British food is no longer a laughing matter in the United States, as a wave of British-style pubs and country restaurants are opening across the country, attracting significant attention and demand. Cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans, Fort Worth, Chicago, and Philadelphia are seeing new establishments serving everything from fish and chips and jacket potatoes to more refined British fare. This trend is a departure from kitschy themed pubs, instead focusing on genuine experiences crafted by chefs leveraging their British heritage.
New York City is a particular hotspot for this culinary invasion. Chef Ed Szymanski has successfully launched Dame, an English seafood restaurant, and Lord's, an English bistro. Chef Jess Shadbolt is set to open Dean's, another British seafood restaurant. These establishments, alongside others like Hawksmoor, are gaining critical acclaim and drawing long queues. The appeal stems from a craving for relaxed, sociable dining and food that feels both generous and familiar.
Across the US, chefs are adapting British dishes for American palates. For instance, Lord's offers a Welsh rarebit burger and sticky toffee pudding pancakes, recognizing similarities between British comfort food and American staples like meat pies and weekend fish fries. Restaurants like Wilde's in Los Angeles and Dingles Public House in San Francisco are putting elevated spins on traditional dishes, such as battered skate with mint and Scotch eggs with English mustard sauce, demonstrating that there's a strong market for well-executed British cuisine. The movement is also fueled by social media and a desire for convivial and affordable dining experiences, perhaps indicating a shift away from the prevalence of French bistros in American dining culture.
One of the most ambitious projects is the Selvedge Inn in Healdsburg, from the team behind the three-Michelin-starred SingleThread, indicating the high-end potential of this trend. The overall success is attributed to the strength of British soft power and the appealing aesthetics of British pub culture circulating on social media, making these new establishments feel both familiar and novel to American diners.
