If one thing is certain about the restaurant industry, it’s that things change: Fresh faces come onto the scene, established chefs seek a change of pace, restaurant groups try to tap into up-and-coming trends. Below are eight exciting, upcoming openings that we at Wine Spectator think will stand out in 2025, including a Caribbean-influenced spot from an acclaimed group, an iconic Florida restaurant getting a second life from a leading chef, and much more. Read on to see what’s to come in 2025!
French Digs from Lazy Bear
Hot off the heels of winning their first Wine Spectator Grand Award in 2024, the team behind San Francisco’s Lazy Bear is expanding with a new French restaurant, JouJou, slated to open this spring in San Francisco’s Design District. The destination will be “inspired equally by great restaurants and louche lounges, [bringing] French food to the table through the California lens of chef David Barzelay,” according to a statement from the team. Gracing the menu will be seafood towers and shellfish delights, including oysters with frites, made all the better with glasses of Champagne and other great wines selected by Lazy Bear wine director Jacob Brown.
A New Location for COTE Korean Steakhouse
Fine-dining leader Simon Kim’s Gracious Hospitality Management (GHM) is rapidly growing its COTE Korean Steakhouse concept. Last year, the New York City–based group launched the first COTE outside the United States, in Singapore. (In Manhattan, the group also debuted an entirely new dining concept, COQODAQ, devoted to the tried-and-true pairing of fried chicken and Champagne.) This year, GHM is going even bigger, with a new COTE Korean Steakhouse set to open in early 2025 at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas.
The Sky’s the Limit for Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group
Last fall, leading restaurateur Danny Meyer revealed that his Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) was going to reach new heights, quite literally: The star-studded restaurant group—which owns several of New York’s most famous restaurants, including Grand Award winner the Modern—will take over the city’s only rotating restaurant: the View at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square. Earlier this week, USHG announced that chef Marjorie Meek-Bradley will head the kitchen; Meek-Bradley is perhaps best known for her time on Top Chef and at Best of Award of Excellence winners St. Anselm in Washington, D.C., and Pastis in NYC. Expected to open this winter, the restaurant will offer a menu that plays off USHG’s vision of “classic American supper clubs of old New York.”
Also on the horizon for USHG are two 2025 openings in Boston. Announced at the beginning of 2024, the new spots will be located in Commonwealth Pier, a new mixed-use development along the waterfront in the downtown Seaport neighborhood. According to USHG, these restaurants will represent existing concepts, but it’s still up in the air if Beantown will be getting its own Gramercy Tavern, Ci Siamo or maybe even Union Square Cafe.
Thomas Keller Returns to His Roots
Thomas Keller—the famed chef behind Grand Award winners the French Laundry in Napa Valley and Per Se in NYC—is returning to his hometown of Palm Beach, Fla., this spring, according to local publications. The mission? To revive Ta-Boó, a landmark restaurant that operated from 1941 until 2023. Keller and his team are giving the restaurant a fresh look while restoring some of its art, according to a letter of intent drafted by Dailey Janssen Architects; the new design will pay homage to the history of Ta-Boó, once a hot spot for locals and celebrities alike.
Napa Valley’s Press Expands with Under-Study
The team behind Grand Award winner Press in St. Helena, Calif., is opening Under-Study later this March—a more casual yet still high-caliber spot outfitted with a patisserie, a butcher, a fishmonger and counter-service dining. It will also feature excellent California wines, of course. The new eatery will take over a 4,500-square-foot space that was formerly the flagship of grocery chain Dean & Deluca, right on St. Helena Highway. The destination will also boast its own wine shop.
Former Momofuku Ko Space Gets a New Life Under Paul Carmichael
In 2023, chef David Chang’s Momofuku Group sent a shock through NYC fine dining with the closing of its tasting-menu destination Momofuku Ko as well as its highly popular Momofuku Ssam Bar. But new life is coming: Last summer, the Momofuku team announced that Caribbean-born chef Paul Carmichael would be taking over the East Village Ko location with a new concept, Kabawa. This will be the first opening for the restaurant group since the COVID-19 pandemic. Carmichael previously oversaw the kitchen at the Sydney-based Momofuku Seiobo, Chang’s first Momofuku restaurant outside of the United States.
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