The 8 Most Exciting Restaurant Openings of September

After a relatively slow August in terms of restaurant openings, September started with a bang. Back to school has become back to dining season, with new spots debuting across the country. In Los Angeles, Wes Avila opened Mexican steakhouse MXO, while Michelin-starred Tokyo importer Udatsu Sushi established its first roots in the United States. Moving to the Midwest, the famous Parachute was reborn after a decade as Parachute HiFi, a more casual concept from Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark.

On the East Coast, New York saw three notable debuts: Michelin-starred Joo Ok moved completely from Seoul to Manhattan. The duo of Jeremiah Stone and Fabián von Hauske Valtierra serves updated brasserie classics at Brass, and Alex Stupak prepares his take on seafood dishes at Otter. Additionally, Washington, DC, welcomed two new heavyweights from some of the country’s top chefs: Michael Rafidi at trendy Levantine restaurant La’ Shukran and Kwame Onwuachi at Afro-Caribbean Dōgon.

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Below are the eight most exciting restaurant openings of September.

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Jooo Ok

First opened in 2016 in Seoul, Joo Ok received two Michelin stars there and was named No. 18 on the list of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. But chef Shin Chang-ho closed the restaurant last year, and now it’s reopening in Midtown Manhattan. Here, Shin serves an 11-course, $180 tasting menu featuring seasonal ingredients and Korean flavors. Opening menu items include Korean Beef Tartare, Korean Pear Lobster and Wagyu Ribeye. No long-haul flight required.

Udatsu Sushi

In Tokyo, Udatsu Sushi is one of the city’s best omakase spots, having earned a Michelin star just three years after opening. Lucky for us, it has now opened its first US location in Los Angeles. The $225, 17-course omakase menu draws on classic nigiri techniques, but there are also more innovative dishes like smoked fatty tuna, a seasonal herb roll, and fried butternut squash with caviar. . It’s another notable addition to Los Angeles’ rich sushi scene.

La’Shukran

Michael Rafidi just won the James Beard Award for Best Chef, but that doesn’t mean he’s slowing down at all. In fact, he just opened Levantine bar and bistro La’ Shukran in Washington, DC. Late-night bites run the gamut, from smoked escargot in arak butter to pepper kebab steak — an old New York strip grilled over coals with sumac onions and an herb salad. Arak, a traditional Levantine spirit with flavors of anise and licorice, also features in the cocktails, while the wines lean toward the natural. Rafidi and his team are looking to bring what’s called Levantine funk to the district, and it seems they’ve been successful so far.

Brass

Jeremiah Stone and Fabián von Hauske Valtierra are two of New York’s most famous chefs, and the city was devastated when they closed their Michelin-starred Contra last year. The duo is now back with Brass, a French brasserie-inspired restaurant at the Evelyn Hotel. The two came up with their own versions of classics, like Moules Frites with marinated mussels and chickpea fritters, Montauk ruby ​​red shrimp tartare, and American Wagyu steak with Armagnac and prune puree. Pair these plates with one of the restaurant’s “two classic sippers,” small portions of cocktails like Negronis and Dirty Martinis.

Parachute HiFi

Celebrating 10 years of a restaurant can mean a big party. For Johnny Clark and Beverly Kim, this meant completely rethinking their much-loved Parachute. This month, the elevated Korean restaurant is reborn as Parachute HiFi, a music bar and more casual restaurant that allows husband and wife to explore their love of music as much as their love of food. The tunes are from their personal collection and are accompanied by Korean American bar food like Spam kimchi fried rice and a burger. And don’t worry: Clark and Kim are looking for a bigger space to house a new and improved version of Parachute.

The otter

When his former restaurant Mischa closed its doors after less than a year, it might have taken Alex Stupak a while to get his act together. Instead, he returned to Otter, a seafood-focused restaurant located in the new Manner Hotel in New York. With updated versions of fish and chips, lobster rolls and more, the Otter is a New England-inspired spot with a New York ethos. Upstairs, Stupak also took over as culinary director at cocktail bar Sloane’s, where he whipped up fun dishes like chicken nuggets. Choose your poison or start with the Otter and move to Sloane’s as the night progresses.

Dogon

Kwame Onwuachi has received numerous accolades for his restaurant Tatiana in New York. But his tenure in Washington, D.C., was much more difficult. His first restaurant in the nation’s capital closed after just two months, and the pandemic pushed him out of his successful D.C. spot, Kith/Kin. Now he’s back in the District with Dōgon, an Afro-Caribbean restaurant that draws inspiration from the history of Washington, D.C. and Onwuachi’s own lineage. There are small plates like mushroom stew and plantain hoe cake, and larger dishes like lobster escovitch and berbere roast chicken with jollof rice. It’s a welcome return to the city where Onwuachi made his name in the industry.

MXO

Wes Avila is probably best known as the founder of Guerrilla Tacos, where he used gourmet ingredients in a space that relied heavily on simpler $1 street tacos. At MXO, he brings that same high-end mentality to a world where it’s already prevalent: the steakhouse. The Mexican-inspired restaurant focuses heavily on local California ingredients, as well as wood-fired meats, seafood and vegetables. This is exemplified in dishes such as a Grilled Cabbage Caesar, Lobster Ceviche with Heirloom Tomatoes, and a 20-ounce Bone-In Ribeye. Come out with the $285 beef hammer birria, a whole Wagyu beef shank braised in consome.