Restaurants & Bars
2 Bay Area Eateries Recognized As Bon Appétit's 'Best New Restaurants Of 2025'
The national magazine included two new restaurants in the Bay Area in its 2025 list.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The owners and staff at two Bay Area restaurants have something to celebrate: Bon Appétit has recognized them as "Best New Restaurants of 2025."
Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement in San Francisco and Sun Moon Studio in Oakland are two of the 20 eateries selected this year, Bon Appétit announced Friday. The list includes restaurants that opened between March 2024 and March 2025.
Minnie Bell's Soul Movement, located at 1375 Fillmore St. in the Fillmore neighborhood, features a menu that "offers up delicious home-style food, combining soulful flavors and warmth of the south," as described on the restaurant's website.
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It's owned by acclaimed Bay Area chef Fernay McPherson, who originally had a small kiosk in an Emeryville food hall, according to Bon Appétit. She made the move to San Francisco last year, and her new address is mere blocks away from her family home, where she grew up.
"For McPherson and her adoring fans, Minnie Bell’s is less a new beginning than a warm return," wrote Bon Appétit.
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Sun Moon Studio, located at 1940 Union St., Suite 21, in West Oakland, features menu items such as Santa Barbara uni, San Francisco Bay halibut and an egg custard tart, with "a focus on highlight[ing] local producers and farmers through the lens of our life experiences," reads the restaurant's website.
The restaurant opened in summer 2024 and was awarded a Michelin star in 2025.
"With only 12 seats, Sun Moon Studio is booked six weeks out," noted Bon Appétit. "This is a meal you plan for, one you anticipate. ... The earnestness with which chef-couple Sarah Cooper and Alan Hsu approach their vision makes Sun Moon Studio feel like a collaborative culinary experiment, a team project you’ve been invited to join in on."
Other West Coast restaurants made Bon Appétit's "Best New Restaurants of 2025" list, such as Camélia and Komal in Los Angeles and Lenox in Seattle.
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