Established restaurants refresh menus and bring in new chefs

Across the United States, established restaurants and even an airline are refreshing menus and bringing in new chefs, according to reports from LAmag, TV Insider, NOLA.com, CTV News, Palo Alto Online and Indian Eagle's Travel Diary.

Los Angeles and Pittsburgh

LAmag listed several Los Angeles restaurants that had overhauled menus and spaces. At Alta Adams in West Adams, chef Keith Corbin, now sole owner, closed the restaurant for three months at the start of the year and reopened in early June with a menu that includes black-eyed pea salad, bone marrow with suya spice, confit duck leg, and osso buco with West African flavors. The Tasting Kitchen in Venice, which opened in 2009 and suffered a fire in 2023, returned under chef Casey Lane with a seasonal à la carte menu alongside his tasting menu after Matt Winter reimagined the space. Pizzeria Sei, which tied for No. 2 on the 50 Top Pizza USA list in May, opened a Palms location with more dining room seats and a longer menu and wine list.

TV Insider reported that Café Notte in Emsworth, Pennsylvania, appeared on the Aug. 25 episode of Kitchen Nightmares and had a new chef, Jennifer, in place. Jerry Santucci said Jennifer had been there about one year as of the week before the interview, and David Mielnicki said about 40 percent of the menu introduced during the show remained, with adjustments for seasonal produce and ingredient costs. Jerry Santucci said he found the change refreshing.

New Orleans, Palo Alto and beyond

NOLA.com reported that Pascal’s Manale, the historic Uptown New Orleans restaurant, completed renovations and introduced a new chef, Michael Sichel. Sichel started early in 2026 after seven years at Galatoire’s and a 2013 appearance on Top Chef. The menu now includes fresh pastas made at the Brennan group’s Commissary, such as veal Bolognese with radiatori and nduja fra diavolo, and a fried oyster salad with kale, capers, pecorino and Creole mustard vinaigrette. Renovations brought banquette seating from the closed Palace Café and a wine cellar ceiling of more than 100 clusters of glass grapes that once decorated a Brennan’s Restaurant in Dallas in the 1960s. Sichel described his role as stewardship: "This is a place to create Italian food with Creole ingredients; that’s the beauty of what they’ve always done here," he said.

On Sept. 16, CTV News reported that local chefs had revamped the patient menu at a Metro Vancouver hospital. The report included a chef saying, "I never thought I’d be a hospital chef". Palo Alto Online reported that two Palo Alto restaurants were bringing in Top Chef alumni to lead kitchen changes. Horsefeather is phasing out its old menu for one developed with Casey Thompson, a runner-up on Top Chef: Miami, who previewed fried chicken wings in the Southern style with hot chicken butter and pickled daikon and carrot, and a miso yaki skirt steak. Thompson said, "I love nothing more than a playful menu". Sekoya Lounge & Kitchen named Ray Saad head chef; he introduced a $59 three-course Amber Hour menu with charred cabbage and house-smoked labneh, eggplant katsu and watermelon granita, and about 30 percent of the regular menu is new. Sekoya also renovated to improve acoustics and replace low lounge seating with tables and chairs.

Indian Eagle's Travel Diary reported that Singapore Airlines is adding more than 100 new or refreshed inflight dishes across cabins, with new beverages and serviceware phased in from November 2026. Across these changes, chefs and owners point to seasonal, local ingredients and a balance between keeping familiar dishes and adding new ones.