Restaurants & Bars
8 CA Eateries Among Best New Restaurants In America, New Ranking Says
Restaurants from Napa Valley and San Francisco to Los Angeles made the list; California is also home to Esquire's Restaurant of the Year.
CALIFORNIA —The Golden State is home to the Restaurant of the Year on Esquire's exclusive 2024 list of the Best New Restaurants in America, which was released Tuesday.
It was among eight California eateries — from Napa Valley and San Francisco to Los Angeles — that made the list of 35 restaurants. The ranking features restaurants that punch above their price point, are romantic enough for date night, or are just a great place for a boozy, delicious night out with friends, Esquire said.
Here are the eight California restaurants mentioned on this year's list:
Four Kings, San Francisco: Restaurant of the Year
710 Commercial St.
Named "Restaurant of the Year," Four Kings is described by Esquire as a "soulful and vital Cantonese restaurant from chefs Franky Ho and Michael Long. Four Kings occupies what used to be a ramen shop in an alley in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown." There's always a line to get in, Esquire notes. See more on the Four Kings website.
7 Adams, San Francisco
1963 Sutter St.
From Esquire: "Life is all about choices. Serena Chow Fisher and David Fisher embrace this concept, so instead of forcing you to endure a four-hour tasting menu that gives you no control over what’s coming next, the married duo put you in the driver’s seat with something accessible, affordable, and downright fun. In this Bay Area spin on the French prix fixe model, you get five courses. You can choose each one." See more on the 7 Adams website.
Azizam, Los Angeles
2943 Sunset Blvd.
From Esquire: "At first glance, Azizam looks like an open-air Silver Lake literary salon. Even if you didn’t know that it serves delicious Persian food, you might be inclined to join the line out the door just because the people waiting in the line seem to possess some crucial information. They do. Azizam’s meatball is famous, and you’d be foolish to skip it." Opened in March 2024 by Cody Ma and Misha Sesar. See more on Azizam's website.
Budonoki, Los Angeles
654 Virgil Ave.
From Esquire: "Chef Dan Rabilwongse may sidestep a traditional approach to izakaya staples, but it’s hard to take issue with that when you can’t stop scooping spicy tuna into sheets of toasted nori and when the au poivre sauce that accompanies his Wagyu zabuton—like a steak in the shape of a swimming flipper—shimmers with so much flavor." See more on Budonoki's website.
Camélia, Los Angeles
1850 Industrial St.
From Esquire: "...With chef Charles Namba at the wheel it feels natural, inevitable, expressive. (The single most beautiful dish I saw during a year of eating had to be Namba’s “market vegetables in a variety of ways,” whose blasts of orange and pink and green called to mind the cutouts of Henri Matisse.) As the co-owners of two beloved Los Angeles spots at which it is customary to imbibe, Tsubaki and Ototo, Namba and partner Courtney Kaplan know quite a bit about the art of pairing. Should you choose wine or sake? Both." See more on Camelia's website.
Charlie’s Napa Valley, St. Helena
1327 Railroad Ave.
From Esquire: "Everything that chef Elliot Bell touches just tastes … better," Esquire wrote. "The oysters are colder and plumper. The fried chicken juicier. The steak … steakier? Okay—it helps that Bell spent the past decade at a little nearby restaurant called the French Laundry. But here at Charlie’s, he’s setting aside the dainty tweezers and going for the jugular." See more on Charlie's website.
Mori Nozomi, Los Angeles
11500 W. Pico Blvd.
From Esquire: "... Let chef Nozomi Mori and her team usher you through the symphonic movements of a meal. She tops a bed of warm rice with the meat of a Japanese hairy crab, then crowns that with the oceanic cream of the crab’s innards. You might pick up the swell of violins and the rumble of timpani—even if you don’t hear a sound. —JG" See more on Mori Nozomi's website.
Mae Malai Thai House of Noodles, Los Angeles
5445 Hollywood Blvd.
From Esquire: "Microdosing is cool and all, but have you tried Thai boat noodle soup? Because for eight bucks and change it’s hard to beat the mind-altering bowl of flavor that chef Malai Data serves in the middle of a shopping center on Hollywood Boulevard." See more from the Michelin Guide.
35 Best New Restaurants In America
The state of New York also had eight mentions, including Le Veau d’Or in New York City, which earned "Comeback of the Year."
Other states with restaurants on the list include Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas, with two each, and Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Washington and the District of Columbia, with one each.
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