Kevin Gray

🍕 Chef Sean Brock is opening Sho Pizza Bar in East Nashville’s Riverside Village on April 14, offering lunch and dinner. A collaboration with Nashville natives Mary Carlisle and Ben Gambill, Sho reflects their shared passion for Tokyo-style pizza. The restaurant features a 30-seat dining room, an outdoor patio, full bar, and a 12-seat chef’s counter overlooking a wood-fired pizza oven. The pizza dough undergoes a three-day fermentation for a lighter, more digestible crust. Chefs Trey Tench and John Woodward lead the kitchen, serving classics and signature pies like the Sho-Stopper, sourcing mozzarella from Italy and local ingredients for toppings. Other offerings include salads, appetizers, matcha soft serve, tiramisu, beer, Italian wine, sake, and cocktails. Brock and the Gambills plan to expand Sho Pizza Bar throughout the Southeast.

🍴 Michael and Courtney Zentner launched The Drifter in Charleston, S.C., in April 2020. They’ve now expanded with Merci, a European-inspired bistro, which opened on March 22, alongside its sister market, Petit Merci. Set in a historic 1820s building, Merci features a 20-seat dining room, a six-seat bar, and plans for outdoor dining. Open Wednesday through Saturday for dinner, the menu includes seasonal dishes like focaccia stracciatella and beef Wellington. Petit Merci offers soups, breads, meals, and pastries from 11 a.m. daily.

🎭 Haii Keii, a restaurant in Houston's River Oaks/Upper Kirby neighborhood, opened on February 18 offering a 3,000 square foot indoor space with an additional 1,000 square feet of outdoor patio seating. The design by Gin Braverman and Gin Design Group channels "Blade Runner" and "Kill Bill". Executive chef Jeffrey Taylor and sushi chef Jose Espinoza crafted a menu with cold plates, hot plates, vegetables, fried rice, nigiri, maki, and steaks. Managing partner Jarred Tosto emphasizes Haii Keii as an immersive, vibrant dining experience.

🍳 Award-winning Chef Regi Mathew, with 30 years of experience and two restaurants in India, opened his first U.S. restaurant, Chatti, in New York City on Feb. 12, south of Times Square. Inspired by Kerala's toddy shops, Mathew researched for over three years, visiting 70 toddy shops and 265 homes in Kerala. Chatti seats 80 guests, plus 70 in a mezzanine party room, and features a 10-seat private dining area. The menu offers seafood, vegetarian and non-vegetarian curries, fermented palm wine-inspired cocktails, and desserts like spicy bird’s eye chile ice cream.

🍸 Luxury hotels like Four Seasons and The Ritz-Carlton feature top cocktail bars. The Punch Room, first introduced at the London Edition in 2013, opened its Tampa, Florida location in October 2022. The Tampa Edition's Punch Room offers a new menu themed "Americas: Part 1," spanning from southern Mexico to Canada, with "Americas: Part 2" set to launch next year. Drinks incorporate traditional recipes and native ingredients, some taking days to prepare, with offerings like mole and cheese-washed tequila. Available by the glass for $22 or punch bowls for $100, the menu is presented in an illustratively detailed book. The Edition plans to expand to 30 properties by 2027, with recent openings in Tokyo, Singapore, and Riviera Maya.

🍝 Maple & Ash, opened in Chicago (2015) and Scottsdale (2019), saw sales of over $35 million and nearly $24 million respectively last year. A new location launched March 13 at Miami Worldcenter, which spans two stories and 22,000 square feet, set to introduce two more concepts: Eight Bar and The Studio. The restaurant features a menu with a variety of starters, a steak selection with wagyu options at $45 per ounce, and a $225 tasting menu. The drinks menu offers 2,500 wine bottles and cocktails like the IDGAF Old Fashioned with 24-karat gold. Maple Hospitality Group also runs Monarch and Kessaku in Dallas, with plans to expand to the West Coast, Boston, and NYC within 12 to 24 months.

🍴 Cucina Alba, part of Prince Street Hospitality, opened in NYC's Chelsea in summer 2022. Alba Los Angeles opened on February 6 in West Hollywood, marking the company's first West Coast venture. The LA location, designed by GRT Architects, features a 10,000-square-foot space with a 120-guest main dining room, a 14-seat bar, lounges, and a private dining room. Executive chef Adam Leonti showcases Italian cuisine with California ingredients. The bar, led by Truman Flanders, offers over 5,000 wine bottles and a variety of Italian-inspired cocktails. Prince Street Hospitality is also developing a new project in SoHo, Manhattan.

🍴 The Occidental, originating in 1906 in Washington, D.C., near the White House, reopened with a new design by Ken Fulk on March 5. Renowned for hosting politicos and world leaders, it has been revitalized by Starr Restaurants. The 14,000-square-foot, 280-seat venue features a decor of mid-century nostalgia, including a black-and-white marble entryway, vintage parquet floors, and a 3,200-square-foot courtyard. The American classic menu offers dishes like beef Stroganoff and "the pork chop that saved the world," alongside a cocktail menu with over 50 gins and vodkas and an extensive wine list.