Dec. 2. Esquire singled out Seaboy restaurant in Cornelius its annual list of the 25 Best New Restaurants in America.

“These are the places you hate to leave, but when you do, you leave full,” Esquire wrote. “Full of some of the most deeply personal food you can remember eating, full of joy and ideas and hope. You stumble out, way past your bedtime, practically dancing in the street.”

Seaboy, located on North Main Street near the Davidson town line, is owned by Chef Jonathan Cox, who previously helmed kitchens for restaurateur Jon Dressler of Rare Roots Hospitality. Cox has said he built the seafood restaurant on a love for good food, community and sustainability.

“Cox is a local boy who’s done time in Charlotte—and in Sorrento, Italy,” wrote Esquire’s Joshua David Stein. “The menu of his small, ambitious debut reflects both his knowledge of the land and that Italian knack for letting ingredients speak for themselves.”

“Every small plate hums with flavor. Cornmeal-dusted, pan-fried Virginia flounder, lily white and yielding, beckons on Louisiana’s herby, vervy, creamy maque choux. Crab-and-chorizo croquettes are bonsai flavor bombs floating in sweet crimson pepper jam. Seaboy’s a roadside restaurant that shines like a beacon.”

Esquire cited two North Carolina restaurants on the list. The other was Tamasha in Raleigh.