Where are the hot, new restaurants? | Let’s Eat
Philly’s 2026 dining trends, warm bowls of pozole, hot potatoes, and our guide to wintertime outdoor dining.
Welcome back! You and I have a lot to cover, starting with an exhaustive rundown of the 100-plus restaurant openings expected in 2026.
Also in this edition:
Craig’s ′25 favorites: Check out his top 10 restaurants for 2025 (and five other gems, too).
Warmth I: Our favorite bowls of pozole.
Warmth II: Where to dine outside while staying cozy.
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What’s hot in 2026: French bars, bagels, and the Main Line, to point out just a few observations from my rundown of the more than 100 restaurants due to open this year in Philadelphia and the area. Read on for more analysis of this year’s dining forecast.
🍴 Here is the full picture: New restaurants are coming from Ellen Yin, Greg Vernick, Teddy Sourias, and dozens more.
Welcome back from the holidays!
Let’s recap what The Inquirer’s food team has been up to over the last few weeks:
Critic Craig LaBan offers his top 10 restaurants of 2025 (just look at them), plus five more worth watching.
I rounded up last year’s significant restaurant openings — and the notable closings, too.
2025 was a major year for new pizzerias. Allow me to slice ’em up for you (along with other trends).
For fans of limited-edition burgers, this was a mighty good year.
Kiki Aranita recounts her year in eating, and it’s a lot to digest.
Beatrice Forman tagged along for roe drops with Philly’s caviar-delivery guy.
The hearty, body-warming stew/soup that is pozole comes in the colors of the Mexican flag: rojo, verde, and blanco, with regional variations of each. The good news, Kiki says, is that you don’t have to go all the way to Mexico City for excellent pozole. Here are her picks.
Want to dine in the great outdoors despite the winter chill? Hira Qureshi found more than 40 restaurants with comfy, heated outdoor seating.
The baked potato is having its moment, Kiki says. The Idaho spud served at Wine Dive is no small potato. It’s roughly the size of her Chihuahua and comes topped with sour cream, cheddar, bits of bacon, and scallions.
The best things we ate last year
We all dined out a lot last year (perhaps so did you). Here are our 21 favorite dishes of 2025, including a Hyderabadi paneer curry so hot it made Craig LaBan’s ears ring and left his face temporarily numb. And that was one of his favorites?! Read on to see what else made an impression.
Restaurant report
Restaurateur Franco Borda (that’s him shown below) loves Italian food, opera and jazz music, and South Philly. So after he closed his High Note Caffe during the pandemic, he decided to turn the joint into a nightclub. Five years later, the High Note is back, with a stage. I stopped recently to catch crooner Harry Barlo’s act, and the experience was an old-time delight. Dinner and a show for 50 bucks?
Briefly noted
Center City District Restaurant Week returns Jan. 18-31 with 100-plus restaurants offering three-course, prix-fixe dinners for $45 or $60 and two-course lunches for $20. Here’s the rundown.
Yum Grills, opening this weekend at 1135 Vine St., comes from Shahezad “Shah” Contractor and the crew from Cousin’s Burger Co. The halal shop will sell smash burgers, chicken sandwiches, chicken over rice, and wings out of a Shell station; at the Jan. 10 grand opening (1 p.m.), the first 100 people will get a double smash burger, fries, and soda.
Gluten-free bakery Flakely is opening a proper storefront in Bryn Mawr.
Emmett in Kensington has secured a full liquor license, allowing it to broaden its wine and spirit list beyond Pennsylvania labels. The new era starts Thursday.
Why is the food sold at Pennsylvania Turnpike’s rest stops so ... um ... mid? Brett Sholtis found out.
❓Pop quiz
Why is McDonald’s being sued this time? Not over coffee, but...
A) The ice cream machine gave the plaintiff trust issues after being “temporarily unavailable” for the 400th consecutive visit.
B) The plaintiff alleges that the McRib sandwich is not made from pork rib meat.
C) A Happy Meal did not make the plaintiff happy. Just nostalgic and sad.
D) The “two all-beef patties” jingle has been stuck in the plaintiff’s head since 1994, causing permanent mental occupation.
Find out if you know the answer.
Ask Mike anything
I’m wondering if there is a list of restaurants that take reservations but aren’t on the two major services. I always feel like I’m missing some good places out there. — Chuck L.
You may also check Tock for restaurants not on OpenTable or Resy. For years, OpenTable was the big player. Then Resy came online and started cherry-picking popular newcomers. Then OpenTable sweetened the deals for restaurants and began to recapture the market. (My editor Jenn Ladd wrote a fascinating article about this a year ago.) Tock has been a solid No. 3, but that’s where you’ll find tables at such places as DanDan, Elwood, South, and Barcelona Wine Bar. Some restaurants — such as Uchi, Scarpetta, and Cuba Libre — use SevenRooms on their back end, so you must book through the restaurant’s individual websites.
📮 Have a question about food in Philly? Email your questions to me at mklein@inquirer.com for a chance to be featured in my newsletter.
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