4 Lesser-Known Restaurants You Didn't Realize Were Owned By A-List Celebs

CORRECTION 7/10/25: A previous version of this article named Pharrell Williams as the owner of Miami's Nami Nori and Matsuyoi. Williams is a partner and advisor to the group that created the restaurants, Launchpad Hospitality.

If you're a foodie, then you may go out of your way to visit a restaurant that is owned by a famous chef — perhaps Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen in Las Vegas or Wolfgang Puck's Spago in Beverly Hills. But it's not just celebrity chefs who own restaurants — other celebrities, such as actors or musicians, also sometimes branch out into the restaurant scene.

In fact, you may have even visited one of these restaurants without knowing it — and there are quite a few celebrity-owned restaurants that are actually well worth it. While you may know that Jimmy Buffet owned the Margaritaville chain or that Martha Stewart owns the Vegas-located restaurant, The Bedford, there are plenty of celebrity-owned restaurants out there that are lesser known.

For example, did you know that "Modern Family" star Ty Burrell owns an upscale diner in Park City, Utah called The Eating Establishment? Or that "The Sopranos" actor Michael Imperioli owns a jazz bar called Scarlet Lounge in New York City? Read on to find out more about these restaurants and a couple other celebrity-owned restaurants you probably didn't know about.

While Ty Burrell had time off from filming "Modern Family," he and his family lived in Salt Lake City, Utah. The actor explained in a piece that he wrote for Utah Business that, during that time, he decided to get into the restaurant business after an extended family member approached him with the idea. He and his partners got started by buying Bar X, a bar that had been around since 1933 but needed some renovating. Next, they opened another bar, aptly titled Beer Bar, right next door.

In 2017, for their next endeavor, they bought The Eating Establishment, which had been owned and run by a family since 1972. According to the website, when Burrell and his partners took over, they wanted to keep the spirit of the existing menu's all-day breakfast fare but also added more comfort food options, with the guidance of their chef, Brendan Kawakami. The menu currently contains breakfast classics such as steak and eggs, biscuits and gravy, and corned beef hash. Meanwhile, the lunch menu features items such as "The Established Burger," baby back ribs, and a grilled chicken Cobb sandwich.

After The Eating Establishment, Burrell and his partners made one more restaurant purchase, The Cotton Bottom, which was another existing restaurant that they spruced back up. For Utah Business, Burrell wrote, "More than anything, our hope is to bring all of these locations back to their former glory, to keep the spirit alive, all while adding our own touches along the way."

The Jonas Brothers, as a band, are already family business — but Nick, Joe, and Kevin also have another family business: A Southern cuisine restaurant. In 2016, the Jonas family – the three musician brothers, their younger brother Frankie, and their parents, Kevin Sr. and Denise — opened up Nellie's Southern Kitchen in Belmont, North Carolina. The restaurant is named after the brothers' great grandmother — their dad Kevin Sr.'s grandmother — who loved cooking and Southern food. Belmont is Kevin Sr.'s hometown.

With this in mind, they wanted to open a restaurant that would highlight traditional Southern dishes but with a modern flair. The menu includes some of the Southern foods the rest of the world needs to try, such as fried okra and biscuits (with gravy), as well as chicken and waffles, Southern rolls, and various burgers and sandwiches. There are also multiple dishes named after Nellie herself, such as Nellie's Cobb salad and Nellie's Stack of pancakes. The family opened a second location of Nellie's Southern Kitchen in 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada, which has a menu that features just about all of the same items as the original locale.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Nick Jonas explained that the restaurant family business was special to them because having dinner together had always been a crucial way for them to stay connected as family. He said, "That's one of the things that really drew us so close to each other. It was focused on talking about what happened in our day. We're all busy and we all have our own families now, so moments like this are really special for us."

Pharrell Williams is a successful singer, songwriter, and producer. He's also helped open multiple restaurants, including the Miami location of the upscale Japanese restaurant, Nami Nori (which also has locations in New York and New Jersey). As partner and advisor to Launchpad Hospitality, the relationship also resulted in another Japanese restaurant, Matsuyoi.

Opened at the same time in 2024, Matsuyoi is located upstairs from Nami Nori in Miami's Design District and features a 10-seat chef's counter with a multi-course menu. The menus of both restaurants feature a selection of open-style temaki (hand rolls). Enjoying these restaurants' temaki may even inspire you to make your own temaki-inspired board — which is the easiest way to serve sushi to a crowd.

But these two connected Japanese restaurants are not Williams' first venture into the restaurant industry. In 2019, Williams, along with David Grutman, opened up Swan, a restaurant and lounge located in the Design District as well. Swan's menu features everything from skirt steak, miso salmon, and lemon garlic chicken, as well as appetizers like corn ravioli and fritto misto.

Michael Imperioli is known for his roles on "The Sopranos" and "The White Lotus" — but if you're a big time foodie, then you may know him first and foremost as the owner of the Scarlet Lounge, a jazz bar in the Upper West Side of New York City. Imperioli, along with his wife Victoria and restaurateur Jeremy Wladis, opened the bar and restaurant in 2023; Victoria also led the interior design. Before opening Scarlet, Imperioli and his wife had previously owned a NYC lounge, Ciel Rouge, which was open from 1995 to 2005.

In an interview with Eater, the actor said, "Victoria and I are thrilled to be bringing to the Upper West Side the distinctive vibe and mood that made our previous lounge, Ciel Rouge, so beloved by the denizens of downtown NYC. Scarlet offers an elegant and transportive atmosphere.... and a certain magic that only Victoria can create."

The menu features a range of wines, beers, and cocktails — both signature cocktails and "Roaring 20's Classics" to fit the jazz bar theme. The food options are limited to small plates such as lobster bao, tuna tartar, and lollipop lamb chops, as well as two sweet options, chocolate molten cake and cheesecake.