When the MICHELIN Guide expanded statewide in 2026, Naples officially entered a new culinary conversation. Among the local restaurants recognized were Tong Yin, the deeply personal Thai restaurant from chef-owner June Disponsa, and Bicyclette Cookshop, the playful New American restaurant led by chef Kayla Pfeiffer and co-founder Louie Mele. Different in cuisine and personality, the two restaurants share something more meaningful: both are built around memory, hospitality, collaboration and a belief that Naples is ready for food with a distinct point of view.
For Disponsa, that point of view began three hours north of Bangkok, where she grew up going to the local market with her grandmother. Those daily trips for spices and ingredients became an early education in flavor, but also in the way food connects generations. Tong Yin—its name honoring her grandmother, whose name translates to “golden blessing”—is designed to evoke a Thai family home. Even Disponsa’s affectionate title, “P’ June,” carries the idea of family: a Thai expression for a respected older sister.
Her path to becoming a restaurateur was hardly linear. Disponsa moved to the United States to study law and worked in Thai restaurants in Daytona, Naples and Chicago before returning to Thailand. There, she practiced corporate law with companies including Thai Airways and Standard Chartered while continuing to feel drawn toward hospitality. She also worked in Thai and Japanese restaurants and eventually opened a Japanese restaurant of her own.
What kept calling her back was storytelling—not through briefs or boardrooms, but through food. Friends in the United States encouraged her to bring that vision here, and Naples became the place where the chapters of her life began taking restaurant form.
She first opened Ichi Togarashi, with its pan-Asian approach, and Sendo Café, influenced by the casual Japanese cafés she remembers from childhood. Tong Yin followed as the restaurant most connected to her Thai roots, while Mimoto explores her affection for Japanese cuisine, sushi and the cultures she encountered through travel.
Disponsa describes the four restaurants almost as members of a family. Ichi is the adventurous first sibling; Sendo recalls childhood; Mimoto reflects the more mature traveler; and Tong Yin is home. At Tong Yin, she says, her grandmother feels present in the curry aromas, the dining room and the instinct to gather everyone around a table. Her teams, too, are treated as extended family—individual personalities moving to their own rhythms, but connected by shared responsibility.
When Michelin recognition came, Disponsa called her family and messaged current and former team members. She also prayed to her grandmother. Rather than treating the honor as an arrival point, she saw it as validation—and responsibility. “It pushed me to set my own standard even higher,” she says.
Further North in town, Pfeiffer’s culinary story also began with family restaurants. She grew up around the business, attended the Culinary Institute of America and spent years developing her craft before establishing herself in Naples. Her local résumé included The French Brasserie Rustique and Bar Tulia Mercato, where she met Mele, who would eventually offer her what she has described as a “blank canvas” for a restaurant of her own.
That canvas became Bicyclette Cookshop, which opened in North Naples in November 2023. The name nods to Mele’s neighboring Naples Cyclery and to the French techniques underpinning much of Pfeiffer’s cooking. Yet the food resists easy categorization. Pfeiffer has described the menu as something like a diary, drawing on travel, childhood memories, conversations and global flavors. That sensibility produces dishes that can be sophisticated and mischievous at once—perhaps best embodied by her signature caviar with Bugles and crème fraîche.
Recognition came quickly. Pfeiffer became a Food Network Chopped champion, was named a 2025 James Beard Emerging Chef semifinalist, and Bicyclette earned a place among USA Today’s Restaurants of the Year for 2025. Michelin’s 2026 recommendation added another national credential to a restaurant barely three years old.
Mele’s role extends beyond the restaurant’s name. He brings with him years of experience in the food & beverage industry, serving as the President of McDonald's Canada and opening McDonalds in Italy. His hospitality helps define Bicyclette’s front-of-house warmth, while his Italian roots literally find their way onto the plate: the restaurant’s vanilla soft serve is finished with olive oil from his family’s vineyard in Italy. Michelin singled out both the restaurant’s creativity and the feeling that guests are treated like regulars.
In July, the stories of Tong Yin and Bicyclette converged. Disponsa, Pfeiffer, Mele and their teams created a one-night communal-table dinner, beginning with a welcome cocktail and unfolding as a continuous passed-plate feast of favorites from both restaurants. It was both celebration and thank-you to the diners who had supported them week after week.
For Disponsa, the collaboration was about two teams learning one another’s rhythm until, for one evening, ownership lines disappeared. “We were simply one team trying to give people a beautiful experience,” she says.
That may be the most important story behind Naples’ Michelin moment. Awards can draw attention, but culinary destinations are built by communities. These chefs are not simply collecting accolades; they are pushing one another, sharing audiences and making Naples more interesting one table at a time.
Disponsa believes many Naples restaurants are already creating experiences worth traveling for; they simply need to be discovered. Pfeiffer’s increasingly ambitious work makes a similar case. Together, their recognition signals something larger than two restaurants earning a place in a famous guide. It suggests that Naples’ next chapter as a food city is already being written—and some of its most compelling authors are doing it together. For diners, that evolution is becoming increasingly delicious to watch unfold.
“Naples’ next chapter as a food city is already being written—and some of its most compelling authors are doing it together, one collaborative table and unforgettable dish at a time.”
JUNE DISPONSA: FOUR RESTAURANTS, FOUR CHAPTERS
Chef June Disponsa’s four Naples restaurants tell her story through food. Ichi Togarashi channels her curiosity through pan-Asian cuisine; Sendo Café recalls childhood; Tong Yin celebrates her Thai roots and grandmother; and Mimoto reflects her love of Japanese cuisine. Together, they represent family, travel, memory and evolution.
KAYLA PFEIFFER: TWO RESTAURANTS, ONE CREATIVE VISION
Chef Kayla Pfeiffer continues expanding her culinary footprint with Bicyclette Cookshop and Heyday. Bicyclette showcases her playful, globally inspired New American cooking, while Heyday brings that creativity into a fresh restaurant concept with visiting chefs. Together, the two restaurants reveal Pfeiffer’s evolving style—and her growing influence on Naples’ increasingly ambitious dining scene.