Photo Credit: alineainresidence.com & Alinea / Facebook
If you want to dine at these temples to dry-aged steaks, you're going to have to shell out some big bucks.
Restaurants come and go, but the opening of an exciting new restaurant can be a huge deal not just for the people involved, but for the entire city they're in. In 2016, these restaurant openings just might be the biggest ones of all.
Every year, thousands of new restaurants open across the United States. The vast majority of these are opened by chefs and restaurateurs who aren't familiar faces on restaurant blogs and Food Network, and while some will go on to become neighborhood standbys and develop legions of fans over the course of years, many won't be so lucky.
The restaurants on our list, however, are starting from an envious position. Even though they haven't opened yet, people are talking about them with their friends and reading about them in blogs and newspapers. In most cases, the chefs and restaurateurs already have one or more successful restaurants under their belt and have made their mark on the industry. Folks are excited for these restaurants to open because the chefs and owners are already known quantities, and they have a heck of a track record.
So read on to learn which restaurant openings are the most-anticipated across the country. Not only will you sound like an expert when discussing the scene with your friends, you'll also have the opportunity to be one of the first who are "in the know" when these restaurants finally do open.
Antoinette, Berkeley, Calif.
Photo Credit: Claremont Club & Spa, A Fairmont Hotel / Facebook
Chef Dominique Crenn, who runs one of the country's most unique restaurants with her upscale Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, will be opening a casual brasserie in the recently-renovated Claremont Club & Spa in Berkeley. The restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner; will be focused on locally-sourced ingredients, seafood, and vegetable dishes; and many dishes will be designed for sharing, Crenn told Eater.
ANXO Cidery & Pinxos Bar, Washington
Photo Credit: ANXO Cidery & Pintxos Bar / Facebook
Microbreweries are so 2015 -- in-house cideries are the future, and ANXO, opening soon in DC, is proving it. The Basque-inspired restaurant and bar will forage local heirloom apples to make its own cider in-house, and will serve a menu of pintxos (small bites) and heartier dishes usually found in Spanish cider houses.
Brezza Emporio and Pizzeria, San Francisco
Photo Credit: Chef Jonathan Waxman / Facebook
Chef Jonathan Waxman has a restaurant in the works in Ghirardelli Square. Called Brezza Emporio and Pizzeria, it will be a casual restaurant serving pizza, pasta, and his legendary chicken with salsa verde.
BYGGYZ, New York
Photo Credit: Dewey Dufresne / Facebook
Wylie Dufresne's dad, Dewey, is opening a much-anticipated sandwich shop on New York's Lower East Side. Called BYGGYZ, it'll feature some crazy sandwiches, including one with tuna, anchovies, hard-boiled egg, roasted tomatoes, artichoke hearts, red onion, pickled vegetables, roasted red peppers, and olive spread on Chinese fry bread.
Cruz Blanca, Chicago
Photo Credit: Chef Rick Bayless / Facebook
Rick Bayless is the king of Chicago's Mexican food scene with Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, sandwich shop Xoco, and more, but Cruz Blanca will incorporate one thing that none of his other restaurants have: a brewery.
Dan Myers, The Daily Meal