away. It feels different this time. More personal. I’m not chasing anyone else’s style. I’m just trying to find my own voice in this cuisine. One that reflects who I’ve become as a chef, and as a person.”

If he had 24 hours to experience the industry as another nightlife and dining leader, he’d choose: “Stephen Starr, so I could see how the machine works.”

44. Fidel Caballero & Sofia Ostos

• Corima | Partners

Fidel Caballero and Sofia Ostos, the husband-and-wife team behind Corima, have made a significant impact on New York’s culinary scene with their contemporary Mexican fine dining. Corima, their Lower East Side restaurant that opened last year, quickly earned a Michelin star and retained it in 2025, while also securing a spot on the 2025 North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list, ranking 36th. Caballero, now regarded as the new king of modern Mexican cuisine in New York, boasts an impressive background, having worked at the three-Michelin-starred Martín Berasategui in Spain, as well as serving as sous chef at the one-Michelin-starred Contra and later at the team’s Peoples wine bar. In November, Caballero and Ostos expanded their culinary empire with the opening of Vato in Park Slope. The new establishment, whose name is derived from the Chicano slang term for “homie,” functions as a burrito spot, daytime tortilleria and bakery, while transforming into a neighborhood restaurant with Basque and Northern Mexican influences in the evening. 

What Caballero wants in 2026: “A shift toward true sustainability—not just environmentally but human and financial. We need a future where great ingredients, fair labor and thoughtful cooking can coexist with affordability, so more people can experience food that is made with care.”

What inspired Ostos this year: “The people around me. Our team, who show up every day with heart and discipline. Our collaborators, who pushed creativity forward in ways that felt generous and exciting. Our guests, who trust us with their celebrations, let us tell the stories behind our food. And most of all, my husband Fidel—watching his dedication, curiosity and resilience this year has been one of my biggest sources of inspiration. His passion grounds me and reminds me why we do this.”

45. Ronn Nicolli

• The Meruelo Group | CMO & CXO

In November, Ronn Nicolli, the CMO instrumental in shaping Resorts World Las Vegas over the past four years, announced his transition to a new role as chief marketing officer and chief experience officer for The Meruelo Group. In what he tells Observer is “one of the most exciting and motivating opportunities of my career,” Nicolli will oversee the marketing and guest experience strategies across the group’s diverse portfolio, including the recently renovated Sahara Las Vegas (where Kwame Onwuachi is opening a steakhouse) and the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, which is currently undergoing significant enhancements, including the addition of a new arena. Nicolli’s expertise will also extend to the group’s radio and TV stations, leveraging these media assets to engage both the Latin community and the broader regional audience. Nicolli will leverage his experience working with other casinos, including his tenure with Wynn, the Fertitta organization, and most recently, the Lim family at Resorts World Las Vegas, to build upon the success of The Meruelo Group—run by a family with whom he has been friends for nearly 20 years.

Nicolli on the biggest challenge facing the industry today: “Disposable income looks different now, and people are more selective about what they’ll spend money on. The value proposition must be clear. As hospitality leaders, we have to go back to the roots of making people feel good and delivering authentic, meaningful experiences. We’re also competing with global travel more than ever. European summers, for example, were a major competitor to Las Vegas this year. We need to re-ignite excitement for this city—still, in my mind, the greatest city in the world—by showcasing new adventures, new moments and new ways to connect. But above all, our engagement must be authentic. Reacting only when negative feedback forces us to isn’t leadership. We need to rebuild the connective tissue with our guests and provide value that feels genuine, consistent and intentional.”

What inspired Nicolli this year: “Change. The need for it, the willingness to embrace it and the excitement that comes with new beginnings. The ability to create, evolve and step into what’s next has been a major source of inspiration for me.”

46. Nur Khan

• Maison Nur | Owner

Nur Khan, a trailblazer in New York City’s nightlife scene, has been setting the standard for social destinations that embody the essence of the city’s after-hours culture since 1995, when he opened Wax, the city’s first “ultra-VIP” lounge. Khan’s portfolio includes Sway (1996), a Spring Street speakeasy adorned with Moroccan decor; Hiro Ballroom (2003); Rose Bar (2006) at the Gramercy Park Hotel; Kenmare (2009), a restaurant and lounge concept; Don Hill’s, a renovated rock and roll hotspot; Electric Room (2011) at the Dream Downtown; and Tao Downtown Lounge (2013), where he served as creative director. In 2019, Khan partnered with John McDonald to open Butterfly Soho, a lounge in the Sixty Soho Hotel, featuring artworks contributed by Damien Hirst and Sante D’Orazio. Last year, Khan collaborated with hotelier and Studio 54 co-founder Ian Schrager to open Two Fifteen, a vibrant and intriguing downtown NYC venue inspired by their previous collaboration at Rose Barl. In June, Khan unveiled Maison Nur, located at 217 Bowery on the Lower East Side. The restaurant features the culinary expertise of executive chef Richard Farnabe, a Paris native who has worked in acclaimed New York kitchens such as Daniel, Jean-Georges, Picholine and Petrossian before cooking at Zero Bond. Given this is Khan, there’s also the posh Studio nightclub underneath Maison Nur.

Khan on the greatest challenges facing the industry today: “The rising costs of ingredients, labor and rent. It would be great if the government could help with rent relief, provide more tax deductions, reduce regulations and offer incentives for food waste minimization. Moreover, it would be helpful if the local government could invest more in promoting NYC as the world-class dining and drinks destination that it truly is to attract more tourists, both domestic and international.”

If he could switch places with another industry leader for 24 hours: “I march to the beat of my own drum, so I have no desire to switch places with anyone. I like my own shoes, thank you very much! Maison Nur is completely my own vision, and I execute it without any compromises because I have no partners in the restaurant.”

47. Giancarlo Pagani

• Pagani Projects | Founder
• Mother Wolf Group | Managing Partner

Giancarlo Pagani, the operator behind the Mother Wolf Group, is making significant impact on the Los Angeles culinary scene with an impressive lineup of ventures. The busy operator is helming the highly anticipated 2026 launch of Mott 32, a sprawling Chinese dining establishment situated above Evan Funke and Pagani’s acclaimed Mother Wolf restaurant in Hollywood. This year, Pagani opened Miznon, a pita spot by Tel Aviv chef Eyal Shani, at Grand Central Market, and Bar Avoja, a Roman-inspired cocktail lounge created with Funke, whom Pagani told Observer is “a true pasta Jedi.” 

What inspired him this year: “I was inspired this year by the resilience of the Los Angeles hospitality community. In the aftermath of the January fires, I watched chefs, operators, business owners and neighbors come together with a level of determination and collaboration that reminded me why this city is so special. Teams rebuilt overnight, supported one another’s staff, shared resources and found creative ways to keep serving their communities. Seeing an entire industry unite in the face of devastation and still find ways to create connection, comfort and joy was the most inspiring part of the year.”

What he wants in 2026: “I want to see a more intentional, values-driven evolution of hospitality—one where creativity and operational discipline coexist. For my own business, that means continuing to build chef-driven, culturally resonant restaurants that feel essential to their cities. For the industry, I hope that we collectively invest in leadership development, sustainable growth models and environments where teams can build real careers, not just jobs. When operators thrive, the entire ecosystem, from chefs to purveyors to communities, rises with them.”

48. Eddy Buckingham

• Tuxedo Hospitality | Co-Founder & Operating Partner

Originally hailing from Melbourne, Australia, Eddy Buckingham’s career has taken him from the lively atmosphere of Australian pubs to the exclusive role of personal mixologist for Justin Timberlake. In 2016, he launched Chinese Tuxedo, which rapidly garnered a loyal following, attracting the likes of the Kardashians and Drake. Buckingham’s portfolio continued to grow with the introduction of The Tyger in 2020, followed by the recent openings of Soso’s, a nostalgic Soho tavern, and Old Mates, an Australian-inspired pub that launched in February near South Street Seaport backed by a star-studded lineup of Australian owners, including Hugh Jackman, comedic duo Hamish and Andy, NBA player Patty Mills, surfer Mick Fanning and Bluestone Lane founders Nick and Andy Stone. Buckingham’s latest venture, Opera House, which debuted in October, is a subterranean bar situated beneath Chinese Tuxedo, occupying the former Peachy’s space at 5 Doyers Street and paying tribute to the location’s history as New York’s pioneering Chinese theater.

On the biggest challenge facing the industry today: “The existential threat to the hospitality industry is the same it’s been for over a decade, and that is the smartphone. Meal times and nightlife are at their heart about bringing people together and celebrating our shared experiences. From the dive bar to haute dining, human connection is the most important part of the mission, and it is more important now than ever. The best solution is to be intentionally analog in your dining choices. Plan a group dinner: pick a venue on the basis of a friend’s personal recommendation, order based on the server’s advice rather than TikTok, go dancing afterwards and leave your phone on Do Not Disturb throughout. Take a disposable camera if you must; the photos will be much more special when you get tactile, hard copies back from the developers in a week’s time.”

What he hopes for in 2026: “To solidify and deepen the roots of our venues—both old and new. After opening three new venues in 12 months (SoSo’s Dining Room, Old Mates and Opera House respectively) in 2026, Chinese Tuxedo will be celebrating its 10th anniversary. Opening Old Mates was my most personal project to date, and developing Opera House felt like the fitting and final culmination of Chinese Tuxedo’s journey on Doyers Street. In the short term, the focus and intention will be on ensuring these new venues have the same character, quality of execution and soul necessary to ensure they enjoy success for the next decade and beyond.”

49. Joel Montaniel

• SevenRooms | Co-Founder & CEO

In June, Joel Montaniel’s SevenRooms, a trailblazing restaurant booking and customer relationship management (CRM) platform, was acquired by DoorDash in a $1.2 billion all-cash transaction. Montaniel co-founded the company in 2011 with Allison Page and Kinesh Patel, and quickly established a commanding presence in the hospitality industry, catering to over 13,000 diverse venues worldwide, including prominent brands such as Marriott International, MGM Resorts International, Wolfgang Puck, Michael Mina and Union Square Hospitality Group. The acquisition serves as a resounding testament to SevenRooms’ accomplishments and potential, while also paving the way for the company’s continued expansion and global reach. 

Montaniel on the beauty of the industry: “Hospitality should be a sanctuary. Restaurants are a sanctuary and a place that can remind us all that we are all human. I really love that concept.”

Montaniel’s inspiration behind SevenRooms: “We talked to all these operators, and we asked them, ‘How do you decide who to give the reservation to? How do people get in touch with you?’ The systems they were using had no customer data in them. So a restaurant is thinking about where to open up their next location by understanding the customer demographic, how much they spend, how many turns you can get in. Looking at the existing data is really helpful to them as they think about, ‘Should I open up in Miami or L.A.? Or should I go to Dubai or London?’ Most restaurateurs in the past would get there through gut feel. Now, they’re able to get there a lot faster because they can really look at the data.”

50. Scarr Pimentel

• Scarr’s Pizza | Founder & Owner

Scarr Pimentel has been making waves in the pizza world since opening his Lower East Side shop, Scarr’s Pizza, in 2016. This year marked a significant milestone for Pimentel with the release of his first cookbook, The Scarr’s Pizza Cookbook. In March, Time Out named Scarr’s Pizza the second-best in the world, trailing only Naples’ Pizzeria da Attilio, a third-generation establishment that has been serving slices since 1938. In August, Scarr’s Pizza expanded its reach by opening an outpost in the new food hall at The Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip. The brand’s popularity has also led to international recognition, with Scarr’s hosting a pop-up in Sydney this fall. Pimentel’s New York pizza haven has evolved into a go-to hangout for watch dealers and collectors, as well as celebrities like Tyler, the Creator and the late DJ Clark Kent (who has a slice named after him at the pizzeria). The latter’s camaraderie with Pimentel sparked a 2019 Nike Air Force 1 Low collaboration, which reemerged this year with a sleek black iteration, unveiled by Pimentel at Complex’s Family Style Food Festival. In May, the shop joined forces with Glass Cypress to introduce a four-piece capsule epitomizing the quintessential chef’s attire.

The Corner Store, which has been one of New York City’s most buzzed about restaurants since its SoHo debut in September 2024, is heading to Las Vegas. Observer has confirmed that Eugene Remm, Tilman Fertitta and Catch Hospitality Group have signed a deal to open the second location of The Corner Store in 2026 at a luxury casino-resort on the Strip.

And while many operators change their brand and create new concepts in Las Vegas, Remm (who’s had Catch at Aria in Las Vegas since 2018) happily knows what his wheelhouse is. 

“I know what I’m good at,” Remm tells Observer. “I know what I’m not good at. I’m not good at shows and dances and anything like that. So what I’m good at and what our team is going to be focused on is bringing exactly what we do at The Corner Store to Las Vegas. Culinary-wise, nothing’s different.”

At heart, The Corner Store is an upscale new take on a classic American joint. Crowd-pleasing dishes from culinary director Michael Vignola at The Corner Store include Caesar salad, spinach artichoke dip, mini lobster rolls, a wagyu French dip, steak frites and a riff on Totino’s pizza rolls.

“New York was ready for a classic American grill,” Remm says.”It was ready for something that wasn’t filled with a bunch of fusion and wasn’t filled with a bunch of words that they can’t pronounce and was simply just classic American cuisine.”

At the same time, The Corner Store wants to elevate familiar food, so its lobster rolls are topped with caviar and its habit-forming five-cheese pizza rolls are stuffed with ricotta, raclette, Parmesan, taleggio and mozzarella alongside pepperoni, ’nduja and jalapeño. There’s housemade ranch and hot honey on the side.

“We do everything from scratch,” Remm says. “We do it every single day. There’s nothing frozen on the entire menu. Nothing is done for economies of scale.”

In New York, The Corner Store is a cozy 75-seat restaurant where Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter recently dined together. In Las Vegas, there will be twice as much seating. But as Remm points out, this is still significantly smaller than big Las Vegas restaurants like Catch, and he knows that it’s important to preserve The Corner Store’s vibe. 

“The only difference, I would say, is that instead of just having an amazing martini program at one bar, we’re creating a second bar that’s framed as a specialty martini bar,” Remm says.

Given the popularity of The Corner Store’s martini service in New York, Las Vegas visitors will likely be lining up in droves to try everything from chamomile vespers to sour cream and onion martinis.

Remm is on an expansion tear, but he’s focusing on smaller restaurants overall. In September, he opened The Eighty Six, a 35-seat West Village steakhouse in the historic former Chumley’s space. He’s planning to debut a 75-seat Mediterranean restaurant with chef Nadav Greenberg in SoHo, across the street from The Corner Store, early next year. 

“I think the world wants smaller spaces, more intimate experiences,” Remm says. “That’s where we’re at. I want to do more singular concepts, and I want to do them all in New York, and I want to walk to work every day, and I want to develop restaurants with my team here in our office on 14th Street.”

Remm has no plans to expand The Corner Store beyond Las Vegas.

“I don’t believe that The Corner Store should be replicated all around the country, and I think I want to focus on unique single-store locations,” he says.

But he says he’s making an exception because he found a special opportunity in Las Vegas, where The Corner Store will join prominent new restaurants like Cote, Carbone Riviera, Gymkhana and the forthcoming Sartiano’s.

“I love what’s happening in Las Vegas,” Remm says. “I want more great restaurants coming to Las Vegas. I’m thrilled with all of it. Las Vegas is the next logical step for The Corner Store, and we’re going to unapologetically bring The Corner Store experience in New York to Vegas.”

Even by the extravagant and theatrical standards of both Major Food Group and Bellagio, Carbone Riviera is an over-the-top restaurant.

Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi and Jeff Zalaznick’s seafood wonderland opened Friday, November 7, at one of the most iconic locations on the Las Vegas Strip. The backdrop, at what was formerly home to Julian Serrano’s Picasso, is the Fountains of Bellagio. There’s now a Riva yacht on a floating deck and an ornate Martin Brudnizki-designed dining room where art by Picasso, Miró and Renoir hangs on the walls. But the most significant upgrade at Carbone Riviera is how Mario Carbone and his team present top-tier seafood with their Italian-American ethos.

And also, where else are you going to eat whole king crab, whole turbot and whole sea bream crudo on a patio next to a water show? This feels like the most significant seafood restaurant in the country since Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare, which closed at Wynn Las Vegas a decade ago.

On Saturday, A-list Carbone Riviera guests, including David Chang (who’s known Carbone and Torrisi since they worked together at Café Boulud more than 20 years ago and once almost opened a restaurant with Carbone), raved about dishes like crab AOP and shrimp Parm. Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis had dinner while a core Major Food Group team, including executive chef Jonah Resnick, chief development officer Will Nazar and vice president of hospitality and guest experience Kyra Suki Burner, worked the room. Mario’s cousin, Louie, a front-of-the-house maestro you’ll see at every Major Food Group debut, told Observer that he has now opened 40 restaurants with this company.

Carbone Riviera is a new concept, but a lot of the food will be pleasantly familiar to longtime fans of Major Food Group. This is about riffing on the bangers. Habit-forming shrimp Parm is, of course, a nod to the veal Parm that’s a big part of the reason Carbone became a worldwide sensation. Carbone Riviera’s excellent crab AOP, which gets just the right amount of kick from jalapeños, might remind you a bit of the lobster capellini at New York’s Torrisi. And if you’re craving lobster pasta because you’ve eaten it at Torrisi or Carbone Privato at ZZ’s Club, Carbone Riviera has fettuccine with a two-pound lobster.  

Lobster at Carbone Riviera also comes in the form of polpette fra diavolo, which Durango executive chef Danny Ye ate on Friday and said reminded him of an Asian dumpling filling. This was high praise from a Korean-American chef who has run kitchens everywhere from Nobu to Catch and is now curating restaurants for Station Casinos. Many prominent culinary players came to check out Carbone Riviera on its opening weekend. Friday night also saw JKS Restaurants co-founder Karam Sethi, who’s getting ready to open Gymkhana at Aria next month, dining at Carbone Riviera with Observer power list alum Shu Chowdhury. Chowdhury returned for dinner the next evening.

The last few months have been some kind of whirlwind for Major Food Group, which opened London’s Carbone in September and Dubai’s Carbone in October. Resnick, who lives in Miami, told Observer that he hasn’t been home since August 10. For Mario Carbone, who posted an Instagram story of his Rigatoni World Tour hoodie on Saturday, this has been the run of a lifetime. 

“It’s been an amazing journey to do this thing, thousands of miles apart with the same team,” Carbone told Observer. “The only thing I can compare it to is a concert. You do the city, you pack the team up and go to the next one with these core people who have gotten incredibly close. It’s been pretty awesome. I mean, obviously we’re tired, but it’s amazing.”

And it all ties back to the energy and the “can’t stop, won’t stop” mentality of Las Vegas, where Carbone opened at Aria in 2015. That restaurant and its success altered Major Food Group’s trajectory, and this wild ride keeps getting wilder. 

Today, Mario Carbone dropped an Instagram video about the most recent leg of this journey. The video, which looks like a movie trailer and is inspired by Ocean’s Eleven, is a tribute to the team behind the Rigatoni World Tour. 

“We name-check all of the squad,” said Carbone, who plans to be in Las Vegas through Formula One weekend, when he will host a November 20 opening party.

And in case it wasn’t 100 percent obvious by now, Carbone Riviera serves Carbone’s famous spicy rigatoni vodka. This is a Carbone restaurant, so you know that it’s playing the greatest hit.

Carbone Riviera at Bellagio is open seven days a week from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. 

Atomix chef Junghyun “JP” Park runs the top-ranked restaurant in North America, but he says he still has a lot to learn. So last week, the Korean-born Park was back in Seoul, attending workshops about fermentation as part of the Hansik Conference.

At Korea House, World Institute of Kimchi principal researcher Chae-lin Park and chef/”godmother of Hansik” Hee-sook Cho kicked off the workshops by discussing the history and significance of Korean vegetable fermentation. Guests, including El Bulli legend Ferran Adrià, took notes on themes like how kimchi was born out of necessity—as a means of preservation when refrigeration didn’t exist, and as a way to make the ritual of eating rice more healthful and palatable.

Attendees, including world-renowned chefs José Avillez of Lisbon’s Belcanto, Varun Totlani of Mumbai’s Masque and Supaksorn “Ice” Jongsiri of Bangkok’s Sorn, listened intently as the kimchi experts talked about how there’s no designated eating order when you are greeted with an assortment of banchan. Guests learned that you should make kimchi with fewer ingredients if you want it to last longer, and that the most important thing is thinking about how flavors blend. 

But what the Hansik Conference wants to emphasize, as it encourages chefs from all over the world to experiment with Korean ingredients and techniques, is that you can use all kinds of vegetables, fruits and even proteins to make kimchi. Yes, garlic, ginger, gochugaru and fish sauce are core ingredients for kimchi in Korea, but fermentation is about the freedom to preserve the best ingredients that are accessible to you.

At Korean barbecue restaurant Byeokje Galbi, an institution known for its short ribs, chef Won-suk Yoon walked the visiting chefs through the wonders of Hanwoo beef. He went over the nuances of the eight different parts of short ribs and how the intramuscular fat of Korean beef is ideal for grilling. But even at this beef demonstration, kimchi took center stage as Yoon explained how fermented vegetables cleanse the palate, add nutrients and aid digestion when enjoying meat-heavy meals. Byeokje Galbi, not incidentally, has its own kimchi factory.

The next morning, Onjium chef Sung-bae Park walked everyone through Gyeongdong Market, which features more than 1,000 stalls selling produce, meat, seafood, herbal medicine and much more. We sampled chestnuts, dried persimmons, mushrooms and fish cakes. We talked about how food can cure ailments. Totlani said he had recently found some cordyceps, more expensive than white truffles, in India and was figuring out ways to prepare them.

Then it was off to Onjium, which is a research institute with a Michelin-starred restaurant. Onjium is an inspiring place that creates clothing, architecture and delicious food that honors Korea’s past while thinking about the tastes and the needs of the present and the future. Pickling, for example, is about preserving your favorite foods, so you can enjoy them year-round. 

One dish that we ate at Onjium was made with 108 different types of rice, some grown by the restaurant. Park, Adrià, Avillez, Totlani and Jongsiri sat together for lunch. The table discussed how subspecies of ingredients are born. Adrià, who fancies himself a provocateur, reminded Park that he needed to read 180 pages, in Spanish, of El Bulli materials before his conference panel. Adrià told Totlani to think about what makes a carrot taste like a carrot. Adrià asked guests why they don’t smell their food before they eat it. His goal, as always, was to stimulate conversation and make people consider things in different ways.

Before dinner at KwonSookSoo, a two-Michelin-star restaurant with its own kimchi cart, chef Woo-joong Kwon got back to basics as he explained how any vegetable can be the main ingredient for kimchi and how you put in salt to reduce moisture. He went through a demonstration of making a simple scallion kimchi with apple, gochugaru, sansho, plum syrup and fish sauce that you store at room temperature overnight and then refrigerate for about five days. This recipe is notable because there is no garlic. Kimchi, as all the guests knew by now, is about riffing.

Kwon’s demo led to a conversation about how chefs can channel and enhance taste memories when they cook. What are the flavors you grew up with? How do you bring them back and amplify them? And in the case of KwonSookSoo, why not store caviar in your kimchi refrigerator?

The next day, Ellia Park, JP’s wife and business partner, took the stage at the historic Samcheonggak cultural center to moderate a conversation about the future of gastronomy. During this discussion, Totlani explained that he had cooked Western food before realizing that he was proud of his Indian heritage and wanted to celebrate it. Chefs, including Mingoo Kang of Seoul’s Mingles, JP Park and Avillez, talked about the importance of apprenticeship and how technology like A.I. should make chefs want to return to the fundamentals of cooking. Jongsiri advised the crowd not to open their own restaurant because the work is more grueling than glamorous, but he then made his bigger point—that doing what you love can lead to the ultimate success.

Ellia, who invited Observer to the Hansik Conference, was at the forefront of assembling a group of prominent international chefs in Korea last week. Nanro, a nonprofit that the Parks and JY Choi created, got a head start on the conference by bringing in New York chefs Jihan Lee of Nami Nori, Fidel Caballero of Corima, Suzanne Cupps of Lola’s and Yuu Shimano of Yuu for a whirlwind tour of Korean food culture. (Korea overall has become an inspiring destination for the world’s culinary elite. Separate from the Hansik Conference, prolific chef/Culinary Class Wars star Edward Lee, Le Bernardin’s Eric Ripert, Labyrinth’s LG Han and Providence’s Donato Poto visited Seoul for different reasons last week. At the same time, both former Saison culinary director Paul Chung and Nunchi’s Lexie Park coincidentally had their weddings in Korea over the weekend.)

As we spoke to all the chefs at the Hansik Conference, it was clear that this was a group of people who are doing what they love. 

“Life for me is about connections,” Avillez said during a captivating presentation that touched on everything from tech-driven creativity to how the kitchen “serves as humanity’s shared dialect of creativity and culture.” Avillez stressed that “every cook is an ambassador,” and “every restaurant is a bridge between communities and traditions,” and “every dish is a catalyst for social innovation.” And, clearly, JP and Ellia Park are great culinary ambassadors for Korea.

Avillez’s time on stage, in many ways, summed up the message and energy of the Hansik Conference. Korean food and culture is popular around the world, but this is about the people behind it more than any trend. It’s about understanding, as JP and Ellia Park do, that who you are and where you came from should be a crucial part of the way you aim to change the world. 

And as Avillez said, “Dreaming big takes the same effort as dreaming small.”

But imagination doesn’t matter much if you don’t put in the work.

“I have to study,” JP said. “It’s important to understand origins.”

Gymkhana, the only Indian restaurant in London with two Michelin stars, understands the assignment when it comes to opening in Las Vegas. The goal, of course, is to bring the best of London’s Gymkhana to the Vegas Strip while adding new dishes and new dazzle for festive only-in-Vegas nights.

On December 3, Gymkhana will make its United States debut with a 170-seat outpost at the Aria casino-resort. (Reservations are now live.) Gymkhana, known for dishes like tandoori lamb chops, venison keema naan and pork cheek curry, will serve beef for the first time when it opens in Las Vegas. New dishes will include a short rib pepper fry and wagyu keema naan, alongside an exclusive-to-Vegas Goan lobster curry. Cocktail service will include Gymkhana’s first punch bowls.

Gymkhana, as always, will upend the idea of fine dining and what guests might expect at a two-Michelin-star restaurant. 

“Maybe their perception is it’s going to be stuffy,” Pavan Pardasani, who recently joined Gymkhana parent company JKS Restaurants as global CEO, tells Observer. “It’s going to be formal. I’m going to have to dress a certain way. And that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Gymkhana is here to introduce Indian food to a wider audience. This is a restaurant that celebrates family-style dining and wants guests to rip and dip bread into curries. Gymkhana is where you’re totally fine grabbing a lamb chop with your hands. You can build a meal around vegetarian dishes or you can savor biryani and tandoori kebabs made with wild game. As always, the best nights in Las Vegas are about choosing your own adventure.

“The truth of the matter is, you don’t need to love Indian food to love Gymkhana,” Pardasani says. “What you need to cherish and love and seek out is a really great night out, a really great culinary experience that’s about how we present, execute and deliver that food.”

In London, Gymkhana is a tightly packed 100-seat bi-level restaurant inside a Mayfair townhouse. In Las Vegas, there will be 170 seats, but Pardasani and JKS founders Jyotin, Karam and Sunaina Sethi are focused on preserving the warmth, coziness and conviviality of London’s Gymkhana. The new restaurant at Aria will weave together the jade-like green (what JKS calls Gymkhana green) and the kind of dark wood, metallic elements and plush seating that makes the London location feel like an elite private club.

“You have to understand that this opening was a big part of what sparked my brain and my heart and my passion to join JKS,” says Pardasani, who is the son of Indian immigrants and grew up in New York City. “Because otherwise, you would define me as your traditional coastal elite. I’ve spent 43-and-a-half of the 46 years of my life living in L.A. and New York, except for two-and-a-half years when I lived in Las Vegas.”

That time spent in Las Vegas, when Pardasani had a leadership role at Hakkasan, gave him clarity.

“Las Vegas truly reflects and represents America,” he says. “Living there and immersing myself in the community there and meeting people that come from different parts of the country with very different ideas, thoughts and worldviews taught me that Las Vegas is really the gateway to America.”

And at a moment when high-end Indian food is popping off in New York, Chicago and Atlanta, bringing it to Las Vegas is a no-brainer for Gymkhana. This isn’t just about opening a top-tier restaurant. This is about changing the culture.

“I see the strengthening of Indian concepts and I see that operators are thinking outside of just New York,” Pardasani says. “I hope that people experience us in Las Vegas and they take their love and their passion and their joy for our food back to where they live. Maybe it will inspire them to tell their local community that they need an Indian restaurant. Maybe it will inspire people to pursue what we’re doing. Let’s break down the myths and the barriers people might have about our food and make it part of the great cuisines that are available all over America.”

Gymkhana is part of a major JKS expansion into the United States. JKS is opening another glamorous Indian restaurant, Ambassadors Clubhouse, in New York’s Flatiron neighborhood. The JKS portfolio also includes chef Kian Samyani’s Berenjak, a Persian restaurant in London that just opened a location at Soho Warehouse in Los Angeles.

Even among top hospitality groups around the world, JKS stands out for its range and deep belief in the diversity of great food. JKS, which also has buzzing London restaurants that serve Sri Lankan, Thai, Spanish, British pub and modern European food, started with the Sethi siblings wanting to celebrate their heritage in London. Now it’s time to do the same thing in America.

Pardasani is excited to show guests in Las Vegas that bar snacks like samosas and pappadam are very much a part of the experience at Gymkhana.

“Typically in Indian culture, you don’t drink without eating,” he says.

Pardasani is also looking forward to serving guests who want vegetarian options like flavor-packed daal, chana masala and tandoori broccoli.

“It’s very common in Indian families to have a day or days of the week where you’re vegetarian,” Pardasani says. “The representation of vegetarian food within India is some of the best. You don’t have to give up on taste.”

But perhaps most of all, Gymkhana is ready to showcase the wonders of family-style dining.

“I grew up in an Indian household where we ate Indian food every day,” says Pardasani, who has visited India 20 times and fondly remembers dishes his late mother and grandmother made. “And what that entailed, always, was sharing. It was never, ‘This is my food. That is your food.’ And I think Gymkhana presents this opportunity where you don’t want to just eat one dish. The way to achieve that is to share.”

Gymkhana wants you to understand that Indian cuisine is food for everyone. And you’re very much encouraged to put multiple dishes onto your plate and just let everything blend.

As Simon Kim puts the finishing touches on the new Cote that he’s about to open at the Venetian casino-resort in Las Vegas, he’s been thinking about how his Korean steakhouse has been influenced by Vegas. 

“This is where it all started,” Kim, the founder and CEO of Gracious Hospitality Management, tells Observer.

The Seoul-born restaurant mogul’s first hospitality gig was working the front desk of the MGM Grand while going to school at UNLV.

“A big portion of Cote’s DNA and my DNA as a restaurateur has Las Vegas in it, and that’s why all my restaurants outside of Las Vegas always had that dark room, big music, speakers and neon signs,” Kim says. “I’ve wanted Cote to come to Vegas for a very long time, and I had multiple conversations and multiple opportunities. I finally found the perfect partners, perfect location and perfect everything.”

Cote, which has earned a Michelin star in New York and changed the game for Korean barbecue as it expanded to Miami and Singapore, will open inside the Palazzo waterfall atrium at the Venetian on October 4.

The new Rockwell Group-designed Cote will be a more-is-more destination with 219 seats between the dining room and VIP skyboxes. The space will also have a glowing bar, a crow’s-nest DJ booth, pulsating lights and a nonstop party vibe.

“Cote Las Vegas is 18,000 square feet of pure entertainment,” Kim says. “People are seeking more and more experiential, immersive experiences. You walk into Cote and you’re going to be fully immersed in the universe of Cote. It’s stadium seating. So if you want to see and be seen, this is the place. If you want a quiet, isolated dinner, please do not come to Cote.”

Kim worked closely with David Rockwell, whose portfolio includes Tao and Nobu, on the restaurant’s over-the-top design.

“David and I really collaborated and put a lot of creativity together,” Kim says.

The result, Kim adds, is something like working with the best private jet designer and ending up with a UFO. Kim is exhilarated about how the reality of Cote Las Vegas has surpassed his original vision.

Chef David Shim’s menu in Las Vegas will feature extravagant new items, including a grand seafood plateau loaded with hwe (Korean sashimi) alongside caviar, Shigoku oyster dynamite, chilled oysters, shrimp cocktail and chunks of lobster that are eaten like escargot and are presented inside whelk shells. 

As always, Cote is about riffing on the idea of a traditional steakhouse and merging it with the wonders of Korean barbecue and other Korean elements. Tabletop grills and banchan will set the tone just as much as the DJ hovering above.

Cote is upping the ante in Las Vegas by revamping its steak omakase and introducing the new Blackjack sandwich, made with Kagoshima A5 wagyu, Périgord truffle and truffle aioli on milk toast. The wine list from beverage director Victoria James will feature more than 1,200 carefully selected labels.

With four upstairs private rooms known as Spades, Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs, the new Cote is very much embracing the big-bet energy of Las Vegas. Yes, high rollers and celebrities can use these spaces to have a calmer night and hide from the throngs below, but Kim wants to keep the options open in these skyboxes.

“The windows open, so you can actually enjoy the energy of the people and the full standing bar below,” Kim says. “The inspiration was the suite of a sports stadium. The pulsating energy exudes into the private room.”

Kim says his goal at Cote was nothing less than creating “the most iconic Las Vegas restaurant” at the Venetian, which is in the middle of a $1.5 billion transformation.

“This is the golden age of Asian and Korean cuisine,” he says. “We fully embrace that and the DNA of Las Vegas. We’ve dialed that up to the max volume, almost to a point where the speakers are about to blow. This is full, high-octane Las Vegas. I’ve opened many restaurants, but this one just feels different. This is homecoming, and this is so unique and so collaborative and so grandiose.”

Cote, located at 3355 S. Las Vegas Blvd., will be open Sunday-Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Thursday-Saturday from 5 p.m. to midnight.

Not surprisingly, JP and Ellia Park’s genre-bending Korean fine-dining restaurant, Atomix, topped the inaugural North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list, which was announced at a ceremony inside Wynn Las Vegas on Thursday night. But the rest of the list and the rankings often seemed unpredictable and strange.

Los Angeles chef Michael Cimarusti, who’s celebrating 20 years of Providence, won the Chefs’ Choice award. But Providence itself was near the bottom of the list—and in very good company there. There are only 16 restaurants in the United States that currently have three Michelin stars. Three of these destinations are Quince, Providence and Atelier Crenn, which were respectively ranked 48th, 47th and 46th on North America’s 50 Best Restaurants. So it only took a couple minutes of the countdown on Thursday for viewers to realize that things were going off the rails.

There were no Indian restaurants on the list, despite the impact and critical acclaim of restaurants like New York’s Semma and Dhamaka, two game-changing gems from the Unapologetic Foods hospitality group. Important and excellent Israeli restaurants like Ori Menashe’s Saffy’s in Los Angeles and Michael Solomonov’s Zahav in Philadelphia were also overlooked.

Andrew Carmellini, a deeply respected veteran chef in New York City, saw his Cafe Carmellini ranked No. 39. Carmellini has been a New York legend since running the kitchen at Daniel Boulud’s Cafe Boulud, where his staff included young cooks like David Chang, Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone. Meanwhile, Boulud, Chang, Torrisi and Carbone had a combined zero restaurants on the list.

There were many reasons to wonder if ChatGPT could have done a better job than the 300-member academy of voters. Canada, which has zero three-Michelin-starred restaurants and a population significantly less than that of just California and New York City combined, somehow got three of the top five spots, while three-Michelin-starred SingleThread in Healdsburg, California, and three-Michelin-starred Le Bernardin in New York settled for the eighth and ninth spots. Host city Las Vegas got zero spots. And for the purposes of this list, Mexico isn’t even considered part of North America.

All this said, there were plenty of gloriously cheered moments on Thursday. Chef Serigne Mbaye’s Senegalese tasting-menu destination Dakar NOLA was ranked No. 6. Susan Bae of Washington D.C.’s Moon Rabbit was named best pastry chef. Nok Suntaranon of Philadelphia’s Kalaya was named best female chef. Emeril’s in New Orleans (No. 30) solidified its status as an evolving two-generation wonder, where icon Emeril Lagasse’s son, E.J., is now running the kitchen. Los Angeles, often snubbed in national awards despite its ultra-diverse and strikingly flavorful food, was repped by chef Jon Yao’s Kato (No. 26) and chef Gilberto Cetina’s Holbox (No. 42) alongside Providence. Other respected restaurants that received hearty applause included chef Kevin Tien’s Moon Rabbit (No. 17), chef James London’s Chubby Fish (No. 19) in Charleston, chef Gregory Gourdet’s Kann (No. 27) in Portland, chef Jesse Ito’s Royal Sushi & Izakaya (No. 32) in Philadelphia and chef Joshua Pinsky’s Penny (No. 40) in New York, but the overall rankings offered more confusion than clarity about what a list like this should be.

Despite the random feel of the rankings, it was at least good to see that much of the vibrant cuisine celebrated on this list is forward-thinking and that much of it is also an example of how top-tier food is often driven by immigrant storylines.

So let’s let JP Park have the final words.

“Ten years ago, Ellia and I came to the U.S. to start a new life and to open the restaurant,” he said after receiving Atomix’s award. “At the time, we’re just nobody. And we only had one dream, just to cook well and open a good restaurant. But as time passed, we met so many wonderful people around us and our dream grew bigger. We stayed curious. We studied more. And worked harder.”

The crowd gasped and cheered louder and louder as JP addressed Ellia and explained how love is a vital ingredient at Atomix.

“Thank you for dreaming with me and working with me and making me a better person,” JP said. “Every valuable idea in my mind was planted by you. I’m still far from perfect, but I want to love you more and build a better world with you.”

In a way, JP was inadvertently summing up the inaugural North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Things are often imperfect, so it’s important to stay curious, study more and work harder. That’s how you improve.

Mark Birnbaum, the co-founder of Catch Hospitality Group, is ready to trade wild late nights for gloriously active mornings. He’s ready to go from scene dining to family-friendly excursions. He’s ready to literally dip his toes in the sand as he heads into his next adventure.

Birnbaum is still involved in Catch’s growth around the country, but he’s making a huge swing as he unveils the next chapter of his career.

In November, prolific Thor Urbana real estate developer Jaime Fasja’s Life Properties International will debut Nauka, a 900-plus-acre private club community with beachside residences, cliff estates and golf villas in Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit. Birnbaum, who’s partnered with Fasja on Life Properties, tells Observer that early-stage pricing includes plots of untouched land that range from $4.5 million to $15 million. Nauka members will have access to nearly three miles of swimmable beach, but the most striking amenity might be the 18-hole Tom Fazio-designed golf course with its mountainside/jungle/estuary setting.

“My favorite baller thing is when you get to the 14th hole, you come out of the jungle and you pop onto our three holes on the beach,” Birnbaum says. “There’s a restaurant there, the 14th hole grill. You can have a drink and food and jump into the ocean, mid-round, come back, towel off and finish.”

For families with children who want to tee off, there’s also a Fazio-designed par-3 course under lights. 

Birnbaum, who says that the 85 founding members at Nauka include CEOs, private-equity bosses, fashion moguls, Hall of Fame quarterbacks, F1 drivers and other assorted A-list athletes and entertainers, knows that this community is about exclusivity. But accessibility is also a big reason why Nauka exists. A new highway section connecting Puerto Vallarta to Riviera Nayarit makes getting here easier. And the newly expanded Tepic airport’s addition of international service (starting with flights from Los Angeles) has opened up Riviera Nayarit to a wider audience.

But going back to exclusivity: “We actually own the FBO there,” Fasja says of the Tepic airport. “So for a lot of guests who are flying in their private jets, they’ll be able to land in their own FBO and then have a very smooth transition into the property.”

Birnbaum was attracted to Nauka because the beach setting reminded him more of Hawaii and Costa Rica than a desert region like Cabo. As Fasja points out, the latitude and weather in Riviera Nayarit make it a year-round destination instead of a seasonal spot. 

Fasja told Birnbaum that he loved the idea of membership clubs mixed with golf and residential development. What better place to create this than on Riviera Nayarit’s unspoiled beachfront? Life Properties is also a major transition for Fasja, who’s branching out from his family real estate business and becoming an operator of highly elite lifestyle destinations.

Like many real estate moguls, Fasja has built luxury hotels (including the Montage in Cabo, the Ritz-Carlton in Mexico City and the Thompson in Playa del Carmen). When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, he had to temporarily close hotels and restructure loans. While quarantining in Cabo, he played golf and started visiting private communities.

“What I realized is that 20 years ago, branded residential was the thing, right?” Fasja says. “Brands like Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton started doing residential products. But then over time, that became too mainstream. What we saw is we had a young clientele that was ready to be buying their second, third, fourth, fifth home. And what they were looking for was a family-oriented community. They also really wanted to have a sense of place. So if you’re in Mexico on the Pacific side, you want to…really feel like you’re on the ocean. At Nauka, we have some of the best weather in the world, instead of being a seasonal place like Cabo. And then for us, wellness became a very big thing. We see that people want to live longer. “

Fasja, who earned a degree in architecture and urbanism before going to business school, is all-in with Life Properties.

“We went from being just developers to actually operating the business,” Fasja says. “We’re doing sales. We’re doing operations. We’re doing management. And we’re also doing the development. We’re opening restaurants. And we’re coming up with the ideas of different concepts for families.”

Fasja noticed that kid-friendly amenities at other destinations often involve indoor video arcades and lots of screen time. So at Nauka, children can go fishing, learn about sea life, visit an estuary, hit the rope courses and zip-line from a volcano.

Birnbaum knows he’s found a partner who’s ready to make a career-defining bet. Birnbaum, who greatly admires what Michael Meldman has done with Discovery Land Company’s private communities around the world, also knows that Life Properties is a new way for him to tap into the clientele he’s cultivated at Catch. 

His goal now is catering to discerning families and giving them amenities like a beach club with a 197-foot oceanfront infinity pool; an adventure center with paddleboards and even an Iguana boat for whale-watching; a deep-water marina and yacht club; a sports park and racquet club; and much more. A day at Nauka can mean starting at the go-kart track or batting cages before watching a movie at the outdoor theater.

Nauka will also include Siari, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, which will have 87 keys, including a five-bedroom presidential suite. Siari will feature a wellness center and five food-and-beverage venues from acclaimed Mexican chef David Castro Hussong. The restaurants will serve produce from Nauka’s own organic farm.

A newly constructed high-speed toll road means the journey to Nauka is about 45 minutes from the Puerto Vallarta airport. Driving from the Tepic airport takes about 35 minutes. Nauka’s on-site helipad and deep-slip marina add to the travel options.

Finished residences at Nauka range from $6 million to $12 million, and there’s a rental pool that owners can put their properties into when they’re elsewhere. Birnbaum notes that having members pay an initiation fee of more than $200,000 and yearly dues is more lucrative than running a high-profile restaurant.

“To me, that’s a much better and more interesting business,” Birnbaum says. “Not to mention, I’m taking care of not just an individual but a whole family. And I, now as a family person, am extremely interested in how I’m spending my next hopefully 50 years, God willing, with my wife and children and my friends with their children having the greatest time ever. This is the only business I’ve ever known, entertaining people and giving them experiences. And now I have, for example, a 15-acre jungle wellness facility.”

Beyond Nauka, Fasja, Birnbaum and Life Properties are working on two other developments. Caye Chapel in Belize is a members-only private island with a Greg Norman-designed golf course and a Four Seasons resort and residences. Bruma in Mexico’s Guadalupe Valley is a wine-focused resort community where Hussong operates the highly regarded Fauna and where Life Properties will soon announce a new hotel.

Birbaum and Life Properties are looking at other parts of the world, including U.S. ski destinations and international locales, to do fourth and fifth projects. “Each one of them will have a hotel,” Birnbaum says. 

At each property, Birnbaum will continue to do what he does. He’ll contact his clientele of power players and celebrities and tell them about a great experience he’s offering, like how it’s possible to play padel, pickleball or tennis on the ocean at Nauka.

For Nauka, Life Properties has found high-profile members without any advertising or brokers.

“This only came from myself and the partners, and then the members themselves have brought this community together,” Birnbaum says. “It is a full insider, like-minded community of people that are family-focused, interested in the outdoors, ocean, wellness, sports and luxury travel. At the end of the day, we are just doing it with people who want to have a good private time with their family and friends.”

Uovo, a precision-focused Italian restaurant that makes pasta in Bologna and flies the hand-crafted noodles in a temperature-controlled compartment to the United States, will open in New York next year.

Uovo, which launched in Santa Monica in 2017 and now has five Los Angeles locations, plans to debut in New York in spring 2026, at 13 W. 28th St. in NoMad. 

“We have a lot of Italian people who come to the restaurant,” Uovo co-founder Carlo Massimini tells Observer. “And we also have a lot of people from New York. Everybody always says, ‘Oh, you should go to New York.’ We think people will like us just as much in New York because we’re going to make exactly the same dishes.”

Uovo’s other co-founders are Carlo’s brother, Lele, and prolific restaurateur Jerry Greenberg. (Greenberg and Lele Massimini are also co-founders of Sugarfish and KazuNori, both of which have expanded from Los Angeles to New York.) They immersed themselves into creating a resolutely traditional Italian restaurant. One R&D trip that led to the birth of Uovo involved tasting 77 pastas in Rome, Bologna and a couple places just outside the northern Italian city, all in less than three days. 

“That was the first time I ate with Carlo in this kind of a way,” Greenberg tells Observer. “By the time we got to the 75th pasta, I think Carlo was thinking about not joining us.”

The Massiminis and Greenberg clearly understand that New York is a city loaded with all kinds of hyper-specific Italian restaurants, including an outpost of born-in-Rome Roscioli and the Emilia Romagna-inspired Rezdôra.

“The culture of Italian food is so strong in New York, and that’s super appealing to us,” Greenberg tells Observer. “We want to go places that have a culture for the food. Some people think about going to a city because it’s underserved in their cuisine, but that’s not how we think about it.”

The original plan for Uovo was to ship over Italian eggs with rich red yolks that are optimal for pasta. Once the team realized this wasn’t possible, they put together a Bologna kitchen and tapped chef Pino Mastrangelo and pasta-maker Stefania Randi to run it. None of the noodles at Uovo are extruded. Everything is made with time-honored sheeting and cutting techniques. And the combination of this process and the eggs Uovo uses results in strikingly yellow noodles that bind well with sauce.

Both Mastrangelo and Randi came to Uovo from Bologna’s Antica Trattoria della Gigina, a restaurant so generous in spirit that it also shared its born-in-the-1950s Bolognese recipe with Uovo.

Carlo is still gobsmacked about how he went to Gigina as a normal guest and got invited to return the next day and learn how to make pasta in the kitchen. Now, Uovo makes its ragu using Gigina’s recipe. But instead of beef from Italy, Uovo gets 100 percent grass-fed wagyu from New Zealand’s First Light Farms. Greenberg, who also runs wagyu-centric restaurants HiHo Cheeseburger, Matu and Matū Kai, traveled the world in search of the best beef and believes that First Light is the champion. 

Sorting out a vongole recipe at Uovo was more complicated than learning the Bolognese recipe. The Massiminis were born and raised in Rome, and Uovo figured out how to re-create their mother’s clam sauce. The challenge was that Carlo and Lele’s mom is a home cook who makes vongole intuitively.

“We drove my mom crazy because we need to measure it, we need to check it,” Carlo says. “My mom does everything with her eyes.”

For amatriciana, Uovo was inspired by the thick, crispy squares of guanciale that Roscioli uses in Rome.  

“We did a tremendous amount of very high-heat testing,” Greenberg says. “It was about how you apply the heat so that it’s crisp on the outside but still has a bit of life on the inside.” 

It’s this commitment to precision that led Uovo to source tomatoes grown in Basilicata and 24-month-aged Parmigiano-Reggiano from Parma. Uovo even makes its limited gluten-free pasta options in Bologna.

Uovo is light on starters and side dishes, and there are no main courses that come after pasta. Substitutions are not allowed. The focus here is traditional pasta through and through. 

Adding to the precision: Every order at Uovo is prepared individually.

“We need to be consistent,” Carlo says. “We believe we have strong traditional recipes, and we want the food to be exactly as we expect it.”

“There’s plenty of Italian food that exists in New York,” Greenberg says. “There’s New York Italian, red sauce Italian, Italian Italian, probably all kinds of fusion Italian. We think that the specific super-traditional Italian at Uovo will fit in great and add to the mix in New York.”

There’s one big detail that Uovo is working out as it prepares to open in New York. An important part of the process is having pasta rest while it’s in transit. Because flights to New York are shorter than they are to L.A., Uovo is looking at how and when to add resting time for its pasta. Rest assured, the Massiminis and Greenberg won’t be satisfied until they get this exactly right.

After opening the Tesla Diner in West Hollywood on July 21, chef Eric Greenspan spent numerous days essentially living at the restaurant.

“I was working 20 hours a day for the first two weeks,” Greenspan tells Observer during his first interview about the most buzzed-about restaurant in Los Angeles. 

There was a lot of chaos and unpredictability, of course, including 2,000-plus-cover days, long wait times and anti-Elon Musk protesters with bullhorns. So Greenspan did what veteran chefs do: He focused on what he could control. 

That’s how he found himself in the kitchen developing new dishes at 2 a.m. after his dining room was closed, but while his team was still fulfilling orders for Brandt Beef burgers and Frecker Farms strawberry milkshakes that were placed by visitors inside Teslas parked at the diner’s supercharger lot.

“While I was corralling the beast, I had to go to R&D mode, which was a little crazy,” Greenspan says.

Things have since stabilized at the diner. It’s still extremely busy on weekends, but the hype has died down a bit, and Greenspan estimates that guest counts are down 15 to 20 percent from the peak. Plus, Greenspan has improved ticket times by honing in on his most popular dishes, cutting items that were slowing down the kitchen and not serving his breakfast menu all day.

Come for breakfast or lunch on a weekday, and you likely won’t be part of a frenzy. On a lunch visit last week, I was able to place a touchscreen order immediately and got the hot dog, chili, tuna melt, matcha latte and chocolate shake within 10 minutes of walking inside. On a breakfast run, getting chicken and waffles with add-ons of cheese sauce and bacon also took less than 10 minutes. This is especially impressive when you realize Greenspan runs a scratch kitchen that’s cooking everything to order.

Today, the Tesla Diner is unveiling a new menu that grew out of Greenspan’s after-hours R&D sessions. 

“Thematically, we want to be an ode to the roadside diner in a new modern way,” says Greenspan, who is operating the Tesla Diner alongside restaurateur Bill Chait. “But Tesla is a brand about sustainable abundance, and we definitely have a mandate in many ways to have plant-based options.”

The 50-year-old Greenspan, whose storied career includes being executive chef at the now-closed fine-dining stunner Patina when he was just 27, opening the critically acclaimed Foundry on Melrose, becoming a ghost-kitchen pioneer, launching MrBeast Burger and creating the New School cheese brand, wants the Tesla Diner’s plant-based dishes to offer the indulgence, nostalgia and comfort of classic diner food.

So he came up with a country-fried portobello mushroom, which is glazed in tamari for extra umami and roasted in an oven before it’s dredged and fried. It’s topped with a plant-based gravy.

“It eats like white gravy,” Greenspan says. “It’s got the nutmeg. It’s got the black pepper. It’s got a bunch of caramelized onions that we puréed smooth. We finish it with a little bit of oat milk.”

The mushroom is served with arugula and pickles on a plant-based brioche bun. The $13 sandwich is “an ode to chicken-fried steak,” per Greenspan.

Another new dish is a revision of a salad that Greenspan is now serving with a vegan green goddess dressing instead of the previous dill ranch. Greenspan is getting farmers market greens for the $9 kale-and-arugula salad, which also features cherry tomatoes, red onions that are pickled in-house and gluten-free breadcrumbs. Guests have the option of adding tuna, fried chicken or a burger patty to the salad.

Greenspan is also planning to roll out an extensive shake program next week.

“We believe we serve the greatest milkshakes in America,” he says.

He’s working on new options like a ceremonial matcha shake with pandan. Guests will also be able to get an all-day pick-me-up in the form of a mocha milkshake or an espresso milkshake. What Greenspan is calling the “ludicrous” shake ($13) will be half matcha and half strawberry with a whipped coconut topping. There will also be pie shakes, starting with a vanilla-based one with chunks of apple pie from Los Angeles bakery Winston’s Pies.

Greenspan is running a high-volume diner, but he’s still thinking like a fine-dining chef who’s obsessed with local ingredients.

“We purposely set up a fairly fragile supply chain,” Greenspan says. “It wasn’t a mandate from Tesla. It was a mandate from me. I looked at the ethos of the brand. I came up with the idea that the overwhelming majority of products that we serve here are sourced within one Tesla charge of the diner. So we’re at about 300, 350 miles.”

For his burgers, he’s getting a proprietary prime blend from Brandt Beef, which has a family-owned Southern California ranch. He’s serving Palisades Ranch and Mary’s Chicken. For his strawberry milkshake, he chops up Frecker Farms strawberries, roasts them in the oven and makes a chunky compote that he mixes with soft-serve from Valley Ford Cheese and Creamery. He adds Straus Family Creamery milk to his chocolate and vanilla milkshakes. 

For breakfast tacos, Greenspan is putting Chino Valley Ranchers eggs and Baker’s bacon on Tehachapi Heritage Grain Project tortillas. (In the aftermath of this year’s devastating Los Angeles fires, Greenspan and Tehachapi Heritage Grain Project’s Sherry Mandell spearheaded 30,000 relief meals.)

Greenspan went to Burbank’s RC Provisions and asked for an ode to the chili served at L.A.’s Original Tommy’s burger joints. But he wanted it with wagyu. RC Provisions, which actually makes the chili for Tommy’s and the equally iconic pastrami for Langer’s, satisfied Greenspan’s appetite for indulgence, nostalgia and comfort.

“Look, it’s hard to believe, but when I was in high school, I had a little bit of a weight problem,” the heavyset Greenspan says with a smile. “And I lost 50 pounds my junior year in high school. The carrot I would dangle in front of me was my cheat meal every Friday, which was to go to Tommy’s and eat chili cheese fries.”

So you can, of course, order chili cheese fries at the Tesla Diner, which also offers cups of chili and chili-topped Snap-O-Razzo hot dogs. Like so much of his food, the chili is a story about Greenspan’s past, present and future. He is excited to share many more stories soon, but he’s a little busy in the meantime.

What he wants me to know now is that it wasn’t his time at Patina that prepared him for this opening. It was cooking for the masses at Coachella, where he is a fixture in the culinary lineup. It was opening MrBeast Burger and serving 6,600 double smash burgers in a single day. 

Jeremy Brumley, a close friend of Greenspan’s who was previously the chief operating officer of MrBeast Burger, raised his hand to help with the Tesla Diner opening. Greenspan laughs as he thinks about the previous chaos he and Brumley experienced together.

“Why the fuck am I doing double burgers?” he says, recalling his MrBeast experience. “This could be half as easy if I did single burgers.”

So for the Tesla Diner, Greenspan figured out how to make one-patty burgers in a new way.

“I worked with Tesla engineers to design a smasher to take a third of a pound of beef and smash it in such a way that I got an inch disc of the smash, which is, in my opinion, the best part,” he says. “There’s that first bite and the last bite of the crunch. And in the middle is like a quarter pound of juicy, not smashed, not overcooked burger. I had the opportunity to do something unique because I had access to Tesla engineers.”

He’s had some discussions with Tesla about whether he should train a robot to make burgers. So far, he’s declined. 

Nothing about this restaurant opening has been normal, but Greenspan says the challenge of “running into the fire” is exactly why he and Chait signed up for the Tesla Diner.

“What makes Bill and I great partners is that both of us are the Kool-Aid Man,” Greenspan says. “We’ll both run through a brick wall to get shit done.”

On July 23, two days after the Tesla Diner debuted, Greenspan sent me a text: “It’s been exactly what I thought it would be. Wild, crazy and unprecedented.”

I got another text from him on July 28: “I’ve never experienced anything remotely close to this madness.”

He hasn’t had the time or brain space to properly process the madness. But again, the important thing right now is zeroing in on what he can control.

“At some point, I look forward to sharing the details of what I think has been the craziest Los Angeles restaurant opening in history,” he says. “But right now, I’m focused on making sure that we continue the progress that we’ve made to serve an exemplary product and to create a great experience. We’ll tell stories in the future.”

It’s about to get much easier to get the most buzzed-about cheesesteak in Los Angeles.

Matū, the steak-focused L.A. restaurant that exclusively serves grass-fed wagyu from New Zealand’s First Light Farms, will debut its order-at-the-window Cheesesteaks by Matū spinoff later this year.

Cheesesteaks by Matū is slated to open on Pasadena’s East Colorado Boulevard in the late fall, and another location of the new concept is expected to debut at The Commons at Calabasas in the winter. Both restaurants will share a space with a forthcoming outpost of HiHo Cheeseburger. 

Matū and HiHo are part of prolific restaurateur Jerry Greenberg’s portfolio, which also includes Nozawa Bar, Sugarfish, KazuNori and Uovo. HiHo and Matū both use sustainably raised, 100 percent grass-fed wagyu from First Light. But the new HiHo and Cheesesteaks by Matū locations will be operated as separate restaurants, with different teams and different kitchens.

Up until this point, the only way to eat a cheesesteak at a Matū restaurant has been to sit at the bar or order the over-the-top Lock, Stock & Barrel tasting menu, which features the cheesesteak for “dessert” as your final course. This is largely because serving cheesesteaks at Matū is like running another restaurant, and allowing everyone to order a cheesesteak would overwhelm the kitchen. So there’s often been a wait for cheesesteaks at the 14-seat bar inside the original Beverly Hills Matū. 

The Beverly Hills location also fulfills takeout and delivery orders for cheesesteaks during lunch, but eating them on-site is optimal. Guests, including one who was heard bragging that he’s eaten the cheesesteak nearly 100 times since it debuted in September 2022, drive from all over the city to get their cheesesteak fix. Some of these guests now drive to Brentwood, where Matū Kai opened this year.

“We have to limit it to just the bar,” Matū chef Scott Linder tells Observer. “Not only is it about the size of our plancha, but it also takes focus from what we do in the dining room: steaks and skewers and croquetas and all these other great things. We love the cheesesteak, and we love that you can have the cheesesteak. But you have to sit at the bar because, otherwise, it would be absolute insanity.”

Matū isn’t a restaurant that pre-cooks ingredients and quickly assembles cheesesteaks. 

“If we made them that way, we probably could have as many cheesesteaks as you want,” Greenberg, who is from South Jersey and grew up eating a lot of cheesesteaks, tells Observer. “But that’s not how we make them. We take the meat, we drop it on, we chop it—it’s a very heavy process. “

The mix of rib-eye and sirloin for each sandwich is cooked to order, and Matū is constantly putting bread into a Rational oven to ensure that every bite is crisp and that the sesame seeds atop the rolls are properly toasted.

R&D for the $24 cheesesteak, which is made with Cooper Sharp cheese, grilled onions and a roasted long hot pepper that can sometimes be intensely spicy, was arduous.

“We did 25 rounds of cheesesteak testing, and there was one time I may have almost died,” Linder says. “The R&D process for this may have been the most painful of any R&D process I’ve ever done. It’s actually dangerous. Each round of testing involved about 15 cheesesteaks. You’re really trying to taste side-by-side and see the most subtle differences. A quarter ounce of this difference, a couple grams of cheese difference, five more seconds difference. And the problem is that you can’t just have one bite of a cheesesteak. You need to have two, three bites because you need to go back and forth between different test samples. When I knew I had to do cheesesteak testing, I didn’t eat the whole day.”

The Matū team clearly believe that they’ve created an optimal cheesesteak, and Los Angeles concurs. But Greenberg and Linder don’t completely agree on what should be on a cheesesteak. Greenberg likes to add some ketchup when he has a cheesesteak. Linder does not.

“When I grew up, there were a lot of people who said you don’t put ketchup on a cheesesteak,” says Greenberg, who believes in putting ketchup on cheesesteaks, burgers and absolutely nothing else. “I’ve had people from Philly and South Jersey tell me I’m absolutely wrong. But if I’m absolutely wrong, can you tell me why every cheesesteak place has ketchup? And they all do.”

Greenberg enjoys the sweetness of ketchup on a cheesesteak and how ketchup can cool off the heat if you get an extra spicy, long hot pepper. He’s ready for more of L.A. to engage in this debate about whether ketchup belongs on a cheesesteak.

Greenberg is methodical about expansion. He knows it’s out of character for him to announce two locations of Cheesesteaks by Matū before he’s even opened one. But he was offered the right real estate and likes the opportunity in front of him.

“We’re trying to create an energy and a vibe celebrating this beef,” Greenberg says.

He traveled the world in search of the best beef, and he is such a believer in the New Zealand wagyu he uses that he became a co-owner in First Light Farms. Greenberg sees a future where there could potentially be a complex that includes Matū, Cheesesteaks by Matū and HiHo Cheeseburger.

“If this goes the way that we hope, it gives us a variety of different ways to express this great beef,” Greenberg says.

Singapore’s Zouk Group is a nightlife company with staying power. The dance-music pioneer has been raging since 1991 and recently signed a five-year lease extension for its Zouk club complex on River Valley Road. Zouk is the longest-running nightclub in Singapore and continues to be the company’s most successful business, so there’s no reason to stop the party anytime soon.

But what will greatly shape the future of Zouk Group is its restaurant expansion. In June, Zouk Group opened The Plump Frenchman with chef Lorenz Hoja, who previously ran the kitchen at Singapore’s two-Michelin-starred L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon. The success of The Plump Frenchman, a lively bistro that offers accessibly priced French classics like coq au vin and eggs with ratatouille in the Guoco Midtown development, has made Zouk Group think about different ways to offer guests everyday food.

Zouk Group CEO Andrew Li tells Observer that he’s not chasing Michelin stars at this moment. He believes his company is capable of that, but many high-end restaurants in Singapore have closed, and Zouk Group wants to capture the middle of the market.

“Looking at the macroeconomics globally and especially here in Singapore, we wanted to take his type of cooking but make it really affordable to the masses,” Li says of Hoja and The Plump Frenchman. “With the high rent in Singapore, we needed something that could do high turnover, but we also wanted to have quality produce and French fine dining technique.”

One strategy for Zouk Group’s expansion is to “take The Plump Frenchman and expand through different verticals,” Li adds. “We’re thinking that we’re going to do The Plump Spanishman and The Plump Chineseman and look at different cuisines that we can grow under that brand.”

Zouk Group, which was purchased by Hui Lim in 2020, has also partnered with buzzy sandwich shop Korio.

“We think it is a very scalable brand,” Li says. “It has a very small footprint of 500 to 600 square feet, so it’s a no-brainer for us to make sure that this becomes a scalable concept.”

Li is now looking around the world for restaurants that he can open in Singapore. (New-school Los Angeles bistro Camphor did a pop-up at Zouk Group’s Here Kitty Kitty speakeasy during Singapore’s Formula One week last year.) It’s important, Li says, for his company to have an ownership stake in these future deals. He wants to make it clear that Zouk Group is looking for “strategic acquisitions” and is ready to invest in growth.

One advantage that Zouk Group—with venues in Singapore, Malaysia, Tokyo, Las Vegas and Los Angeles—has is its ability to roll out outposts in different cities. At Resorts World Las Vegas, for example, Zouk Group has a dining portfolio that includes modern Asian restaurant Fuhu, sports bar/arcade Redtail and the Famous Foods Street Eats food hall to complement its Zouk nightclub and Ayu dayclub. 

Zouk Group’s Southeast Asian presence includes the franchise rights for the Five Guys burger chain in Singapore and Malaysia.

“We don’t want to do too many license deals or franchise deals anymore,” Li says. “It’s important that we own part of the brand, so that we’re increasing its IP value and increasing our footprint.” 

At the same time, Zouk Group isn’t one of those nightlife groups that wants to bring in prominent chefs and change what they do. At The Plump Frenchman, Hoja is cooking his food on his terms.

“There have been times in the past when Hui and I have kind of tried to dictate to the chef what he should cook, and we’ve learned the painful way that that never really works out,” Li says. “We said to Lorenz, ‘We know this is your baby.’”

Zouk Group is also being careful about its partnership with Korio, which just opened a new location next to The Plump Frenchman in July. Prior to teaming up with Zouk, Korio founders Myron Tan and Shaz Henshaw operated their tiny sandwich shop themselves.

“I think they have a really strong brand here locally,” Zouk Group senior director of operations David Long tells Observer. “We’re working with husband-and-wife founders who never had any real plans to expand the brand. There are, of course, challenges in trying to make it a scalable business when they’re used to running it as a single owner-operated outlet.”

Part of this challenge for chefs and entrepreneurs is about streamlining operations, creating efficiencies and realizing that you can’t and shouldn’t do everything yourself. Zouk Group is here to find restaurants it loves and provide an infrastructure that allows them to thrive and grow.

“In the past, I would say that getting a Michelin star was a top priority,” Li says. “But really for us right now, it’s being able to take the concepts we have and make them more sustainable business models that are able to scale. I think that’s the most important part.”

Working with Five Guys, despite the burden of a high franchise fee, has taught Zouk Group a lot about quality control and maintaining brand standards, Long says. Li and Long are humble enough to admit that the company is still learning as it goes.

“We’ve failed quite a few times in the past,” Li says. “There’s definitely a lot of experiences that we’ve learned from. When we did our first Fuhu, we brought in Alvin Leung from Hong Kong. He’s called the ‘Demon Chef,’ and it was extremely high-cost to have him in as a consultant. We had these huge ideas of getting this Michelin-starred chef and putting him with this brand.”

And then they realized that the casino customers at Resorts World Genting in Malaysia were more inclined to just eat a bowl of noodles and go back to gambling. Knowing your audience is key, which is something Zouk Group has clearly figured out with its nightclubs.

The Zouk nightlife complex in Singapore is three clubs in one. Phuture, the smallest club, is student-oriented; it’s a place where 18-year-olds buy a ticket, enjoy affordable drinks and dance to hip-hop. The main club is Zouk, where guests in their early 20s rage during EDM sets from world-famous DJs like Galantis, Illenium, Diplo and Paul van Dyk. There’s bottle service here, but the music is the main reason revelers visit. 

Then there’s Capital, the most elite of the clubs.

“The people there are in their early-30s to mid-40s, and that’s basically all table service,” Li says. “You’ve got Champagne rituals, a lot of bottle service and a small dance floor. It’s not really about the DJ. It’s more about the community and having people of that caliber around you.”

“There’s a life cycle of a typical nightlife customer,” Long adds. “I think introducing them to multiple concepts, with Capital being the final one, creates a sense of community. A lot of the people know each other. There’s a familiarity.”

Adding restaurants to the mix can extend this life cycle, of course. Zouk Group wants to meet its customers where they are, day and night.

One thing that’s striking about Phuture, Zouk and Capital is how happy and in the moment guests are. At many nightclubs, you’ll see bored people looking at their phones or social media addicts filming every moment. When I walked through Zouk Group’s clubs on a busy Saturday night, I didn’t see many phones. And when I filmed the DJ booth at Capital, I looked around and realized that there wasn’t a single person on the dance floor with their phone out. People come here to dance and drink and lose themselves, and many of them linger outside after leaving the club because the point of this is gathering with old friends and making new friends. 

I was still thinking about all this a few days later when I was dining at The Plump Frenchman and saw guests giggling and ordering extra wine on their lunch break. It was a scene that showed Zouk Group’s strengths—because what Zouk Group really excels at is creating an escape and creating joy.

Singapore has long been known for both its street food and its ultra-fine dining, but it turns out that what’s in the middle can be just as wondrous as affordable satays and caviar-laden tasting menus. Chefs who worked for world-renowned restaurant brands inside high-end casino resorts are now cooking on their own terms at vibrant new spots. Cool hotels, recognizing how much guests enjoy hawker-stand food around the city, are weaving dishes like Singaporean laksa and Hainanese chicken into their dining and nightlife portfolios. Restaurant groups are getting more ambitious and high-spirited as they redefine what makes Singaporean food.

This is a city where food is truly international and always leveling up, and locals are spoiled with the array of offerings. Even Din Tai Fung, a highly coveted reservation in many cities, is easily accessible in Singapore. And Din Tai Fung’s numerous locations at shopping malls, including one at the Jewel Changi airport, serve specials like chili crab soup dumplings and kaya buns.

What’s happening now in Singapore mirrors what’s happening in many important food cities around the world. Yes, the global dining brands are here and have calibrated their restaurants for both a local and an international audience. But there are also great neighborhood destinations and scenester hangouts, whether you’re looking for a curry-powered dinner or a bistro lunch or a beachy barbecue. Here are some new players re-setting the scene.

Belimbing

• 269A Beach Road, Singapore, 199546

At this new restaurant from the team behind The Coconut Club, chef Marcus Leow is focused on “new-gen Singaporean food.” In Leow’s capable hands, merging time-tested flavors with updated ingredients and presentations is harmonious. 

Clam custard with scallop, asam pedas and white pepper evokes the feeling of eating seafood at picnic tables on the streets of Geylang. Beautifully plated aged kanpachi pops with pink guava and coconut milk. Main dishes like fried chicken and grilled prime short rib are fragrant and flavorful with curry spices. Nasi ulam, a traditional Southeast Asian rice dish, comes with perfectly seared seasonal fish. 

The goal for a lot of restaurants is to feel familiar and brand-new at the same time. Belimbing succeeds at this without anything feeling contrived. This is confident, playful and careful cooking that honors heritage while creating its own path.

The Singapore Edition

• 38 Cuscaden Road, Singapore 249731

It’s after midnight at Wonder Room, the vibey, red-hued micro club tucked below street level at the Singapore Edition hotel, and there’s an elegant woman in a blush satin dress at a VIP table eating Hainanese chicken over rice. She’s not getting special treatment. This nightlife destination, knowing that revelers get hungry in the wee hours, likes to pass out snacks to its guests while a DJ and on-stage dancers keep the party going.

With a cocktail menu led by Singapore Edition beverage director Giovanni Graziadei (who previously helped run the bar program at Singapore mixology mainstay Jigger & Pony), Wonder Room serves excellent Negronis and Clover Clubs. You can also get good drinks at the hotel’s lobby bar, rooftop pool bar and Punch Room, the latter of which is a strikingly blue space that serves punch bowls inspired by the history and flavors of Singapore.

The Edition is very much a luxury hotel that wants to pay tribute to Singapore. Breakfast at Fysh, a restaurant that serves famed chef/fish butcher Josh Niland’s sustainable seafood menu for lunch and dinner, includes street-food favorites like laksa (Fysh’s version has lobster) and nasi lemak.

The Plump Frenchman

• 20 Tan Quee Lan St., #01-20, Singapore 188107

Chef Lorenz Hoja, who was previously executive chef at Singapore’s two-Michelin-starred L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, and Zouk Group have opened a delightful everyday brasserie with comforting classics like braised veal shank, coq au vin and flounder meunière on a menu that also has a dedicated rotisserie section and properly buttery pommes purée. At a recent dinner, we marveled at the plumpness and meatiness of frog legs after we enjoyed chorizo-stuffed squid.

In a city that favors hearty street food over leafy greens, you’ll probably be happy to find a transportive French restaurant with an expertly constructed salade niçoise. Anchovies with tomatoes and good olive oil on little pieces of sourdough are another nice way to start, and lemon tiramisu is a refreshing way to end. This restaurant works well for quick lunches as well as leisurely dinners.

Tanjong Beach Club

• 120 Tanjong Beach Walk, Singapore 098942

Seafood towers, tropical spritzes, bottles of rosé and unforgettable sunsets set the tone at this waterfront destination on Sentosa Island. Tanjong Beach Club, which reopened in April after a stylish makeover from The Lo & Behold Group, is where DJs amp up the energy as daytime turns into evening. Come sunset, the pool and on-site restaurant fill up as strangers (both locals and tourists) become pals. 

Guests get their hands dirty eating burgers, grilled prawns and corn ribs atop towels on daybeds while countless social media photos are being taken on the beach behind them. The vibe is coastal barbecue with a menu of wood-fired dishes from head chef Mong Zhen Yew (formerly at Singapore’s Osteria Mozza and Spago) and consulting chef Vallian Gunawan (who runs Kindling in Jakarta). This is a party that’s simultaneously high-energy and low-key at the same time. You can come here to rage, but you can also come here to decompress, eat pasta and lie down as you stare at the dreamy sunset. 

StraitsKitchen

• 10 Scotts Road, Singapore 228211

This halal buffet wonderland, which reopened at the newly renovated Grand Hyatt Singapore last year, brings together hawker-stand favorites and all-over-the-map Asian food. There’s laksa, nasi lemak, congee, Chinese pastries, dim sum and, best of all, an Indian station with terrific curries and pratas. 

Yes, you should by all means go to an old-school hawker center when you’re in Singapore, but StraitsKitchen is where you can eat chicken rendang, channa masala, medu vada, prawn mee, youtiao, har gow, char kway teow, otak-otak, kek lapis, local fruits and classic patisserie offerings in one sitting. This restaurant is a trip in itself.

The annual World’s 50 Best Restaurants list is about luxury, precision and bucket-list experiences, but it’s also about getting customers to revalue food. 

So this year, on the week of the prestigious awards ceremony in Turin, Italy, chef Pam Soontornyanakij discussed how her restaurant has helped change Bangkok’s dining landscape. Potong, which is No. 13 on this year’s list and earned Soontornyanakij the World’s Best Female Chef 2025 award, serves Thai-Chinese cuisine in Bangkok’s Chinatown.

During the World’s 50 Best Restaurants press conference, Soontornyanakij spoke about how it’s refreshing to see that locals in Thailand are now “willing to pay more for local cuisine.” In the recent past, she said, Thai customers were much more inclined to enjoy pricey meals at Japanese, Italian or French restaurants. But all over the world, chefs like Soontornyanakij are altering the conversation and the dining habits of the cities they call home.

“I want to use local ingredients and create authentic flavors but incorporate the skills and things that I learned in my career,’ says Soontornyanakij, who previously trained under Jean-Georges Vongerichten in New York.

Soontornyanaki’s signature dish is roast duck. She gets the duck from Chachoengsao, about an hour and a half from Bangkok, and creates a hybrid of Beijing duck and French duck.

“I was trained very French and very Western,” she said. “But when I came back to Thailand, I felt like I wanted to create my own path and my own cuisine, a cuisine that really represents my heritage.”

One day after the press conference, at a Meet the Chefs gathering where honorees spoke candidly about the future of fine dining, chef JP Park of New York’s Atomix (No. 12 in this year’s list) talked about the research center in Seoul that he debuted last year. 

“The reason why we opened the laboratory in Korea is to look for the foundation of Korean food,” Park says. “We can take something different, like Mexican flavors, and mix it with the Korean foundation to create something unique.”

Park, for example, makes his version of mole with gochujang. And his Seoul research center has been playing around with different Korean hot sauces. As always, Park and Atomix are R&Ding dishes that simultaneously taste familiar and brand new.

So much of fine dining, of course, is a balancing act.

Chef Eric Kragh Vildgaard of Copenhagen’s Restaurant Jordnær (No. 56 in this year’s extended 51-100 list)  was asked about how he balances sustainability and luxury.

“That’s a good question because I am a luxurious kind of guy,” he said. “I could do better personally by using less luxurious ingredients. But since I have this desire to be a fine dining restaurant with only the best for the guests, I have to make some compromises. But very often, the best product comes from the most sustainable sourcing.”

Vildgaard spoke about the importance of Jordnær being a collaborative place where his team is happy and has influence on the restaurant.

“We push more for inclusiveness and being socially sustainable,” he said. “That for me is more important than being hyper-local. It’s more important that my chefs have a good life.”

(After the Meet the Chefs event, Vildgaard hopped on a shuttle bus with media instead of calling an Uber: “I’m saving money so I can buy more caviar,” he quipped.)

Being at the top of your game is grueling work, so balance is important. Chef Jorge Vallejo of Quintonil (No. 3 on this year’s list) wants to make it clear that long-term dedication is a key part of the recipe for success.

“We started in a very humble beginning,” he said. “We didn’t have any investors. We have 13 years already in the restaurant. It’s a project of life. It’s not a business. We consider Quintonil part of us.”

When asked what advice he has for chefs who want to strike out on their own, Vallejo stressed that putting in the work matters a lot.

“I started in the kitchen when I was 16 years old, and I opened my restaurant at the age of 30,” he said. “I think the younger generation needs to understand that it takes time. I believe that people need a commitment to learn, to take their journey, because cooking is not just about talent. It’s about discipline. It’s about ethics. It’s about teamwork. And if you don’t understand that you need people to build a team, it’s going to be very difficult for all of us to evolve.”

So where is fine dining headed in the future?

“I think it’s going to be very personal,” Atomix’s Park said. “It used to be more about soigné service. But now people are more excited to know about the chef, the philosophy behind the restaurant and the team.”

One of the most exciting new steakhouses in Las Vegas isn’t on the Strip.

On July 2, grill-loving chef Brad Wise will open Rare Society at the $800 million, 40-acre Uncommons mixed-use development across from the Durango casino.

The Las Vegas debut of Rare Society, which already has two San Diego locations in addition to outposts in Orange County, Santa Barbara and Mill Creek, Washington, solidifies this part of southwest Las Vegas as a dining destination. Uncommons is already home to lively sit-down restaurants Amari and Siempre J.B., alongside more casual spots like All’Antico Vinaio, Urth Caffé, Salt & Straw, Blue Bottle and SunLife Organics. Durango, meanwhile, is where chef Danny Ye’s stellar Nicco’s steakhouse headlines a dining collection that also includes a food hall with Uncle Paulie’s Deli, Prince Street Pizza, Shang Artisan Noodle, Fiorella and Oyster Bar.

Wise never thought he would open in Las Vegas before the Uncommons opportunity emerged, but this opening feels like a full-circle moment. Rare Society, which first debuted in San Diego in 2019, was inspired by Vegas glamour. And the new 5,000-square-foot Rare Society at Uncommons very much wants to invoke the feeling of Rat Pack gatherings in a space with dark wood, honed black stone, hand-stitched leather, polished metal and eye-catching mirrors.

Wise, not surprisingly, plans to go big at his new location with exclusive-to-Vegas Rare Society dishes like a Snake River Farms wagyu tomahawk, Alaskan king crab (available by itself or as part of seafood towers), broiled oysters (with bacon, yuzu-arugula butter and crispy capers), lobster mashed potatoes and summer corn (a riff on elote with chorizo, pasilla peppers and cotija cheese).

And he will, of course, serve the steak boards with assorted cuts and sauces that Rare Society is known for at all its locations.

“When we opened our first Rare Society, it was a failed bar concept that we flipped into a Vegas-inspired steakhouse,” Wise tells Observer. Even then, he was thinking about off-the-Strip sexiness after he visited the Barrymore (which has since closed) in Las Vegas and saw the movie reels on the restaurant’s ceilings.

Wise was also inspired by over-the-top East Coast steakhouses. But one thing that’s made his restaurant stand out is its California roots and the cues it takes from the informality of California’s Santa Maria-style barbecue. For example, Rare Society grills steaks and chars vegetables over red oak.

“I wanted to kind of bridge the gap between the high-end steakhouse and the ultra-casual,” Wise says. “I feel like the wood-fire concept that we have makes it a bit less refined. The meat is cooked in a different style. It’s not this perfect sear under a broiler. The char that you get when you’re using a wood-fired grill is a little bit more difficult.”

Wise has put together ultra-popular steak boards, which he remarkably sells more of than single steaks. The Associate board features an 8-ounce wagyu Denver steak, a 10-ounce piece of tri-tip, a 5-ounce filet mignon, and bone marrow alongside pickle-braised onions and beef-fat butter. Boards also come with housemade sauces like Santa Maria-style salsa (which is tomato-based and features Anaheim peppers, pasilla peppers and onions finished with a little Coca-Cola), classic béarnaise and Rare Society’s steak sauce.

The grander Executive board includes a 22-ounce dry-aged rib eye, a 20-ounce dry-aged bone-in New York strip and an 8-ounce filet mignon. Wise, who has his beef dry-aged in Arizona because the climate is more favorable, makes horseradish cream that he loves to pair with the dry-aged New York strip.

And if you’re looking for surf-and-turf as your main course, Rare Society is putting king crab Oscar on the menu as the chef develops new dishes.

“This restaurant is much more refined than any of the other five locations,” Wise says. His goal is to open something inspired by Las Vegas, but that doesn’t feel like typical Vegas steakhouses.

“You always have this sense of grandeur when you walk into these Las Vegas restaurants with the high ceilings and all these finishes and details where they spent an ultra amount of money,” he says. “At Rare Society, the ceilings are lower. It’s more quaint. It’s a little bit sexier because it’s smaller. The booths are even lower. We sunk the bar in, so you have a different experience when you’re sitting at a dining table and can actually look a bartender in the eye and not stare up at them.”

Maybe that eye contact will remind you to order the restaurant’s signature Old Fashioned, which features dry-aged-fat-washed bourbon and a lardo garnish. 

Wise is clearly ready to shake up the steakhouse scene in Las Vegas. “Yes, the finishes and details are still there, but I picked all these details that kind of go the opposite way of the normal Vegas approach,” he says. 

Rare Society, located at 6880 Helen Toland St. #100, Las Vegas, NV 89113 will initially be open for dinner Wednesday through Saturday starting July 2, 2025. 

The top spot in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list has often been predictable, so Thursday night’s awards ceremony in Turin, Italy, offered a refreshing surprise. With each year’s No. 1 restaurant retired from contention, it’s been customary for the No. 2 restaurant on the list to claim the top prize in the following year. 

So after Barcelona’s Disfrutar was named No. 1 in 2024, the smart money this year was on 2024’s runner-up Asador Etxebarri, chef Victor Arguinzoniz’s 35-year-old live-fire wonderland in Axpe, Spain. But this year’s list, selected by an academy of 1,120 voters, had a different kind of old flame in mind. 

Maido, a beloved Lima, Peru restaurant that opened in 2009, ascended from No. 5 to the top spot as World’s 50 Best celebrated Mitsuharu Tsumura’s Nikkei cuisine: Maido highlights recognized by voters include squid ramen with Amazonian chorizo and a char siu dish known as The Triple that weaves together avocado, eggs and tomato. (Fans of Nikkei cuisine might also want to know that there’s a new documentary about pioneering chef Nobu Matsuhisa that will have a national theatrical rollout and also be available on demand in July.)

Asador Etxebarri took the No. 2 spot, with Mexico City’s Quintonil, Madrid’s DiverXO and Copenhagen’s Alchemist rounding out the top five.

“I think gastronomy, food [and] hospitality can do amazing things,” Tsumura said as he accepted his award at Turin’s Auditorium Giovanni Agnelli. “They can make dreams come true. They can solve most of the problems that we think cannot be solved.”

He looked out at the crowd as he continued.

“The community, everybody that’s here in the auditorium from all over the world—in this moment, when we have some differences, I really actually believe that the gastronomic industry right now is an example of how we can get together,” Tsumura said. “We talk a lot about sustainability and environment, but we rarely talk about human sustainability. And I think that we should be an example for the world of what can be done and how we can bring things together with the power of food.”

Maido, of course, is about blending cultures while putting in the time and hard work to be the best. A similarly minded destination, Atomix, was the only United States restaurant to make the World’s 50 Best list this year. (The previously announced 51 to 100 extended list included Healdsburg, California’s SingleThread, New York’s Le Bernardin, San Francisco’s Atelier Crenn and New York newcomer César.) 

Atomix fell from No. 6 to No. 12, but it was still a triumphant whirlwind week for Atomix power couple JP and Ellia Park, who have taken genre-bending Korean cuisine to the pinnacle of fine dining in New York. On Monday, the Parks were in Chicago, where they won the 2025 James Beard Award for Outstanding Hospitality and stayed out late celebrating at the after-party. Then they flew out on Tuesday and arrived in Turin Wednesday morning.

Ever humble, the Parks told Observer that they were genuinely surprised about the Beard victory for a nationwide category that Atomix hadn’t been nominated for in previous years. (Disclosure: The writer of this piece was part of the 2025 James Beard Awards voting body.)

“We never thought we were going to be winning it the first year,” JP said on Thursday before the World’s 50 Best ceremony. “This award is about our team and how Ellia’s amazing.”

The Parks also know that they and other prominent United States chefs will have something new to look forward to not long from now, when the 50 Best organization unveils its first North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list at a ceremony at Wynn Las Vegas on September 25. The hope is that this new list properly celebrates the breadth of top-tier dining in the United States. 

This year’s James Beard Awards, for example, recognized a diverse group of talent, including Semma’s Vijay Kumar and Kato’s Jon Yao. Semma is a Michelin-starred Indian restaurant in New York. Kato is a Michelin-starred Taiwanese restaurant in Los Angeles. Both of these restaurants, like Atomix, are about celebrating heritage while writing a new narrative.

“I think that fine dining these days is really about the people,” Ellia said. “Back in the day, it was a little more chandelier. It’s more personal now.”

Scott Sartiano isn’t just opening his Zero Bond members club at Wynn Las Vegas early next year. He’s also betting on a restaurant that will bear his name. Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse, the sibling of New York’s Sartiano’s at the Mercer, will debut adjacent to Zero Bond at Wynn in the winter.

“Like everything I do, it’s based on much more than just food and beverage or hospitality,” Sartiano tells Observer. “I really try to create everlasting brands and experiences. Sartiano’s is something very near and dear to me, with my name and my family history.”

His family is from Naples and Calabria, so Sartiano and culinary director Alfred Portale will offer classic dishes like meatballs, fritto misto and Sunday sauce in Las Vegas. They’ll have their crowd-pleasing caviar cannoli, a signature at Sartiano’s in New York. And they’ll go big in their new Vegas steakhouse with a 40-ounce Double R Ranch dry-aged bistecca alla fiorentina. That colossal steak will be carved tableside and served with Brunello beef jus and salsa verde.

Portale is also looking forward to serving wagyu prime rib and making all of the restaurant’s pastas in-house. He’s ready to play the hits and simultaneously expand the repertoire.

“We play around with some classics like linguine and clams,” Portale tells Observer. “But we also do Alaskan king crab in a light lemon butter with osetra caviar. It’s sort of a broad approach to the Vegas market, and I’m excited about that.”

Chef Michael Rubinstein (who previously cooked at Momofuku and Vetri Cucina) will lead day-to-day kitchen operations and give the restaurant a local Vegas perspective as it serves beef from around the world, showcases seafood from the Mediterranean, and cooks with produce from California. Expect dishes like baked clams, truffle-topped wild mushroom lasagna, a riff on a Caesar salad (with tahini), and Dover sole piccata alongside large-format paccheri with Sunday sauce.

Todd-Avery Lenahan, president and chief creative officer of Wynn Design & Development, worked closely with Tihany Design principal Alessia Genova on interiors inspired by Milan as they reimagined mid-century modernism. Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse will feature an arched ceiling and a terrazzo floor; it will feel quite different from Italian restaurants that are draped in red velvet and decorated with dark colors.

“The room does not have a drop of red in it,” Lenahan tells Observer. “The room has really wonderful earth tones, exquisite woodwork, beautiful stone. The color is going to come in the food that’s on the plate and in the beverages. The room is a neutral sort of framework.”

The restaurant, with a terrace overlooking Wynn Golf Club and a new sculpture garden, will be part of a new era for the casino-resort. “We’ve created essentially a hotel within a hotel at the eastern edge of our property,” Lenahan says.

Zero Bond and Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse are next to Wynn’s Fairway Villas. The resort is creating a private valet area for Zero Bond members, who will be able to gamble at the club’s private casino and eat at the club’s private grill. Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse will be open to the public, but also be a bridge of sorts to the more exclusive experiences Wynn and Sartiano are creating.

“It creates this mini ecosystem, and Sartiano’s plays a part in that,” Sartiano says. “That was really important, making it feel like it’s boutique and artisanal and personal.”

The restaurant is 4,500 square feet, though Lenahan says that it will “feel smaller than that, which is our goal.” Building something big is the obvious way to go in Las Vegas, so Wynn likes to do things differently. 

“The ethos at Sartiano’s really is that you’re being hosted in someone’s home with amazing legacy recipes,” Lenahan says. “We find it way more complex and way more rigorous as experience makers to create intimate environments that really make customers feel like they matter and they’re not just one of a thousand. Within the room, there are spaces where you can see and be seen. But then there’s also those really intimate, cozy spaces where you can just sort of recede into the background and take it all in, which is a big part of what a lot of our celebrity clientele really like about our restaurants.”

Sartiano knows he could have come to Vegas and opened a huge, over-the-top restaurant. But right here at Wynn, with this footprint and this vantage point, is exactly where he feels he should be.

“I’m very careful with my brand and very calculated about where I want to go,” he says. “This restaurant fulfills that dream scenario of where I want the brand to be and how I want to be perceived. Being at Wynn is like being at the Mercer in New York. Or being on the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I got to experience these things as a young person and feel like I was in a special place that I would always want to go to. To be part of the actual places themselves feels like it’s full circle and a dream come true.”