When it comes to elevated dining experiences that take the cake, Spring is serving up one of the best seasons yet for upscale new restaurant openings popping up around the globe. From reimagined historic dining rooms to immersive cultural flagships spanning three continents, discover the seven sizzling new restaurants that have diners and editors buzzing with anticipation.
The Brasserie at Deer Path Inn — Lake Forest, Illinois
Just 40 minutes north of Chicago, the Deer Path Inn — an English-inspired landmark anchoring Lake Forest’s social fabric for nearly a century — has reimagined its most celebrated dining space with the debut of The Brasserie.
The room, once home to the beloved English Room, has been refreshed with lively art and an elevated seasonal menu spanning chilled oysters, herb-crusted lamb, and premium grass-fed steaks. It joins The Bar, known for whimsical cocktails and the North Shore’s best sushi, and The White Hart Pub, rounding out one of the region’s most distinctive dining ecosystems under one roof.
Buena Vista Restaurant & Bar — East Village, New York
Hell’s Kitchen’s quietly beloved Latin dining destination is planting its second flag in the East Village this April, with founder Christian Nuñez bringing the brand’s signature warmth to a design-forward 80-seat space at 88 Second Avenue.
Nuñez, who repositioned his father’s Midtown restaurant before launching Buena Vista in 2018, evolves the concept here into a cocktail-driven model built around elevated shareable plates — croquettes, paella, and signature churrasco — alongside DJ-fueled brunch and evening programming. It’s a well-timed, high-energy next chapter for a brand with two decades of New York hospitality instincts behind it.
Selene — SoHo, New York
One of New York’s most anticipated openings happening this year, Selene arrives at 23 Grand Street as a full sensory reimagining of the Aegean coast — 10,000 square feet of travertine, plaster arches, and custom furniture and ceramics made exclusively in Greece for this space. The retractable-roof atrium opens the dining room to the New York sky, a deliberate architectural nod to Selene, the Greek goddess of the moon.
Co-founders Reno Christou and James Ragonese have built a menu centered on seafood treated with reverence: Aegean lobster linguini, charcoal-grilled lavraki with ladolemono, char-kissed langoustines, and Colorado lamb chops in the Greek tradition.
Mountain House — San Gabriel Valley, California
Michelin-recognized and ranked ninth on the New York Times list of the 100 Best Restaurants in New York City, Mountain House opens its most ambitious location yet on May 1 at Atlantic Times Square in San Gabriel — and Eater LA is already paying attention.
The 120-seat flagship is designed as an ancient mountain tavern, with artisanal vine weaving and traditional blue dye textiles woven into the architecture alongside koi ponds and wooden pagodas. Culinary Director Zhi Min Zhu has flown in a specialized team directly from Sichuan, China, with the menu anchored by the tableside Swinging Pork Belly and Chongqing La-zi Chicken.
LUMA — St. Petersburg, Florida
At SkyBeach Resort on St. Petersburg’s Gulf-front southern tip, LUMA has opened as the property’s signature dining concept: a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant overlooking the marina whose name nods to lumen, the Latin word for light.
Executive Chef Ryan VanDusen, whose resume spans Soho House Chicago and the iconic Don CeSar hotel, bridges Mediterranean tradition and Gulf Coast ingredients across an expansive mezze program and fire-driven entrees. Friday nights bring a resident DJ, and guests arriving by water can dock directly at the SkyBeach Marina — a dock-and-dine experience as effortlessly scenic as it sounds.
Kò Sà-Wăn — Atlantis Paradise Island, Bahamas
At The Cove at Atlantis Paradise Island, acclaimed chef Ian Kittichai — the culinary force behind Bangkok’s Issaya Siamese Club and a familiar face on Iron Chef USA and Hell’s Kitchen Thailand — has brought his sought-after Thai dinner pop-up back to the Bahamas in a concept whose name translates, fittingly, to Paradise Island.
Kò Sà-Wăn unfolds at The Cove’s Perch restaurant with bold Bangkok flavors intact: fresh grouper steamed in banana leaf, aromatic coconut-galangal chicken soup, and the kind of undiminished Thai heat that travels well precisely because it refuses to be softened. For guests already in paradise, it offers the rare pleasure of dining with a chef who genuinely earned his place there.
REN at Imperial Hotel, Kyoto — Gion, Japan
Housed within the restored Yasaka Kaikan (a nationally registered Tangible Cultural Property in Kyoto’s Gion district), the Imperial Hotel, Kyoto, just opened last month as a 55-room sanctuary, and its most intimate dining destination, REN, is reason enough to plan the trip around it.
The 18-seat room, centered on a 10-seat chef’s counter, frames Executive Chef Koji Imajo’s French-meets-Japanese seasonal menus like a quiet performance, with plaster artwork depicting cherry blossoms adorning the walls and menus guided by Japan’s twenty-four solar terms.
From a century-old English inn in Illinois to a moonlit Aegean atrium in SoHo to a chef’s counter in a Kyoto cultural landmark, this season is proving that the globe’s most enticing tables are being set with intention, heritage, and a refreshing sense of place.
[Images c/o featured properties. Header image c/o Luma – Sky Beach Resort.]