Come summer, one wants to eat well, of course, but not weightily. This assortment of restaurants across the United States knows how to meet cravings while not overwhelming. Well, you might be overwhelmed by their deliciousness. That's never bad, right?
Cullum's Attaboy, San Antonio, Texas
Bev's Cafe & Market, Kennebunk, Maine
Annie Callan, former longtime pastry chef of San Francisco's legendary Zuni Café, and Nate Morris, former longtime chef of the same restaurant, moved east to Kennebunk, Maine a few years ago. Their new restaurant is a breakfast and lunch cafe, open Thursdays to Mondays. Quiche, big cinnamon buns drenched in icing, a take on a Whopper hamburger, endless uses of great local produce: Bev's is an easygoing spot well worth a detour.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Meju, New York City
Korean food and all its blessed diversity is exploding across New York City lately. Meju, chef-owner Hooni Kim's eight-seat dinner lab for Korean-style fermentation, brings its own special vantage point. The menu is fixed and you prepay with Tock, the restaurant ticketing system. Much of the fermented components of the meal — the jangs (foundational sauces) and jeotgals (salted seafood) — are made in-house. Dinner at Meju will upend everything you think you know about Korean cuisine.
Ema, Houston
Stephanie Velasquez and Nicolas Vera run this brand-new cafe, a freewheeling exploration of Mexican cooking. Velasquez oversees the pastry program, and her conchas, in flavors like blue corn and chocolate, are already beloved. The savory side of Ema features plates like a Caesar salad with pumpkin seeds and masa croutons, roasted cauliflower in pipian rojo and carrot tacos.
Petite León, Minneapolis
A little French; a bit Mexican; a touch Italian: Petite León sprints across continents for its influences. At its core, the restaurant just aims to satisfy. For brunch, there is shakshuka and a tamal served like eggs Benedict. Come dinner, smoked salmon rillettes are served with Ritz crackers, and the steak frites is plated with both chile-laced bordelaise and chipotle butter.
L'Oursin, Seattle
A bistro that unabashedly embraces both the techniques of French restaurant cooking and the L'Oursin's Pacific Northwest locale. The drinks feature, say, Armagnac and pear brandy, and the food takes bistro classics like roast chicken and beef tartare and electrifies them with entrenched Washington State ingredients like nettles and mussels.
The Quinte, Charleston, South Carolina
Seafood is central to Charleston's cuisine; Jason Stanhope, after a years-long stint at the city's legendary Fig, is a chef staple of the Holy City. Put the two together at a new, mellow oyster bar with pickled littleneck clams, raw and broiled oysters and a drinks list heavy on bivalve-friendly cocktails and wines and all is going to be right with the world.
Irwin's, Philadelphia
Italian food is one of the great, familiar people-pleasers of eating out in the United States; natural wine continues to roll its trendy movement across the country. Irwin's merges the two in a breezy rooftop location. Crack open a bottle of orange wine, and snack on Sicilian-inspired snacks like eggplant caponata with semolina crackers and broccoli rabe with pecorino and anchovy.
-
Democrats’ strategy to woo voters for 2026: religionThe Explainer Politicians like Rob Sand and James Talarico have made a name for themselves pushing their faith
-
Pregnancy in AmericaFeature Why is it getting riskier to give birth in the U.S.?
-
The potential warning sign of an auto lender’s bankruptcyIn the Spotlight Tricolor collapse an ‘extreme example’ of economy’s challenges
-
The 9 restaurants to eat at this very momentThe Week Recommends They’re award-winning. Isn’t that reason enough?
-
10 concert tours to see this fallThe Week Recommends Concert tour season isn't over. Check out these headliners.
-
Video games to curl up with this fall, including Ghost of Yotei and LEGO PartyThe Week Recommends Several highly anticipated video games are coming this fall
-
10 upcoming albums to stream during spooky seasonThe Week Recommends As fall arrives, check out new albums from Taylor Swift, Jeff Tweedy, the Lemonheads and more
-
A Spinal Tap reunion, Thomas Pynchon by way of Paul Thomas Anderson and a harrowing Stephen King adaptation in September moviesthe week recommends This month’s new releases include ‘Spinal Tap II,’ ‘One Battle After Another’ and ‘The Long Walk’
-
Don't fly by the seat of your pants. Do it the healthy way with these airborne tips.The Week Recommends Yes to stretching. Even more yesses to hydration.
-
'The Office' spinoff, a 'Mare of Easttown' follow-up and the Guinness family royalty in September TVthe week recommends This month's new television releases include 'The Paper,' 'Task' and 'House of Guinness'
-
One great cookbook: 'Jam Bakes'The Week Recommends A guide to pristine jam-making, plus the baked goods that love them
