Champagne, Caviar and Bananas Foster on Fire: The Iconic American Restaurants Celebrating Big Birthdays in 2026

Bananas Foster turns 75 this year, and it’s celebrating exactly the way it always has: on fire, tableside, at Brennan’s in New Orleans, which is marking its own 80th birthday with $80 anniversary tasting menus. It’s in excellent company. Across the country, some of America’s most iconic restaurants are celebrating major milestones in 2026, from The Russian Tea Room’s centennial (caviar and Cristal, naturally) and Le Bernardin’s 40 years in New York to Restaurant August’s 25th, 20 years of Restaurant Guy Savoy in Las Vegas and Wolfgang Puck’s CUT Beverly Hills, and the first decade of Morimoto Las Vegas, SingleThread in Healdsburg and CUT New York.

Landing the reservation everyone is talking about is one thing. Still being the reservation everyone wants decades later? That deserves Champagne.

There are anniversary menus, gatherings of extraordinary chefs and, in one case, a glamorous new Manhattan address. But the real story is staying power: the dishes guests come back for, the service they remember and the tables that become part of their own family histories. Here’s where to raise a glass, oldest first.

The Russian Tea Room

150 West 57th Street, New York | 100 years

The Russian Tea Room is celebrating its centennial with exactly the indulgence the occasion demands: caviar service paired with Champagnes from Ruinart Blanc de Blancs all the way up to Dom Pérignon and Louis Roederer Cristal.

The room does the rest. Red leather banquettes, emerald walls, glittering chandeliers and golden samovars make it one of the most recognizable dining rooms in New York, a portal to the city’s most glamorous era steps from Carnegie Hall. Dress accordingly. (Staying over? Here’s where to check in nearby.)

Haute Living take: A hundred years young, and still the most glamorous room on 57th Street.

Brennan’s

417 Royal Street, New Orleans | 80 years

Brennan’s, founded in 1946, has turned its 80th birthday into a yearlong party, with $80 anniversary breakfast and dinner tasting menus at home on Royal Street and a celebration tour that takes the restaurant to food and wine events across the country.

Then there’s the second birthday: Bananas Foster, created here in 1951, turns 75. Its tableside flambé remains one of the great finales in American dining. Breakfast, Champagne and a little fire at the table: there are far worse ways to celebrate getting older.

Haute Living take: The best breakfast in New Orleans, with candles. Well, flames.

Le Bernardin

155 West 51st Street, New York | 40 years

Le Bernardin’s New York chapter began in 1986, when siblings Gilbert and Maguy Le Coze brought their acclaimed Paris restaurant to Manhattan. Four decades later, under Maguy Le Coze and chef Eric Ripert, it remains one of the defining restaurants in the city’s history.

Forty years in New York is an achievement in any business; in fine dining, it’s extraordinary. The secret is clarity of purpose. Seafood is still the star, prepared with a precision that asks you to slow down and really taste the ingredient.

Haute Living take: Essential New York. Forty years in, still the benchmark for seafood.

Restaurant August

301 Tchoupitoulas Street, New Orleans | 25 years

Brennan’s isn’t the only New Orleans icon blowing out candles. Restaurant August is celebrating 25 years in the most fitting way imaginable: with anniversary events on the 25th of every month in 2026, from dishes that revisit its early days to curated tastings.

Under executive chef Corey Thomas, August’s contemporary Creole cooking pairs French technique with ingredients from Louisiana and the Gulf. In a city that takes eating very seriously, twenty-five years of interpreting its food culture is something to toast, monthly.

Haute Living take: A birthday party that comes back every month. Mark your calendar.

Photo Credit: Caesars Entertainment

Restaurant Guy Savoy

Caesars Palace, Las Vegas | 20 years

Restaurant Guy Savoy opened at Caesars Palace on May 17, 2006, and it remains the celebrated French chef’s only restaurant outside France, which gives the Strip a rare, direct line to one of gastronomy’s great names.

Order the signature artichoke and black truffle soup with toasted mushroom brioche and black truffle butter, and the layered Colors of Caviar, then lose yourself in a wine list of more than 2,800 selections. In a city full of ways to indulge, this is the most elegant.

Haute Living take: The best reason to skip the casino floor entirely.

CUT Beverly Hills

Beverly Wilshire, 9500 Wilshire Boulevard | 20 years

Wolfgang Puck’s original CUT opened at the Beverly Wilshire in 2006 and became the flagship of what’s now a global collection of steakhouses. For its 20th, Puck threw the ultimate dinner party: an August anniversary dinner that gathered the executive chefs of all seven CUT locations, each cooking a course inspired by their home city.

The Beverly Hills dining room remains the place to experience where the story began, a luxury steakhouse given Puck’s unmistakable polish. (Make a weekend of it with our guide to the best luxury hotels in Los Angeles.)

Haute Living take: The flagship that launched a global empire. Still the one to book.

Philippe Chow

10 East 52nd Street, New York | New flagship after 20 years

Philippe Chow is marking its next chapter with a change of address. After two decades on the Upper East Side, where it opened in 2005, the restaurant moved into a new Fifth Avenue flagship in March 2026, with chef Philippe Chow still at the helm.

The greatest hits made the trip: dumplings, hand-pulled noodles and the signature whole Peking duck, carved tableside. It’s a restaurant built for ordering big with a group, and the new room gives everyone a fresh excuse to gather.

Haute Living take: Same duck, shinier address. Bring a crowd.

Photo Credit: MGM Resorts

Morimoto Las Vegas

MGM Grand, Las Vegas | 10 years

Masaharu Morimoto opened his MGM Grand restaurant in October 2016, and this fall it celebrates ten years on a Strip that has never lacked celebrity chefs. The Iron Chef brought both substance and showmanship, with a sushi bar, a main dining room and teppan tables offering three distinct ways into his cooking.

Go for meticulous sushi or for the theater of the griddle, or do both. A decade on, it has more than lived up to the hype it arrived with.

Haute Living take: Iron Chef staying power. Order the omakase and enjoy the show.

SingleThread

131 North Street, Healdsburg | 10 years

Kyle and Katina Connaughton opened SingleThread in December 2016, and its tenth anniversary arrives this December. The restaurant and inn weave together Kyle’s cooking, Katina’s farming and the couple’s years in Japan into a seasonal tasting menu shaped by what’s growing on their nearby farm.

Because the menu follows the land, every visit is different, which is half the pleasure. And with five guest rooms upstairs, the most luxurious move is to turn dinner into a Sonoma County escape and never get in a car.

Haute Living take: Young by this list’s standards, already a pilgrimage.

CUT New York

99 Church Street, New York | 10 years

While Beverly Hills toasts 20 years of CUT, downtown Manhattan is raising a glass to ten. Wolfgang Puck’s New York outpost, with its own entrance on Church Street, marks its first decade in 2026.

A famous name gets you attention on opening night; a decade makes you part of a neighborhood’s rhythm. CUT New York has become the downtown table for big dinners, visiting friends and long evenings over excellent wine.

Haute Living take: Ten years of downtown power dinners. Order another bottle.

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