Season Preview 2025-2026: Michelin Chefs Descend on SWFL

Southwest Florida’s dining scene feels newly ambitious. Michelin-starred chefs are arriving, local talent is stretching its wings and long-loved spots are coming back stronger. From Acqua Bistecca’s lambrusco-butter steaks to the omakase counter at Omasava, this season proves the region’s appetite has grown up.

YES, CHEF! Three nationally acclaimed chefs bring their star power to Southwest Florida.

Celebrity chefs often set their sights on Orlando or Miami for a new locale, but this season, three award-winning chefs turn their attention to the Gulf Coast. “Southwest Florida is undergoing an incredible transformation. I want to be part of shaping what’s ahead,” says Michelin-caliber chef-restaurateur Michael Mina, who oversees a global empire of more than 40 restaurants. This spring, he fires up the grill at Acqua Bistecca in the marina at Saltleaf on Estero Bay. On the menu: Italian influences, including butcher-cut steaks brushed with lambrusco butter, and a raw bar with in-season stone crab.

In Fort Myers, chef Brad Kilgore teamed up with Escondido Lounge owner Brad Cozza to open OISE Ristorante in August. After cutting his teeth at Chicago’s avant-garde Alinea, Kilgore spent nearly 15 years in Miami, landing on Food & Wine’s “Best New Chefs” list in 2016. Originally a Wynwood pop-up, OISE celebrates itameshi cuisine, a blend of Italian and Japanese flavors. Now, Kilgore turns out small plates like tuna nigiri with Calabrian chili ponzu and truffle-sesame carbonara in a century-old building downtown with a living green wall and pumping soundtrack.

Two-time James Beard Award winner Gavin Kaysen also joins the roster this season. The Minneapolis chef—whose acclaimed Spoon and Stable raised the Twin Cities’ national profile as an emerging culinary destination—takes the helm at The Merchant Room, the marquee restaurant in the new Naples Beach Club, A Four Seasons Resort. Opening to the public this month, the New American restaurant represents a Florida return for Gavin, who did a seven-year stint as executive chef of Palm Beach’s Café Boulud. Expect Gulf Coast ingredients and fresh pastas with a sophisticated French spin and unbeatable ocean views—an iconic Naples backdrop for the region’s celebrity chef era. —Lane Nieset

Courtesy The Mina Group

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Celebrity chefs are flocking to Southwest Florida, with Michael Mina (pictured here) debuting Acqua Bistecca in Estero, Gavin Kaysen opening The Merchant Room in Naples and Brad Kilgore’s Italian-Japanese OISE Ristorante in Fort Myers.

RETURN TO FORM, three local institutions are ready for an encore.

Quirky Captiva Island icon The Bubble Room reopened in July, nearly three years after Hurricane Ian left it in ruins. Beloved for its towering layer cakes, the restaurant was rebuilt to preserve its colorful, vintage decor.

Further south, two beachfront gems reopen at Naples Beach Club, A Four Seasons Resort. HB’s returns with more polished interiors, an extensive raw bar and tables spilling out onto the veranda. The Sunset Bar is back, too, with its golden hour siren call drawing locals and visitors alike to sip tropical cocktails and nosh on ceviche and fish tacos. —Samantha Garbarini

season preview swfl food scene pasta bowl

HOT TABLES, these newcomers are the most coveted reservations in town.

Blackbird Modern Asian

Ask any Neapolitan for a new restaurant, and they’ll probably tell you Blackbird. With sleek, Asian-inspired design, mood lighting and generous drink specials, the new Naples Bay Resort eatery has been packed since it opened in June. The pan-Asian menu puts an upmarket twist on takeout favorites, including a standout Jurgielewicz Farms Peking duck.

Canary Club

The Bohemian’s Caitlin and Brandon Schewe added to their Bonita Springs empire over the summer with the opening of this pink-walled hotspot. An eclectic menu spans Middle Eastern mezze; sourdough pizzas with chef-driven toppings like Gruyère, wood-roasted corn and Fresno chilies; and sweets like a Snickers-inspired bar filled with Medjool date caramel.

Heyday Cookshop

Fresh off her James Beard Award nomination, Kayla Pfeiffer opens Heyday in early 2026. The Naples restaurant will feature rotating residencies by guest chefs who partner with Kayla to highlight the bounty of local farms and fishers. A listening room with vinyl on rotation and a deep vermouth list add to the restaurant’s after-hours appeal.

Mimoto

With just 10 tables and a four-seat chef’s counter, this new seafood cafe from the team behind Ichi Togarashi and Tong Yin is intimate, like eating in a Japanese home kitchen. Here, chefs craft some of Naples’ best sushi and authentic Japanese fare—often with catch from local fishers—to be washed down with bottles of sake and imported beer.

Omasava

This fall, Sails Restaurant owners Corinne Ryan and Veljko Pavicevic set a new bar for fine dining on Fifth Avenue South. At a 14-seat fossilized oak table, guests are guided through a $298 omakase experience by a Michelin-grade chef, with courses showcasing local and imported seafood flown in at dawn from Japan’s top markets. Also expected from the duo this season is Sava, a fine-dining French farmhouse restaurant.

Tulia Italian Steak

Popular Naples brasserie The French is being reimagined as Tulia Italian Steak. Inspired by speakeasy Rouge, which operated out of the French’s back room, chef-owner Vincenzo Betulia opens a classic chophouse this fall with luxe offerings like Wagyu and American Prime steaks, housemade pastas and a wine list anchored by French first-growth and cult California vintages.

Vybe

A decade after he sold Cru, chef Harold Balink returns to Fort Myers’ Bell Tower Shops with a new restaurant in early 2026. Whiskey and wine, including blue-chip pours via Coravin, get top billing, accompanied by haute bar snacks like tamarind-glazed pork belly burnt ends. True to its name, atmosphere is part of the draw, with a jasmine-draped patio and live music most nights. —Stephanie Granada

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Photography by Anna Nguyen

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Kayla Pfeiffer curates chef residencies at Heyday Cookshop, opening next year.

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Photography by Brian Tietz

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The owners of Sails Restaurant are debuting the region’s first omakase.

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Photography by Brian Tietz

season preview swfl food scene omasava sushi

ON THE RISE, private rooftop dining comes to Fifth.

Cameron Mitchell Restaurants—the group behind Ocean Prime and Del Mar— joins Naples’ growing roster of private dining clubs this fall with Prime Social Reserve. Set on a rooftop overlooking palm-lined Fifth Avenue South, the indoor-outdoor venue spans a lounge and an Asian-inspired restaurant, serving hand-rolled sushi and Wagyu steaks. Members, known as VIPs, also unlock access to dinners with acclaimed visiting chefs, exclusive wine tastings and social events. Reserved for VIPs and their inner circles, getting past these velvet ropes requires an in: All memberships sold out before opening, with a dedicated concierge now handling the waitlist. —Andrew Atkins

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Courtesy South Seas Resort

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Tables overlooking the sand set the tone for fresh seafood at the new Beach House Restaurant on Captiva.

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Courtesy DineAmic Hospitality

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WHAT ELSE IS NEW

Our culinary momentum keeps building. In Old Naples, Monaco-based restaurant La Salière replaces The Bevy this fall, retaining its breezy, indoor-outdoor layout but with a menu of antipasti and Neapolitan-style pizzas. Fifth Avenue South newcomer Slice Shop slings more than 20 pies with bona fide New York cred. Nearby, the team behind Unidos opens chef-driven taqueria Barrio by year’s end.

Farther north, Mercato welcomes a fresh trio: Miami’s wellness brand Pura Vida opened in October with its influencer-favorite wraps and smoothies. Taberna Violí follows this fall with Top Chef Greece winner Athinagoras Kostakos at the helm, while better-burger pioneer Shake Shack is set to start smashing patties this winter. At the nearby Shoppes at Vanderbilt, Aufieri & Martinez Argentinian Steakhouse adds Prime Angus asado this fall, and Brandie Dixon reopens the Naples Wine Collection in a new storefront.

Watering holes are also on tap. Mural-clad bottle shop and tasting room Craft Spirits Social opened in Bonita Springs’ Entrada plaza, focusing on indie, small-batch distillers. Cape Coral welcomed the return of natural wine haven Palace Pub & Wine Bar over the summer (now with bar snacks created by Nice Guys Pizza) and gained a location of Fort Myers speakeasy Escondido Lounge. For a caffeinated klatch, ThreeSixteen Coffee & Bakery opened in August in Naples, serving locally roasted brews and house-laminated pastries.

In Lee, Fancy’s Southern Cafe debuted a polished location in Downtown Fort Myers, and the Luminary Hotel & Co.’s flagship restaurant rebranded as The Silver King Coastal Kitchen, with a renewed focus on local ingredients via Mediterranean small plates and a five-course tasting menu. And, local favorites LowBrow Pizza & Beer, Beau’s BBQ and Gelato & Co. join the ranks at Midtown at Bonita, opening this spring.

Waterfront options are bubbling up, too. In September, El Basque chef-owner John Colon opened Bayshore Bodega, which transitions from a daytime coffee shop to a casual tapas spot in the evenings. Bonita Fish Company replaces longtime waterfront staple Bonita Bill’s this fall, adding an expanded bar and fresh menu from the team behind Doc Ford’s. Just across the Cape Coral Parkway Bridge, diners can boat up to Slipaway Food Truck Park, where 10 food trucks serve everything from fried chicken to boozy ice cream. On Captiva, South Seas Resort adds waterfront Beach House Restaurant with a seafood-focused menu and sunset views. —A.A.