By Design

Fourteen years after opening, the pioneering California kaiseki restaurant from Chef Niki Nakayama and partner Carole Iida-Nakayama remains at the forefront of global fine dining—thanks as much to the evolution of its artistry as to the consistency of its execution and service. In 2024, the restaurant underwent its first major design overhaul since opening, which revealed a surer sense of self and softened some harder edges—not unlike what comes with the wisdom of age. Starting at the entryway, a soothing slate palette and subtle details recall a traditional Japanese tearoom. Guests follow a minimalist tobi-ishi–style path into the dining room, where an installation of slender wooden slats frames a circular banquette. Minoru Oyamatsu of Oyamatsu Design Studio and builder Beau Laughlin of Framework oversaw the redesign, which also features gray shikkui lime plaster wall coverings for a softening effect, a wooden slat wall installation, textured wallpaper accents, and handsome walnut furniture by Mano Ya, the artistic collaboration between Zen Sekizawa and Mario Correa.

Nestled in the acclaimed wine region of Carneros between Sonoma and Napa counties, this quarter-century-old winery has always sought to balance complex, terroir-driven wines, regenerative organic farming, and fine art. The latter’s proverbial heart unfurls across more than 60 monumental outdoor sculptures integrated throughout Mei and Allan Warburg’s 200-acre estate. The owners’ evolving collection dates back to 2011 and represents a community of artists from 18 nations across six continents, including Subodh Gupta, Louise Bourgeois, and Ai Weiwei. Of course, natural beauty factors mightily into the Donum experience, too, reflected in the minimalist Scandinavian redesign and expansion of its hospitality center, which Danish architect David Thulstrup completed in 2022. Thulstrup added three tasting rooms with expansive windows gazing out at southern Sonoma’s undulating hills. The judicious use of light wood and a mix of midcentury and modern accents creates serene and inviting spaces. Unsurprisingly, impressive artworks accent the interior too, including a site-specific piece by Jeppe Hein featuring three mirrored balloons that gently sway in the wind, creating subtle tricks with the light.

Precision defines every element of Chef Tadashi “Edowan” Yoshida’s exhilarating omakase counter—including Kentaro Eba’s design, constructed by Tomoya Hayakawa, which evokes an escape into a private, wondrous world. The anticipation mounts as you ring the doorbell outside of the locked front door. A host guides you past the entryways’ intricate kumiko woodwork then tucks you into your comfy Hinoki wood chair, made by hand in the Hida Takayama region of Gifu Prefecture. The Japanese cypress sushi counter on which your elbows rest is itself 300 years old, cured for 50 years after being lumbered, from the same tree found within the halls of Tokyo’s Imperial Palace. If you can bear to take your eyes off the culinary theater before you, glance up at the gotenjo ceiling, also made from Kiso cypress and featuring the same traditional coffering used in ancient Japanese castles. Watching the chefs deftly slice ruby slabs of tuna belly, you might be unsurprised to learn the knives were crafted by a master from Saga Prefecture.

Like a fantastical, steel-clad Stonehenge, Los Milics Vineyards rises into view amid neat vineyards and Southern Arizona’s rocky, shrubby Mustang Mountains. This Chen + Suchart Studio-designed tasting room was indeed intended as sculpture first, and space to sip a dozen-odd wines amid the dramatic landscape second. Los Milics’ partners bought the land in 2018 and started transforming the 20 acres formerly used for cattle grazing into a vineyard and production facility. But the tasting room would be their pièce de résistance. Entering a narrow courtyard through the vineyard, the tasting room comes into view between the steel monoliths. Once inside the 3,400-sq.-ft. space, glass walls display expansive views of the vineyards and mountains. Simple, modern furniture from interior designer Vivian Ullman complements the architecture and keeps the focus on the landscape.

A decade after Chef Douglas Keane closed his acclaimed Healdsburg restaurant Cyrus, the concept was reborn as an ebullient, progressive dinner party in the quaint wine country town of Geyserville. Olson Kundig designed the restaurant inside a former prune packing plant; an old-growth plum tree in the courtyard nods to its past life. The modern, concrete and glass structure sits just above the ground level to lend the illusion of floating above the surrounding vineyards. Through a custom steel door, a dozen diners begin their tasting menu experience with bubbles and canapés in an informal lounge overlooking the rolling landscape. They stroll past a transparent wood and glass wine room into the main kitchen, where a U-shaped “Kitchen Table” offers unobstructed views of the food prep. There Keane chats a bit while assembling omakase-style courses, which are illuminated by soft spotlights. The final act whisks diners to the warm, subdued dining room with expansive views to outside for a few savory bites and mignardises. But wait! There’s one more stop in the hidden, Willy Wonka-inspired chocolate room for a sweet ender in the company of a custom chocolate fountain wall. This is dinner theater at its finest.

Beneath the marine layer of Northern California’s Tomales Bay is a beguiling slip of water that straddles Point Reyes National Seashore on one side and vast swaths of grazing acreage on the other. No wonder the renovated Lodge at Marconi and its in-house restaurant—designed by New York’s celebrated firm, Home Studios—took inspiration from the otherworldly surroundings. The 100-seat restaurant takes a decidedly midcentury modern, coastal bent, incorporating bespoke dining chairs, tables, and barstools. The color palette homages West Marin’s stunning natural landscape via warm woods, adobe reds and rich, oceanic blues. The space makes thoughtful use of local materials, including cedar paneling, extensive millwork, and Bay-area-made Heath Ceramics tiles.

Chicago native (and TikTok sensation) Jacob Potashnick, never intended to open a typical restaurant. So why should the design of this 20-seat, relationship-to-table eatery follow the rules, either? Enter through the foyer and pass a display of that day’s ingredients, sourced from mostly within a four-hour radius, mind you. In the dining room, Chicago-based design firm Variant Collaborative reimagines the counter seating made popular by omakases by taking cues from theatrical traditions and moving seating to banquettes that hug the walls and place food prep front and center as if on a stage. Ambient and focused lighting amp up the sense of spectacle as diners move from the entry to the dining room, while the neutral color palette and use of natural materials mirrors the unfettered raw ingredients dotting the menu.

During his many globetrotting work travels throughout the 2010s, David Manica, architect and owner of Kansas City-based Manica Architecture (which also has outposts in London and Shanghai), couldn’t help but notice a theme of beautifully design-forward bars. So, he decided to build one himself in Kansas City. He teamed up with Brock Schulte, Kenny Cohrs, and Mark Church of Liquid Minded Concepts to create this singular concept inspired by the migratory patterns of monarch butterflies, which opened in 2018. A glistening installation of 1,000 acrylic butterflies floats over the central marble-topped bar, which is edged by comfortable velvet and leather seating and modern art. The space breaks out into the open Main Bar, approachable from all sides with no back bar to obstruct sightlines; a stylish all-seasons patio; and a private parlor room—each with original cocktails to match. Not only is the place routinely heaving with locals and tourists alike, but it keeps collecting accolades. A semifinalist for the James Beard Award® for Outstanding Bar Program and Tales of the Cocktail’s Best American Cocktail Bar, the bar was also named North American Cocktail Bar of the Year by Nightclub & Bar in 2019.

First opened in 2012 in a different space, Bella Union Winery’s current location used to be unceremoniously known as the “big red box,” an industrial eyesore lining the Highway 29 wine tourist route. Architect Mike Neimann of Pacific Building Workshop and JK & Co. dramatically transformed the property with a contemporary facade sans pretense—with the goal of creating a chill place to have a good time over delicious wine. Just inside the entrance, the signature tasting room, the Atrium, recalls a Belle Epoque-style brasserie dressed in blonde woods. Spaces of varying shapes and sizes encourage different experiences, like the intimate Salon, outfitted in plush green velvet, and The Gallery overlooking the barrel room. The literal jewel in the redesigned crown is the Jewel Box, a glass-walled tasting room on the second floor with sweeping views of the famed Rutherford district.

Japan’s long held harvest festival of Tsukimi (which translates to “moon viewing” and celebrates the moon at its fullest and brightest) is notable for its quiet reflectiveness—a ritual observed at home with loved ones. Takanori Akiyama and Karen Lin’s 12-seat, East Village kaiseki counter of the same name takes inspiration from these themes of contemplation, gratitude, and meaningful gathering in every aspect of the elegant design and whimsical food. Tsukimi’s interior, designed by Studio Tack, uses repeated circular patterns to establish a focused visual field aimed at slowing the mind down. Diners sit at long counters in framed seats, symbolizing permanence and purpose. Mirrored panels and illuminated shelves bearing ceramics mimic the diffused, reflected light of the moon as it appears on landscapes and in water. Meanwhile, the old brick facade and mosaic tile floors from the previous restaurant remain as narrative reminders of the inevitability of change.