After the past couple of years, when not many new restaurants were popping up across the country, 2022 was abundant with openings. And while we were mainly focused on the food they were serving up, several spots had us as captivated by their design. These are the restaurants we couldn’t look away from this year, from San Francisco to New York City (with one Canadian spot thrown in for good measure). Get ready to feast your eyes.
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Oiji Mi, New York City
Image Credit: Christian Harder At Oiji Mi, the chef-owner Brian Kim is serving up contemporary Korean cuisine that won him a Michelin star earlier this year. That same ethos is what drove the design of the Flatiron restaurant, where the firm AvroKO has combined classic NYC and Korean elements to stunning effect. In a nod to old-school Manhattan social clubs, marble, leather, velvet and dark walnut wood are found throughout. But traditional Korean aspects are also woven through the space: The main dining room has wood trim details and a daecheong wood flooring pattern inspired by a hanok (a traditional Korean house); the lighting pendants and sconces took hints from binyeo (Korean jewelry and hair pieces); and above the main bar is custom ceiling art that pulled from jogakbo, or Korean textile art.
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Este, Austin
Image Credit: Casey Dunn Austin isn’t that close to the coast, but the chef Fermín Núñez and the restaurateur Sam Hellman-Mass are bringing coastal Mexican cuisine to the area. The seaside-town energy is evident in the fresh seafood, charcoal cooking and cocktails, but also in the design. The team took over the space occupied for 31 years by the Eastside Cafe, which itself was built inside an old craftsman home. The restaurateurs partnered with the architect Matt Garcia and the ceramicist José Noé Suro to create custom tile representing the waves and sand dunes of the Mexican coastline. That’s found throughout the bright dining space, alongside ceramics that tell the story of the Este team’s travels around Mexico. Sitting down to some ceviche and oysters, you’ll be transported right there.
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The Quinte, Charleston
Image Credit: Matthew Williams A nautical-themed oyster bar is nothing new. But the Quinte balances its aquatic influences with more land-based design details that result in a stunning, kitsch-less restaurant. Inspired in part by the billiards hall that opened in the same location in 1918, Method Studios—in collaboration with Stokes Architecture + Design—incorporated a black leather banquette that stretches along an entire wall. The more seafaring details are found in the blue and gray color palette, as well as the custom marble oyster bar. Pull up a chestnut stool and enjoy your fruits de mer at the gleaming white marble countertop. It’s not a terrible place to take down some oysters.
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Kann, Portland
Image Credit: Steve Freihon Gregory Gourdet spent more than four years conceptualizing Kann, and the results show everything was considered. Working with Fieldwork Design, the restaurant team created a warm space meant to play off of Gourdet’s Haitian-inspired cuisine. The centerpiece is the open kitchen and eight-foot hearth, which is wrapped in a custom gold-metal shroud. That same brushed metal is found in the recessed cove ceiling, which envelops the restaurant in a glow. The pendant lights serve as a twist on the traditional baskets worn to transport goods in Haiti, and provide a minimalist touch that still allows natural light to filter through the storefront windows. The warmth will have you feeling like you’re ensconced in someone’s impeccably designed dining room.
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The Wesley, New York City
Image Credit: Eric Petschek Step downstairs into the Wesley, and you’ll encounter a space designed by Elmo Studios expressly to mimic the restaurant’s plant-forward ethos. In the bar, or “green room,” a seven-foot living plant wall greets you upon entry. The main dining room, or “grain room,” uses a honey-colored palette, a woven rattan ceiling and dried grain along the walls to create the feeling that you’re in a wheat field. And the back dining room, or “root room,” is swathed in velvet and mahogany wood. You’ll feel like you’re spending time out in nature—but with much better food.
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The Restaurants at First National Center, Oklahoma City
Image Credit: Tanveer Badal Oklahoma City’s new hotel The National sits within a landmark bank building that first opened in 1931, and the design honors that history in a spectacular way. Redesigned for our modern times by a group that includes EverGreene Architectural Arts and FlickMars, the building now houses 146 guest rooms, apartment homes, retail shops and—of course—restaurants and bars. At Tellers, you can dine on Italian cuisine while sitting on either side of the original bank teller windows. In the gilded Great Hall, start the day with coffee or end it with a cocktail. Stock & Bond provides a moodier experience, thanks to its wood paneling and brass and leather accents. And the Library of Distilled Spirits, which also has an NYC location, serves up more than 1,500 spirits in the bank’s original vault.
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Bar Sprezzatura, San Francisco
Image Credit: Galdones Photography Stepping into Bar Sprezzatura is like crossing back into mid-century Venice—and it has the cicchetti and aperitivo to match. Designed by the Martin Brudnizki Design Studio, the space uses various light fixtures (table lamps, large lamp posts) to imbue a warm glow that reflects off the high gloss wood paneling and mosaic tile gold ceiling. The bar, like those found in Venice trattorias, is a marble beauty, featuring Rosso Alicante and Giallo Siena varieties in a striped pattern. And the earthy color palette of the furniture and rugs brings a softness that contrasts with some of the harder materials. Curling up with a Negroni or a spritz, you’ll be living la dolce vita in no time.
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Seneca Trattoria, San Diego
Image Credit: Garrett Rowland Even those of us who get seasick on boats will be able to enjoy the nautical vibes at Seneca Trattoria, where all of the design cues come from various types of ships. AvroKO used metal-paneled walls with exposed rivets as a nod to steel ships like ferries and tugboats, while the high-gloss wood floors with contrast striping are akin to those found on luxury yachts. Elsewhere, the many tassels and fringe elements pick up the movement of both guests and staff, giving the entire space the same sense of sway found on boats. And the tabletops have classic edge-banding used to stop food from sliding off while at sea. Thankfully, you don’t actually have to worry about any mess here.
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Prime, Chandler, Ariz.
Image Credit: Brandon Barré Steakhouses are often very dark, masculine restaurants. Not so with Prime. The Preen-designed space was conceptualized to honor the surrounding Sonoran Desert and the Gila River tribe that finds the land sacred. To that end, Prime features warm earth tones that mimic a desert sunset and natural materials similar to those found outside. From most parts of the restaurant, which sits 15 floors above ground floor, you have incredible views of the desert—an ideal accompaniment to Prime’s French-influenced cuisine.
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Torrisi Bar & Restaurant, New York City
Image Credit: Scott Frances Major Food Group is no stranger to beautiful restaurants, appearing on our list just last year for its Carbone in Miami. Now, with the opening of Torrisi Bar & Restaurant in the landmark Puck Building, it’s back on the list again. Paying homage to the restaurant’s historic digs, Garrett Singer Architecture + Design brought the cast-iron facade’s green color inside, with seafoam crushed-velvet booths and other touches. A custom cherrywood deli case greets guests when they arrive, with a marble exposed kitchen awaiting them in the main dining area. As you walk through the space, it feels grand when entering, but then still intimate in the back where the main dining area resides. Much of the room is lit from below, with more than 90 bulbs installed along the steel purlins that hold up the brick arched floor. And make sure you take a moment to admire the custom Julian Schnabel artwork commissioned just for the space.
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Bar La Fête, Birmingham
Image Credit: Caleb Chancey If you can’t travel to Paris, Birmingham’s Bar La Fête might be your next best bet. The intimate wine bar has taken most of its design cues from the City of Love’s cafes, meaning the exterior is covered in florals and greenery while the interior is decked out in deep green and gold tones with walnut stained-wood accents. Kyle D’Agostino at Poole & Company Architects designed the space with curves in mind, to create a welcoming and feminine vibe, so an Italian marble curved bar is the centerpiece of the restaurant. And the team paid special attention to the bathrooms, with each unisex space having its own personality via different patterns of terrazzo and subway tiles.
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The Butcher’s Club, Palm Beach
Image Credit: Will Pryce Step back into the 1950s at the Butcher’s Club, from the Top Chef winner Jeremy Ford. For the classic steakhouse, Kate Rohe of Rohe Creative designed a dramatic space decked out in black and white, with gold and emerald-green accents. The black-and-white striped floor pays homage to the pinstripe suits that diners would have worn at the time, while marble and brass details lighten up some of the darker elements. It’s elegance and sophistication at their finest.
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Il Bracco, Houston
Image Credit: Chase Daniel While many Italian restaurants might lean more coastal in their decor, Il Bracco is inspired by Milan and northern Italy, with Michael Hsu Office of Architecture taking a moodier approach to the Italian theme. The dark-green palette is, however, lightened up by the openness of the space and the curvature of the booths. Most notably, the artwork displayed comes from the owner’s personal collection, making it feel as if you’re dining in your most aesthetically driven friend’s home.
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Bambola, Chicago
Image Credit: Bambola Eating at Bambola is like taking a journey along the Silk Road, with a mix of influences from the East and the West. That’s true of both the food and the design of the restaurant, courtesy of Maison Bonhomme. Istanbul is a constant touchpoint, but textiles and chandeliers come from Italy while 18th- and 19th-century antiquities and furnishings were sourced from China, Thailand, Burma, Pakistan and India. You may as well be eating in a museum—albeit an extremely welcoming one, thanks to the colorful furniture and tiled floors.
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Inday All Day, Brooklyn
Image Credit: Teddy Wolff Combining influences from both India and Brooklyn, Inday All Day creates a warm, welcoming space full of life. Garrett Singer Architecture + Design built a restaurant with custom plaster arches, terracotta tiled floors, warm woods and custom mahogany millwork. Meanwhile, the interiors and fixtures, curated alongside the New Delhi–based designer Sayali Goyal, pull largely from different parts of India, with water glasses from North Kerala and teak tiger benches from Jodhpur. Topping it all off is art from various Indian artists and local Brooklyn creatives, including a large-scale tiger mural that ties in beautifully with the furniture.
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Aba, Bal Harbour
Image Credit: Ruben Cabrera The Top Chef alum CJ Jacobson is serving up Mediterranean fare at Bal Harbour’s Aba, so it makes sense that the interior would match those coastal vibes. With olive trees, climbing ivy, hanging plants and potted trees, you’ll feel like you’re enjoying the Greek or Lebanese landscape without even being outside. Of course, you could also enjoy the restaurant’s spacious outdoor patio, where the Florida weather allows for year-round al fresco dining.
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Sassetta, Dallas
Image Credit: Douglas Friedman Sassetta is aiming to be a warm, welcoming neighborhood trattoria, so even though it’s located in the heart of Dallas, it’s giving big Tuscan countryside vibes. That motif is found in the custom mural that anchors the restaurant, made by de Gournay, the British interior firm known for its textiles and wallpapers. Elsewhere, the designer Jean Liu has incorporated cane-back dining chairs, hand-carved marble vases and coastal olive-green and blue hues to round out the space.
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Workshop Kitchen & Bar, Los Angeles
Image Credit: Audrey Ma In 2015, the chef Michael Beckman won the James Beard Award for Best Restaurant Design for his Workshop location in Palm Springs. So it’s no surprise that the new Los Angeles outpost is any less stunning. With the same firm working on the design (SOMA Architects), some elements are similar: Queen trusses, 20-foot ceilings and brick walls. But the expansion draws heavily on Brutalist design elements, especially for the restaurant’s “dining cocoons.” The eight 14-foot pods allow you to basically eat within an art installation, with light filtering in from behind each structure. If you aren’t able to secure a reservation for one of the cocoons, though, the rest of the space is just as awe-inspiring, with the best views coming from the massive concrete community table on the mezzanine level.
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MaryGold’s, Miami
Image Credit: Ruben Cabrera MaryGold’s is what you want a Miami-based restaurant to look like. The space, designed by Meyer Davis and MaD Artistic, is Florida in a nutshell. The vibrant, tropical colors are balanced with warm wood details and abundant greenery. Pull up a seat at the Calacatta marble wrap-around bar, or post up on the patio in a striped wicker chair. Wherever you end up, it’ll be a beautiful setting for enjoying the chef Brad Kilgore’s Florida-inspired brasserie fare.
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L’Abeille, New York City
Image Credit: Nicole Franzen The velvet booths at L’Abeille are exactly where you want to curl up for the restaurant’s French-Japanese cuisine. In a deep, plush green that complements the blue velvet chairs, they bring an elegance and coziness to the space, designed by Marta Carvalho. Those more intense elements are paired with antique brass light fixtures and pale walls to lighten up the restaurant. And in the summer, the floor-to-ceiling windows open up to the sidewalk, where a handful of tables await for Parisian cafe-style dining.
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Prime Seafood Palace, Toronto
Image Credit: Sid Tang Yes, this list is technically for the most beautiful restaurants in America, but we had to make an exception when we saw the chef Matty Matheson’s Prime Seafood Palace. The light-filled, wood-heavy restaurant serves as a tranquil Eden that puts the spotlight on Matheson’s food. Yet we can’t help but focus on the attention to detail taken by Omar Gandhi Architects and the Canadian chef. Vertical brass screens provide privacy while still allowing light to filter in. Natural leather booths take inspiration from traditional diners (a nod to the one Matheson’s grandfather ran). And the custom tables even contain a concealed drawer for the restaurant’s French steak knives. This is a design that’s worth digging deep into and understanding every little detail, which this video happens to do.
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Kaiyo Rooftop, San Francisco
Image Credit: Anthony Parks/Emilio Salehi/Equal Parts Media A rooftop restaurant already gets points for its stunning views. But Kaiyo Rooftop balances that built-in advantage with impeccable design, led by the owner John Park in collaboration with William Duff Architects and ROY Hospitality. When you first arrive, a mural covering the elevator bay nods to Kaiyo’s Japanese-Peruvian nikkei cuisine. Then, the rooftop itself embodies an oasis, with wood panels, Japanese lanterns, Peruvian textiles and an emerald-tiled bar that anchors the space. You won’t be able to decide whether you should focus on the restaurant’s design or the views of the Bay Bridge in the distance.
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Mara, Minneapolis
Image Credit: Four Seasons Hotel Minneapolis With his latest restaurant, the chef Gavin Kaysen is tipping his hat to Minneapolis. While elements of both the food and the space lean Mediterranean, many of the influences come from the Minnesota city as well. AvroKO helped design the restaurant with a nod to the history of Minnesota flour mills in particular. That means metal accents allude to the city’s industrial mill history, while gold-leaf-covered coves in the dining room act as scaled-up versions of grain silos. And custom artwork by local artists adorns the walls, in support of the city’s artistic community.
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La Marchande, New York City
Image Credit: Nicole Franzen Chef John Fraser’s La Marchande will have us all venturing to Wall Street, whether we’re financiers or not. His modern French brasserie, designed by the firm Charles & Co., takes ornateness to a whole new level. The bar is accented with green marble, brass and antique mirrors, while the dining room features a lush, intricate wall covering. Still, the space remains approachable, thanks to pink marble floors that add a bit of femininity and the overall openness of the restaurant.
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Mujo, Atlanta
Image Credit: Andrew Thomas Lee When going out for omakase, you really want all of the focus to be on the fish. At Mujo, you’ll likely focus on the restaurant’s design just as much, though. The Elizabeth Ingram-designed space has a bit of darkness from the black upholstered walls, yet lightness from the Southern cypress countertops. Red and gold accents add a luxe touch, as do the Venetian marble countertops at the cocktail bar. As you proceed from drinks to sushi, you’ll step through a plush curtain, ensuring you fully appreciate each disparate area as its own, impeccably designed space.
