5 just-bloomed concepts to peep this spring

Just as spring flowers will soon begin to sprout around the country, new and expanding restaurant concepts are popping up all over. Here’s a peek at must-watch restaurants that have just opened or are scheduled to launch soon.

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, a James Beard award-winning cookbook author and former head of the Serious Eats culinary site, opens Wursthall this week. The 14,000-square-foot German-style beer hall in San Mateo, Calif., focuses on housemade sausages, with nine international varieties on the opening menu. Sides include sweet-and-sour peppers and onions, apple-fennel chutney, sauerkraut and more. The menu also includes a vegan kebab as well as beer, wine and cocktails.

Food Network chef Giada De Laurentiis is betting big on casino restaurants. De Laurentiis just opened Pronto by Giada, a fast-casual concept at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas that sells breakfast sandwiches, smoothies, paninis, salads and cheese plates largely for off-premise. Pronto also has casual seating and a wine bar. De Laurentiis is slated to open her first East Coast restaurant -- a 180-seat Italian concept at the Horseshoe Casino -- next month in Baltimore. GDL Italian by Giada will serve traditional Italian dishes with California influences, including lemon spaghetti and vegetable Bolognese.

It was almost one year ago that Boston-based polished casual chain Legal Sea Foods debuted a quick-service concept called Legal Fish Bowl. The build-your-own bowl spot features seafood bowls geared toward time-pressed office workers. The chain announced plans to open a second Legal Fish Bowl in early spring in an 850-square-foot space at Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston.  

Chai Wallah is the latest entrant in the often-troubled category of delivery-only restaurants. This one serves vegetarian Indian street food to several Los Angeles neighborhoods, using third-party delivery services. Chai Wallah shares a kitchen with Everytable, a quick-service chain that emphasizes better-for-you fast food at price points customized to the median income of the surrounding neighborhoods.

Punch Bowl Social, known for mixing high-end food and drink with whimsical entertainment such as skee-ball, bowling and ‘80s arcade games, added a 30,000-square-foot unit in Chicago to the 12-unit eatertainment chain. The Chicago location will be one of Punch Bowl’s largest openings so far. The concept features housemade dishes such as Idaho trout with black-eyed pea succotash and a Superfood Grain Bowl with farro, quinoa, kale, radishes, carrots, miso-ginger vinaigrette and a poached egg. There’s also an extensive menu of craft cocktails, both with alcohol and without. The space also houses shuffleboard and virtual reality games.