The 2026 Eater Awards, presented by Capital One, now in their 17th year, capture the breadth of dining in the U.S., celebrating the best new restaurants across the country. This year’s awards recognize not only restaurants, but also the best in bakeries,
pioneering chefs, and standout dishes, as well as the Best New Bars as designated by Eater’s sister publication, Punch. Each winner is a testament to the idea that dining out is still worth the effort and cost it can command — as long as you know where to look.
Eater is partnering with select Eater Award winners to offer special dining perks now through January 31, 2027. To access these exclusive perks, create an Eater account or download and create an account on the Eater app for iOS. (Terms apply)
The Pastry Project
165 S Main St, Seattle, WA, 98104, US
One of Eater’s 2026 Best New Bakeries, the Pastry Project, offers training to people facing barriers to employment in Pioneer Square. Head to the walk-up window for innovative items that rotate weekly — feather-light peanut butter and raspberry jelly cake, elephant ear-esque cardamom croissants, and apple pie cream puffs topped with cider meringue, to name a few. Show up Thursday through Saturday morning, but be prepared for a line. In the summer, the spot doubles as a soft-serve ice cream stand.
OK Chicken & Khao Soi
3226 SE Division St, Portland, OR, 97202, US
(503) 231-4040
Occupying the former SE Division home of a different well-known Northern Thai-influenced restaurant, OK Chicken & Khao Soi was perhaps Portland’s biggest opening of the year. Akkapong “Earl” Ninsom (Yaowarat, Langbaan, and PaaDee, to name a few) and Eric Nelson (Expatriate, Eem, Phuket Cafe) — two of Portland’s most well-respected culinary talents — bring to life Chiang Mai-style dining in a space that feels simultaneously intimate and energetic, in the spirit of a really good dinner party. Named a 2026 Best New Restaurant in the U.S. winner, this spot puts emphasis on its namesake dishes, but don’t ignore the other items on the menu. Slushies and shakes cut the heat of Thai chiles, and richly seasoned and marinated dishes like gai yang chicken legs or sai ouia herbal sausages sing alongside bright basil, crisp cucumbers, and savory side sauces. Reservations are accepted.
Cassis
333 North Water Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202, United States
(414) 616-1177
Cassis, an Eater 2026 Best New Restaurant, is big in every sense. The nearly 200-seat dining room of the Milwaukee restaurant is an immaculately designed jewel box of gleaming tile, cozy banquettes, and antique mirrors, and even on a Wednesday night, it’s packed and roaring, with a towering, glowing bar at the center of the action. The latest project from Kyle and Meghan Knall, the couple behind nearby acclaimed bistro Birch, channels the conviviality and polish of an old-world French brasserie while remaining distinctly Midwestern in spirit. It’s an all-day restaurant with both heart and panache. — Hilary Pollack
Culebra
2101 N California Ave, Chicago, IL, 60647, US
Tucked behind Lonesome Rose, a casual Tex-Mex restaurant in Chicago, a short stairway leads to an unassuming door. There’s no sign, but there is a logo — a snake entwined around a bottle — and the faint sounds of a salsa soundtrack playing Puerto Rican music. This is how you know you’re at Culebra, one of Punch’s 2026 Best New Bars. With cocktails that tap Malta India (a nonalcoholic malt beverage), tamarind, and culantro, this bar is an homage to Puerto Rican flavors and the Latinx influences of the surrounding neighborhood, Logan Square. Owner Diego Garcia-Gonzalez was born and raised there, and worked his way up through Chicago’s bar industry, beginning in 2013 at age 15, then began visiting Puerto Rico in 2024 to do guest bartending shifts. Behind the bar, you’ll spy a menu of $12 daily Daiquiris, made with a different rum blend each day. Take Friday’s offering: It features Uruapan Charanda, Chairman’s 1931 and Cachaça Amburana, brought perfectly into balance for a richly layered drink. — Amy Cavanaugh
Perk: Eater members receive a free order of tostones with the purchase of any two Cocteles Originales through January 31, 2027. (21+ | Terms apply)
Bad Butter
1655 W Cortland St, Chicago, IL, 60622, US
Pandemic Instagram sensation-turned-Emily Hotel pop-up Bad Butter, a 2026 Eater Best New Bakery, opened in Bucktown in May. The bakery, founded by Daniel Koester, has attracted substantial (we’re talkin’ 60-plus-minute) lines since its debut — seemingly a feature, not an anomaly of Chicago bakeries lately — so plan to get there early before all the lavish croissants, Danishes, and breads disappear. And they do sell out. Don’t miss the savory monkey bread, which in recent months has appeared variously laced with harissa and salsa macha.
Creepies
1360 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL, 60607, US
(312) 579-2727
When Creepies opened in mid-2025, the chatter about this Eater 2026 Best New Restaurant centered on its name. Now, those in the know focus on the food that balances French culinary know-how with a Midwestern sensibility to create a restaurant that’s charming in so many ways. Equal parts bistro and chic diner, Creepies is the brainchild of David and Anna Posey — the husband-and-wife chefs behind next-door Elske, stellar in its own right — and chef Tayler Ploshehanski. Start with warm Brie gougères as you linger over the wine list full of intriguing offerings, before moving on to heartier dishes like steamed mussels with fennel, roasted chicken in a liver and wine sauce, and Parisian gnocchi. Save room for one of Anna’s desserts, including a rotating soft-serve sundae.
All Well
111 N Carpenter St, Chicago, IL, 60607, US
312-854-0122
After three years as Noah Sandoval’s chef de cuisine at two-Michelin-starred Oriole, Larry Feldmeier partnered with the James Beard Award-winner to open All Well in April. Located inside the former La Sardine space, the West Loop restaurant’s menu features a modern American five-course tasting menu ($145) and a la carte bar fare with Japanese and French inflections. Plates like candied beets with sake lees, sea buckthorn, and endive, and sablefish with savoy cabbage, amazake, and genmai, and sweet and briny Hokkaido scallops with celtuce, Virginia ham XO sauce, and coriander, are matched by cocktails like the dirty daiquiri — a martini-adjacent riff featuring white rum, green olive, lime, and Calvados brandy. The puffed grain toast on the tasting menu at All Well is an Eater 2026 Dish of the Year.
Rosy
2912 Church Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44113, United States
(216) 785-9345
This Hingetown newcomer from James Beard-recognized chef Vinnie Cimino, also behind Cleveland critical darling Cordelina, is devoted to ancestral European fare. Rosy’s constantly changing menu is posted on a wooden board above the counter seating. Seasonal vegetables are a major focus, and the majority of the menu is fueled by live-fire cooking. The pickled walleye cheeks, a sometimes special, are an Eater 2026 Dish of the Year; consider starting an order with the restaurant’s bread and spreads variety, and make sure one of their pork sausage dishes is in the mix.
Somssi
79 Macdougal St, New York, NY, 10012, US
Ahris Kim, one of the forces behind acclaimed NYC restaurants likeAtomix and Atoboy, opened her own restaurant in June in Greenwich Village, under parent company Na:Eun Hospitality. Somssi, a 2026 Eater Best New Restaurant, is a neo-bistro with an a la carte menu full of dishes featuring Korean, European, and other Asian touches; see dishes like grilled ox tongue with romesco sauce and the carby Potato Potato Potato.
Echo Lake
357 Grand Street, Brooklyn, New York 11211, United States
A new cocktail bar devoted to all things rum opened in Williamsburg in the former Gertie space. Echo Lake, one of Punch’s 2026 Best New Bars, offers $12 daily daiquiris and a lager/rum shot combo cutely called Tiny and a Tot, plus seafood-centric plates like oysters with tepache mignonette and green coconut curry chowder. The new bar comes from beverage power-couple Chloe Frechette (the former executive editor at Eater sibling site Punch) and Paul McGee, who cut his teeth at Chicago’s now-closed tropical bar Lost Lake. The duo is also featuring their own collection of liquid loot within the intimate basement rum bar, Undercurrent.
Perk: Eater members get a free side of soft serve with the purchase of any full-price cocktail through January 31, 2027. (21+ | Terms apply)
Diljān
330 Hicks St, Brooklyn, NY, 11201, US
With both Afghan and Latin American influences, Diljān, one of Eater’s 2026 Best New Bakeries, gives New Yorkers a bakery with a point of view and innumerable reasons to become a regular. Ali Zaman and Mohamed Ghiasi, owners of Astoria’s Little Flower Cafe, teamed up with Bryan Ford, Honduran American baker and cookbook author, to conceptualize the bakery, now perched on a corner near Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Heights. Their combined talent makes for some of the city’s most compelling baked goods. For the Saffron Shah, laminated pastry holds delicate saffron cream in the shape of a crescent, an important Islamic symbol. Halwa tops the sticky bun, while a swirl of samosa pastry wraps halal lamb under a dusting of powdered sugar. Don’t miss the enormous Afghan flatbread crowned by toppings such as halal beef bacon with scallions or sour cherry cream cheese. The team has also branched into pizzas topped with cheese and Afghan cumin, kofta kebabs, or beef pepperoni. Look for specials like the flan with cardamom-poached apricots and conchas stuffed with firni, a rice pudding. — Nadia Chaudhury
Perk: Eater members get a free Afghan chai with the purchase of any pastry through January 31, 2027. Terms apply.
Titusz
4129 Butler St, Pittsburgh, PA, 15201, US
(412) 509-3576
Sunday is a very good night to be at Titusz, a 2026 Eater Best New Restaurant. That’s Schnitzel Sonntag — when the Pittsburgh restaurant, clad in warm wood and gem-toned ceramic tile, offers an irresistible special at an even more irresistible price: a 4-ounce veal cutlet, breaded and fried in lard, for $13. Chef and owner Csilla Thackray honed her craft in some of the city’s top restaurant kitchens. Thackray’s husband, Sean Rosenkrans — another veteran of Pittsburgh’s restaurant and bar scene — has built a stunning list of wines from Central Europe, as well as cocktails fluent in that idiom. Don’t miss the sour cherry soup and the kaspressknödel (cheese dumpling) in charred leek and sauerkraut broth. — Beth Kracklauer
Sao
1710 E Passyunk Ave, Philadelphia, PA, 19148, US
From the team behind Mawn, one of the city’s most beloved and lauded restaurants, comes sibling Sao. Like Mawn, it’s influenced by Southeast Asian flavors, but Sao is more focused on seafood and has a liquor license. That means you can have a well-made martini or glass of wine with your scallops and crab curry from James Beard Award-winning chef Phila Lorn, who is also an Eater 2026 Chef of the Year.
Bomb Bomb Bar
1026 Wolf Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19148, United States
Assuming new ownership of beloved, old restaurants can be a risk, but South Philly local Joey Baldino has the formula down: Keep the trappings, dial in the food. After taking over his family’s private Palizzi Social Club and retaining its members-only allure, Baldino boughtBomb Bomb Bar, which first opened in 1951, and reopened it last year.
In the front room of this Eater 2026 Best New Restaurant, locals analyze Eagles games, and you might hear children playing in the street. In the back dining room, the procession of seafood, priced at $65 per person, feels like a steal in this era of rising prices. The meat for the lobster Française has been removed from its shell, battered and fried, placed on a buttery sauce, and then crowned with its shell once more. The crispy calamari gets enlivened with twangy cherry peppers. But it’s the overall dining experience that’s unbeatable: The restaurant hasn’t reinvented the wheel, but as the Beach Boys play and you sip a pepperoncini martini while watching your server pour hot fudge onto a sundae, you remember (perhaps while still wearing a bib) that complete novelty isn’t always necessary. — Bettina Makalintal
Peach Crease Club
4180 Wynkoop St, Denver, CO, 80216, US
One of Punch’s 2026 Best New Bars, Peach Crease Club’s cocktail menu reads like a list of favorite foods from around the world: Buko Salad from the Philippines, Borscht from Ukraine, Guayaba y Queso from Latin America. But the dishes-turned-drinks are just one half of Peach Crease Club’s identity. The other is music, and the two complement each other like dinner and a show.
Alex Jump, co-owner of the bar (and one of Punch’s Best New Bartenders in 2019), cooked in Denver kitchens like ChoLon before moving behind the stick, and she’s been building culinary-focused cocktails since her Death & Co. Denver days. It’s not a trend she and her husband, co-owner and fellow industry vet Stuart Jensen, are chasing, Jump says; it’s just how they like to drink. Order such cocktails as the Gibson riff the Fattoush and the Guayaba y Queso; the Kik Alicha, named for Ethiopia’s turmeric split pea stew, sits under split-pea foam with a berbere garnish. — Nickolaus Hines
Rougarou
2844 Welton St, Denver, CO, 80205, US
(423) 969-1939
McLain Hedges and Mary Allison Wright of Yacht Club fame run Rougarou, a cozy-cool tribute to Southern cuisine in Five Points, which guarantees that the beverage program is a winner: Cocktails like the Sorghum Daiquiri and the Bananas Foster Julep hit the spot, and the wine selection is small but smart. What’s surprising is the food at this 2026 Best New Restaurant, which is both thoughtful and soulful, prepared by Wright’s brother, exec chef John David Wright. Creative dishes like West Indies crab salad with butter crackers, hot-and-sour catfish, fairytale eggplant with ancho chile peanut butter and ricotta salata, and rice pudding with pumpkin-white chocolate ganache and pecan praline bring something completely new to the Denver table.
Akoya Omakase
106 W 12th St, Kansas City, MO, 64105, US
(816) 885-4365
Akoya Omakase, an Eater 2026 Best New Restaurant, is the latest project from chef Peter Hoang. The vibe here is relaxed elegance, with affable chefs at the counter showcasing pristine fish in a way that highlights its best qualities, whether pairing golden threadfin bream with umami-laden shiso salt, or smoky juvenile king mackerel with pineapple chutney. Dishes that sound like they might not work on paper sing, like a hirame sashimi accented with kelp salt and both white truffle oil and black truffle pate. Akoya lacks the self-seriousness that some omakases can fall prey to, with chefs explaining dishes in straightforward language, and diners chatting enthusiastically with each other at the counter and even across tables in the small dining room.
Rye Bunny
1827 Adams Mill Rd NW, Washington, DC, 20009, US
D.C. hospitality veterans Jon Sybert and Jill Tyler took a risk when they converted Adams Morgan’s Michelin-starred favorite Tail Up Goat into Rye Bunny, a restaurant that straddles the line between upscale and casual. Rye Bunny, one of Eater’s 2026 Best New Restaurants, encompasses the simple joy of a neighborhood restaurant that’s an equally excellent destination for a weekday date night or a special occasion, and it represents a larger shift in our dining landscape that might save these mid-price-range restaurants as margins get thinner. Be sure to order the Aleppo honey-covered fried chicken, as well as the anchovy and quince jam toasts. — Emily Venezky
Perk: Eater members get a free pour of dessert wine with purchase of dessert; up to two pours per dessert through January 31, 2027. (21+ | Terms apply)
Maru San
325 7th St SE, Washington, DC, 20003, US
(202)-845-7169
Maru San, a counter spot for Nikkei-style cuisine from decorated Peruvian chef Carlos Delgado, an Eater 2026 Chef of the Year, debuted on Friday, February 20. Delgado, who also runs Shaw’s one-Michelin-starred tasting room Causa and won the 2025 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic, adds a sleek, 25-seat counter in Eastern Market for hand rolls and sets, a la carte dishes, and a selection of Japanese beers, sake, and nonalcoholic offerings like a chicha morada and matcha lemonade. During a nightly experience, available for four guests at a time, the Lima-born chef puts a fine dining spin on the fusion food he’s already familiar with. Nikkei cuisine is a specialty at José Andrés’s China Chilcano — the Penn Quarter ceviche spot where Delgado was previously the longtime executive chef.
Bar Roza
211 Arcade Alley, Nashville, Tennessee 37219, United States
Bar Roza, one of Punch’s 2026 Best New Bars, can be found down a quiet alleyway that runs through Nashville’s oldest shopping corridor, the Arcade. There, restaurateur Julia Jaksic (who also runs Cafe Roze and Roze Pony) has turned a former storage room into a rose-tinted oasis of pink marble where partner and beverage director Owen Gibler’s cocktails take center stage. Venture into the Polythermal Arcade, a section of the menu where each drink is served two ways, cold and hot. Order the Jet Pilot, a riff on the tiki classic with rums swizzled with grapefruit, lime, and cinnamon over crushed ice, then have it again as the Radio Flyer, topped with steamed almond milk. — Ellen Fort
Parachute Bakery
1 Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA, 94111, US
(415) 742-4379
San Francisco’s pastry game is stronger and more competitive than ever before, and Parachute Bakery, one of Eater’s 2026 Best New Bakeries, steps to the forefront of a crowded field with a mix of patisserie standards and seasonal standouts. At his Ferry Building bakery, pastry chef Nasir Armar marries his fine dining training, honed at Michelin-starred Sorrel and Saison, with flavors that make everyone sit up and take notice (and snap a food photo or two for their socials). Be sure to order the lychee bowtie croissant, black sesame and yuzu cookie, and savory croissants. — Dianne de Guzman
Perk: Eater members get a free off-menu item or mini croissant with the purchase of any pastry through January 31, 2027. Terms apply.
Restaurant Naides
708 Bush St, San Francisco, CA, 94108, US
In an unmarked space in San Francisco’s Nob Hill, chef Patrick Gabon and partner Celine Wuu quietly rewrote the playbook on fine dining with Restaurant Naides, an Eater 2026 Best New Restaurant. Filipino food has not historically held a footing in the Bay Area’s higher-end echelons, but Naides’s dishes make a powerful claim that the cuisine deserves its place there. Be sure to order Gabon’s takes on classic dishes like bagoong, sinigang, and lumpia; the nonalcoholic beverage pairing is also worth exploring. — Dianne de Guzman
Maria Isabel
500 Presidio Ave, San Francisco, CA, 94115, US
(415) 275-0075
San Francisco first came to know chefs Laura and Sayat Ozyilmaz through their pop-up Istanbul Modern, and later through their breakthrough Presidio restaurant Dalida. The duo’s success is grounded in their take on Eastern Mediterranean food, which they made a conscious decision to champion 10 years ago. Fast-forward to 2026, and now Laura Ozyilmaz, an Eater 2026 Chef of the Year, is taking on a personal project of her own, with Sayat by her side, placing foods from Mexico’s Guerrero and Sinaloa center stage at Maria Isabel. It’s a refreshing menu that combines both Mexican and local ingredients through the lens of the Ozyilmazes’ cooking backgrounds. Order such dishes as the ceviche Acapulqueño, duck carnitas enmoladas, and artichoke tetela. — Dianne de Guzman
Perk: Eater members get a free seasonal tepache with the purchase of a tasting menu through January 31, 2027. Terms apply.
Junior
907 Dickerson Pike, Nashville, TN, 37207, US
(615) 964-7077
Philip Krajeck, the chef behind Rolf and Daughters and Folk, has been building his empire of hip, cozy restaurants since 2012, and his latest is no exception. Junior, tucked into what was once a Dickerson Pike Piggly Wiggly grocery store, is one of Nashville’s hottest new dining rooms. The wine list is a standout, curated by Billy Smith (formerly of award-winning natural wine bar the Four Horsemen, in Brooklyn) and featuring hard-to-find producers and dusty bottles straight from the cellar. Chef Brian Mejia (Rolf and Daughters) is leading the kitchen, showcasing dishes with elegant French techniques and Southern charm, like collard green barbajuan with burnt lemon, blue crab raviolo with herbs and blossoms, and chicory root ice cream with espresso caramel. The cantaloupe verjus terrine on the tasting menu is an Eater 2026 Dish of the Year. Find white tablecloths, red leather banquettes, a shiny, red-lacquered wine station, and an open kitchen with a roaring wood-fired stove here.
Maroon
2535 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV, 89109, US
(702) 761-8888
Kwame Onwuachi’s arrival in Las Vegas has been a spectacle. Fire dancers, showgirls, a performance from Busta Rhymes, and a poolside drone show helped kick off the highly anticipated opening of Maroon, his Caribbean steakhouse inside Sahara Las Vegas. Maroon is the first West Coast restaurant from the James Beard Foundation Award–winning chef following his acclaimed Tatiana in New York City and Dōgon in Washington, D.C. At Maroon, a 2026 Best New Restaurant, steaks are rum-aged, the fried rice has chunks of oxtail and curry-spiced shrimp, and a jerk pit in the middle of the restaurant turns out jerk chicken, tender lamb chops, and pork tomahawks. Other signatures include wood-fired lobster, crawfish mashed potatoes, and creamed coconut collards.
Dougla Kitchen
100 NE 4th St, Oklahoma City, OK, 73104, US
+14054456273
The only thing about Oklahoma City that feels even vaguely reminiscent of the Caribbean is the sheet-pan-flat horizon. And yet, inside a gaping industrial dining room downtown, there’s Dougla Kitchen, where diners sip fruity rum drinks out of plastic bags, and acclaimed chef Andrew Black digs deep in his past to bring OKC locals a taste of his Indo-Jamaican upbringing. Don’t miss the Island curry crab and callaloo dip, an Eater 2026 Dish of the Year. — Lesley Suter
Vandell
1966 Hillhurst Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90027, US
(323) 922-1002
Los Feliz’s new cocktail bar Vandell, one of Punch’s 2026 Best New Bars, takes over the former Nossa space with a menu of inventive cocktails from industry veterans Shawn Lickliter and Vay Su. Currently, Vandell’s menu features 27 cocktails — 13 original and 14 variations on classics. On the menu, find a handful of takes on a martini, including the Vandell Martini with gin and tarragon vinegar, as well as the Olive Martini with vodka, shio koji, and smoked olive brine. Or, go for one of the market-fresh cocktails named after their main ingredient, like the smoked tomato with mezcal or cucumber with gin.
Chainsaw Cafe
5022 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90038, US
Karla Subero Pittol’s popular dinner party pop-up Chainsaw, a 2026 Best New Bakery, has found a permanent home in Melrose Hill as a pint-sized Venezuelan cafe slinging arepas, pie, and coffee during the daytime. Grab a chair at the interior counter or among the seating splayed out on the sidewalk, and tuck into cafe quesillo, a Venezuelan flan latte, or a Karlita with grapefruit, honey, and tonic. The menu changes often, but constants include arepas stuffed with carne mechada or black beans and white cheese, as well as the famous passionfruit-lime icebox pie with a bracingly tart filling. But the joy of Chainsaw is trying whatever Subero Pittol’s latest creation is, whether that be a hot dog topped with potato sticks on a potato roll or pescadito frito with a whole fried snapper. A tip: gluten-free icebox pie is available in limited quantities — just ask at the register to see if there’s a lucky slice left. — Rebecca Roland
Henrietta
343 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90026, US
(323) 272-6646
Henrietta, a charming all-day deli, market, and restaurant, now lives on the edge of Echo Park and Westlake in the same complex as Clark Street Bakery. During the daytime, Henrietta pairs sandwiches like a broccolini panini and turkey porchetta with deli dishes such as lima bean salad made with Rancho Gordo beans. Evening brings a menu of ricotta dumplings, rigatoni topped with short rib, and a half chicken that’s a nod to San Francisco’s Zuni Cafe. Katie Vonderheide, previously of Silverlake Wine, guides the independent producer-focused wine menu, which spans bottles, including an Old World Chianti, French chilled red, and Spanish cava. The restaurant’s enviable roast chicken is an Eater 2026 Dish of the Year.
Perk: Eater members get a free dessert with the purchase of two main dishes through January 31, 2027. Terms apply.
Maydan Market
4301 W Jefferson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90016, US
After more than six years of development, Washington D.C. restaurateur Rose Previte’s ambitious Maydan Market, an Eater 2026 Best New Restaurant, debuted in early October in West Adams. The hangar-like building houses an outpost of Previte’s D.C. restaurants Compass Rose (which closed earlier this year) and Michelin-recognized Maydan, alongside stalls from five other Los Angeles-based restaurants like Yhing Yhang, Poncho’s Tlayudas, and Tamales Elena. Maydan Market opens with breakfast in the morning from Compass Rose, while the stalls open for lunch; Maydan, the full-service restaurant, is only open for dinner service.
Perk: Eater members get a free spread for the table with the purchase of any food item through January 31, 2027. Terms apply.
So. Fox
1017 Virginia Ave NE, Atlanta, GA, 30306, US
(404) 341-9374
When So. Fox, an Eater 2026 Best New Restaurant, opened in Atlanta’s Virginia-Highland neighborhood in July, chef Myles Moody and sommelier Rachael Pack had an instant hit, bringing new energy to that pocket of the city. The space that formerly housed a burger joint (and before that, an auto repair shop) has been transformed into a bright, perennially packed dining room with grand windows, offering an optimal view of North Highland Avenue. It’s seasonal Southern fare that feels current and relevant, with a refreshingly casual approach. Order the whole roasted chicken; there are only five orders per night. Dishes feature produce from their own Ornewood Park farm, such as the grilled beef with Vidalia onions and braised leeks, and at the end of summer, sugar snap peas with chives and farmer cheese. — Mona Holmes
Ursa
110 E Congress St, Tucson, AZ, 85701, US
520-860-5448
At Ursa, Tucson-based chef Aaron Lopez, an Eater 2026 Chef of the Year, has created a menu imbued with the techniques and flavors of the Sonoran Desert that spans northern Mexico, Arizona, and southeastern California.
Inside the high-ceilinged, brick-walled downtown space, Ursa serves as a hushed gallery for Lopez and his team’s $150 tasting menu, which merges Indigenous cooking techniques with foraged and locally farmed ingredients. At every turn, with no extraneous adornments, the kitchen lets the produce and meats boast their innate nature. Lopez eschews conventional comfort, reimagining a meal of cactus, corn, sunflower tea, and beans as true luxuries, and the results are evocative and powerful. — Matthew Kang
Ramen Del Barrio
2007 Kramer Ln, Austin, TX, 78758, US
512-720-1469
At Ramen Del Barrio, a 2026 Eater Award winner for Best New Restaurant, chef and owner Chris Krinsky deftly laces together Japanese and Mexican culinary traditions into a fusion izakaya. Here, find dishes like creamy carnitas tonkotsu with two types of pork, confit buche and belly, as well as a chewy tangle of fresh noodles — made in partnership with Austin chef Gary Wu — using flour from a local mill. There is pozole tonkotsu studded with honeycomb tripe and hominy, and mole tsukemen with thick whole wheat noodles and carnitas. The yaki-tacos — hefty yakitori skewers served on top of corn tortillas — feature smoky pulpo or mushrooms accented with pepitas. The new dedicated space features a small television in the dining room that blasts Spanish-dubbed anime. Ramen Del Barrio feels like a loving expression of Krinsky’s culinary fascinations and his commitment to honoring both traditions. — Nadia Chaudhury
Perk: Eater members get a free agua fresca with the purchase of a bowl of ramen through January 31, 2027. Terms apply.
Roya
7858 Shoal Creek Blvd, Austin, TX, 78757, US
(512) 284-8469
Chef Amir Hajimaleki’s Persian restaurant Roya has been in progress since2018, and in February it finally opened in its full glory. Located on top of another of Hajimaleki’s restaurants, District Kitchen + Cocktails, the rich blue space sets a sumptuous tone with intricate tilework, art, and unique chandeliers. Drawing from Hajimaleki’s upbringing in Iran, the restaurant serves dishes like mahiche gheymeh (saffron tomato braised lamb shank), wagyu kebabs with fenugreek seasoning and tarragon chimichurri, and a variety of dips, plus a full cocktail menu. Decision-haters can be guided with sofreh, the chef’s tasting menu based in Persian hospitality. Hajimaleki is a 2026 Eater Chef of the Year.
Emelina
424 Park Pl, West Palm Beach, FL, 33401, US
(561) 247-5473
A team with a Michelin-starred pedigree has opened a Cuban omakase in West Palm Beach, and it’s as intriguing as it sounds. Restaurateur Alvaro Perez-Miranda, owner of Michelin-starred Ogawa in Little River, and chefs Osmel González and Camila Salazar, formerly of Michelin-starred Entre Nos, have opened Emelina’s, a 2026 Eater Best New Restaurant. The intimate, 16-seat restaurant offers a 10-course tasting menu for $275 that lovingly imagines what Cuban cuisine could be if its native chefs were allowed freedom of creativity and access to the finest ingredients. This imaginative take on Cuban food sources fresh Floridian seafood and produce, utilizing classic omotenashi service for an evening of culinary intention.
Service Bar
928 U St NW, Washington, DC, 20001, US
(202) 462-7232
For a decade, pint-sized Service Bar has offered creative cocktails and hospitality to fellow bartenders around the world. The bar continues to rank among the top 50 bars in North America for its inventive cocktails and friendly, knowledgeable staff that does Family Meal every Sunday night. Punch selected it as its 2026 Industry Icon, recognizing Service Bar’s decade of creative cocktails and the hospitality that its team has extended to fellow bartenders around the world. The drink menu is arranged by spirits and makes use of seasonal ingredients wherever possible. Fried chicken remains a fan favorite, as do the happy hour deals on Old Fashioneds and classic daiquiris that keep its fan base full of regulars happy. Co-owners Glendon Hartley and Chad Spangler also run Amazonia in Shaw, a pisco-fueled paradise above Michelin-starred Peruvian tasting room Causa.
Perk: Eater members get any two eligible cocktails and three tenders for $25 during happy hour through January 31, 2027. (21+ | Terms apply)
