As we searched across the country for the Best New Restaurants of 2025, we enjoyed hundreds of dishes that reminded us why we love to dine out. Perhaps it was the indulgent escargot vol au vent, a dish of garlicky snails in a flaky pastry shell at Perseid in Houston or the artful and refreshing fig and leaf cucumber dessert at Recoveco in Miami that spotlighted the sheer talent of chefs in restaurants right now.
From a pandan waffle topped with fish-sauce-braised bacon at Memoire Cà Phê in Portland, Oregon, to a tender farmer’s-cheese-filled dumpling at Fet-Fisk in Pittsburgh, these dishes left us very, very full and dreaming about the next time we’d eat them.
Here are the best dishes we ate at new restaurants in 2025—ones so good we’d shamelessly ask for a second order. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager
Hmong Sausage Plate
Whether brunch or dinner service, almost every table in the bustling dining room at Diane’s Place has a shallow bowl of Hmong sausage with sticky rice. The coarse-ground sausage is made in collaboration with Lowry Hill Provisions, a local salumeria located in the same building as the restaurant, and it pays tribute to the version Moua made with her grandparents growing up on their family farm in central Wisconsin. It’s filled with fresh aromatics like lemongrass, ginger, and scallions and gets an added kick of heat from Thai chiles. One can opt to add on an over-easy egg and choose either Hmong hot sauce or sweet-and-sour sauce, or you can kindly plead to have both. —K.K.
Escargot Vol Au Vent
Perseid, Houston (a Best New Restaurant of 2025)
At sunset, the curtained floor-to-ceiling windows at Perseid cast a golden glow on the stately dining room’s butter yellow walls. Behind the marble bar, brown-aproned bartenders fill the air with the sound of ice rattling in shakers. But for all this delicious ambiance, Aaron Bludorn’s menu is still the most impressive part of Perseid. His expert blend of French technique and innovative formats makes for a series of dishes that are distinct but harmonious. A standout is the escargot vol au vent, a take on the French classic, which gives snails their moment in the sun. Doused in garlic butter and whirled up into the flaky pastry, they are a moment of nirvana. While the escargot themselves are delicately chewy, the pastry is light and airy. All in all, the whole thing feels indulgently French. —Sam Stone, staff writer
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Toro Tostada
Mezcaleria Alma, Denver (a Best New Restaurant of 2025)
At Mezcaleria Alma, the tight Mexico City–inspired food menu features nothing but hits: mandarin aguachile with a heaping portion of raw scallop and uni, a masa pocket filled with applewood-smoked tuna and cheese, and pasilla-braised short rib with black beans. But one hit not to be missed is the dry-aged toro tostada. If you choose to sit at the counter (which you absolutely should), you can watch chef Johnny Curiel or one of his chefs plate the tostada, beginning with a crisp tortilla, layering on a smattering of smashed avocado, and dotting it with charred habanero mayo. The main attraction is, of course, the blanket of dry-aged toro, which gets a spoonful of sesame chili oil and is all covered with a generous smattering of thinly sliced chives. Each bite feels simultaneously indulgent and fresh, just like many of the dishes at this Best New Restaurant. —K.K.
Farmer’s Cheese Dumpling
Fet-Fisk, Pittsburgh (a Best New Restaurant of 2025)
Pittsburgh is a pierogi town, but the savory farmer’s cheese dumpling at Fet-Fisk belongs to its own category of doughy delight. Yes, it is singular; one per order, at the time of my ordering, the solo XXL mound arrived zaftig in shape, spoon-tender, adrift in a delicate fermented chili broth. The dish is inspired by the steamed Hungarian túró dumpling and is not a menu staple, due to the laborious, fresh cheesemaking process, so if it appears, don’t think twice and tack it on with a slew of other snacky small plates. Its accompaniments change, subject to what’s on hand, as is chef Nik Forsberg’s navigating principle: inventory what’s available, whether cured, fermented, or fresh-frozen from the farmers market, ideate from there—an resourceful approach familiar to the Nordic ethos from which this neighborhood restaurant borrows its culinary influence. Pair it with a glass from the intriguing curated wine list and enjoy in the wood-paneled bar room beneath the vampish red lamplight. —Jennifer Hope Choi, senior service editor
Tête de Veau Ravigote
If you go to Le Veau D’Or in hopes of having a light meal, I’d tell you to go somewhere else, especially if you intended to order the tête de veau ravigote. Sure, you could opt for the petite omelet or mackerel au vin blanc at the historic revival of Le Veau on the Upper East Side, where the team behind Frenchette and Le Rock has devised a mandatory $135 prix-fixe menu with optional add-ons. The celebratory luxury at the nostalgic Parisian bistro lies, however, in the pâté en croûte, pommes soufflées with caviar, the île flottante, and most of all, the tête de veau ravigote. Jelly-like cubes of veal head are fried and served with a zingy ravigote sauce. It’s topped with segmented hard-boiled eggs and greens, for a brief moment of relief from the richness. —K.K.
Chochoyotes
Acamaya, New Orleans (a Best New Restaurant of 2025)
Before I dined at Acamaya, I wasn’t really thinking I needed a new favorite dumpling style. I was mainly looking forward to vibing in sisters Ana and Lydia Castro’s new coastal Mexican spot. Sitting at the bar, nursing a drink while overlooking the work in the adjacent open-concept kitchen, I did not feel like I was in New Orleans. And then the chochoyotes, thumb-print-size masa dumplings, landed in front of me. Though the kitchen switches up the presentation seasonally, on my visit, these tender little pillows floated in a delicate tomatoey broth alongside chunks of local Louisiana crab. The whole experience tasted of the sea and the end of summer, punctuated by soft little cloudbursts on the palate. In case you, too, didn’t know you needed a new fave dumpling, well, now you know. —Joseph Hernandez, associate director of drinks & lifestyle
Fig Leaf and Cucumber
Recoveco, South Miami (a Best New Restaurant of 2025)
We gave Recoveco the award of Best Desserts Program as part of this year’s Best New Restaurants, even though the dessert menu has only two options. The options change seasonally with shifts in produce availability, and both should always be ordered. If you must choose just one, let it be the fig leaf and cucumber dessert. This dish is a work of art. A towering juniper berry meringue tube encases a column of seasonal ice cream and sorbet and props up a disk of granita—fig leaf and cucumber on one visit might become fig leaf and starfruit or Dellerman’s pineapple on your next. As instructed by your server, you’ll use a spoon to slice through the middle of the tower and reveal the vibrant interior—a refreshing, delightful exploration of flavor, texture, and temperature. —K.K.
Oxtail Lo Mein
Chef Kurt Evans has been a fixture in Philadelphia for years, both as a restaurateur and a social justice advocate through food-related projects like Everybody Eats Philly, his End Mass Incarceration dinner series, and his former founding role behind Down North Pizza, a Detroit-style pizza spot with a dual mission to hire formerly incarcerated people. With Black Dragon Takeout, Evans creates a dialogue between the long-running relationship of Black American flavors and techniques and Chinese takeout. Located in a former Chinese take-out spot, Black Dragon is an homage to and a celebration of the Americanized Chinese cuisine that inspired Evans. Think bold takes that fuse soul food with Chinese dishes: chili-oil-slicked dan dan noodles made with halal lamb, a wink to West Philly’s Black Muslim community, and General Tso’s–inspired wings doused in a St. Louis–style barbecue sauce dubbed General Roscoe’s, named after the country’s first four-star Black general. It’s a cheeky, stylish experience, capped off with one of my favorite entrées on the menu, the oxtail lo mein. Oxtail is readily available at Black Dragon (dumplings and a contemporary riff on beef and broccoli, for example), but perfectly executed in the lo mein, the slow-braised beef rich in gravy, jerk spices, and piquant peppers. On a menu teeming with stories and humor, it’s a standout. —J.H.
Solomon Gundy Dip
To deem Bar Kabawa just a place to get a drink before your prix-fixe meal at the restaurant Kabawa next door would sell it short. Momofuku’s pan-Caribbean duo of restaurants, with chef Paul Carmichael at the helm, are both worth visiting. The menu at the bar can provide dinner on its own, whether you opt for a baked patty stuffed with goat meat or breadfruit with royal red shrimp—all to be washed down with a daiquiri. But whatever you do, don’t miss the solomon gundy dip, a smoked red herring pâté served with crisp cassava chips. To eat the smoky mousse-like dip, you’ll have to break through the glassy brûléed sugar top. The brine of bottarga and spice of Scotch bonnet cut through the richness to balance out this dip that is a real treat to kick off your meal. —K.K.
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Dac Biet Waffle
The best strategy for ordering at Memoire Cà Phê in Portland is to ask for essentially the whole menu. That way you can get a few bites of the pillowy shrimp omelet, a big satisfying chomp of the gloriously spicy burrito, and, most important, you’ll have the opportunity to experience the dac biet waffle. Dac biet translates to “special,” and the dac biet waffle lives up to its name. A green-as-grass pandan waffle arrives at the table topped with thick bacon that’s been braised in fish sauce. frilly arugula, fried onion crunchies, and an egg fried so gently its yolk might spill out at the slightest breeze. It’s at once aromatic, savory, and a little funky. —S.S.
Sesame Mochi Cake
I’m president of the chewy foods fan club, and the sesame mochi cake at the cozy, charming Korean wine bar Sunn’s is a dessert I’d happily campaign for. It’s the only sweet offering on chef-owner Sunny Lee’s concise menu, which spans rotating banchan, a delightful radicchio–and–lotus root salad, and lasagna-style tteokbokki, and you have no decision to make but to order it. The sesame-seed-studded cake is rich with coconut milk, sweet from honey, and gets an earthy boost from konggaru, or toasted soybean powder. —K.K.