THE WEEKLY BITE
From West Village Matcha Flights to Sean Brock in L.A.: America’s Biggest Restaurant Openings
By Eric Barton | Aug. 27, 2025
El Mercat
AUTHOR BIO: Eric Barton is editor of The Adventurist and a freelance journalist who has reviewed restaurants for more than two decades. Email him here.
You can almost hear the front doors unlocking as this week’s batch of restaurants flings itself at hungry diners. Some are tiny cafés with matcha obsessions, others are oversized outposts of chains that inspire cult devotion, and then there’s Sean Brock, finally planting a flag in California. From coast to coast, here are the restaurants that just opened.
Aokō Matcha — New York City
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
The latest arrival in the West Village is Aokō Matcha, a Japanese café that treats green tea like gospel. Order the gelato flight—a gradient of five shades of matcha—and you’ll wonder why Starbucks is even allowed to sell the stuff. Mille crêpes, soft-serve, and elegant lattes round it out, a perfect stop before pretending you live in the neighborhood.
The Chef’s Table at Astor Club — Chicago
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Chicago’s Gold Coast just got Astor Club’s “The Chef’s Table”, a members-only splurge spot with a $325 tasting menu from Michelin-starred chef Trevor Teich. It’s intimate, the kind of meal where every bite feels like it could be the last course—until the next one lands. In a city already overstuffed with ambition, this one is pure theater.
El Mercat Bar de Tapas — Arlington, VA
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Pentagon City has a new jamón carving cart at El Mercat, where the tapas menu nods toward Spain’s greatest hits. Paella pans clatter, small plates arrive two at a time, and the wine list leans Iberian. If the neighborhood felt anonymous before, this helps give it a sense of place.
Darling — West Hollywood, CA
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Chef Sean Brock—yes, the same one who gave Charleston its Husk years ago—just opened Darling in West Hollywood. Expect quail charred over live fire and a listening-lounge soundtrack that seems curated for expensive whiskey. It’s his first West Coast restaurant, a late-career flex that will draw both food pilgrims and Netflix-watchers who know him by reputation alone.
Eat Sprout — Bethesda, MD
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
The D.C. suburbs just picked up a health-obsessed new neighbor with Eat Sprout, part of the growing Maryland chain. The concept is simple—nutritious meals on the go—but somehow they make herb-crusted salmon feel like it belongs in a sit-down restaurant. For anyone tired of sad desk salads, this is your salvation.
Cucina Al Pantheon — Mystic, CT
$$$$$ | MAP | INSTAGRAM
Inside a 1930s granite building that once held a bank and a brewery, Cucina Al Pantheon now turns out oysters on ice and ribeyes under chandeliers. Pizza gets equal billing, with a dough that feels like it has centuries of practice, though the restaurant itself opened just days ago. Mystic isn’t short on Italian food, but this feels like a scene-setter.
Flor. Coffee + Books — Washington, D.C.
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Flor manages to make a bookstore/café mashup feel obvious. Downstairs, it’s espresso and Argentine pastries. Upstairs, the creak of floorboards and stacks of new reads. Not so much a restaurant as a refuge, it’s the kind of place you’ll wander into for empanadas and end up staying because you found a novel you forgot you needed.
Level 99 — Tysons Corner, VA
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Somewhere between a Detroit-style pizza parlor and an escape room, Level 99 opened inside Tysons Galleria. Tables serve double duty as gaming hubs, and the beer list comes from Victory Brewing. It’s mall dining for the TikTok generation, where you can challenge friends and then split a pie.
Portillo’s — Stafford, TX
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Chicago’s cult hot dog and beef sandwich chain has a new outpost in Stafford, southwest of Houston. The restaurant debuted this week with a Southwestern design, double drive-thru lanes, and the promise of Italian beef dipped the way God intended. For homesick Chicagoans, it’s the closest thing you’ll find without boarding a plane.
Soul Gastrolounge — Charlotte
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Once a Plaza Midwood staple, Soul Gastrolounge just reopened in a sprawling NoDa location with more than 200 seats. The menu remains a greatest-hits mixtape—sushi rolls, pork belly tacos, duck confit flatbread—but now with parking. Nostalgia rarely survives a move, but this one just might.
