Infatuation has named its 25 best new restaurants in America for 2026, and the first thing you notice is where they are. Yes, New York, Los Angeles and Miami get two each. But the list also sends you to Tulsa for a Japanese breakfast, to Boulder for a ham cart, to West Palm Beach for a ten-course Cuban tasting menu and to Montecito for a pork chop off the fire. Twenty-five restaurants, twenty-two cities.
The editors say they made more than 2,000 visits to places that opened between October 2025 and October 2026, booked anonymously and paid their own bills. That matters. A list built from paid meals reads like a press release. This one reads like people who ate a lot.
What the list is really about
Tortillas and masa. New York’s Border Town is walk-in only, pours $15 cocktails and is built around soft, lard-laced flour tortillas. Dallas gets Olōyō, all tamales and masa, with a duck mole. Houston’s Zaranda does Mexican seafood, a hamachi tostada and whole grilled trout. Mexican cooking at this level isn’t news any more, which is the point. It has become the default American restaurant food the way Italian was thirty years ago.
Cuba twice. Emelina in West Palm Beach reworks Cuban flavors into a seasonal tasting menu that starts with a yuca fritter. Chibanos in Philadelphia goes the other way, a sandwich shop. Same island, opposite ends of the price scale.
Japan three ways. Natsukashii in Tulsa serves a Japanese breakfast set. Present Tense in Nashville is an izakaya, and its hiramasa sashimi comes with olive brine. Yasu Omakase in Miami is the traditional counter, with a sake pairing. You could eat Japanese food every day of a road trip across this list and never repeat a format.
And plenty of comfort. A meat pie and sticky toffee pudding at Wilde’s in Los Angeles. A loaded cheesesteak at The Rebel in Seattle. Turmeric wings and khao soi at OK Chicken & Khao Soi in Portland. Fried saltines and crab fat rice at Liars in Boston.
The trends behind the picks
Editor-in-chief Arden Shore pulled five trends out of the year. Fancy grocery stores are turning into destinations, smoothies and merch included, which the team calls the Erewhon-ification of America. Burgers are being cut, flipped and drowned in sauce or molten cheese. Rotisserie chicken has gone upmarket, with whole birds to share in wine-heavy date-night rooms. Pu pu platters are back. And restaurants are replacing bars as the night out itself.
The chicken one rings true. A whole roasted bird is cheap to source, impossible to mess up if the kitchen knows its oven, and it makes a table feel generous. Expect it on a lot more menus in 2027.
How to use a list like this
Don’t plan a trip around it. Plan a meal around it when you’re already going somewhere. If you’re in Nashville for a weekend, Present Tense is a better bet than another hot chicken queue. If you’re driving through Oklahoma, Natsukashii is a reason to stop in Tulsa. The best national lists work as a nudge to eat somewhere new in a city you thought you knew.
Chicago’s All Well made it with a Scotch Old Fashioned finished with oolong tea and a coconut ice cube that changes the drink as it melts. That’s the kind of detail that gets a restaurant on a list. It’s also the kind that gets you through the door.