The FOUND 45s
Our favorite restaurants in FOUND's six cities, July 2026.
Since we launched FOUND, we’ve been asking all new subscribers to tell us their favourite restaurant. This week, we returned the favor with The FOUND 45, our inaugural list of favorite restaurants in all six FOUND cities.
Across all of the categories, we’re as focused on the way the restaurant makes you feel as we are the food. And while we obsess over brand new restaurants, only those open at least six months were eligible for consideration. To make room for the next set of great restaurants, we’ll update the list twice a year.
As a bonus, paid subscribers have access to The FOUND 45 from all six FOUND cities. Links to access each city’s FOUND 45 list:
To further whet your appetite, here are five restaurants from each city’s New Guard section of the FOUND 45.
RESTAURANTS • FOUND 45
New York City
Kabawa (East Village, above), the most interesting Momofuku restaurant to open in NYC since the aughts, and one of the most fun and pleasurable places to eat in the city right now. Longtime Momofuku vet Paul Carmichael is cooking vibrant Caribbean food here and at (the maybe-even-more-fun?) Bar Kabawa next door. Intel.
Borgo (Nomad), artful, cool, grown-up, fun, wood-fired Italian dining via a master of the form (and longtime Brooklyn restaurateur), Andrew Tarlow. Order the focaccia. Fantastic lunch option. Intel.
Le Veau d’Or (Upper East Side), Frenchette chefs Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr’s note-perfect resuscitation of a longtime uptown classic. Among the best vibes in an NYC dining room, everyone there knows it’s a special spot, and they’re all making the most of it. Intel.
Le Chêne (Greenwich Village), gutsy, personal, haute Parisian cooking from chef Alexia Duchêne, with husband Ronan Duchêne calibrating vibes in the art-filled dining room. Worthy of a reason to go big, but also totally great on a regular Wednesday night. Intel.
Penny (East Village), the seafood counter New York needed. From the team behind the (also excellent) Claud downstairs, Penny is best enjoyed starting with an Ice Box, their horizontal take on a seafood tower, served on trays of varying sizes and complexities. Also crucial: brioche with butter (“ordered it twice,” noted one FOUND contributor) and whatever other seafood catches your eye, like oysters confit or Dover sole with bone marrow bérnaise. Rest assured, it’ll be pristine. Intel.
London
Akara (Borough Market, above), West-Africa-meets-Brazil via crispy black-eyed bean fritters and larger plates. Intel.
AngloThai (Marylebone), Thai fine dining with British ingredients, sustainably and responsibly sourced. Thai details dot elegant wood interiors, with furniture built in Chiang Mai from indigenous wood, artwork and textiles from all over Thailand, and brass cast lighting reflecting an ancient Thai craft tradition. Intel.
BiBi (Mayfair), modern Indian tasting menu with counter seating. Intel.
Chishuru (Fitzrovia), relaxed, modern West African tasting menu spot from chef Adejoké Bakare. Born in Brixton, it moved central in 2023. Intel.
Legado (Shoreditch), an unsuspecting entrance under a concrete overpass leads to a huge, lively, colourful room kitted out with thoughtful Spanish touches, like tomato-red tiles and terracotta dishes. Come for a cheese toastie and a glass of cava or go the whole hog with a banquet of suckling pig and all the trimmings. Intel.
Paris
Bus Palladium (9th arr), legendary Paris nightlife address reinvented. Somehow, dinner still feels like the start of the evening rather than the end. Intel.
Jones (11th arr), seasonal, ingredient-led cooking that’s deceptively simple, backed by a sharp wine list and a dining room full of regulars.
Datil (3rd arr, above), bright, expressive cooking that borrows freely from across the Mediterranean. Creative without being fussy, it’s the kind of restaurant that defines modern Paris dining. Intel.
Vaisseau (11th arr), fine dining sans stiffness. Playful, inventive, and built around an omakase-style menu where the joy comes from never knowing what’s next.
Trâm 130 (11th arr), hidden away from the usual dining hotspots, rewards those willing to make the journey. Thoughtful moderncooking, warm hospitality, remarkable consistency have quietly made it a favorite among Paris chefs and serious food lovers. Intel.
Los Angeles
Dunsmoor (Eagle Rock), take in the hearth that cooks nearly every dish, from Spanish mackerel to mushroom-crusted pork chop and can’t-miss tortillas.
Little Fish (Melrose Hill), pandemic darling for fried fish sandwiches grows up, glows up, pivots to dinner. Intel.
Betsy (Altadena), open kitchen, serious wine, big salads, seasonal vegetables, grilled meats, local familiarity. Intel.
Holy Basil (multiple locations, above), please welcome the next generation of Thai dining. Intel.
Baby Bistro (Chinatown), started in chef Miles Thompson’s garage, had an extended stay at Koreatown’s Hotel Normandie, is now one of the city’s most lauded in a century-old bungalow. Intel.
San Francisco
Maria Isabel (Presidio Heights), duck enmolada is an early hit at this new and wildly impressive Mexican spot, cocktails are equally lauded. Intel.
Bar Jabroni (Lower Haight, above), witty small plates and an unparalleled wine list from the Palm City crew. Intel.
Ernest (Mission), cheffy and fun, in all the right ways. Eat the uni toast. Intel.
Crustacean (FiDi), a second-generation reboot of a longtime classic, in a glam new location, with just enough of the old menu items — garlic roasted Dungeness crab, garlic noodles — to keep the parents happy. Intel.
Four Kings (Chinatown), shared Taiwanese plates like XO escargot and roast squab from a quartet of hotshot rising stars. Intel.
Miami
Sunny’s (Little River), restaurateur Will Thompson’s smash hit for dry-aged steak and perfect martinis in a massive and magical indoor-outdoor warehouse setting, warmed up by Old Florida mid-century modern charm. Intel.
Ariete (Coconut Grove, above), for chef-owner Michael Beltran’s creative, refined Cuban heritage cuisine prepared with French technique, exemplified by the canard à la presse for two ($160), prepared tableside, served with roasted calabaza tamal, duck fricassée pastelitos, and wild mushroom foie gravy. It’s the kind of homegrown Miami restaurant that continues to define the city’s contribution to the global culinary world. Intel.
Boia De (Little River), the sleeper hit in an unassuming strip mall in Little River that’s now a bona fide modern classic. Keep coming back for the silky pastas, bright crudos and craveable desserts.
Daniel’s (Coral Gables), opened last summer, Danny Ganem’s impeccably sourced, unapologetically luxurious Coral Gables restaurant is the most interesting new steakhouse to hit South Florida in quite some time. From the Suwanee River wagyu to the lettuce from Homestead, the Serenoa Florida oysters, and the DemKota Heritage elite prime filet mignon, Daniel’s is showcasing the state’s agricultural bounty in a way few have. Intel.
Recoveco (South Miami), from the eye-catching, artfully plated ballyhoo that graced the cover of Bon Appétit to a dynamic menu of elegant, meticulously constructed dishes, Alter alums and wife-and-husband chefs Maria Teresa Gallina and Nicolas Martinez are putting out some of the most exciting, boundary-pushing food around.