50 Best New U.S. Restaurants

New York City: Soto

Finding it impossible to score that online reservation at David Chang’s 12-seat Momofuku Ko? Despair not: Seek nirvana behind the maplewood counter at Soto (where reservations are, blissfully, available). Why this blond, serene spot run by a bona fide Japanese genius isn’t an impossible booking is one of New York’s great mysteries: maybe people simply aren’t ordering right. An ace with sashimi and sushi, Sotohiro Kosugi deserves his place in the world’s gastro-god pantheon for his jewel-like variations on sea urchin. He fries nutty sea-fresh uni blobs into a lacy tempura; dehydrates uni into a mysterious orange dust that highlights butter-smooth slabs of monkfish-liver mousse; and dollops uni into a trompe-l’oeil urchin shell made of squid filaments and shredded seaweed. Each exquisite morsel is a treat of a lifetime. Dinner for two $130.