Esquire's "Best New Restaurants in America" List Includes Two Miami Newcomers

Earlier this week, Esquire magazine released its picks for the nation's best new restaurants, and two Miami establishments are among this year's 50 honorees.

Locally, the magazine's "Best New Restaurants in America" honored two Miami chefs who are no strangers to the city's culinary spotlight: Niven Patel and Valerie Chang. The annual list was released on Tuesday, November 28, and spotlighted Patel's Erba and Chang's Maty's.

For the 2023 selections, Esquire food and beverage editor Kevin Sintumuang and his team tell readers they decided to put the spotlight on personality, extolling chefs who they felt put their "personal stories on the plate" while simultaneously lauding a nationwide culinary movement toward honest and vulnerable cuisine.

After vetting more than two hundred new dining establishments from New York to California, the final list saw everything from wood-fired and ice-chilled fare at Ilis in Brooklyn, homey Vietnamese food at Sap Sua in Denver, Iberian cuisine at San Diego-based Mabel's Gone Fishing to an industry-focused, late-night restaurant dubbed Warlord in Chicago.

For one-month-old Erba — the Italian-inspired, farm-to-table restaurant from Patel and his partner Mo Alkassar — Sintumuang describes handmade mafaldine served with Bahamian conch, a tres leches tiramisu, and a crudo of local wahoo paired with star fruit from Patel's farm.

"There is an intense respect for ingredients that shines through in his cooking," he writes of Patel. "The steamed green millet at Ghee — Patel and Alkassar's Indian restaurant — is a prime example of how a humble thing can be made transcendent. We all know that the greatest Italian food is simplicity squared. Erba offers that and so much more."

It's no surprise that Chang, who received similar recognition from Bon Appétit and the New York Times earlier this year, was also honored by Esquire.

Sintumuang shared his deep appreciation for the young chef's ceviches and tiraditos, a vibrant tribute to Chang's Peruvian roots and paternal grandmother.

"You could order everything from this part of the menu and leave happy, but you'd be remiss not to get the choclo," he shares. "Made with sweet corn, pecorino, and a spicy Huancaína cheese sauce, it's as addictive and comforting as the very best mac & cheese."