Eduardo Valle Lobo spent almost eight years cooking at the Michelin-starred Northern Italian restaurant Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, first as executive chef and then as culinary director. Now he’s opening his first solo venture, Casa Juani, with his wife and fellow chef Kelly Jeun. He’ll serve the food of his native Spain with tapas centered around seafood and a live-edge chef’s table. "Casa Juani brings everything full circle. Returning to my heritage is deeply personal, but the most rewarding part is the opportunity to honor my mother, Juani, who is my ‘north star.’ She taught me to cook with kindness, joy, and soul and to bring unstoppable dedication to everything I do,” Lobo says.
Along with Casa Juani, our seven most anticipated winter openings include a pub-style British seafood spot from a lauded duo in New York, a Sicilian restaurant from one of Detroit’s most beloved restaurants, and a more casual follow-up in Philly to Her Place Supper Club and My Loup, Bon Appétit Best New Restaurants of 2022 and 2024.
This list is organized alphabetically by city. The opening dates below are subject to change. Check restaurant websites and Instagram accounts for updates.
Casa Juani
Boulder, CO
Opening: February
Eduardo Valle Lobo, the longstanding culinary director for Italian fine dining icon Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, is opening his first solo venture alongside his wife and chef-owner Kelly Jeun. Casa Juani, named after Lobo’s mother, is a love letter to his childhood in Madrid. Lobo is in his element in the kitchen, cooking seafood-driven tapas like the tortillitas de gamba cristal, rice and noodle dishes like fideua de cangrejo, toasted vermicelli with Dungeness crab and padrón pepper served in the shell, and large plates like a churrasco with mojo sauce and wrinkled potatoes.
Bareo
Charleston, SC
Opening: February
Nikko Cagalanan and his team behind the Filipino showstopper Kultura, which just moved into a larger space in Charleston, are gearing up to open their second restaurant Bareo. With Bareo, which will open in the original Kultura Spring Street space, Cagalanan aims to capture the same familial spirit; he named the restaurant after the Tagalog word “baryo” for neighborhood. While Kultura focuses solely on Filipino cooking, Bareo’s menu centers around street food like dumplings stuffed with pork and shrimp, wagyu onigiri, noodle soup, and kakigori (Japanese-style shaved ice)—with flavors like buko pandan, a play on the chilled Filipino dessert salad with coconut, and brown butter bibingka. To drink, expect tea-forward signature cocktails like iced puerh highballs, plus a curated selection of sakes and NA options.
Medusa
Detroit, MI
Opening: January
When SheWolf Pastificio & Bar opened in 2018 in Detroit’s Cass Corridor, it quickly became a destination for Roman fare and housemade pastas. Chef-owner Anthony Lombardo and team are now turning their attention to Sicily with the opening of Medusa, a seafood-forward restaurant just down the street from SheWolf. Diners can share seafood pastas like pasta con le sarde, street food bites like sfincione (a Sicilian deep-dish pizza with anchovy), and panelle (chickpea crisps). There are large plates like a whole grilled branzino, a glazed lamb shank, and a breaded wagyu strip steak for carnivores. To drink, the wine list spotlights various Mediterranean winemaking regions and cocktails are largely citrus-heavy and amaro-based.
Dean’s
New York, NY
Opening: February
The beloved SoHo restaurant King is getting a new British seafood sibling right next door. Dean’s is not just another seafood spot following the hyped trail of the many opening all over New York. It comes from Jess Shadbolt and Annie Shi, the lauded duo behind King, the Rockefeller pasta spot Jupiter, and Shi’s very special Chinatown wine bar Lei. Dean’s has a pub-like setting and draws from Shadbolt’s coastal upbringing in Suffolk—the restaurant’s name comes from a dayboat fisherman from her hometown. Shadbolt’s menu boasts raw seafood, grilled Scottish langoustines with parsley butter, fish pie, and boiled ham. Desserts lean classic with marmalade tarts and baked-to-order chocolate fondants. Shi will oversee drinks—wines and spirits from English producers, a take on the Pimm’s cup, gin martinis, and of course, pints of Guinness.
Pine Street Grill
Philadelphia, PA
Opening: December
From the Philly chef duo behind Her Place Supper Club and My Loup, Bon Appétit Best New Restaurants of 2022 and 2024 respectively, comes Pine Street Grill, a neighborhood restaurant serving thoughtfully prepared American classics in Fitler Square. What is a neighborhood restaurant, you might ask? Amanda Shulman and Alex Kemp want diners to become regulars, gathering for fondue-stuffed acorn squash, au poivre French dip, rotisserie chicken, or a PSG burger with two dry-aged beef patties on a seeded milk bun. Desserts also tug on nostalgia with a sourdough chocolate chip cookie skillet with malted ice cream, a sundae, or carrot cake.
OK Chicken & Khao Soi
Portland, OR
Opening: January
The James Beard award-winning team behind Portland’s Langbaan is opening a new restaurant in the former space of Pok Pok, chef Andy Ricker’s legendary restaurant that rose to fame for its fish sauce sticky wings and that closed during the pandemic. The space will now become OK Chicken & Khao Soi, a Northern Thai spot with a focus on the noodle soup from the owner trio behind celebrated Portland Thai spots like Langbaan, Yaowarat, and Eem. Of course, there will be khao soi, a coconut curry egg noodle soup, and chicken, with both fried and grilled options, and wings. Diners can also expect Larb Mueng, a Northern-style ground meat salad with warm spices and dry fried pork, and Sia Oua herbal sausage made in-house and grilled. Plus, the restaurant will eventually open for lunch and late night karaoke.
Emelina
West Palm Beach, FL
Opening: January
Miami diners (and Michelin alike) loved EntreNos, the Miami Shores pop-up that churned out seasonal, local cooking from husband-wife team Osmel Gonzalez and Camila Salazar. The long-standing pop-up came to an end earlier this summer, but Gonzalez and Salazar, who had worked together at the three Michelin-starred Singlethread, now have their sights set a bit further north in West Palm Beach. The duo is teaming up with APM Restaurant Group’s Álvaro Perez Miranda, behind Miami spots like the omakase stunner Ogawa and sushi favorite Hiyawaka, to open Emelina. Named after Gonzalez’s Cuban-born grandmother, Emelina features an 18-seat chef’s counter with Cuban flavors and Florida ingredients in the spotlight. The rotating menu will have produce-forward dishes like oregano-marinated Redland tomatoes with green mojo and Florida macadamia milk foam and desserts like cocada baracoense—sweetened coconut with pure cacao, Florida Eliot pecans, coconut crème fraîche, and key lime-white wine raspado.