The 9 Most Anticipated U.S. Restaurant Openings of Fall 2026

Andy Baraghani is no stranger to Bon Appétit. We still have many of his recipes from his senior food editor days in the Test Kitchen in our regular cooking rotation. Next month, he’ll add restaurateur to his resumé, when he opens his neighborhood bistro Ditto in Manhattan’s Union Square. But there are a lot more restaurants around the country to get excited about this fall. We’ve got our eye on a French-Italian neighborhood spot from the team behind Theodore Rex in Houston, as well as a permanent home for a Levantine pizza pop-up in D.C. Over in Philly, a chef’s counter spotlighting Moroccan cooking has us planning a weekend trip.We track restaurant openings year-round in preparation for our annual Best New Restaurants list. We’re adding these nine restaurants to our radar; you should, too.This list is organized by projected opening date, which are subject to change. Check restaurant websites and Instagram accounts for updates.House of LouieHouston, TXOpening: SeptemberHouse of Louie is chef Justin Yu’s ode to his aunts’ Southern California restaurant of the same name, where he had his first encounters with hospitality. (The original restaurant served the San Gabriel Valley community for over 40 years.) With this latest project (part of Yu’s and Thorough Fare’s other Houston restaurants, which includes Theodore Rex), he hopes to create the same sense of community in the city’s Montrose neighborhood. The French Italian restaurant will serve up dishes like yellowtail alla scapece, pastas like fried lasagna with ragu bianco and Comte cheese fondue, and roast duck and chicken brined with housemade giardiniera. Wines and a curated cocktail list will draw on the expertise of the Thorough Fare team.CalabashNew York, NYOpening: OctoberNew Yorkers lined up outside the trendy New York NoHo spot Raf’s on weekday and weekend mornings alike for Camari Mick’s pastries and desserts. Now Mick is opening her own Afro-Caribbean brasserie Calabash, which debuts this fall in the West Village. Expect daytime service four days a week (Thursday through Sunday) with a menu of naturally fermented breads, cornbread pancakes with salted maple sabayon, and of course, pastries. A dinner prix fixe menu will be available on Fridays and Saturdays with Mick’s take on brasserie dishes like a suya steak and maduros. The beverage menu will be fully liquor-free, with fermented drinks, NA cocktails, and adaptogenic beverages.DittoNew York, NYOpening: OctoberAndy Baraghani—yes, that same Andy who was one of your favorite BA Test Kitchen editors of all time—is opening his first restaurant. In partnership with Michael Silber, the hospitality partner and investor behind spots like Penny and Smithereens), Ditto is Baraghani’s take on a casual, walk-in only spot that celebrates the produce of the nearby Union Square Greenmarket. The first focus is breakfast, with lunch and dinner planned down the road. Expect American classics with the occasional Persian flare, Baraghani's signature, like kuku sabzi (an herb-laden Persian frittata), ginger-mushroom rice porridge, a spicy tahini chicken sandwich, and to end the meal, a rotating slate of soft serve flavors.HolmDenver, COOpening: OctoberHolm is an American bistro coming from Paired Hospitality Group, the husband-wife duo Duncan and Allison Holmes behind Denver favorites like Major Tom and Michelin-starred Beckon. Like the latter, Holm will feature a seasonal menu showcasing local produce, including that from the team’s own Beckon Farm in nearby Lakewood. Expect comforting dishes like a shaved fennel in anchovy vinaigrette with aged Parmesan and lemon, a grilled Alamosa bass with Niçoise tapenade and local Anasazi beans, and a braised pork ragù with housemade pappardelle. The team worked with Denver-born Leap Interior Design to create a warm, approachable dining room.HooliganChicago, ILOpening: OctoberChef Christian Hunter is finally ready to debut his first solo restaurant, Hooligan, in Chicago’s Logan Square. His French Midwestern bistro was supposed to open in Time Out Market at the end of 2025, but when the market abruptly closed, Hunter needed to find a standalone space of his own. The 50-seat bistro will open in October with à la carte dinner service, with hits like Great Lakes perch with gribiche, pike quenelle ravioli with Nantua sauce, and cornbread served with pimento cheese and chicken liver parfait. There’s also a promise of American paddlefish caviar sourced from a producer near Hunter’s hometown of Lexington, Kentucky.HummNew York, NYOpening: OctoberDaniel Humm is going to the West Village. No, he’s not opening an outpost of his acclaimed Eleven Madison Park. Humm will be his more casual à la carte restaurant, promising the same culinary excellence that Humm (the chef) is acclaimed for. Humm (the restaurant) is taking over the space that once held En Japanese Brasserie, with a dining room that boasts design contributions from artists like Francesco Clemente. Early details are scant, but expect Mediterranean-leaning cooking paired with a selection of wines and cocktails.AgostoBoston, MAOpening: NovemberAgosto is part one of George Mendes’s Boston comeback. Most recently the opening chef at Amar at the new Raffles Hotel, Mendes became well-known for his Portuguese cooking at the Michelin-starred Aldea in New York, which he ran for over a decade. His next ventures are two South End establishments: Agosto, a tasting-menu restaurant with a chef’s counter debuting this fall, followed by a next door bakery-café called Baby Sister, slated for early 2027. In Agosto’s 45-seat space, diners can enjoy Mendes’s Portuguese fare rooted in New England with dishes like corn chawanmushi with pickled Bangs Island mussels or bluefin tuna with strawberry, tomato, and crispy kombu.BizzeriaWashington, D.C.Opening: NovemberMichael Rafidi has been slinging wood-fired pizzas (or what he calls “not pizzas”) out of his Levantine cafe Yellow in Georgetown as an evening pop-up. These events have been popular enough that Rafidi and his team, behind DC stars Albi and La’ Shukran, are opening pizza-dedicated Bizzeria. Pastry chef Alicia Wang is behind the 48-hour fermented sourdough crusts, which get topped with housemade cheese, and spiced lamb or burnt eggplant with Urfa chili crisp. The menu will also have raw dishes, mezze, and charcuterie alongside an eclectic wine list from wine director William Simons.JeanPhiladelphia, PAOpening: NovemberEvan Snyder and Julian van der Tak’s Philly Levantine hot spot, Emmett, will soon get an upstairs neighbor: Jean, a 15-seat chef’s counter serving a 12-course North African tasting menu. At the hearth-centered Jean, Snyder will cook dishes like a fermented chickpea tart with a sunchoke custard, brown butter, crab and caviar, or Mudakhan-smoked tuna with Nardello jam, fermented chile, and pine nut, served in custom ceramics. There will of course be tagine, the star of the show being a dry-aged lamb with fresh-milled couscous.Other happenings:The buzzy Notting Hill restaurant Straker’s from British chef Thomas Straker is coming to New York’s SoHo.New Orleans is getting two new boutique hotels—The Whit in the Garden District and The Warbler on St. Charles Avenue—with the promise of good on-property dining and excellent cocktails.Cult-followed San Francisco pastry pop-up Saturbake, from chefs Melissa Perello and Melissa Loar, is turning into a brick-and-mortar called Lorella.