Best Hotel Restaurants

Spanish chef José Andrés operates three restaurants in the sexy-cool Cosmopolitan: the Chinese-and-Mexican-inspired China Poblano, tapas spot Jaleo, and tucked into a small private room alongside the latter, the super exclusive é. The eight-seat bar has just two seatings a night for its 15-course avant-garde Spanish tasting menu that might include plates like a “liquid nitrogen gin and tonic” and “25-second bizcocho. cosmopolitanlasvegas.com

This new spot in the St. Regis is F&W’s debut restaurant project in collaboration with Starwood, featuring dishes from former Best New Chefs George Mendes (Aldea, New York City), Sue Zemanick (Gautreau’s, New Orleans), Alex Seidel (Fruition, Denver) and James Lewis (Bettola, Birmingham, Alabama). Executive Wine Editor Ray Isle handles wine pairings, and mixologist Jim Meehan (an F&W Contributing Editor) takes care of the cocktail menu. stregisaspen.com

Star chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s first foray into the Miami dining scene combines some of his most famous dishes (black truffle pizza, soy-glazed short ribs) with simple preparations from the grill (local red snapper, filet mignon). The floor-to-ceiling windows look out onto an immaculate palm-lined turquoise beach. jggrillmiami.com

Michael Mina’s take on the American tavern serves upscale comfort dishes with an eye toward Eastern Seaboard specialties: Maryland blue crab deviled eggs with shallot cracklings, a Maine lobster potpie with local sweet corn and chanterelles. Situated in the new glass-tower Four Seasons Baltimore, Wit & Wisdom makes the most of its harborside setting with soaring windows and a waterfront patio. fourseasons.com

At this sprawling Art Deco-looking steakhouse at the swanky new Revel beachfront resort, high rollers dine on Iron Chef Marc Forgione’s updated old-school classics, like surf and turf with a 28-day-aged tomahawk rib-eye chop and chili lobster. The raw bar looks to both land (Kobe strip steak carpaccio) and sea (hiramasa tartare). revelresorts.com

J. Parker, named after Abraham Lincoln’s hard-drinking bodyguard, could have rested on its food and drink laurels alone. F&W Best New Chef 2007 Paul Virant oversees the customizable menu of choices like dry-aged steak and fried pickles, while mixologist Erin Hayes’s excellent, inspired cocktails change regional focus every three months. But the restaurant and lounge has a third killer attribute: It’s the only public roof deck in the city with unblocked views of Lake Michigan. jparkerchicago.com

Two California icons have come together: After a $100 million renovation, the secluded Hotel Bel Air reopened in 2011 with the king of California cuisine himself at the helm of the kitchen. Wolfgang Puck’s Cal-Mediterranean menu revolves around produce from local farmers’ markets and nearby farms, with dishes like sautéed Dover sole accompanied by spring vegetables from Chino Ranch. The dining room’s retractable glass walls overlook the property’s fabled manicured gardens. hotelbelair.com

Talented young chef Chris Kostow arrived at this famous wine country resort in 2008 and has since transformed its food. His superlative modern Californian menu owes as much to the Napa Valley Reserve garden at the property’s entrance to his mastery of avant-garde cooking techniques. The 9- to 20-course tasting menus pair imaginative dishes like thinly-sliced breasts of squab topped with cocoa nibs and grated frozen foie gras with selections from a 1,200-bottle-strong wine list that emphasizes regional vineyards. meadowood.com

In 2012, star chef John Besh opened his ninth restaurant, Borgne, which emphasizes the region’s coastal cuisine with a nod to Isleño influence—the Spanish-leaning cuisine of immigrants from the Canary Islands who settled in Louisiana in the late 1700s. Brian Landry, who oversaw the legendary kitchen at Galatoire’s, mans the stoves, creating dishes like black drum (a Gulf fish) seared a la plancha, topped with pecans and jumbo lump crab meat. A happy hour favorite: the 50-cent crawfish croquetas. neworleans.hyatt.com

This new hotel is the first U.S. project from designer Jacques Garcia of Paris’s Hotel Costes, and has a food program led by F&W Best New Chef 2005 Daniel Humm, who reinvents dishes like fruits de mer, creates new classics and borrows favorites from his renowned Eleven Madison Park. The deluxe library bar ingeniously, comes with bottle service on rolling carts. thenomadhotel.com

In 1999, Andrew Tarlow opened Diner in Williamsburg, helping usher in the Brooklyn dining scene and its artisanal, zealously local style of cooking. Over a decade—and two more restaurants, a butcher shop, and literary journal—later, Tarlow has entered the hotel game with the Wythe Hotel. At its ground floor restaurant, Reynards, a soaring space outfitted with reclaimed woods and exposed brick, chef Sean Rembold cooks most of his dishes in a wood-burning oven, sending out rustic, refined plates like rabbit meatballs with littlenecks and a Caesar-like salad with pleasingly charred baby romaine lettuce. wythehotel.com

The Downtown Waterfront Hotel’s newly renovated restaurant takes its name from the nearby Hawthorne Bridge. Chef Andy Ardnt also looks locally for culinary inspiration, preparing a Pacific Northwest menu that includes dishes like Skookum Inlet clams cooked in Seven Brides IPA and wild Oregon salmon with beets and braised fennel. Burger-loving Portland also gets a new sandwich to fuss over: Ardnt’s version comes with pulled pork, fried egg, bacon and tomato jam. marriott.com

After a swanky new makeover, the W Seattle’s ground floor restaurant reopened in March as Trace. Honolulu native Steven Ariel, who previously worked in the kitchens of local favorites Canlis and Café Juanita, creates an expansive pan-Asian menu that ranges from nigiri sushi to espresso-crusted wagyu flatiron steak. The beverage program favors Pacific Northwest distilleries, Seattle microbrews and sakes from Japan. traceseattle.com

Ron Siegel has remained faithful to the Ritz through its revamp of the formal Dining Room into the slightly more casual Parallel 37, which opened in December. Gone are the crystal chandeliers; in are the bare-wood tables. Siegel has also overhauled his menu: Instead of a fancy eight-course tasting, he now offers à la carte options that range from inspired comfort food (polenta fries, Sichuan peppercorn-spiced chicken wings) to those that hint at his predilections toward French and Japanese technique (sea bass cooked en papillote, kampachi sashimi with an orange-ginger marinade). parallel37sf.com

Star chef Jose Garces takes Mexico City as his inspiration at this splashy outpost of his successful Philadelphia restaurant, adding a barbacoa (barbecue) menu thanks to an outdoor smoker, along with modern takes on Mexican classics like huaraches with forest mushrooms and pozole with pork belly and littleneck clams. The lively (almost kitschy) dining room is adorned with colorful Day of the Dead skulls, a marquee announcing drinks, and hot pink and purple chairs. jdvhotels.com

At the newly renovated Grand Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, chef Chano Bustamante’s menu at Rare Steak & Sushi emphasizes classic cuts like 20-ounce rib eyes from grass-fed beef, and from sustainably-sourced fish, elaborate, imaginative rolls like the Mexican, a salmon, yellowtail and tuna preparation spiced with jalapeño and chili oil. But there’s more than just steak and sushi on the menu: The special burger is filled with a cheddar cheese center. rarempls.com

Alan Wong, a founder of Hawaiian Regional Cuisine, brings his unique take on East-meets-West Hawaiian cooking to the Grand Wailea’s newly restored teahouse-style restaurant, tucked inside the resort’s Japanese garden and surrounded by 800 tons of rock from Mt. Fuji. There’s a full sushi bar, a robata for grilled items cooked on leaves, and 65 hot and cold pupus—small plates intended to be shared—like Dungeness crab chawanmushi and kurobuta char siu baby back ribs. wailearesortdining.com