This South Boston Spanish spot was named one of America’s best restaurants of 2026, per the New York Times

At Dalia, the “noodles” are calamari, the pork is sobrasada and Chef Nicholas Dixon’s dan dan is a sly collision of Sichuan and Spanish cooking. That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the acclaimed Boston restaurant's menu.

If you need more convincing that it's worth trying, however, consider that Dalia has been named one of the best restaurants in America for 2026 by the New York Times, earning recognition for a Spanish-inspired menu that treats Spain less as a culinary destination than a point of departure. Instead of simply working its way through the greatest hits of the tapas era, Dixon is taking familiar Spanish ingredients and techniques somewhere considerably stranger and more fun.

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That dan dan dish is the clearest example. Inspired by the Sichuan classic, it swaps noodles for calamari, with smoky sobrasada replacing pork and almonds subbed in for peanuts. The result is an intentional mash-up that manages to make both traditions feel newly interesting. Likewise, Dalia’s patatas bravas get a similar upgrade: The potatoes are sliced thin and shingled together before being fried into cubes, creating an ultra-crisp version of the Spanish staple. 

Then there’s the dining room, which offers a choice between sun-drenched whimsy and brooding, red-velvet drama. Or choose to watch the team work at the wood-fired grills for a little extra sizzle. That theatricality is part of the experience, where Dalia turns Spanish tapas into a foundation for fresh riffs.

The result is a restaurant where a Sichuan-inspired dish can sit comfortably alongside Basque-grilled pork and aggressively engineered patatas bravas, and everything makes sense.

Dalia’s big idea is that Spanish food doesn’t have to stay in its lane. Fortunately for Boston diners, neither does this restaurant.

Dalia is located at 429 W. Broadway in South Boston. It's open Tuesday through Sunday 4pm to 1am. Brunch is also served Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 2pm, with a midday tapas hour coming on both days from 2pm–4pm. For more information and to make a reservation, click here.