The 7 Most Exciting New Restaurants of October

• A San Francisco pop-up finds a permanent home for Malaysian street food
• TV personality Molly Yeh makes a splash with her first restaurant
• Two buzzy NYC restaurateurs take on nose-to-tail British fare
• Traditional Korean cuisine lands at NYC’s Rockefeller Center
• A high-low disco dinner party in Portland, OR
• An Afrocentric grocer and café comes to West Philadelphia
• A taste of coastal Mexican cooking in East Austin

A spread of dishes at Lord’s in New York.

This month in restaurant openings, Philly got an Afrocentric grocer-slash-café, and in San Francisco, a Malaysian street food pop-up opened a permanent space. We spend a lot of time keeping up with new restaurants, and there’s a lot to keep track of. To help you do just that, we’ll be here at the end of each month with an update on the latest round of notable restaurant openings across the country. We’re already doing the work in preparation for our annual Best New Restaurants list, but even when its release is months away, we want you to know where we’re most looking forward to eating. In October, that includes exciting new restaurants in Austin, New York, and East Grand Forks, MN. Here are seven new restaurants to keep an eye on.

This list, organized alphabetically by state, includes both restaurants we’ve tried and ones we’ve added to our bucket lists.

A San Francisco pop-up finds a permanent home for Malaysian street food

Opened October 19

Upon moving to San Francisco in 2012, chef Tracy Goh hosted pop-up dinners in her one-bedroom apartment. As her popularity grew, she began serving her laksa at other locations throughout the Bay Area. At Damansara, her brick and mortar restaurant in the Noe Valley neighborhood, there are two options for Goh’s beloved laksa—to please both meat-eaters and vegetarians. But with this restaurant, named after her hometown in Malaysia, Goh wants to broaden the reach of Malaysian cuisine in America, showcasing street-style dishes beyond the popular noodle soup. There’s otak-otak, a spiced coconut fish cake grilled in banana leaves, and a rich beef rendang. There is also a chef-recommended selection of small plates.

TV personality Molly Yeh makes a splash with her first restaurant

Opened October 1

Molly Yeh is the bubbly personality behind the Food Network show Girl Meets Farm and the recently released cookbook Home is Where the Eggs Are. Now, Yeh is bringing her recipes to Bernie’s, a new restaurant named after her daughter. The menu, which will soon expand to include dinner service, blends Midwestern flavors with some Scandinavian influence. Yeh also adds “a touch of Jewish flare,” to her menu, as she told Forbes. Think smorgasbords, whitefish toast, and halva walnut scones. This space was previously home to the restaurant Whitey’s, which was open for almost 100 years. Bernie’s will take on the historic location with three distinct concepts: one centered on carryout and counter service, one on table service, and one a market featuring Yeh’s favorite pantry ingredients and Bernie’s merch. For those obsessed with Yeh’s playful desserts, there will be a rotating pastry display, with the likes of sprinkle cake donuts and frosted almond cookie bars.

View the Instagram photo.

Two buzzy NYC restaurateurs take on nose-to-tail British fare

Opened October 3

Ed Szymanski and Patricia Howard are responsible for the impossible-to-get-into seafood restaurant Dame in New York’s Greenwich Village. Now, the pair have opened a British nose-to-tail bistro called Lord’s, where they’re letting offal and pig’s head shine. The new restaurant, a few blocks north of Dame, features a menu that’s rooted in English tradition, but with Szymanski’s take on the classics. There’s a sirloin steak with green peppercorns and the same divine chips featured in Dame’s fish and chips. But there are also more hard-to-find dishes like curried lamb Scotch eggs, deviled crab on toast, and a savory pie of the day (currently with a filling of chicken, pig’s trotter, and leeks). For strict vegetarians, options are limited—there is a grilled mushroom kebab with lentils and egg yolk, but not a lot else. The beverage program includes cocktails like a Bartlett pear Manhattan, and a mostly-French wine list. Lucky for New York diners who have braved the hours-long wait at Dame, Lord’s boasts four times the square footage and twice as many seats. Perhaps a dinner of duck with stuffed cabbage and parsnip is in the cards.

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Traditional Korean cuisine lands at NYC’s Rockefeller Center

Opened October 31

At the end of the month, the husband-wife team behind popular Korean restaurants Atomix and Atoboy will launch their third restaurant. With Naro, Junghyun and Ellia Park are headed a bit further uptown from their typical digs, to the Rockefeller Center. Chef Nate Kuester, previously of Atoboy, will helm a kitchen that focuses on the subtle and delicate flavors of hansik, or traditional Korean cuisine. There will be a multi-course tasting menu in the main dining room and a prix-fixe on the indoor terrace. Both menus will utilize traditional techniques of fermentation and preservation, resulting in dishes like octopus naengchae (a cold salad) and king crab bibimbap. Cocktails from beverage director Jhonel Faelnar will show off the Korean liquor sool in its many forms, with an emphasis on fermented ingredients. Overlooking the iconic Rock Center skating rink, the dining room will feature textiles, ceramics, and artwork sourced from Korean and Korean-American artisans. For those hoping to walk in before an evening skate, a lounge area and bar will feature snacks and à la carte dishes.

A high-low disco dinner party in Portland, OR

Opened October 21

Kyle Christy and Jessie Manning met working at the natural wine-dedicated restaurant Dame (no connection to the New York one), and went on to run a wine and food pop-up serving a high-low mixture, including cheeseburger pizza and chicken liver mousse eclairs. It’s become an industry favorite, with pop-ups selling out at locations around town. Now, they’ve launched a permanent location of Street Disco which, as the name suggests, brings a party-like vibe to Portland’s Foster-Powell neighborhood. The new restaurant is half sit-down dining room, open until around 10 p.m., and half walk-in-only wine bar, open until 1 a.m., allowing industry folks getting off work late to join in on the fun. The menu features shared plates like braised local lamb neck and roasted squash with almond ricotta. We’re particularly excited about the natural wine program. The names of grape varietals are left off the menu to push diners to try something new.

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An Afrocentric grocer and café comes to West Philadelphia

Opened October 29

With Honeysuckle Provisions, husband-wife team Omar Tate and Cybille St. Aude-Tate have opened a restaurant with sustainability and identity in mind. Their café and grocery store in the Walnut Hill neighborhood of West Philadelphia exclusively features products grown or crafted by Black artisans and farmers. The menu includes dishes like Jamaican patties and a fonio grain bowl with a green goddess dressing. There’s also an homage to Pennsylvania, in the form of a vegetarian black-eyed pea scrapple. Instead of your normal cup of coffee, the team is serving cowpea coffee, a nutrient-rich and earthy spin on cold brew. The couple is working collaboratively with the grocery arm of the business to operate the café as a zero-waste space. Under the label of Honeysuckle Projects, they plan to open a community center in the next two years.

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A taste of coastal Mexican cooking in East Austin

Opened October 3

In preparation for opening Este, Fermín Núñez and Sam Hellman-Mass, the duo behind masa-driven Austin favorite Suerte, traveled to Mexican coastal cities like Ensenada and Valle de Guadalupe. You’ll see these travels reflected on Este’s menu. There is seafood in pretty much every form—oysters on the half shell with a chiltepin pepper mignonette, tuna tiradito, plus charcoal-grilled stunners including grilled squid with a hazelnut chipotle salsa macha. Masa made with heirloom corn is an important part of the menu, too. The swordfish for the restaurant’s fish tacos is battered in a crisp masa shell, and a cream puff from pastry chef Derrick Flynn houses a masa diplomat cream. The 1920s building has been updated, and the on-site garden is fully operational. The restaurant grows its own vegetables using rotational farming techniques, and beehives pollinate the crops. As for the space, the bright interior and spacious outdoor deck are meant to transport diners to the Mexican seaside.

View the Instagram photo.