#restaurant-openings

#restaurant-openings

Pies 'n' Thighs, serving Southern comfort food since 2006, is just now getting around to launching its next chapter.

Everything started from one question. Why aren't there any good Korean restaurants in Boston? He said it's the consensus among Koreans in the community to feel like they have to travel to New York or New Jersey for better Korean food. With this new trio of concepts, Kim feels confident that diners no longer have to board the Acela for quality Korean cuisine.

Chef and cookbook author Jeremy Fox will join the team at San Luis Obispo's Edna, a forthcoming restaurant, cafe, market, and distillery, as a partner and culinary director. Fox will be joined at Edna by Matthew Schaler, who served as executive chef at Fox's now-closed Birdie G's.

Hayama by Watami, a collaboration between Bar Hayama and Japan-based restaurant group Watami, will open in a space diagonal from Pasta Sisters. At the restaurant, chef Frank "Toshi" Sugiura will work with his daughter Ichigo Sugiura to serve a menu of izakaya and sushi staples, including yakitori, bento boxes, and Japanese-style curry.

In Greater Boston's dining scene, there's always a new restaurant opening to celebrate or a fresh update coming to one of the city's delicious eateries. In the months ahead, we have major restaurant openings from Michelin chefs and famous New York restaurateurs, as well as a swell of diverse and delicious smaller restaurants joining our neighborhoods. Each week, Boston.com will highlight the restaurant openings worth knowing about across the region. Some spots will already be open, while others are set to debut in 2026.

Charlie Palmer, the notable chef behind New York restaurants including Aureole and Charlie Palmer Steak, will open three new restaurants in Paso Robles this year. The trio, which includes a cowboy-inspired bar with a Western-leaning food and drinks menu, a separate rooftop bar, and a ground-level California tavern, will open at the historic Paso Robles Inn. The first, Cattleman's Bar, opens on Saturday, February 21, with a Western-style interior and updated ranch fare.

The former Toast Eatery at Polk and Sacramento has reopened as Goldenette, an old-school diner, with a lot of Millennial pink flair. As Tablehopper reports, Toast owner Eddie Naser partnered with Wes Rowe, of Wes Burgers 'n' More fame, to revamp the restaurant's menu, which now includes multiple breakfast sandwich and breakfast burrito options including a delicious looking chile relleno burrito and a new, reportedly excellent patty melt. Also, like at Wes Burger, there are tater tots served several ways.

Tse was not raised cooking Japanese food and, in preparation for opening The Azuki Room, travelled to Tokyo to train at the Japan Culinary Institute. He told me a bit about this process, but where his resilience has really been tested is in London. The Azuki Room was due to open in 2025 but suffered a series of unfortunate events: the site was occupied by squatters, the premises were damaged, stock and equipment were stolen, and the specialist sake Tse bought in Japan was consumed.

You may know Albany as a little East Bay suburb in Berkeley's shadow, home to a defunct horse racing track and a former landfill. But take a stroll down the city of 20,000's bustling Solano Avenue and you'll find some of the Bay Area's best French pastries, elegant sushi handrolls, and a natural wine bar so hip you'll swear you're in San Francisco.

We wrote about the city's Italian-American obsession early last year and, thanks to headline openings like The Dover and One Club Row, and pizza spots like Alley Cats, Lauretta's and Paulie's, New York-style dining has remained a dominant trend in the city. And the NYC-inspired openings just keep on coming; The Dover's Martin Kuczmarski has opened a spin-off, and Kith founder Ronnie Fieg has added an NY-style bistro to his new London store.