New Summer Restaurants 2014

It's going to be a really good summer for new restaurants.

We're already excited about a few that have opened their doors: Over in New Orleans, Cristina Quackenbush of Milkfish has just found a brick-and-mortar home for her Filipino soul food popup. The Umami Burger crew has unleashed ChocoChicken on L.A.—the birds are marinated in spices and chocolate before they're fried and dusted with cocoa—and Top Chef finalist Casey Thompson has opened her first solo spot, Aveline, which is going for progressive Californian cuisine in San Francisco.

What's coming up next? Here are some highlights:

Petit Trois, L.A.

Ludo Lefebvre, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo of Trois Mec are this close to opening Petit Trois, a little restaurant directly next door to the original. Head to Twitter for a sneak peek at the classic French dishes: bubbly croque monsieur, steak tartare with fries and chocolate cake.

Trentina, Cleveland

To get a sense of why we're so excited about Jonathon Sawyer's plan to get all rustic and Italian at Trentina, you'll need to watch this video of the chef transforming day-old bread into glorious cheesy dumplings (pictured above).

The Florence, Savannah

Hugh Acheson is already known for his Georgia restaurants (three in Athens, one in Atlanta), but his latest, The Florence, will be his first in Savannah. The 7,000 square-foot spot will serve Italian fare Acheson-style, made with Southern ingredients.

Cosme, NYC

Enrique Olvera, chef and ambassador for Mexico's complex, high-level regional cooking, will soon be opening the doors to Cosme in Flatiron. Word is the place will be more casual than his Mexico City fine dining restaurant Pujol, with a dedicated tortilleria and plenty of tequila to go around.

élan, NYC

It's been a while since Chanterelle, that bastion of American-French fine dining, closed and broke our collective hearts. We can't wait to see what chef David Waltuck gets up to next. And here's hoping we won't have to wait too much longer.