6 SoCal Restaurants Named 'Best New Restaurants In America' By Esquire

LOS ANGELES, CA — Thanksgiving is over, and you’ve probably gobbled up the leftovers by now.

Luckily, Southern California is one of the world’s great culinary capitals, and its restaurants dazzle in their quality and diversity. Despite a prolonged pandemic, new restaurants continue to put the region on the foodie map. Four LA restaurants made Esquire's list of the 40 Best New Restaurants in 2022, and two LA chefs were named Chefs of the Year. The magazine's editors said they chose their restaurants based not only on the food and atmosphere but on the stories and experiences that imbue the dishes.

“We’re always hooked when there is soul and a story to go with delicious, inventive dishes. It’s hard to deny the reflection of lived experience imbued in a menu, a wine list, a cocktail, atmosphere,” the editors wrote. “Over time, we’ve seen these stories—and the dynamic eateries they inspire—become even more deeply personal and eclectic.”

From a Korean restaurant/convenience store with a Jewish twist run by a married couple to outdoor kaiseki to shawarma and lobster, these four restaurants showcase the amazing stories and talent that season the SoCal food scene.

1. Yangban Society, Los Angeles (ranked #2)

This Arts District Korean-American eatery is ranked number two on the list, and its chefs, husband and wife John and Katianna Hong, were named 2022’s best new chefs in the country. The cuisine is a unique twist on both Korean and Jewish deli food, offering everything from congee pot pie to black bean mole to matzah ball soup. The “choose-your-own adventure” menu items may “befuddle” some, Esquire warns, but “when the food hits the table, it all makes sense.”

2. n/soto, Los Angeles (ranked #6)

“Soto” means “outside” in Japanese, and this restaurant near Lafayette Square was born during the pandemic as a way to “step outside of the familiar and welcome the opportunity to learn from the bigger world around us.” The restaurant specializes in kaiseki, a traditional Japanese meal in which a set menu of select food is served on individual trays. However, n/soto offers a “playfulness….that may surprise anyone who’s accustomed to the meticulous, season-revering kaiseki cuisine,” as well as a “lusty extravagance” to the elaborate menu, which features everything from roasted marrow bone to cubes of tosazu in deep cups of oysters.

3. Saffy’s, Los Angeles (ranked #8)

This East Hollywood Middle Eastern restaurant from Bestia and Bavel owners Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis is a place where you can “eat with your hands and drink with your friends” offers what Esquire wonders is the “best shawarma ever” as well as falafel, hummus and kebabs that are “next-level.” The restaurant’s “golden gloriousness” feels like a “café in Tel Aviv at sunset.”

4. Bar Le Côte, Los Olivos (ranked #22)

This seafood restaurant located in a small town just north of Santa Barbara "exudes the casual elegance you think you could only find from the Spanish or Portuguese coasts." However, stunning dishes like "day-boat scallops with pickled mushrooms, little neck clams tossed in house-made chorizo, or perfect little white anchovies curled around olives and peppers" paired with local wines bring that magic to the California coast.

5. Mother Wolf, Los Angeles (ranked #23)

This grand, celebrity-studded Hollywood hangout “thumping” with drama is a “big, bold homage to the food of the Eternal City.” Chef Evan Funke, described as a “maestro with carbs,” offers elegant Italian classics, from pizza to pasta to crisp squash blossoms and oxtail meatballs.

6. Callie, San Diego (ranked #27)

"Blandness and pretension are the enemies" at this California-Mediterranean fusion restaurant, named after the Greek word for "most beautiful." The creative menu offers extravagant spreads like fresh hummus, babaghanoush, and avocado labneh, fresh salads, pastas, and exquisite seafood and meat. The "welcoming, commodious restaurant that exists to celebrate the bounty of the Golden State as much as the Mediterranean."

With its year-round temperate climate and amazing diversity of geography and people, California has long been a foodie mecca. Ten out of the 40 restaurants listed are in California (including three in San Francisco, and one in Sonoma), which means that it just beat out New York as the reigning champion of this year’s list.

See here for the full list.