Restaurants of the year
FOUND's best new restaurants of 2025 in NY, LA, SF, Miami, & LDN
RESTAURANTS • About FOUND
It’s been quite the year of dining, drinking, and general good times on the restaurant and bar beat at FOUND. This week, for paid subscribers, we revealed our 2025 Restaurants of the Year in NY, LA, SF, Miami, and London. Each city also ran a list of our nine favorite new restaurants that debuted in each metropolis last year. Those lists appear below, for your ease of booking pleasure.
FOUND NY • The Nines
NYC restaurants, top newcomers
Le Chêne (Greenwich Village), gutsy, personal Parisian cooking in art-filled dining room, intel, reserve
Kabawa (East Village), Momofuku vet Paul Carmichael’s 3-course Caribbean party, intel
Adda (East Village), Unapologetic Foods original relocates from Long Island City, amazing butter chicken experience, intel, reserve
Wild Cherry (West Village), Le Rock’s Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson’s very fun new restaurant at Cherry Lane Theater, intel, reserve
Ha’s Snack Bar (Lower East Side), French food freaked with fish sauce from the couple behind beloved pop-up Ha’s Đặc Biệt, intel, reserve
Yamada (Chinatown), extremely precise 10-course kasieki at 10-seat counter from Kono team, $300 per, intel, reserve
Seahorse (Union Square), restaurateur John McDonald’s lively, upscale seafood brasserie at remade W Hotel Union Square, intel, reserve
Cafe Commerce (Upper East Side), chef Harold Moore revives his shuttered West Village favorite uptown to very good result, intel, reserve
I Cavallini (Williamsburg), compact Italian restaurant from the Four Horsemen team, order the chef’s pastas, intel, reserve
FOUND SF • The Nines
Bay Area restaurants, top newcomers
Jules (Lower Haight), SF’s toughest reservation might be Max Blachman-Gentile’s pop-up turned sit-down spot for NY/Neopolitan hybrid pies, intel, reserve
The Happy Crane (Hayes Valley, above), former Benu chef James Yeun Leong Parry’s pop-up turned upscale dim sum spot in former Monsieur Benjamin space, intel, reserve
Turtle Tower (FiDi), beloved pho icon returns after two years away in gorgeous downtown space, intel, walk-ins only
Ama (FiDi), Brad Kilgore brings a little Miami to SF w/ clubby Japanese/Italian small plates, intel, reserve
Arquet (Ferry Building), intricately plated modern California dishes from Sorrel team, jewel in the Ferry Building crown, intel, reserve
Nopa Fish (Embarcadero), Laurence Jossel+Holly Rhodes’ (Nopa) collab w/ Joe Conte (Water2Table) marries fish market counter w/ fast casual seafood, intel, walk-ins only
Via Aurelia (China Basin), Che Fico’s fancier Tuscan spin-off anchors the new Mission Rock development, intel, reserve
Wolfsbane (Dogpatch), Lord Stanley team returns w/ rustic-leaning tasting menu inside former Serpentine, intel, reserve
Jaji (Oakland), Parche owners Paul Iglesias and Sophia Akbar’s upscale Pashtun w/ hidden bar, intel, reserve
FOUND LDN • The Nines
London restaurants, top newcomers
Sino (Notting Hill), Ukrainian tasting menu & à la carte w/ unique, earthy design
Legado (Shoreditch, above), flawless second album feat. regional Spanish cuisine, suckling pig from Nieves Barragán Mohacho
The Hart (Marylebone), British comforts like pork pie, mince roll from the team behind The Bull and The Hero
ALTA (Soho), buzzy Spanish w/ Basque-inspired grill off Carnaby St. from Rob Roy Cameron
Poon’s (Covent Garden), legacy restaurant channeling home-cooked Chinese in Somerset House from Amy Poon
MOI (Soho), Japanese-inspired omakase bar and grill w/ compelling cocktails
Ara (Whitechapel), zero hype, flavoursome grilled fare from the Mediterranean and beyond, from humble Turkish chef Murat Kilic
Canal (Westbourne Park), waterside, modern European spot for quality cocktails and seasonal produce
Luna Omakase (City), 12-seat sushi counter serving 12-course set menu inside the maze-like Los Mochis
FOUND LA • The Nines
LA restaurants, top 9 newcomers, westside
Beethoven Market (Mar Vista), Jeremy Adler at the front and Felix alum Michael Leonard in the kitchen dishing up repeat-worthy Cal-Italian, w/ wine, olive oil-infused vodka Vespers, intel
RVR (Venice), delicious, stylish, fun, still always-buzzing spot from Gjelina’s Travis Lett, intel
Holy Basil (Santa Monica), Deau Arpapornnopparat and Joy Yuon’s lauded, next-gen Thai empire expands west of the 405
Vin Folk (Hermosa Beach), family-run bistro serving up interesting wines, headcheese toast, raws and greens, various hot plates from porchetta to chili crab on breezy South Bay patio
Yhing Yhang BBQ (West Adams, above), vibrant, treat-yourself neighborhood anchor for grilled, Thai street-food, rotating specials, intel
Marvito (West Hollywood), psychedelic Austin-style dive bar, South-Of-The-Bordercana w/ all the 1970s Tex-Mex cantina fixtures
88 Club (Beverly Hills), swanky, club-lite setup for elevated-nostalgia Chinese classics, intel
Darling (West Hollywood), Sean Brock of Husk’s West Coast outpost for Southern fare w/ a live-fire tilt, hi-fi listening lounge to the side, intel
The Wilkes (Brentwood), Barrington Ave and Sunset Blvd’s destination steakhouse w/ leather booths, vintage dishes
FOUND LA • The Nines
LA restaurants, top newcomers, eastside
Hermon’s (Hermon, above), been-there-since-forever-feeling neighborhood corner bistro, intel
Wilde’s (Los Feliz), British fare done beyond properly, line still out the door, intel
Cafe 2001 (Arts District), minimalist, all-day creative, fun food affair from Yess team, intel
Morihiro (Echo Park), Akitakomachi rice-obsessive omakase in sleek new Echo Park space
Cannonball (South Pasadena), wines by the glass, cocktails, burgers, other reminders that Pasadena can be worth the trip, intel
Doto (Virgil Village), bright, breezy multi-hyphenate perch for morning coffees and laptops, afternoon and evening wines, Cali-Japanese fare, all-day vinyl soundtrack, intel
Betsy (Altadena), beckoning community setup situated around open kitchen, flames, serious wine, big salads, seasonal vegetables, grilled meats, intel
Taqueria Frontera (Cypress Park & Silver Lake), authentic Tijuanense taco standout, intel
Firstborn (Chinatown), chef Anthony Wang’s modern Chinese-American hitting its stride w/ fried Chongqing chicken, gnocchi in black bean sauce, highballs, martinis, Palomas featuring Szechuan peppercorn, intel
FOUND MIAMI • The Nines
Miami restaurants, top newcomers
Daniel’s (Coral Gables), prodigal son Danny Ganem brings outpost of hit Fort Lauderdale steakhouse home to Miami
The Joyce (South Beach), exclusive Espanola Way spot for American classics by lauded Chicago chef James Taylor w/ museum-quality art collection
Aviv (South Beach), chef Michael Solomonov’s generous Tayim Israeli-Mediterranean sampler menu at 1 Hotel
Claudie (Brickell), Riviera Dining Group does French Riviera
Las’ Lap (South Beach), supernova chef Kwame Onwuachi brings his talents to South Beach w/ Caribbean restaurant & rum bar
Bistro 8 (Little Havana), creative Mexican-French fusion by CDMX heavyweight chef Pancho Ibáñez in funky space
Shiso (Wynwood), artsy smokehouse-meets-izakaya hideaway by chef Raheem Sealey, a KYU and Drinking Pig alum
Maple & Ash (Downtown), for the “I Don’t Give a F*@k” tasting menu and excess beneath a palm-shaped chandelier dripping in crystals
San Lorenzo (Upper East Side), Cotoletta team expands north w/ charming no menu Italian spot
ASK FOUND
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