John Russ (formerly with Luke San Antonio) and Elise Russ (the two are married) helm San Antonio’s most exciting eatery, where they feature a popular omakase-style “Feed Me” option that lets the couple wow guests with thoughtful dishes like a white mushroom salad, fresh cavatelli with broccoli pesto, and buttered turnips.

One of San Antonio’s few live-work restaurants, Outlaw Kitchen is the offspring of chef Paul Sartory, a former Culinary Institute of America instructor, and wife Peggy Howe. She rehabbed the former hair salon into a working kitchen, and they open five nights a week for dinner service with only two menu items on the board, which use vegetables from their sprawling gardens. Favorites include a Greek pastitsio, paella, and just about any vegetarian dish.

A Texan son shares his Vietnamese mother’s recipes at food truck-turned-brick-and-mortar Singhs Vietnamese. The latest restaurant to hit the St. Mary’s Strip, Singhs brings a tight menu with chile oil ribs, hand-rolled egg rolls, banh mi, bun, and goi (a chicken and cabbage salad) with choice of protein (get the braised brisket or crispy shrimp).

Not content with opening Range in October and relocating Tuscan-inspired Tre Trattoria to the San Antonio Museum of Art, prolific chef Jason Dady ditched Spanish tapas for tried-and-true Texas barbecue. With Laura Loomis as pitmaster, Alamo BBQ Co. brings Two Bros. BBQ Market barbecue downtown with new items such as a peach-glazed baby backs and old favorites like smoked jalapeno poppers.

Midcentury modern cocktails and decor make up this Grayston Street bar, which recently added a patio complete with throwback flamingos, a refurbished trailer bar, and fresh-fruit sippers for those triple-digit days.

Retired Army veterans Lattoia and Cornelius Massey are bringing Jamaican bites to the westside with their patio-seating-only restaurant that’s drawing lines for their jerk chicken and pork by the pound, jerk shrimp and grits, whole steamed fish, and braised oxtails.

Brothers Jose and David Caceres opened a second La Panaderia location in Downtown San Antonio with more pan dulce and French patisserie classics with a twist, such as their tequila almond croissant. It’s a fast-casual stop for conferencegoers and locals alike.

Downtown’s Houston Street gains a new pizza spot and a fourth Andrew Goodman/Stefan Bowers project in Playland (Feast, Rebelle, and Battalion came before it). Here, space-age interiors meet accessible menu items like General Tso’s wings, pimento cheese-stuffed jalapenos, and charred sourdough pizza.

The city’s latest coffeeshop landed in a West Side warehouse that serves as a co-op/incubator for new businesses and shops. Wood elements give way to green touches, and vegan horchata iced lattes are made with single origin beans from Costa Rica, Peru, and Ethiopia as roasted by co-owner Eddie Laughlin.

The Fairmount Hotel’s latest addition adds Next Food Network Star Season 10 contestant Luca Della Casa to the downtown landscape, with Italian dishes like a cold seafood salad and pasta e tartufo.

Chef Chris Carlson (formerly with Sandbar and Francis Bogside) has the reins of the Maverick, one of Southtown’s latest restaurants — with arguably the most thoughtful design — serving up global comfort food, such as crabcake sliders, curried chicken salad, and pillowy gnocchi. Le Palm, the restaurant’s patio, is the spot for wine-filled happy hours and sceney brunches.

Dignowity Meats co-owner Andrew Samia took his love of smoked meats to San Antonio’s Southside with the Missions-adjacent South BBQ. The brisket is moist, the pulled pork is savory, and sides like the tater tot casserole, house pickles, Mexican rice, and borracho beans only sweeten the deal.