It's been a big year for the chefs who helm Bon Appétit's Best New Restaurants of 2024. Since we gathered in September to celebrate at a launch party in Portland, OR, they've continued to shift their cities' dining landscapes while navigating the enthusiasm and hurdles that come with national attention.
In the six conversations below, some of this year's most promising and ambitious chefs discuss everything from overcoming self-doubt during their first year in business to the work of preserving and amplifying their culture. The interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
On life since the Best New Restaurants list… The weekend before going to Portland [for the Best New Restaurants event] had been our slowest in months. And every time that happens, it's very terrifying. I remember freaking out for a little bit and thinking of what we needed to do to get back on track. Then the news came out. Usually, when something comes out we'll be busy for two weeks and it'll slow down again. But since [Best New Restaurants], we’ve been steadily growing. We’re cooking an extra brisket a week, and it's just been that slow progress of adding one more thing that we can cook.
At Barbs B Q, Chuck Charnichart transforms the flavors of Texas and Mexico into bright, creative dishes and paves the way for barbecue’s next chapter.
On the restaurant's future… Right now, it's still a four-person team. I'm still working crazy hours: Friday early morning, all the way until midnight, 1 a.m., and back again early morning. If anything, I've built endurance for it, but at the same time, I've built a plan that I hope to carry out in the new year so that I'm not doing that schedule anymore. We're getting one more person to help us out with all the heavy stuff that we do during the week that exhausts us by the weekend. With the new year, we're hoping to open Fridays as well. (Editor’s note: Currently, the restaurant is open only on Saturdays and Sundays.)
The present feels so good right now that I'm not thinking so far ahead. I have the desire to cut every single order that comes through Barbs. So, I would love to be the cutter for as long as I can and just be the first person that people talk to when they walk into the restaurant. That means a lot to me. But maybe then I'm not necessarily doing all the cooking, and I’m just there to teach and coach. I love teaching, and last year we got to do a bunch of brisket classes. I would love to do more classes out of state and out of the country. I would love to go on a little tour.
On life before and after the Best New Restaurants list… The year before [Best New Restaurants], we had really good points and really hard points. There were some days where I was crying and then there were some days where I was so happy. But I didn't know how long we were going to be able to keep it up for. I'm not an economist, but it felt like [the volume of customers] just wasn't enough to sustain the restaurant.
In one weekend, I got married and then we went to the Portland Best New Restaurants party. We came back to work, and it was a whole new restaurant. It was crazy. When you guys told us we were going to be on a list, I didn't realize that was a big deal, if I'm being honest. I was just like, “Oh, cool, we're on the list.” But what it did for the restaurant was a game-changer. It was vibrant and exciting. It’s been pretty busy ever since.
"There's more to Salvadoran food than pupusas."
On building for the future… We're in the middle of staffing up because it takes time. We really care about each other, so bringing people in, it's scary for everybody. I love our people and our staff so much, and I’m trying to create a place where they feel really excited to be. My focus is on the restaurant right now and how we can grow sustainably instead of trying to grow too fast into something else.
On life before and after the Best New Restaurants list… We're such a small place. We have 20 seats inside and ten outside, so we always had reservations for at least the week, but now we see reservations for two weeks. We have people coming and planning their vacation; they deliberately involve us in their tourist [experience].
On connecting cultural dots in Charleston… We see a lot of people from every background [at the restaurant]. A lot of people from Vietnam or the Philippines are coming and giving us great reviews, telling us that they have something kind of similar [in their culture]. So it's a fun conversation.
I have people coming from the [International] African American Museum a few blocks away. Those are tourists that come on purpose to learn the story of Charleston, and now I'm on their trail. That's part of how you reconnect: If you’re a Black American, you have your black-eyed pea dishes, the Hoppin' John, and everything. I'm showing you the black-eyed peas that we have in Senegal. We can't deny this link. I'm trying to do it as artfully, authentically, and simply as possible.
On the city's changing restaurant landscape… I feel like the city is really trying to open up to the world a little bit more. I was looking for those [restaurants] where we could see people from every background, and I never saw that until maybe two years ago. [Now] you have Chinese barbecue, you have the Filipino [restaurant] Kultura, and different little spots that are opening.
On diners' expectations… A lot of people were coming here expecting a five-star restaurant: “Can you be on the list of the best restaurants in America, but you don’t have a wine program?” We are really simple. We don't have money to buy big tables. It's a small place. A lot of people now are looking at us like they expect even more than what we are. After they get the food, after seeing the servers are not coming and trying to get the tips or whatever—they're just really nice—then they're changed.
On the importance—and pressure—of accolades… Everyone who owns a restaurant wants to have some accolades and wants to be on lists and be awarded. I think for small business owners like us—especially in a really crowded city like Miami—sometimes breaking through the noise can be really tough. Ever since I knew about the Best New Restaurants list, I've dreamt about being on it.
Accolades are great, but they come with a lot of pressure. When we read our feedback on Resy or on Yelp or on Google, people would always bring up, "Oh, we read about this place in Bon Appétit or the Michelin Guide.” They have already set the expectations at a level that we probably didn't intend to live up to at the beginning. Now, we as a team are retraining to make sure that people don't get disappointed. But we also don't want to lose ourselves from all of that. We're not trying to be anything we didn't seek out to be at the beginning.
On paying it forward… Part of being a kind of new “institution” in Miami is that we get to have a voice in the future of the food scene here. We experienced setbacks ourselves, so we have stories to tell and lessons we would love to share for anyone who wants to open. To hear what we've learned from it, we hope that they also become successful.
On reaching your target audience… After Bon Appétit, I noticed an uptick of people who understood what our story was, as opposed to having to explain at every table. People were coming in excited. The uptick in orders of the eggs [featured in Bon Appétit’s Restaurants issue] alone was an incredible feeling. Having something that you were ashamed of eating when you were younger, and now people come in, and they're excited to eat these flavors, felt almost healing.
Developed by sous-chef Ben Carolan, these scrambled eggs are the most-ordered item on the menu at Sap Sua.
It feels so nice to not have to fight to prove that your culture is just as good as any other and your food is just as good as any other. That fight is exhausting. It's just like, man, I don't want to have to fight anymore, and now we don't.
On building a strong team… I convinced my cousin and my brother to move to Denver, and we started a little Instagram show called Chit Chats. We're telling stories of other creatives here in Denver. Not just about their food but their story.
I can't put all my eggs into creating the best restaurant. There needs to be growth. There needs to be stuff outside of this that will help the restaurant grow. That's what my attention is: helping to grow the business, to provide more opportunities for the people that are working for us right now.
On creating a collaborative menu… It's a special moment because all the new dishes that have gone on the menu have been from our cooks. This is made by these young kids, some of whom are not even Vietnamese. They just understand the culture. They understand authenticity—not to Vietnamese people in general, but what it means to me. If you just narrow it down to that, it makes it easier for them to understand what Vietnamese food could look like for a particular individual.
Of course, we're tasting and guiding them along the way. But right now, I'm really proud of the fact that these kids are taking this culture and learning about it and [making] food that they're proud of. In turn, I'm proud of it.
On sharing Khmer culture… There's a lot of pride and a sense of responsibility. I feel like 90-95% of the time, most [diners] are starting to understand the story. They're starting to find a reason to delve more into the history. When people are inquisitive enough that when they leave the space, they want to research and find out more, I feel like I've done my part.
Whether it's folks of my generation or younger or folks closer to my parents' generation, they're prideful that there's a space for us and that there's representation. And then some of the folks that are my generation or younger, their parents aren't around anymore. For them to step in and take a bite out of something and be like, “Oh my gosh, this reminds me of being in my mom's kitchen or my grandmother's kitchen," means a lot.
At Sophon in Seattle, cocktails pull inspiration from Khmer identity and the Pacific Northwest. Here’s what goes into one savory, tropical drink.
On the future of Khmer cuisine in America… I would love for it to be easily accessible as well as familiar in conversation. For folks to have an understanding of Cambodian Khmer food. What's happened in the last five years with Filipino cuisine and culture, I would love to see that same trajectory, growth, and space for our culture.