5 Reasons to Visit® · The Dining Desk

Where the Great Chefs Are Cooking Now

Chef interviews, first-look reviews and the tables worth traveling for.

The Quick Version · Updated October 2026

The Dining Desk covers chef-driven restaurants worth traveling for — chef interviews, first-look reviews and destination dining.

Our Meet the Chef series profiles chefs including Zak Gregoire of Hotel Jerome, Auberge Collection, Cornelia Sühr of White Barn Inn, Auberge Collection, and Curtis Stone of Maude and Gwen.

The 2026 dining trends to know: hotel restaurants as destinations, the chef as the reason to travel, live-fire cooking, elevated regional cuisine, and the tasting menu as the main event.

Our editors also publish state-by-state food guides to the best pizza, BBQ, Indian and authentic Italian in the U.S.

The 2026 Forecast

The Year Ahead at the Table

Five shifts our dining editors are tasting their way through in 2026 — from the kitchens rewriting the rules to the meals now worth the journey on their own.

Trend · Rising

The Hotel-Restaurant Renaissance

The most talked-about openings are inside hotels — dining rooms conceived as the main event, not the room-service afterthought.

Trend · Defining

The Chef Is the Destination

The name above the pass now sells the ticket. Diners are building whole itineraries around one seat at one counter.

Trend · Global

Live-Fire & Ingredient Purity

Basque asadors, alpine hearths, open coals — wood and smoke are the season's most coveted flavor, and restraint its luxury.

Trend · Enduring

Regional Cooking, Elevated

The best menus are looking homeward — heritage technique, the farm down the road, and a fierce sense of where they stand.

Trend · The Main Event

Dining as the Reason to Travel

The tasting menu used to be one line on the itinerary. Now it is the itinerary — the reason the trip exists at all.

Café Boulud at Mayflower Inn & Spa in Washington, Connecticut

First Look · Washington, Connecticut

A Legendary French Chef Takes Over a New England Dining Room — Inside Café Boulud at Mayflower Inn

A first look at Café Boulud’s debut at Mayflower Inn & Spa in Washington, Connecticut — the new seasonal menu, the dining experience, and why it’s drawing attention right now.

Read the Feature →

Q&A Series

Meet the Chef

All Chef Interviews

White Barn Inn, Auberge Collection, Kennebunk

Meet the Chef · Kennebunk, Maine

White Barn Inn, Auberge Collection: Chef Cornelia Sühr Is Cooking Maine From Coastline to Forest

Trained in the kitchens of Alain Ducasse and The Carlyle, Executive Chef Cornelia Sühr cooks Maine through halibut and razor clams, Stonington lobster and Jonah crab.

Meet the Chef

Meet the Chef at Hotel Jerome, Auberge Collection, Aspen: Zak Gregoire on Prospect and Seasonality

Oct 19, 2026

Meet the Chef

Del Mar West Palm Beach: Chef Tyler Budzinski on What to Order

5 Reasons to Visit® Editors

Meet the Chef

Carolina at The St. Regis Punta Mita Resort: A Fire-Driven Steakhouse with a Mexican Pacific Soul

Oct 23, 2026

Meet the Chef

Meet the Chef: Curtis Stone of Maude in Beverly Hills and Gwen in Hollywood

Emma Robertson

Editors' Food Guides

The Definitive Dining Guides

The obsessively researched guides to a single dish done right — mapped across the country, one order worth the detour at a time.

Food & Wine · 2026

Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival 2026

The dinners, brunches and parties worth booking, December 10–13.

Read the Guide →

Food Guide · Ranked

America's Best Pizza, Ranked by State

New York fold or Chicago deep-dish — every state has a pizza story. We ranked the best slice in each.

Read the Guide →

Authentic Italian restaurants in every state

Restaurant Guide · 2026

Authentic Italian Restaurants by State

Handmade pasta rooms and Sicilian trattorias — the most authentic Italian dining across the country.

Read the Guide →

Food Guide · 50 States

The 50 Best BBQ Pits in America

Legendary smoke joints every state would go to war to protect — Texas brisket, Carolina pulled pork, Kansas City burnt ends.

Read the Guide →

Restaurant Guide · 50 States

The Best Indian Restaurant in Every U.S. State

From fiery curries to buttery tandoori and freshly baked naan — the standout Indian kitchen in all fifty states.

Read the Guide →

Food Guide · 50 States

50 States, 50 Patios

Breezy coastal decks, skyline rooftops and secret garden courtyards — the outdoor restaurant that defines al fresco dining in every state.

Read the Guide →

Chef Nobu Matsuhisa at Nobu Manalapan, Eau Resort & Spa, Palm Beach

Dining & Events · Palm Beach, Florida

Nobu Manalapan at One: A Night with Chef Nobu Matsuhisa at Eau Resort & Spa, Palm Beach

Chef Nobu Matsuhisa led the restaurant’s one-year party on the Palm Beach shoreline: live cooking stations, Nobu cocktails and a saxophonist drifting through the room.

Read the Feature →

The Dining Desk

We cover the people cooking the meals worth traveling for — the chefs, the openings, and the singular dishes that turn a reservation into the reason for the trip.

Our Meet the Chef conversations go inside the kitchens shaping how the world eats, while our reviews and guides point you to the tables actually worth the journey.

Common Questions

Frequently Asked

What are the best chef-driven restaurants right now?

Our editors track chef-driven restaurants through the Meet the Chef series and first-look reviews, from celebrity chef openings to hotel dining rooms and destination restaurants, updated as new places open.

What is a chef-driven restaurant?

A chef-driven restaurant is one where a specific executive or celebrity chef shapes the menu, sourcing, and experience — rather than a corporate or franchise concept. These restaurants are often destinations in their own right, drawing travelers who plan trips around a single tasting menu.

Which chefs has 5 Reasons to Visit interviewed?

Our Meet the Chef series profiles executive chefs and culinary leaders, including Zak Gregoire of Hotel Jerome, Auberge Collection, Cornelia Sühr of White Barn Inn, Auberge Collection, Jim Stein of Sea Glass at Inn by the Sea, Tyler Budzinski of Del Mar and Curtis Stone of Maude and Gwen.

How does 5 Reasons to Visit choose which restaurants to feature?

Coverage is editorial and independent. Our team features restaurants based on culinary merit, chef pedigree, design, and the strength of the overall experience — focusing on places genuinely worth traveling for.

Which kind of restaurant is right for the occasion?

For a special occasion, choose a chef-driven tasting menu. For food lovers, look to live-fire and ingredient-driven kitchens. While traveling, hotel restaurants are some of the most ambitious new dining rooms. On a road trip, our state-by-state guides point to the regional specialty worth the detour.

Where do celebrity chefs open restaurants?

Celebrity chefs increasingly open inside luxury hotels and resorts, in major food cities, and in emerging dining destinations. We track these openings through our Meet the Chef series and First Look reviews as they debut.

What is the best cuisine to travel for?

It depends on the experience — live-fire and coastal cooking, chef-driven tasting menus, or regional specialties like pizza, BBQ and authentic Italian. Our guides and reviews help you choose the dishes genuinely worth the journey.

How do I find the best restaurants near me when traveling?

Start with a destination's standout chef-driven restaurants and hotel dining rooms. We publish city and state guides plus first-look reviews so you can find the best restaurants wherever you're traveling.

Editorial Note

We're always discovering the chefs and restaurants defining what's next. If you represent a chef-driven restaurant or hotel dining program, our editors can be reached at media@5reasonstovisit.com.

Explore More from 5 Reasons to Visit®

Keep Reading

Hotels & Resorts The Best New Luxury Hotels & First-Look Reviews Destinations The Best Places to Travel in 2026, Ranked Food & Events Taste America Miami 2026: The James Beard Dinner in Wynwood The Magazine 5 Reasons to Visit® — Luxury Travel, Daily

The 5 Reasons to Visit® Newsletter

Chef interviews and dining guides, in your inbox.

Subscribe & Enter to Win →