New Long Island restaurants to try in 2026

Legacy Room, Patchogue

Head down South Ocean Avenue in Patchogue almost to the water and, on an otherwise residential block, you’ll find Legacy Room, whose menu blends innovation with elegance. Chef Mike Artist, formerly of Road Trip in Bay Shore, evinces an of-the-moment regard for meat-free dishes with starters such as expertly roasted carrots with whipped goat cheese and pomegranate tajin; watermelon radish salad with frisee, cranberries, mandarin oranges and pecans;  and a main dish based on a head of cauliflower on a bed of whipped lemon tahini garnished with green-pepper romesco. But when he turns his hand to meat, the results either have an old-school feel — beef tartare canapes, beef Wellington with herbed potato puree — or a playful twist: Witness the peanut-butter-bourbon short rib with grape-jelly gastrique or duck breast with a Creamsicle reduction and roasted turnips. He also makes an excellent gnocchi with pesto. 

Taheni, Deer Park

Deer Park's halal food scene is getting even stronger, with the addition of a new Palestinian-owned shawarma spot, Taheni. Originally from Brooklyn, its first Long Island location was in Lindenhurst. Taheni is owned by the Deib family, who hail from the Palestinian village of Mas-ha in the West Bank. Cousin Abu Baker is a partner in the Deer Park location, which opened in October. His menu is streamlined and focuses mostly on sandwiches, bowls and shawarma wraps, as well as original creations like a smashburger on a fluffy potato pita bun. The menu has a hard-to-find dish called manakish, which is popular in countries across the Levant and usually consists of a flatbread topped with ground meat and/or za'atar spices. Instead of being open faced, here it's folded up like a quesadilla and stuffed with feta cheese and tomatoes

Crust & Crumb 96, Great Neck

Crust & Crumb 96, a Taiwanese-style bakery chain, has brought a gorgeous array of house-made pastries to Great Neck. It's the first United States location of an international bakery chain called Huafengheshi. Yuen said the chain was formed by Taiwanese bakers in 1996, and now has around 300 stores, mostly around Southern China. It differentiates itself from other Asian bakeries by using less sugar in its products, and baking everything on-site. Bakers arrive at 5 a.m. daily to prepare about 50 different types of pastries; what doesn't sell is discarded every evening rather than being saved for the next day. Specialties include pull-apart bread, similar to a croissant but not as buttery, as well as the matcha and chocolate wands, which are buns with cream in the middle.

Serata by King Umberto, Elmont

King Umberto might be Long Island’s quintessential Italian American eatery but, if its owners set out to create a restaurant that would subvert every element of that tradition, they could hardly do better than Serata, the new concept that has opened in the old dining room. Here, plates overflowing with clams oreganata, penne alla vodka and chicken Parm have been replaced with jewellike presentations of fluke crudo with winter citrus and almonds, agnolotti with fennel and razor clams, brioche-stuffed heritage chicken with farro and maitake mushrooms, lush ingots of sablefish with a celery and potato-chip crust. Serata offers tasting menus (five courses for $145, eight courses for $175, plus $125-$150 for wine pairings) that owe more to Per Se and 11 Madison Park than to King Umberto.  

Courtside Sport + Social, Babylon

Courtside Sport + Social opened in the former Long Island Pekin on East Main Street. The 3,000-square-foot space for roughly 75 guests feels luxurious and modern, with modular lounge areas, green velvet seats and backlit banquettes. The idea of fusing food and pickleball came from proprietor Frank Bragaglia, who also owns The Brixton in Babylon. The menu by chefs Zach Rude and Louis Kirsch includes starters such as steak tartare, potato skins, crispy wings and must-try bloomin' shallots served with roasted garlic ranch dipping sauce. The raw bar includes littleneck clams, Beausoleil oysters and shrimp cocktail.For mains there's French onion pasta, roast chicken and steak frites served as an 8-ounce sirloin with Courtside’s steak sauce, fries and salad. The drinks includes mocktails like the "Nah-perol spritz" and a hibiscus margarita, plus classic Manhattans, old-fashioneds and daiquiris. Come spring, Capellini said the restaurant will debut a 2,600-square-foot pickleball court in the back where guests will be able to reserve play by the hour.

Record Cafe, Patchogue

Record Cafe opened quietly on Terry Street in late fall. The charming coffee-shop-meets-record store has roughly 2,000 vinyl albums for sale, offered alongside Italian-style coffee made by owner Yofry Perez-Drebing. Drinks include lattes, macchiatos and iced cappuccinos made with coffee imported from Italy (think brands such as Caffè Borbone and Lavazza). There are teas both hot and cold, peppermint hot chocolate and dirty sodas. There is no food menu, but there are pre-packaged grab and go snacks like cookies. The cozy seating area has half a dozen spots to sit with a drink and jam out to a record of your choice. An outdoor seating area is planned for warmer weather months.

Won KBBQ, Commack

One of Long Island's top Korean spots, known for its sizzling cauldron pot barbecue, has opened its third location. Won KBBQ is a family-owned business from Bayside, Queens, that's also been running an impressive all-you-can-eat operation near the Roosevelt Field mall in Carle Place. In November, the Hong family opened its third outpost, in Commack. Won KBBQ's meats are extremely high quality for an all-you-can-eat barbecue joint. For $45.99, you get 20 varieties of meat as well as banchan side dishes and more substantial sides, like bubbling soups and steamed custardy egg. Favorites from the Carle Place location include thick-cut pork belly, which is cut into cubes with scissors. All the meats are grilled on cast iron cauldron pots at each table; the vessels retain heat very well and create a nice sear on the meat.

Shawarma Bay, Deer Park

Into an ever-expanding sea of quick-serve halal spots comes Shawarma Bay, the offshoot of a popular NYC truck. It's opened in a former strip-mall deli about a block west of Tanger Outlets in Deer Park. The wraps, platters and bowls are based on doner kebab (shaved, vertically roasted chicken or beef) and chapli kebab (spiced, minced patties of chicken or beef). The first is one of the glories of the Turkish kitchen, the second, a standard of both Pakistani and Afghan cuisine. Shahzeb Qureshi, a native of Mumbai, India, said that it was the brevity and focus of the menu that attracted him to the franchise opportunity. All sauces — from classic Afghan "white" to "red hot" to "SB’s sweet & sour" are homemade.The menu also offers loaded fries, falafel, hummus and traditional gyro (chicken or lamb).

The Barn, Ronkonkoma

The Barn, Long Island’s big, red dessert-coffee drive-thru, continues its creative reinvention of long-shuttered Dairy Barns with a new Ronkonkoma location on Hawkins Ave. Featuring For Five Coffee, The Barn sells coffee beverages, lattes and iced coffees, as well as iced teas, lemonades and hot chocolates. But it’s the hot and iced specialty drinks like the rainbow cookie latte topped with requisite rainbow cookies, and the Powdered Donut, sprinkled with cinnamon and crowned with an actual doughnut, that stand out. New for this season: Drinks that emphasize lighter ingredients and protein boosts to optimize the new year. The "New Year, New Me Latte Series" debuts with Ronkonkoma’s opening and will be featured at all stores. Lighter lattes and protein-packed drinks are crafted with sugar-free syrups and lighter milk (or milk alternatives). Protein shakes can be made with or without espresso and, in true Barn fashion, come with a homemade protein pop subbing in for a cake pop. Additionally, New Year lattes can be paired with small bags of another cult favorite snack, drizzilicous mini rice cakes.

Pho Che, Great Neck

A local Vietnamese chain that just popped up on Northern Boulevard may have the largest bowl of noodle soup in Nassau. Pho Che got its start in Flushing, Queens, and opened a second location in Fort Lee, New Jersey, in 2023. Co-owner David Lee opened his latest Great Neck spot in the former Ponte Mollo Italian restaurant in December after a process that lasted more than a year. His long-awaited restaurant offers a compact and approachable menu of Vietnamese greatest hits, like banh mi sandwiches, vermicelli noodle salads called bún and 19 varieties of pho. The menu is rather straightforward and doesn't include any hard-to-find regional fare, but what it lacks in variety it makes up for in size. Most people will order the small portion. But a pro move here is to split a banh mi, which has some nice, crusty bread but not much meat in it. And then get a large soup, which was big enough to feed two people on its own.

Ada Mediterranean Cuisine, Middle Island

Ada took over the low-slung freestanding building that, for decades previously, had been Lombardi’s Italian restaurant. All dips, kebabs and rotisseries are kept in the kitchen and there are two white-tableclothed dining rooms. A liquor license is forthcoming; for now, you can bring your own wine or beer. The name says "Mediterranean," but this is a Turkish restaurant through and through and the menu features most of that cuisine’s greatest hits: Starters include lentil soup, stuffed grape leaves, eggplant salad with peppers and tomato sauce, cheese "cigars," pan-fried beef liver and zucchini pancakes. Mains include both standards — doner, shish, Adana and Iskender kebabs, lamb chops and chicken chops (boned-out thighs) — but also some deeper cuts such as manti (tiny ravioli), imam bayildi (literally "the priest fainted," consisting of stuffed baby eggplant) and hunkar begendi (cubes of lamb atop a smoked-eggplant puree). Plus kebab and gyro sandwiches and wraps and pide (Turkish pizza).

Pour Authority, Farmingdale

The self-pour beer spot Pour Authority has opened at 333 Main St. after about two years of preparation. Visitors can try brews from 40 taps, paying by the ounce using a card issued at check-in. Owner Ritu Kumar said selections include at least eight from Long Island breweries, like Montauk Brewing Company's Pilsner. Guest IDs are checked at walk-in, with patrons issued a card with a 32-ounce limit. Besides beer, there's a menu of comfort food like fried dumplings and Bavarian pretzels with beer cheese dip. Vegetarian dishes include "chorizo" flatbread, cauliflower tacos topped with Thai slaw and drizzled with chipotle aioli. Burgers, bowls and salads are also available.

Skara Taverna, Williston Park

Dino Philippou had had his eye on 75 Hillside Ave. since the Greek-inflected steakhouse The Butcher’s Bar & Grill closed in 2020.  What attracted Philippou was not just the short commute from his home but the fact that the kitchen had a charcoal grill. Philippou was the general manager of Plori when it opened in Carle Place and, before that, had operated Astoria’s Greek restaurant-nightclub Cavo for almost two decades. To run Skara’s kitchen he recruited Gregory Zapantis, currently a chef-partner at Sea Bar in Great Neck, opening chef at now-closed Americana Eatery & Bar in Great Neck and a veteran of the Manhattan restaurants Estiatorio Milos, Trata, Kellari and Thalassa. Noting that most of Long Island’s ambitious Greek restaurants specialize in fish, the two created a menu that doubles down on meat. From the charcoal grill come dry-aged skirt steak, strip, cowboy rib-eye for two, pork chop and lamb chops. But then they tripled down on meat, installing a rotisserie for large-format roasts that are sold by the pound: chicken, pork shoulder, suckling pig and lamb. For the best selection of these rotisserie meats, dine Thursday to Sunday.