The 8 Most Exciting Restaurant Openings in July

For any last-minute summer plans or those already looking ahead to the holidays, this month’s restaurant roundup includes a slate of spots worth traveling for. At many of the most mouthwatering openings, chefs have turned to Asian and French flavors: There’s the kaiseki restaurant Kappo Sono and the reimagined French bistro Le Veau d’Or in New York City, plus the return of Michelin-starred chefs at both César and Bar Contra. Across the continent, a James Beard Award–winning couple has debuted Camélia, combining both Japanese and French cuisines.

Nashville may be the sleeper hit of the month, with two new spots—Choy and Fancypants—that will have us heading down south soon enough. And outside of Denver sits Osteria Alberico, an Italian spot from one the country’s best hospitality groups.

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Below are the eight most exciting new restaurant openings of July.

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Camélia

The James Beard Award–winning duo of Charles Namba and Courtney Kaplan (Tsubaki, Ototo) are back with Camélia, a French Japanese bistro in Los Angeles’s Arts District. The restaurant is a full-circle moment for the couple, who initially planned to focus on French cuisine when they opened their first spot, before realizing that the space lent itself better to an izakaya. Here, Namba has crafted a menu rooted in French culinary traditions, weaving in Japanese flavors and Californian produce: oysters with ponzu mignonette and yuzu cocktail sauce; duck-liver mousse toast with white peaches and toasted shokupan; and koji-roasted chicken with seaweed cream sauce. Kaplan complements those dishes with an all-French wine list alongside Japanese sake. At Camélia, the two cultures are a match made in the kitchen.

Le Veau d’Or

One of the most storied New York City restaurants, Le Veau d’Or once hosted the likes of Grace Kelly, James Beard, and Jackie Kennedy. Now it’s being updated for the 21st century by Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr, two of the city’s best chefs, who also lead up Frenchette and Le Rock. That doesn’t mean the new incarnation of Le Veau d’Or does away with its history, though. Hanson and Nasr have kept the restaurant prix fixe, with your choice of 10 appetizers, 10 entrees, and five desserts, all takes on classic French bistro fare. Starters include pâté en croute and frogs’ legs, mains encompass duck magret with cherry sauce and steak frites, and desserts range from gratin de chocolat to strawberries with sabayon. (Cheese is offered before dessert, of course.) And while the original Le Veau d’Or simply asked if you wanted white or red wine, there’s now a 100-bottle list with labels you may not otherwise see outside of France. Trés magnifique, indeed.

César

After an unceremonious exit from the onetime Michelin three-starred Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, César Ramirez has returned to the kitchen at his eponymous restaurant. The $365 tasting menu brings back some of Ramirez’s most notable dishes from his former spot, including truffle Hokkaido sea urchin on brioche and a frozen corn soufflé dessert. As at Chef’s Table, many plates highlight seafood, but the chef also pulls in meat and game like quail from Wolfe Ranch. A roaming Champagne cart makes for a glitzy addition to the dining room, which is otherwise spare. Gourmands are certainly waiting to see if and when Ramirez will make his return to the Michelin ranks.

Fancypants

Nashville’s food scene is heating up with the debut of Fancypants, from the James Beard–nominated team behind Butcher & Bee and Redheaded Stranger. Here, they’re hoping to make the world of fine dining a little—or a lot—more fun. Billed as a “choose your own adventure” culinary experience, the prix fixe, grid-style menu lets you mix and match from the kitchen’s vegetable-forward dishes. You can opt to share all the plates family-style or curate an individual meal, with the option to add on luxe bonuses outside of the core offerings. Drinks, meanwhile, see traditional cocktails served alongside West Coast wines and hyper-local beers. Fancypants isn’t your everyday upscale dinner—and that’s by design.

Kappo Sono

If an intimate dining experience is what you’re after, look no further than Kappo Sono. The kaiseki restaurant in New York City has room for just 12 people, with only one seating per evening. Behind the chef’s counter, Chikara Sono (formerly of the Michelin-starred Kyo Ya) is churning out dishes such as yellowtail prosciutto, deep-fried abalone and truffle croquettes, and seared Wagyu tongue, for $350 a head. Dinner is finished off with three desserts, and you can add a drinks pairing that spotlights European and Japanese wines and sakes. Those who’d rather not imbibe will be pleased to note the mocktail and tea pairing, as well.

Choy

Yet another Nashville opening may turn the city into one of this year’s hottest culinary destinations: Choy, a restaurant that combines Chinese American cooking with the flavors of the American South. Choy’s chef, Brian Griffith, spent the past four years as the sous chef at Brandon Jew’s Michelin-starred Mister Jiu’s in San Francisco. Now branching out on his own, he’s using the skills he picked up there and infusing them with his Tennessee roots. That’s evident in dishes such as XO fried rice with Tennessee field corn and Gulf shrimp, chicken fried steak with mapo tofu, and Peking roast duck, which takes about two weeks to prepare and is served with duck-liver mousse and a peanut-butter hoisin sauce. Nashville isn’t often associated with Chinese food, but Choy is making a good case for that to change.

Osteria Alberico

Bobby Stuckey, a master sommelier and co-founder of Frasca Hospitality Group, is one of the most powerful people in the world of fine dining. So it’s no surprise that we can’t wait to visit his newly opened Osteria Alberico, right outside of Denver. The sister restaurant to the group’s Frasca Food and Wine and Pizzeria Alberico, among other spots, serves a broad menu of Italian dishes, including pasta, pizza, and grilled mains. Start with shrimp and smelt fritto misto or Caprese salad, move on to ravioli stuffed with sweet corn and lobster or a quick-cooking pizza topped with yellow tomatoes and burrata, then dig in to roasted pork loin with peaches and mustard greens. It’s a highly seasonal menu that builds on the excellence Stuckey and his team have become known for.

Bar Contra

Last year, the chefs Jeremiah Stone and Fabián von Hauske announced that they would be closing their Michelin-starred Contra after a decade. But the two held on to the space, and now it’s been reimagined as Bar Contra, a cocktail bar with drinks from Dave Arnold and small plates that harken back to what Stone and von Hauske cooked at their original tasting-menu spot. That’s apparent in fresh tofu with Osetra caviar, chives, and buckwheat, as well as boneless chicken wings stuffed with Stilton and pork sausage. The plates are paired with an extensive cocktail program, encompassing everything from a passion-fruit lowball (passion fruit, Blanche Armagnac, gentian) to the frozen Sea Witch (aquavit, grapefruit, Strega, lemon). Contra 2.0 has arrived.