Eater's 2026 New York award winners: Somssi, Diljān, Graciela, Badaboom's $16 chicken and more

Eater New York has named its 2026 Eater Award winners, and this year's list leans on restaurants with a personal point of view and, in a year of climbing checks, a sense of value. The editors picked a best new restaurant, bakery, chef, dish, steakhouse and bar. Here is who won and where to find them.

Best new restaurant: Somssi, Greenwich Village

Somssi, at 79 MacDougal St. near Bleecker Street, is the first restaurant of its own from Ahris Kim, who ran operations at Atomix and Atoboy for NA:EUN Hospitality. Chef Daniel Gronert, who cooked at Atomix and Naro, runs the kitchen. The menu draws on places the two have lived, from Korea and Southeast Asia to Wisconsin and South Carolina, with dishes like the caviar-topped Potato Potato Potato over miso hollandaise, tare-glazed ox tongue and a pork schnitzel served like shrimp toast, Eater reported. The restaurant's site lists dinner Monday through Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m., closed Sunday, with Resy reservations released 14 days out at 10 a.m.

Best new bakery: Diljān, Brooklyn Heights

Diljān, at 330 Hicks St. near Atlantic Avenue, comes from Ali Zaman and Mohamed Ghiasi of Astoria's Little Flower Cafe and baker and cookbook author Bryan Ford. It mixes Afghan baking with Latin American touches: a saffron-cream crescent called the Saffron Shah, a halwa-topped sticky bun, halal lamb in samosa pastry and big Afghan flatbreads, according to Eater. It also won best new bakery in Eater's national awards.

Dish of the year: Badaboom's roast chicken, Bed-Stuy

At Badaboom, a French rotisserie and wine bar at 421 Bainbridge St., the half chicken comes over potatoes with roasted garlic and gravy. After drawing criticism for its $32 half bird during the city's year of pricey roast chicken, the bar held a pay-what-you-wish chicken night and then made a lasting cut: a $16 half chicken during happy hour, 5 to 6 p.m., Eater said.

Chef of the year: Ned Baldwin, Zoli

Ned Baldwin, long of Houseman in Hudson Square, now runs Zoli at 312 Maujer St. in East Williamsburg, on the campus of the contemporary art center Amant. Eater singled out his seafood, such as surf clams with avocado and triggerfish with leeks, his vegetable dishes and his mentoring of a kitchen that includes cooks from Frenchette, Wildair and Estela. Zoli's site lists Wednesday through Sunday from 5 p.m.

Best steakhouse: Graciela, West Village

Graciela, at 81 Greenwich Ave. at Bank Street, is the first restaurant outside Argentina from Pablo Rivero of Buenos Aires' Don Julio. Steaks are cooked over Argentine quebracho coals, and Eater also praised the osso buco empanadas, morcilla and fries. Its site lists dinner Monday to Wednesday 5 to 10 p.m. and Thursday to Saturday 5 to 11 p.m.

Best new bar: Echo Lake, Williamsburg

Echo Lake, at 357 Grand St., is a rum-focused bar from Paul McGee, formerly of Chicago's Lost Lake, and Chloe Frechette, former executive editor of Punch, which named it one of its best new bars. A basement bar, Undercurrent, shows off the couple's rum collection, according to Eater's map of the winners.

Good to know

• Eater is offering perks at some winners for Eater account holders through Jan. 31, 2027, such as a free Afghan chai with a pastry at Diljān, according to its map. Terms apply.
• Hours change; check each restaurant's site or reservation page before you go.