This is a year-end recap more than anything, but we wanted to take some time to talk through our list of Best New Restaurants and look at what’s coming for 2026. James Frazier finally gets behind the mic and contributes to this episode, so you have that year-end perk if you listen. And since we’re wrapping up the year, here are the numbers that matter.

Local bars, coffee shops, and restaurants visited by Greg: 364, so almost identical to last year.

James managed to clock in at around 100 local bars, coffee shops, and restaurants.

These numbers are rough because it’s hard to track all the mom-and-pops around town, and they don’t include food trucks:
Local restaurant openings: 78
Local restaurant closings: 44
Chain restaurant openings: I don’t care.

Those numbers are higher and lower respectively than we expected. If you’d asked me to guess in January ’25, I’d have reversed those numbers and maybe added a few to the closings and subtracted a few from openings. Hospitality folks are resilient, and these numbers bear that out. Here’s to hoping 2026 offers some relief to the industry, but I’m not hopeful yet. The trends seem to be headed the other direction, and to quote a friend and restaurateur: “2026 is going to be all about convenience and value.” Agreed. The complicating factor is that the public wants lower prices without a corresponding drop in quality. That level of consumerist naiveté isn’t good for anyone, so fingers crossed, y’all.