A Guide to Food Network Stars’ Restaurants

In the City of Sin, Chef Bobby Flay promises to transport you to the Mediterranean. His restaurant in Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas strip is described as having an “enchanting blend of coastal ease and fresh, bright flavors.” There is also an educational experience, as the fish and seafood served at Amalfi are all displayed in the restaurant so you can sea what you’re in for and ask the in-house fishmonger questions about the catches of the day. There’s antipasti galore (including curveballs like crab and eggplant meatballs), plenty of pasta, both fish and meaty mains and signature desserts to enjoy in a refined-yet-casual setting.

If you find yourself in Atlantic City, NJ, Chef Michael Symon’s Angeline at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa is the opposite of taking a gamble. He plays to his Sicilian strengths with comforting Italian foods, including his mom Angeline’s — the restaurant’s namesake — signature Sunday Sauce, wood-fired fare, and both gluten-free and gluten-full handmade pastas. Expect equal parts nostalgia and bold, dynamic flavors in an upscale and sleek yet welcoming atmosphere that makes you feel like part of the Symon family.

This is not your average wine bar. Chef Justin Warner and his wife, Brooke Sweeten, collaborated on a dynamic menu of biodynamically farmed wines and unexpected bistro-style snack plates in Rapid City, SD (just around the corner from their ramen shop, Bokujo). This low-key, highly funky spot is meant to linger in — including cozy vintage couches to sprawl across — while enjoying an extensive list of natural wines, cheeses, charcuterie and bites. Try pairing an Austrian orange wine with “goth hummus” (made with black tahini) for a Halloween-all-year vibe, or enjoy a spread of glorious tinned fish, bread and butter with a rosé from Slovenia. There are flights and cans to explore natty wine in different ways, and a market full of to-go plates and bottles to bring home or make one fabulous picnic.

You can have a weekend or weekday at Bernie’s, but whenever you go to Molly Yeh’s café, bakery and market, be sure to come hungry. This is a celebration of the Midwest’s cuisine in East Grand Forks, MN, where you can enjoy a Wondersub (salami, ham, havarti, lettuce, olives, pickled peppers, mayo, vinaigrette and oregano on a baguette), grab a take-and-bake hotdish to go, or let loose at the historic horseshoe bar. It’s casual and inviting, with breakfast, lunch and early dinner (it closes at 7 p.m.), plus a robust bakery to load up on pastries.

If you’ve watched Chef Antonio Lofaso compete on any Food Network competition, you know that her food is all over the map, with flavor influences spanning different countries and continents. At Black Market Liquor Bar in Los Angeles’ Studio City neighborhood, she stayed close to home, honing in on “American eclectic cuisine” for elevated food in a casual-yet-sophisticated atmosphere. Try craveable vegetables like charred Brussels sprouts with grapes, almonds and Pecorino Romano; eat fried chicken and fries; or take some lobster pasta for a twirl. Craft cocktails from bartender Pablo Moix complement the expansive menu, and you should save room for a deep-fried fluffernutter for dessert.

Glide into the chic lobby of the Kindler Hotel in Lincoln, NE, and you’ll discover a bounty of locally sourced, seasonal fare developed by gold-medal Olympic skater Brian Boitano. It’s a perfect place to double (axel) up on unique signature cocktails (like the cheekily-named FIGetaboutit with rye, blood orange fig shrub and grapefruit bitters) and appetizers (including a red wine–braised short rib flatbread and hummus with focaccia crostini). Stop by for a nightcap, or have a light, graze-y dinner in the “hip and welcoming atmosphere.”

Chef Justin Warner has been dubbed the “wildcard” by Guy Fieri, and the menu at his casual ramen joint (co-owned and operated with his wife, Brooke Sweeten) in Rapid City, SD, is full of wildly delicious flavor combinations. You can enjoy the same menu for lunch or dinner, including izakaya-inspired appetizers like roasted bison and wasabi bao and mushrooms served in a foil packet with soy sauce and butter. As for the ramen? Say slurp’s up to seven different types of unctuous broths, including both classic tonkotsu and Iekei pork, beef, bison, mushroom miso, spicy miso and veggie shoyu. There’s also a rentable party room with a karaoke machine for up to 20 people if that’s how you like to roll.

When you’re at Cabra, you’re family. Or at least eating family-style with Chef Stephanie Izard’s love letter to Peruvian cuisine. Shareable plates are bold and bright at both the Los Angeles and Chicago locations — and both are on rooftops for panoramic views and breezy, feel-good vibes — with plenty of options to satisfy any craving. The menus vary seasonally and by location, but you can expect to always see the chorizo queso, multiple types of ceviche and raw fish, refreshing salads, meaty mains and dynamic desserts. Finish off with cocktails made to be sipped while watching the sun set, or kick off your weekend with a drink if you visit Cabra for brunch.

New-age Caribbean is the name of the game at Chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph’s colorful Austin restaurant. Canje is named after the national bird of Guyana, and the Guyanese native soars as he explores the “cooking techniques, ingredients, and many expressions of vibrant food across the entire region … from Jamaica to Puerto Rico, and all the islands in between.” Though the elevated everyday menu is ever-changing, it’s broken down into four sections that help determine how to divide and conquer — and eat with your hands. There’s Wah Gwaan, featuring appetizers like savory pineapple-watermelon salad and oxtail beef patties; Suppa, with classic jerk chicken and an array of other meats; Tryating, which has sides like sweet plantains and roti; and Likkle Muore, a dessert section that has a boozy sorbet and pineapple upside-down cake.

The steaks are high at Cellaio, Chef Scott Conant’s steakhouse at the Resort World Catskills Casino in Monticello, NY. He adds Italian flair with house-made pasta, antipasti aplenty, a bountiful raw bar, and a robust wine selection, and cooks up steaks worth the splurge — all of them are USDA 100-percent Certified Black Angus beef, dry-aged for 21 to 28 days. There are five different sauces to choose from to accompany your steak, and you can sop up those sauces with cheese-stuffed focaccia or garlicky, cheesy pull-apart rolls. If you save room for dessert, a tiramisu affogato combines two Italian classics in one.

Chef Guy Fieri’s fast-casual chain is pretty fly … for a Chicken Guy! The saucy — there are 22 different signature sauces to choose from — fried chicken joint has 11 locations across the country, with at least six more on the way. You can currently enjoy Guy’s righteous fried chicken sandwiches, chicken tenders, fries, salads, “Mac Daddy Mac ‘n’ Cheese,” shakes and more in Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles (LAX airport), Livonia, MI; Lake Buena Vista, FL (Disney Springs); Winter Park, FL; Pittsburgh, PA; Atlantic City, NJ; Gatlinburg, TN; Landover, MX and Santa Clara, CA.

Chef Antonia Lofaso’s Latin-influenced restaurant is bananas. No, really — it is in the former Pacific Banana Co. building in downtown Los Angeles, and DAMA’s tropical vibes and twists on tiki drinks will have you monkeying around in no time. The expansive space has a plush indoor lounge, three private terraces, and a large outdoor patio to enjoy elevated, dynamically flavored tapas-style shareable plates inspired by her travels to Spain, Latin America and the Caribbean. You can choose between the classics — chicken croquettes, paella and empanadas — and surprising innovative dishes like whipped beans with crispy pork and a charred octopus and potato salad with a bright olive tapenade. Plus, there’s Sunday brunch worth waking up for.

Seafood is the star at Chef Richard Blais’ restaurant at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando, FL. The flavors and atmosphere are equally vibrant, with little pink flamingo toothpicks floating in many drinks and zesty citrus accenting a large raw and chilled section of fresh catches. There’s some high-low creativity in dishes like oxtail and foie gras empanadas, a red snapper piccata, and a crab and crawfish twice-baked potato; overall, a menu that allows diners to discover something new or rediscover a familiar dish with a signature Blais twist.

It’s nearly impossible to resist the case of Chef Ben Hardy’s impeccable pastries when you walk into his dessert dreamland in Indianapolis, IN, but this shop is much more than just desserts. Relax surrounded by lush gardens as you enjoy all-day brunch — from a creme brûlée crepe to a whole brûléed burrata platter — or a simple, hearty, customizable dinner. You can also just drop by for pastries and coffee any morning, or an interesting cocktail day or night. Breakfast negroni, anyone?

Chef Marcus Samuelsson distilled his colorful, energetic essence into a vibrant seafood house in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. The festive atmosphere has equally dazzling decor (including original art by award-winning artist Derrick Adams) and flavors across a globetrotting menu of food, cocktails and a wine list spotlighting BIPOC and female-produced bottles. Start off with an Ocean Salad (a little kale and a lot of rock shrimp and jumbo lump crab) and a basket of three different housemade breads (teff biscuits, blue cornbread and injera crisp served with shiro hummus and tomato chutney), and then make your way into entrees like branzino with clams and miso potatoes. Brunch has even more twists, including a Seaside Waffle topped with crispy calamari, shrimp and a maple chimichurri.

The heat is on at Chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph’s sleek Austin restaurant. Its custom 20-foot hearth allows diners to have dinner and a show as the chefs play with fire to turn out unforgettable dishes like pan de cristal (an airy Spanish bread with a delicate crust also called glass bread) with hearth-roasted cultured butter, a smoked crab tart and a juicy ribeye with grilled okra. If you want the full Hestia experience, you can opt into the 13-course chef’s tasting menu ($195, with $150 for wine pairings), or just fire off a list of shared plates and cocktails to enjoy. Try to save room for dessert, especially if their sourdough ice cream is on the menu. The sweet-and-savory marvel comes with buckwheat shoyu caramel, sweet tomato and orange jam, and fermented tomato powder. Are you bready for it?

Two all-star chefs are sending smoke signals up from San Francisco and Las Vegas. International Smoke is a fiery collaboration between chefs Ayesha Curry and Michael Mina that highlights the many ways that you can flavor food with both smoke and fire. Every dish is meant to be shared — whether seated in the welcoming dining room or at the central bar that is meant to be a social, community-driven atmosphere — and things will get messy. You can get saucy with smoked St. Louis cut pork ribs slathered in American BBQ, Korean sesame-gochujang or Vietnamese lemongrass sauce. Or dig into a selection of charred steaks and roasted shellfish with red miso butter. Non-smoky must-haves include Ayesha’s signature cornbread with Thai red curry butter and three kinds of mac ‘n’ cheese to choose from.

Tabitha Brown’s punny, 100-percent vegan restaurant in Chicago is served with a side of endless positivity. The menu features “America’s mom and auntie’s” favorite comfort foods, in fun menu categories like “I’m not really hungry but I’m gonna eat anyway” (with crispy apps like fried mushrooms, vegan cheese sticks and cauliflower wings); “wrap it up;” and “stressed spelled backwards is desserts” (with a monthly rotating cheesecake flavor). The restaurant makes tits own seitan for sandwiches, tacos, salad and nachos, and use many different styles of plant-based meats to keep things interesting. Like Tabitha, Kale My Name makes sure that you always have a good day — and if you don’t, don’t go messing up anyone else’s!

The namesake drink of Chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph’s Spanish restaurant in downtown Austin is a kalimotxo, a Basque drink that mixes equal parts cola and red wine. It’s one of the many drinks that the cocktail bar puts a unique spin on, and they can be enjoyed along an array of pintxos (small bar snacks like goat-cheese stuffed piquillo peppers and tortilla española). There’s the option of the casual-yet-vibrant dining room or a beautiful patio overlooking Shoal Creek. Looking to do more than just snack? There are also shared plates like grilled pork and potatoes with salsa verde and anchovies or a wagyu burger loaded with caramelized onions. Just save room for a slice of their signature burnt Basque cheesecake!

Looking for a high steaks meal before watching a basketball game? If you’re in San Francisco, you can enjoy Chef Tyler Florence’s modern American steakhouse at the Chase Center (home of the Golden State Warriors) with steaks sourced from “the best ranches in America,” a robust raw bar and a selection of wines and cocktails sourced from around the world. There’s a tableside Caesar salad, truffled deviled eggs, in-house dry-aged steaks with an array of classic sauces (like tarragon béarnaise), and anything can have truffles shaved on top. An ideal spot to treat yourself.

Diners in Phoenix are transported to an Italian osteria at Scott Conant’s elevated everyday restaurant. Modern and creative wood-fired pizzas — like smoked pancetta with whipped cheese, marble potatoes, roasted garlic, and rosemary — take center stage, but have supporting characters from handmade pastas, antipasti aplenty, hearty mains and fresh twists on vegetable sides. The welcoming space has splashes of color with bright red leather booths and chairs, inviting you to stay awhile and watch spritzes being made at the bustling, beautiful center bar and all the delicious action in the open kitchen.

How many types of musubi have you had? At Chef Chung Chow’s restaurant in New York City’s East Village neighborhood, you can choose from at least a dozen styles of the Hawaiian snack (most popularly made with Spam) and even load ’em up with caviar if you’re feeling fancy. There are two ways to dine at Noreetuh: graze your way through the extensive menu of Hawaiian classics with twists (including a dreamy crispy mashup of fried mochiko chicken and saucy loco moco, mac salad, poke, skewers and dumplings) or go big with large format dishes. Their char siu glazed wagyu beef tongue requires a four-day advance notice, but you can impress your group by getting a whole tray of uni with nori jam and fluffy King’s Hawaiian bread anytime.

Small bites are the name of the game at Trattoria One Fifth, Chef Marc Forgione’s lively Italian restaurant in NYC’s Greenwich Village. This is a place you go to expand your taste buds while still enjoying something familiar, like smoked linguine and clams, rigatoni alla vodka loaded with broccolini, lamb mortadella buns, taleggio hazelnut mushroom pizza and a dreamy “sourdough pillow” with ricotta and prosciutto. The elegant, wood-and-marble-textured dining room is sleek but not stuffy, and it’s equally great for a date night or a big birthday dinner. If you’re doing the latter, the restaurant offers a whole roast pig dinner for up to 10 guests (with four days’ notice) that also includes pasta, pizza and more for an unforgettable feast.

After a long day or night of Las Vegas indulgence, you can feed yourself fast from Chef Giada de Laurentiis’s all-day, open late restaurant at Caesars Palace. You can choose to start fresh with a smoothie or go decadent with a cornetti (the Italian version of a croissant, plain or stuffed with ham and provolone) and plenty of cheesy egg dishes for breakfast. Then at lunch, pair one of the 40 wines by the glass with a loaded salad, “gooey” panini, or a bunch of her signature lemon ricotta cookies and gelato. You can sit down in the bright, colorful café or grab-and-go back to the casino floor, depending on how pronto you need to be.

Chef Robert Irvine’s massive Las Vegas restaurant clocks in at almost 9,000 square feet and is chock-full of internationally inspired comfort food. You could actually get lost there, enjoying views of The Strip and/or the open kitchen from the wraparound bar or one of the 275 seats in the dining room. In the casual, pub-like atmosphere, crispy food reigns supreme — chicken tenders, wings, loaded tater tots with fondue, fish and chips — but you can balance it out with one of their signature salads and grilled vegetable sides. Pizza and burgers are also on the menu for lunch and dinner, and “top of the morning” breakfast starts at 7 a.m.

Since 2012, RPM Italian has been a Chicago standby known for its contemporary takes on classics and star power both behind-the-scenes and in the sleek dining room. Kitchen Casino host Bill Rancic opened the restaurant with his wife, Giuliana, and two of the signature items come from her: her mom’s pomodoro sauce and her favorite salami-draped Italian salad. Their company’s mission is “sourcing the highest quality ingredients and providing guests with exceptional service for a dining experience unlike any other,” which includes 600-day-aged prosciutto and gorgonzola-cured wagyu steak. You can also find RPM Italian in Las Vegas and Washington, DC, as well as RPM Steak, RPM Seafood and Pizzeria Portofino in Chicago.

Scopa Italian Roots is Chef Antonia Lofaso’s interpretation of old-school Italian food in Los Angeles. With simple, fresh ingredients that honor traditions yet keep things interesting, the brunch and dinner menus span from a pile of Italian cold cuts (and her version of a hero) to pappardelle with braised lamb shank. There’s something for everyone, whether you want to sink your teeth into a cheesy chicken Parm, indulge in stuffed shells or loaded lasagna, or delight in light bites of marinated olives, crudo or tartare. Because she goes all out on dessert (and drinks that pair magnificently), save room for a whole box of Italian cookies, airy zeppole or a Sicilian ice cream sandwich with hazelnut gelato and Nutella on a brioche bun.

After opening two successful Korean fried chicken joints in London, Chef Judy Joo has flown the coop to Proper Eats Food Hall in Las Vegas. The chicken is soy-brined for 24 hours, battered and double-fried, and you can choose between whole wings, thighs or tenders tossed or dipped in a choice of six sauces (Chicken Chilli, Gochujang Mayo, Sweet Garlic Soy, Garlic Ranch, Korean BBQ and Signature). There’s also a grilled chicken option that’s just as juicy and flavorful, sandwiches, burgers, wraps, kimchi mac ‘n’ cheese, drinks, shakes and other Seoul-satisfying fare to pair in the neon-accented space.

Sofreh prides itself on being a place to gather and share, and Chef Nasim Alikhani has created a warm, inviting space that feels like an extension of her own Persian home. At the minimalist Brooklyn restaurant, the kitchen makes everything from scratch — including both yogurt and bread — and groups are encouraged to eat family-style with flavorful overflowing plates. Build your dream meal around a main, like their signature braised lamb shank, and add fluffy saffron rice, refreshing Shiraz-style tomato and cucumber salad, shallot yogurt dip and a multitude of mix-and-match vegetable sides, stews and more. There are also phenomenal desserts to end your meal with, including house-made butternut squash halva that melts in your mouth and Persian ice cream that can be served by the scoop or in a sweet sandwich.

Chef Fermin Núñez is obsessed with masa. At his restaurant in East Austin, he utilizes the ingredient at the heart of Mexican cooking in new and innovative ways that honor traditional techniques and embrace the bounty of local Texas ingredients. Have you ever had gnocchi made with masa instead of potatoes, prepared like the popular cheesy corn dish esquites? At Suerte, you can. Ditto to duck confit–stuffed chile relleno. Every day can be a celebration in the bright open dining room that is full of personality with expansive art and textiles, or you can enjoy a hearty portion of carnitas, homemade tortillas galore, unique imported Mexican spirits, and tres leches cake on the patio while people-watching.

In spite of its name, The Americano is actually an Italian-inspired steakhouse by Chef Scott Conant. At both locations (Atlanta and Scottsdale, AZ), there is a playful sophistication to the dining room, showcasing custom art, sculptures, pops of color and a modern supper club vibe. That playfulness continues into both the food and drinks, with a delightful intersection of high-low with caviar-topped fries to start; a “sauce flight” available for any steak; veal Parm with a whole ball of burrata on top; and a popular cocktail called Versace on the Floor that uses chile-infused vodka with coconut, white balsamic, mesquite honey and basil-olive oil foam.

The closest thing to having dinner at Martha Stewart’s house is dining at The Bedford at Paris Las Vegas, a replica of her 1925 farmhouse in Bedford, NY. This immersive and authentic experience features cuisine inspired by her love of French cooking and her legendary gardens, with a choice between a prix fixe meal or à la carte options from her favorite dishes of all time. The space has a neutral, mostly white palette with plants hanging around the perimeter, marble countertops in the open kitchen and an elegant simplicity where you can enjoy classics like crab cakes, lemony risotto and chopped salads. Be sure to look out for dishes marked “Big Martha,” a.k.a. Martha’s mom, including brown butter-sautéed pierogies with optional golden osetra caviar on top. Because to live like Martha, you have to go for the caviar, the truffles or both.