The 8 Must-Visit New Restaurants This Winter

Chef Fernay McPherson’s rosemary fried chicken and mac and cheese have cemented her in the Bay Area as a soul food legend. After five years of operating Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement in the East Bay food hall Public Market Emeryville, she will be opening her first restaurant in San Francisco’s Fillmore district this February. The location is significant for McPherson, a third-generation resident of the historic neighborhood. In addition to the classics, she’ll be cooking up roast chicken, fried oyster mushrooms, and a vegan take on her signature mac and cheese. For weekend brunch, diners can expect dishes like oxtail hash and shrimp etouffee over fried grit cake. The beverage menu will showcase Black- and female-owned wineries with an emphasis on sparkling wines—the perfect pairing for fried chicken.

A new project from the duo behind one of Sonoma’s buzziest spots

Golden Bear Station
Kenwood, CA
Opening: December

After less than two years of business, Joshua Smookler and Heidy He announced in November that they would close Animo, their celebrated Sonoma restaurant known for its inventive Basque-Korean fare, until mid-2024. In the meantime, the husband-wife duo is opening Golden Bear Station, an Asian-influenced brasserie located in a former filling station along California’s Highway 12. While Animo might be a special occasion restaurant, Smookler and He aim for Golden Bear Station to feel more like a weekly dining destination. The menu will include Neapolitan-style pizza and dishes like a panko-fried pork chop with dashi broth. While fans of their closed New York restaurant Mu Ramen won’t find ramen on Golden Bear’s menu, the couple plans to bring back the cult-favorite Harlan burger, a dry-aged short rib patty with caramelized onions, Taleggio cheese, shoestring potatoes, and kimchi mayo, named after their daughter.

Contemporary Mexican food takes to Capitol Hill

Pascual
Washington, DC
Opening: January

Chefs Matt Conroy and Isabel Coss are known for the modern French fare at their celebrated Georgetown neo-bistro Lutèce. Pascual, the husband-wife team’s new contemporary Mexican spot, will be different. The food reflects Coss’s roots as a Mexico City native and her experience cooking in iconic kitchens like Enrique Olvera’s Pujol in Mexico City and Cosme in New York. Conroy is also well-versed in Mexican cooking, having most recently run the kitchen at Oxomoco in Brooklyn. Their menu at Pascual will focus on wood-fire cooking: fideos secos (thin, short noodles cooked in tomato broth), al pastor Bangs Island mussels with charred pineapple, and Yucatan-style grilled branzino. Of course, Coss, a self-proclaimed “postre chef,” will be making a slate of must-order desserts like burnt vanilla soft-serve drizzled with cajeta sauce and roasted fruit with mezcal zabaglione and meringue. Shortly after Pascual opens, the team will debut a daytime to-go panadería and coffee shop called Volcán.