Inventive Cincinnati eatery makes New York Times best restaurant list

A restaurant near Kentucky has been named to a major national list.

In its 2025 Restaurant List, the New York Times named Wildweed, in Cincinnati, one of its 50 best places to eat in the U.S. right now.

This isn’t the first time the restaurant, which opened in 2024, has received national recognition: Wildweed owner and chef David Jackman was a 2025 James Beard Award finalist for best chef Great Lakes region. He co-owns the restaurant with his wife, Lydia Jackman, and they were also recognized by Esquire as a Best New Restaurant in 2024.

And the Herald-Leader included Wildweed in our guide to the best new places to dine in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky this year. Writer Patti Nickell said the restaurant was “buzzing with adventurous diners” when she visited, including a writer from Bon Appetit, which named Wildweed as one of its eight must-visit restaurants last summer.

Wildweed and the Jackmans specialize in the unusual and creatively sourced (the Times noted David Jackman is “a forager, gardener, fermenter and more.”) The results turn up in drinks and dishes such as a green tomato and coconut daiquiri ... or oysters in mulled pear foam with pickled shallot and spicebush oil.

The restaurant also has a chef’s counter where you can follow along as dishes are made for the chef’s tasting menu. Reservations are required.

The restaurant, at 1301 Walnut St. in the Over-The-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, is one of several capitalizing on bourbon tourists drawn to the area’s B-Line and Kentucky Bourbon Trail distilleries and bars.

This story was originally published September 10, 2025 at 1:41 PM.

Janet Patton

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-379-5233

Janet Patton covers restaurants, bars, food and bourbon for the Herald-Leader. She is an award-winning business reporter who also has covered agriculture, gambling, horses and hemp. Support my work with a digital subscription