???? New Year’s taco buffet

Happy New Year!

Jan. 1 — Welcome to 2026, friends! 

We’re popping into your email with a brief New Year’s Day edition of “Side Dish.” In today’s newsletter, we tell you where to grab a plateful of good luck at restaurants around town to help you kick off the new year right. And we share our picks for the most anticipated Atlanta restaurant openings of 2026.

In case you missed it in your inbox on Tuesday evening, here’s a link to the latest edition of “Family Meal.” In it, you’ll find a roundup of 42 Atlanta restaurant dishes we couldn’t stop thinking about in 2025. Beth also shared news of four restaurant closures you might have missed over the holidays. (Earlier this week, Sarra rounded up the saddest restaurant closures of 2025.)

 Speaking of news you might have missed. Did you hear about the $400,000 lobster heist? Well, it appears a shipment of lobsters headed to Costco stores in Illinois and Minnesota was stolen by someone impersonating a driver for a legitimate freight carrier.

“This theft wasn’t random,” Dylan Rexing, CEO and President of Rexing Companies, told NBC News. “It followed a pattern we’re seeing more and more, where criminals impersonate legitimate carriers using spoofed emails and burner phones to hijack high-value freight while it’s in transit.” 

High value indeed, as those hijacked lobsters snatched in broad daylight were worth an estimated $400,000. Unlike the Louvre heist, however, this lobster-loving criminal can just eat the evidence. 

Cheers!

 Beth and  Sarra

New Year’s Day dining options,
beyond boozy brunches and football feasts

Looking for low-key places to continue celebrating on New Year’s Day, or maybe indulge one last time before you truly dive into those 2026 resolutions? We have a few New Year’s Day dining suggestions for you, beyond Atlanta’s boozy brunches and football-watching feasts. 

 Good luck and good fortune

We Southerners are notoriously superstitious when it comes to kicking off a brand new year properly. This includes making sure we eat the right foods to bring us good luck and good fortune in the coming year. Collards, black-eyed peas, cornbread, and pork, at the very least, better be on that plate. 

Good thing Southern restaurant institution The Colonnade will open at noon on New Year’s Day for pork chops and other edible good luck charms to pair with a Bloody Mary. In Tucker, Magnolia Room won’t let you down on New Year’s Day with its Southern fare, or upholding Southern food traditions. Over in East Lake, Gene’s will open on New Year’s Day offering a Good Luck plate with black-eyed peas, collards, Hoppin’ John (an alternative to cornbread), and a pork chop. Pair it with a frozen Bushwacker or Gene’s martini. Walk-ins only.  

 It’s tamale season!

Want to give yourself a good luck booster shot on New Year’s Day? Eat a tamale.

For many Latin American cultures, making and eating tamales as a family is a Christmas tradition. While eaten throughout the year, and most heartily on Christmas Eve, you’ll also find tamales served on New Year’s Day in countries like Mexico. People believe that the corn masa (dough) brings wealth, with the pork filling bringing good luck and the strength to endure life’s challenges in the coming year.

Pop over to Buford Highway Farmers Market or Supermercado Chicago to buy a batch of tamales. We also suggest checking your local carniceria, as many carry frozen tamales or sell fresh tamales during the holidays. 

 Taco buffet

While El Tesoro in West End isn’t serving its popular tamales on New Year’s Day, it is offering an all-you-can-eat breakfast taco buffet, starting at noon. The menu also features tres leches cake, chile relleno spring rolls, Bloody Marys, and mimosas. For $45 per person, VIPs gain entrance to the buffet blowout at 11 a.m. General admission begins at noon for $35 per person. 

 Dim sum 

New Year’s Day is one of our favorite holidays for dim sum, a meal consisting entirely of dumplings and bite-sized snacks paired with bottomless pots of tea. New Year’s Day also tends to be less crowded than Christmas Eve, making it easier for groups to grab dim sum on the fly. 

For dine-in dim sum with rolling carts and all, head to Royal China in Duluth, Happy Valley Dim Sum in Norcross, or Canton House on Buford Highway. For dim sum spreads at home, order from Best BBQ in Chamblee or Lao Wei Dao in Duluth.

 An old faithful

Just like Waffle House, Highland Tap is almost always open. In fact, there are very few days of the year you’ll find this below-street-level steakhouse in Virginia-Highland closed. Referred to locally as “The Tap” or “steak basement,” head here for lunch or dinner–or both, if you’re so inclined–on New Year’s Day.

We recommend the patty melt, French dip, or fried grouper sandwich at lunch with a side of fries or bacon-seared Brussels sprouts. At dinner, you can’t go wrong with a steak and baked potato, but we’re also giving shoutouts to the pecan-crusted trout and grilled meatloaf. The Bloody Marys here are top-notch, and the martinis (with a side car) are some of the best in town.

 Waffle House

Waffle House. Say less. Do we really need to go into why Waffle House is always the right move after a late night or evening of overindulging? If a blizzard hasn’t shut down your local WaHo on New Year’s Day, you can bet your bottom dollar it’s open and serving.

Ready, Set, AGLOW!

SPONSORED BY FERNBANK MUSEUM

When the sun sets, the woods come alive at WildWoods: AGLOW.

This after-hours experience combines art, nature and music at Fernbank Museum, featuring scenic trails aglow with light outdoors and nighttime access to museum exhibits inside.

 Select nights through Feb. 28, 2026.

Most anticipated restaurant openings of 2026

 With the whole of 2026 still ahead of us, it’s simply too difficult to gauge the number of new restaurants that will eventually open around Atlanta this year. But there are eight upcoming restaurants opening over the coming months that have already captured our attention in 2026.

 Check out the restaurants we can’t wait to see open this year. 

Today’s Side Dish was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.

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