The past year has been one of “Great Chickenings” and fine dining flips, British food invasions and restaurants whose dining rooms feel like living rooms, vibrant global steakhouses and unserious Y2K food. Among the slate of our 2026 Eater Award winners — which also brought undeniable new chef talent, core-memory-forming dishes, and groundbreaking bakeries and bars — are the places we could not stop thinking about for highly specific reasons. While this crop of restaurants and bars did not make the ultimate cut for the 2026 Eater Awards, presented by Capital One, they commanded enough attention during our expansive scouting and research months to deserve acknowledgment. — Nicole Fellah, dining editorial manager
Cabbage of the Year: Monte’s in Montecito, California
Cabbage is having its moment. From a star turn on the Sandy Liang runway as a ruffled bag to a hand-painted Bordallo Pinheiro dinner set and a declaration from Vogue that the leafy green has gone “chic,” the cruciferous vegetable is 2026’s “it” girl. The cult of the cabbage has made its way to Monte’s in Montecito, a cozy Korean American bistro where cone cabbage gets coal-roasted and kissed with salty smoked shiitake XO, an umami-heavy spin on the Hong Kong-born sauce. The fall-apart-tender cabbage beds on creamy tofu puree, the whole thing studded with hazelnuts that bring out the vegetable’s innate sweetness. Preparations like the one at Monte’s make it feel as though cabbage isn’t just this year’s distinguished vegetable — its dominance is here to stay. — Rebecca Roland, deputy editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
Best Bathroom Party: Bobo, Chicago, Illinois
Maybe it was the Negroni, the Old Fashioned, and the gingery mezcal-laced Missed Opportunity. Perhaps it was the jetlag (who can say for sure?), but the bathroom at Bobo — the Filipino bar attached to Muhajir in Chicago’s Lincoln Park — left a lasting impression on me. In a world that’s fully embraced the bathroom selfie, Bobo has answered the call with refractory horizontal-mirrored panel walls and colored light that shifts from reds to greens, turning this lavatory into a mesmerizing disco ball. It’s a fitting touch that matches chef Jacob Dela Cruz’s vision for a red-light district-esque tropical hideaway. — Brenna Houck, Eater editorial manager
Most Unhinged Martini: The Dirty Fish at Kelang in Brooklyn, New York
In a world of outrageous martinis, the one at Greenpoint Malaysian restaurant Kelang earns its playful name. The Dirty Fish riffs on a Vesper with gin, vodka, dry vermouth, and, saliently, fish sauce, which levels up the drink’s savoriness in every way. The pungent condiment mimics olive brine, delivering a salty taste of the sea to the already strong drink, which then gets garnished with wavy scallions and a long sliver of aromatic ginger. The cocktail showcases owner Chris Low’s background as a Malaysian kid who grew up in New York. It’s simply presented — a cloudy drink in a stemmed coupe glass with those gloating garnishes — and pairs best with that fluffy paratha served over creamy and spicy dal. — Nadia Chaudhury, deputy editor, Eater New York
Best Low-Key Power Lunch: Little Fish Melrose Hill, Los Angeles, California
Gone may be the days of business power lunches at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago or Grill on the Alley that required a suit and tie. In their place, a new arrangement has emerged — the low-key power lunch. There may be no better place for the midday meal masquerading as a meeting right now than at Little Fish in Melrose Hill, the first full-service restaurant from the former pop-up-turned-fish sandwich window. The light-filled dining room hums during daytime with flexibly scheduled creatives and well-dressed parents toting young children, all adults in the room sipping wine picked by sommelier Kae Whalen. On the menu, a tuna melt from maverick chefs and owners Anna Sonenshein and Niki Vahle will convert even nonbelievers, especially when paired with peppery fries dunked in horseradish aioli. Of course, there is the calling card fried fish sandwich, but smarter diners go for the beach sandwich layered with guindilla peppers and soy-cured mussels and a bay leaf chip stracciatella flecked with chocolate chips. Melrose Hill and its confluence of independent restaurants has morphed into a miniature walkable neighborhood — the perfect place to see and be seen. And what’s more low-key power lunch than that? — RR
Most Camp: Night Hawk, Coronado, California
Historically, California is a gold mine of kitsch restaurants, from Clifton’s Republic to the pillowy pink dining room at the Madonna Inn. Night Hawk is the next jewel in that camp crown; the Greek-influenced San Diego restaurant is an anchor of Coronado Island’s hypermaximalist new Baby Grand hotel and beckons diners into a lush, faux-rock-filled outdoor dining room with pink clamshell chairs, waterfalls, and cocktails that have names like the Adonis in Bloom and Spanakopita Punch. In short: Tony Duquette by way of an acid tab. — Francky Knapp, staff writer
Best British Import: Ambassadors Clubhouse, New York City
British food hit a fever pitch nationally this year as Americans awakened to the allure of meat pies and mushy peas. But if any restaurant truly dispelled notions of the country’s cuisine as dull or bland, it was Ambassadors Clubhouse, with its extensive menu of Punjabi showstoppers such as seven-layer, aloo-filed, Amritsari-style samosas; butter chicken in the form of lollipop-like chops with a heady char; and matka Beliram lamb, its crimson oil heralding intense flavor. In opulent, velvet-adorned surroundings that feel like a hideaway from the city, this luxe London import deliciously makes the case that Indian food is as essential to British cuisine as fish and chips. — Bettina Makalintal, senior reporter
The Marry Me Restaurant: Little Mountain, Montecito, California
The most beautiful new restaurant in California is tucked into a shopping center in Montecito’s tony upper village. Little Mountain, which opened in November 2025 under chef Diego Moya, gives more to the scene than just a locavore menu that leans into live-fire cooking — it brings a bona fide, Architectural Digest-worthy destination that I would get married (and remarried) in. It may be hard to decide which room to sit in should you land a reservation in time: the comfortable dining room with gold-veil natural lighting and plush caramel booths and banquettes; the larger-party table that foregrounds an open kitchen and its centerpiece hearth; the dim, dark bar that may be the sexiest sliver of drinking den on the Central Coast; the covered patio that leads into a monarchial private dining area; or the outdoor patio that evokes dining in a home garden. Anywhere you sit, you can’t go wrong, especially as the food starts landing in front of you. — NF
Best Endless Euro Summer Restaurant: HeretÃk, Denver, Colorado
Chef Theo Adley opened HeretÃk last spring, and it has brought a breath of fresh, San Sebastián-esque sea breeze air into the Denver dining scene. The French- and Basque-leaning restaurant serves an endless summer menu of dishes like Santa Barbara uni, a playful pan con tomate martini, and scallops à la plancha with bearnaise and seaweed. The menu’s coastal Euro allure gets amplified by its interior design choices, which sprinkle in vintage furniture and tapered, wax drip-laden candles — but with a name like HeretÃk, you know that all of that romance is going to come with a healthy dose of cheek. — FK
Most Valuable Egg: Dean’s, New York City
Chickens, you can’t take credit for this one: The British-inspired pub Dean’s proved that bigger is not always better with its take on a Scotch egg, which employs quail eggs instead of the typical chicken ones. In larger Scotch eggs, what appears in each bite can be inconsistent. But the result of the shrunken-down approach here is a reliably favorable ratio of meat to egg, in which each bite at once encompasses crunchy breading, tender meat filling, runny yolk, and just enough still-bouncy egg white. It’s as nonnegotiable at Dean’s as a pint of Guinness. — BM
Pop-Up We Need to Go Permanent: Ladyfish, Portland, Maine
Ladyfish in Portland, Maine, has been clear about one thing since the beginning: “A summer fling,” the restaurant declared when it announced its May 2026 arrival. Jordan and Marisa Rubin of Portland sushi spot Mr. Tuna convinced chef Christine Lau to relocate from New York City to helm the seasonal seafood pop-up. Lau, whose resume includes Japanese-Italian and Chino Latino restaurants, brings her distinctive flair to classic Maine ingredients for dishes like scallops in a blanket with fried milk bread and the showstopping twin lobster mountain served with fries, rice cakes, and dan dan au poivre sauce. True to its word, the restaurant closed at the end of October. Here’s hoping the return of next year’s summertime crowds also brings back this match made in seafood heaven. — Stephanie Wu, editor in chief
Best 2.0 Comeback: Broken Spanish Comedor, Culver City, California
Los Angeles-born chef Ray Garcia opened Broken Spanish Comedor in Culver City in late 2025, years after his groundbreaking Mexican fine dining restaurant, Broken Spanish, and more casual B.S. Taqueria closed in Downtown Los Angeles. Garcia’s contribution to Alta California cuisine, rooted in Mexican cooking told through a California lens, remains one of the most distinct of this generation of restaurants. Still, he manages to surprise both longtime fans and newcomers to his work: The Comedor, whose name nods to the Indigenous homestyle restaurant tradition in Mexico, feels fresh in its A-frame home. It’s not uncommon for locals and those working in Los Angeles hospitality to stop in for a meal of crispy, crown-whorled chicharron or quesillo-threaded refried lentils; a classics-leaning drinks menu (cócteles, cervezas, vino) keeps the room humming happily. In a year brimming with big restaurant comebacks (see also: Venice’s resurrected Tasting Kitchen and Keith Corbin’s reframed Alta Adams), it feels good to have an Angeleno chef like Ray Garcia capture our collective imagination again. — Mona Holmes, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
Best Hangover Cure: Casimiro, New Orleans
If ever there was a destination in need of effective hangover cures, it’s New Orleans. While I was totally ready to rally after a two-bar, two-restaurant evening the night before (I am, of course, a professional), I also wasn’t mad about consuming something fortifying at Casimiro, the charming all-day cafe from award-winning Acamaya chef Ana Castro, the next morning. The restaurant delivered: textbook chilaquiles, impossibly fluffy conchas, crispy pescaditos, and one of the best tortas I’ve ever had. If hair of the dog is in your future in the City That Always Drinks, go with the well-balanced Cynar daiquiri to finish. — Missy Frederick, dining editorial director
The Pastry Disruptor: Dahlia, Minneapolis
The weirdest thing I ate on a pastry this year was “lettuce cream” lacquered onto the BLT Danish at Dahlia in Minneapolis. The chartreuse-colored cream anchored a slice of late-August tomato and dollops of bacon jam atop persistently crisp laminated dough. One bite was enough to make me think, This should be more of a thing. You wouldn’t know at first glance that this bakery, tucked into an office complex, turns out treats of this caliber: jam-filled croissants with speculoos crumble, unassumingly perfect English muffins, plush milk bread and fluffy focaccia for sandwiches. This kind of out-of-the-box baking makes eating pastries right now so fun. — BM
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