It’s late December, and that means it’s list season-an indulgent media tradition from which your pals at Racket are not immune!. The list you are about to read, as you’ve no doubt gathered from the headline that brought you here, collects my favorite new restaurants of 2024. And to paraphrase the preamble from previous year-end wrap-ups (here’s 2021, 2022, and 2023), these are my favorites. This dining rundown isn’t really a “best of” guide to new restaurants, because we don’t emphasize fine-dining coverage as much as other publications in town, preferring to frequent places on the more approachable end of the spectrum-and where you probably won’t need a reservation to get in. That I’m a one-person food and drink department spending either my hard-earned money or your hard-earned subscription dollars helps guide that ethos.