2 SoCal Spots Named Among 2026's Best New Restaurants By Bon Appétit

LOS ANGELES — Two Southern California spots were included on Bon Appétit’s recent list of the best new restaurants of 2026.

The list featured 19 restaurants from across the country.

“The restaurants that stood out come from chefs offering clear perspectives, with the will — and the confidence — to take risks,” the magazine reported.

“… The restaurants we found the most exciting are, of course, delicious, but they were also fearless about challenging the playbooks by betting on community and creativity. These are the traits that help evolve modern American cuisine.”

In Southern California, Broken Spanish Comedor in Los Angeles and Little Mountain in Montecito made the cut.

Bon Appétit praised Broken Spanish Comedor chef Ray Garcia for his “thoughtful interplay of acid, heat, and richness.”

The magazine lauded Little Mountain chef Diego Moya’s “ambitious and refined wood-fired menu,” describing it as “a celebration of California’s endless bounty, an edible dissertation on why the state arguably boasts the best ingredients in the country.”

In addition to the Southern California restaurants honored, Bon Appétit picked two Northern California restaurants among the best of the best.

Jules and Maria Isabel — both in San Francisco — also made the cut.

Bon Appétit noted that Jules' chef, Max Blachman-Gentile, ferments his pizza dough with a sourdough starter he began feeding in his apartment in 2014.

“His crusts straddle pizza styles, boasting a substantial crunchy exterior, the insides slightly chewy, topped with ingredients not often partnered but which get along so famously they could be old friends,” the magazine reported.

Maria Isabel is named for the sister and mother of chef Laura Ozyilmaz, half of the team behind the restaurant, along with her fellow chef and spouse, Sayat, according to Bon Appétit, which praised Maria Isabel’s “precise and proudly regional fine dining menu.”

“The dishes are abundant with local meat, seafood, and garden-fresh produce held aloft by delightful iterations on house-nixtamalized corn masa,” the magazine reported.

“… In namesake and execution, Maria Isabel honors who the Ozyilmazes call ‘the people behind the table’: the Latinos, and especially the women, behind the craft, tradition, and joy of Mexican cuisine.”

View the full list from Bon Appétit.