-Omakase meal at Sushi Sagane in Nishi-shinjuku: an amazing 10 course sushi meal, the highlight of which was a saba (horse mackerel) roll made with a sisho leaf, which I think about often.
-Noodles from a noodle shop in Ginza that a friend recommended to me: not ramen in a stock, but a spicy Japanese carbonara.
-The unadon bowl at a unadon restaurant in Ueno: a wonderful filling meal, especially on a rainy day, served in a restaurant where you can smell the smoke from the grills used to cook the eel.
-The fried oyster rice bowl I had on Miyajima: perfectly fried oysters topped with onion and gooey scrambled eggs.
-The selection of grilled meats (incl. beef, beef fat, pork belly, and chicken) at an izakaya in Hiroshima: found the spot by accident, was the only gaijin there, the chicken hearts were to die for.
-The fajitas and corn I grilled for friends one summer Saturday afternoon: just the basic Kenji fajitas recipe and some corn from the farmer's market, but it's often not just the food but the people you share it with.
One of the most memorable was last Saturday- spaghetti Nero (squid ink pasta) with crab, lobster broth, uni butter and chili crisp- it was a unique plate of food. Other stand out - shepherd's pie in Killarney, Ireland, with a thick slab of cheddar cheese on top. And tapas in Madrid. Man, I had a great eating year.
I've got more eating to plan for next year- just booked a Michelin starred place in Edinburgh Scotland- it's got only 6 tables, and the menu is "we'll let you know as we bring it out". V. Excited.
I traveled to Uganda and Burundi in October. The pineapple there was the best I had ever eaten. Wherever we went, I would eat it all with no shame. I even compelled my host to stop our mini-bus and buy more from a roadside vendor, which she did, telling me to "stay in the van" or we'd pay the "mzungu tax." (Mzungu is what they call white people; you will hear little kids yell it when they spot you, and it's adorable.)
It's my wife's birthday today. We celebrated Saturday night and I had the best meal I've had in at least three years. It was just a Caesar salad with a steak on top but it was so perfect.
I had a notion a while back to do a deep dive on foods whose common application has strayed the furthest from their original intent / best-case execution, and #1 with a bullet on that list was Caesar salads / "caesar" as a flavor.
I had a fantastic eating year this year, and listing all the things would take too much time, so I'll stick with two meals - from restaurants that are about 50 yards from the door of one to the door of the other.
The first, at Raizes in Lisbon, was a roasted octopus with cuttlefish ink rice and tomatoes confit. The octopus had a bit of char, almost like it had been grilled, but absolutely no toughness, you could cut it with a fork and it was not at all chewy.
They brought me ALL of the appetizers and starters, I got the Pearl River duck, and then they brought little tasters of ALL of the desserts. I had to roll my fat ass home, but it was absolutely worth it.
The brown bread that comes on the side of basically every meal in Ireland will live in my brain forever. It’s so, so good. (On the flip side of best food of the year: and I went to the Guinness brewery in Maryland this fall and I was so excited to order brown bread there, but of course they Americanized it and it was weirdly sweet.)
about ten years ago, my wife and I were at a party hosted by one of her friends from college. that friend's parents were hosting an exchange student from Belgium, and in discussing the differences in food between there and Indiana, she exasperatedly said to us [heavy accent] "why is there sugar in your bread??"
that has been a running joke between us ever since
I like some of the brewery exclusives - they had an earl grey brown ale that was super interesting and good - and most of the food is pretty good, but the bread made me sad.
Some of the exclusives have been interesting, and from what I’ve had/heard the food is fine? I dunno, it might be case of unrealistic expectations on my end combined with that Blonde being inescapable when they first opened.
There is a new restaurant in Savannah started by an ex-Michelin chef that basically just makes chicken (fried/grilled/chicken salad) and biscuits. I have had a LOT of chicken, but this was a near religious experience the first time I had it. I do not understand how he makes chicken like this, but I’ll be damned if it’s not as good every time I go back.
The 2 best things I ate this year are fresh in my mind- we took a quick long weekend to San Juan a couple weeks ago and I had 2 of the best things I've ever eaten, from opposite ends of the "fancy" spectrum. On the gourmet side was a Black Chilean Sea Bass over asparagus, mashed yucca and a port reduction. I almost didn't get it because I've never had sea bass that was better than "meh" but the server assured me this was *the* dish and she couldn't have been more right (the lamb confit spring rolls and pegao from the same meal were also phenomenal).
On the other end of the spectrum, was traditional, no-frills pernil with rice and beans (and the coldest Medalla Light known to man). I have made (and eaten) a lot of slow-cooked pork shoulder in my life but this one nearly brought me to my knees. If we hadn't had a laundry list of other places to try, I could've eaten this every night and been happy.
I am incredibly scatterbrained on things I've eaten sometimes, especially in a year that has been as *gestures broadly* as this one. BUT - I think the best thing I made and ate? the Not Another Cooking Show Beef Stroganoff, which is made with braised short ribs. I recommend more than a few food-Tok/Reel people or YouTubers, but he's probably my favorite.
Couldn't begin to think through the best things I've eaten this year, but I can say I've probably made Sloppy Julias a dozen times (last night, in fact). It's one of the few things I can put on the menu that will appeal to both my former-and-still-iffy-vegetarian wife and my 2-year old. Tried a minor modification last night- I recently made a batch of demi glace so I added a bit at the end, highly recommend. Anyway, thanks for that one. It's a lifesaver some nights.
Ate my way around Rome, hitting the requisite Bourdain joint (Roma Sparita) for cacio e pepe, Matricianella for amatriciana, and a little dive sandwich joint near the train station (Er Buchetto), among so many others. Also dined at a middle-of-nowhere-Alabama barbecue joint (Alabama Rib Shack) and saw the face of God.
The best things I ate this year were all in Italy, in and around Bologna. We were on a group tour that included lunch every day, and each day's lunch was 3 courses (usually 2 kinds of pasta and a meat course, plus appetizers) and wine. But the standout experience was the day tour of Modena, where we sampled different kinds of Parmesan cheese at breakfast (with pastries and wine!), tasted aged balsamic vinegar (so sweet it barely resembles vinegar), and then had lunch at "I Love Prosciutto," an agrotourism space next to a Parma ham production facility. We had 4 different kinds of ham, salads, cheeses, and THEN they brought out the 3 pasta courses. And of course we had wine. Dinner that night was a couple of Aperol spritzes in a plaza in Bologna.
The runner-up was the farewell dinner we had at Restaurant San Pietro in Bologna. We had appetizers and drinks outside, including fried zucchini blossoms, salt cod balls, ham, flatbread filled with local cheese, and then a 3-course meal of eggplant, tortelloni, and meat. I'm looking at pictures of all that food and getting hungry even though I'm eating lunch (a so-so turkey sandwich).
I forgot to add that we're going out to a new (to us) steakhouse on Wednesday for my birthday, but I'm confident that that experience won't be better than drinking wine and eating cheese and pastries at 9 AM in a farmhouse in Italy.
We were lucky enough to spend a week in Mexico City this year. Picking a favorite meal there would be like asking me to choose which of my dogs is my favorite. Some highlights included octopus salad at Imbiss, Lengua tacos at Los Cucuyos, and Roasted Squash with Mole at Quintonil.
Some other "bests" that come to mind this year:
Homemade Bratwurst. Something about making it and cooking it fresh really puts it at another level.
Pumpkin Spice Chili at our local chili cookoff. All the various chilis were good (duh) but for some reason this one, made with beef, pumpkin, and pumpkin spices really grabbed my taste buds. On paper the idea sounds novel at best and potentially meh, but it really was great.
Random tasty garbage category winner: Rap Snacks chips. Despite my skepticism curiosity got the best of me and damn, they're good. Especially Lil Baby "ALL IN" flavor, which I believe is a knock off of the Lays "All Dressed" that Canadians are always lording over us.
And of course, the reigning champion for several years running: a ripe tomato picked right from the vine.
I peaked early, with the hoagie room omakase at Pizzeria Beddia in Philadelphia. Easily the most fun experience I've had eating sandwiches, and that's saying something.
Yes! My wife arranged it for my birthday, five friends and me. Beautiful, simple hoagies prepared in front of us. Just the top quality ingredients for an Italian, a veggie, and a tuna. Plus pizzas, apps, and drinks. It felt illegal
- the cod (replaced with chicken) Chorizzo Gnocchi
- the Hot Pork Skewers. Both totally delivered and the Chorizzo Gnocchi was my first time every making anything soup-like, so thanks for the inspiration!
Things I ate from restaurants
- Terry Black's BBQ in Austin, lived up to all the hype. Traditionally sausage is not the thing I enjoy the most in BBQ but I think it was their best meat.
- Au Cheval, a fancy burger place in Chicago that doesn't take reservations and has a burger that was as good as they say. Plus a side of candied bacon that rocked my world.
- Trivoli Tavern, an Italian/seafood restaurant in Chicago. It had a rock my world Spicy Orecchiette with sausage, pepper, and rapini. It was the most unique pasta dish of my life but I felt like I had the best meal in our whole group.
- Bar Vetti in Louisville at your recommendation!
Sweet Treats
- Clear River Ice Cream in Fredericksburg, TX that introduced me to Cookie Monster Ice Cream.
- A homemade apple pie that my girlfriend made, and it was the first pie I've ever liked (which I know is a character flaw)
Best things I've eaten, 2023 edition:
-Omakase meal at Sushi Sagane in Nishi-shinjuku: an amazing 10 course sushi meal, the highlight of which was a saba (horse mackerel) roll made with a sisho leaf, which I think about often.
-Noodles from a noodle shop in Ginza that a friend recommended to me: not ramen in a stock, but a spicy Japanese carbonara.
-The unadon bowl at a unadon restaurant in Ueno: a wonderful filling meal, especially on a rainy day, served in a restaurant where you can smell the smoke from the grills used to cook the eel.
-The fried oyster rice bowl I had on Miyajima: perfectly fried oysters topped with onion and gooey scrambled eggs.
-The selection of grilled meats (incl. beef, beef fat, pork belly, and chicken) at an izakaya in Hiroshima: found the spot by accident, was the only gaijin there, the chicken hearts were to die for.
-The fajitas and corn I grilled for friends one summer Saturday afternoon: just the basic Kenji fajitas recipe and some corn from the farmer's market, but it's often not just the food but the people you share it with.
One of the most memorable was last Saturday- spaghetti Nero (squid ink pasta) with crab, lobster broth, uni butter and chili crisp- it was a unique plate of food. Other stand out - shepherd's pie in Killarney, Ireland, with a thick slab of cheddar cheese on top. And tapas in Madrid. Man, I had a great eating year.
I've got more eating to plan for next year- just booked a Michelin starred place in Edinburgh Scotland- it's got only 6 tables, and the menu is "we'll let you know as we bring it out". V. Excited.
HAGGIS OMAKASE
LET'S GET EXTRA WEIRD.
I need your athens restaurant recs btw
Just not the Madrid sushi pop-up.
Some mistakes were made.
I traveled to Uganda and Burundi in October. The pineapple there was the best I had ever eaten. Wherever we went, I would eat it all with no shame. I even compelled my host to stop our mini-bus and buy more from a roadside vendor, which she did, telling me to "stay in the van" or we'd pay the "mzungu tax." (Mzungu is what they call white people; you will hear little kids yell it when they spot you, and it's adorable.)
It's my wife's birthday today. We celebrated Saturday night and I had the best meal I've had in at least three years. It was just a Caesar salad with a steak on top but it was so perfect.
I’m sad it took me so long in life to realize but a well-executed Caesar is hard to beat.
I had a notion a while back to do a deep dive on foods whose common application has strayed the furthest from their original intent / best-case execution, and #1 with a bullet on that list was Caesar salads / "caesar" as a flavor.
I had a fantastic eating year this year, and listing all the things would take too much time, so I'll stick with two meals - from restaurants that are about 50 yards from the door of one to the door of the other.
The first, at Raizes in Lisbon, was a roasted octopus with cuttlefish ink rice and tomatoes confit. The octopus had a bit of char, almost like it had been grilled, but absolutely no toughness, you could cut it with a fork and it was not at all chewy.
The second, at Geographia just down the street(literally: https://i.postimg.cc/B6r9Fbys/map.jpg), was a delightful tasting menu of things from "places that speak Portuguese" - basically, a selection of foods from parts of the world that were once colonially Portuguese. https://restaurantegeographia.pt/en/menu/
They brought me ALL of the appetizers and starters, I got the Pearl River duck, and then they brought little tasters of ALL of the desserts. I had to roll my fat ass home, but it was absolutely worth it.
Gyu-don at Tsukiji on a chilly February day
Curry udon for lunch on top of a mountain in a blizzard while snowboarding at Hakuba Goryu
Nozawana pizza in Hakuba
Rolled chicken thigh from a street vendor in Kyoto
Duck ramen in Osaka
Muscadine ripple ice cream at Mississippi State
Fig and milk paila in Quito
Maple creemee in Burlington
Watermelon gazpacho soup in Santa Fe
Sea bass with creamed eggplant in Split, Croatia
Fresh blueberry pancakes with unripe honey in New Hampshire
Lobster roll in Freeport, Maine
Strawberry rhubarb ice cream sandwich in Skowhegan, ME
Semolina puffs with mint cilantro water in Nashville
Currywurst from a street vendor in Vienna
Slugburger in Mississippi
Jalapeño cornbread with honey butter in Asheville
Melting sweet potatoes with sage brown butter made by me
The brown bread that comes on the side of basically every meal in Ireland will live in my brain forever. It’s so, so good. (On the flip side of best food of the year: and I went to the Guinness brewery in Maryland this fall and I was so excited to order brown bread there, but of course they Americanized it and it was weirdly sweet.)
about ten years ago, my wife and I were at a party hosted by one of her friends from college. that friend's parents were hosting an exchange student from Belgium, and in discussing the differences in food between there and Indiana, she exasperatedly said to us [heavy accent] "why is there sugar in your bread??"
that has been a running joke between us ever since
A pretty good summary of the Guinness brewery here in general is that they Americanized it and it’s not as good
That formerly-Baltimore Blonde was so very disappointing (why they don’t just have all their beers on nitro is a complete mystery to me)
I like some of the brewery exclusives - they had an earl grey brown ale that was super interesting and good - and most of the food is pretty good, but the bread made me sad.
Some of the exclusives have been interesting, and from what I’ve had/heard the food is fine? I dunno, it might be case of unrealistic expectations on my end combined with that Blonde being inescapable when they first opened.
There is a new restaurant in Savannah started by an ex-Michelin chef that basically just makes chicken (fried/grilled/chicken salad) and biscuits. I have had a LOT of chicken, but this was a near religious experience the first time I had it. I do not understand how he makes chicken like this, but I’ll be damned if it’s not as good every time I go back.
What's the name of this place?? I'll be in Savannah in 3 weeks and this sounds amazing!
The 2 best things I ate this year are fresh in my mind- we took a quick long weekend to San Juan a couple weeks ago and I had 2 of the best things I've ever eaten, from opposite ends of the "fancy" spectrum. On the gourmet side was a Black Chilean Sea Bass over asparagus, mashed yucca and a port reduction. I almost didn't get it because I've never had sea bass that was better than "meh" but the server assured me this was *the* dish and she couldn't have been more right (the lamb confit spring rolls and pegao from the same meal were also phenomenal).
On the other end of the spectrum, was traditional, no-frills pernil with rice and beans (and the coldest Medalla Light known to man). I have made (and eaten) a lot of slow-cooked pork shoulder in my life but this one nearly brought me to my knees. If we hadn't had a laundry list of other places to try, I could've eaten this every night and been happy.
I picked a great morning to skip breakfast.
I am incredibly scatterbrained on things I've eaten sometimes, especially in a year that has been as *gestures broadly* as this one. BUT - I think the best thing I made and ate? the Not Another Cooking Show Beef Stroganoff, which is made with braised short ribs. I recommend more than a few food-Tok/Reel people or YouTubers, but he's probably my favorite.
Couldn't begin to think through the best things I've eaten this year, but I can say I've probably made Sloppy Julias a dozen times (last night, in fact). It's one of the few things I can put on the menu that will appeal to both my former-and-still-iffy-vegetarian wife and my 2-year old. Tried a minor modification last night- I recently made a batch of demi glace so I added a bit at the end, highly recommend. Anyway, thanks for that one. It's a lifesaver some nights.
Thank you for sharing this with me--it really makes me happy to hear it!
Ate my way around Rome, hitting the requisite Bourdain joint (Roma Sparita) for cacio e pepe, Matricianella for amatriciana, and a little dive sandwich joint near the train station (Er Buchetto), among so many others. Also dined at a middle-of-nowhere-Alabama barbecue joint (Alabama Rib Shack) and saw the face of God.
I'm intentionally misreading this to suggest the Alabama barbecue joint was also in Italy.
The best things I ate this year were all in Italy, in and around Bologna. We were on a group tour that included lunch every day, and each day's lunch was 3 courses (usually 2 kinds of pasta and a meat course, plus appetizers) and wine. But the standout experience was the day tour of Modena, where we sampled different kinds of Parmesan cheese at breakfast (with pastries and wine!), tasted aged balsamic vinegar (so sweet it barely resembles vinegar), and then had lunch at "I Love Prosciutto," an agrotourism space next to a Parma ham production facility. We had 4 different kinds of ham, salads, cheeses, and THEN they brought out the 3 pasta courses. And of course we had wine. Dinner that night was a couple of Aperol spritzes in a plaza in Bologna.
The runner-up was the farewell dinner we had at Restaurant San Pietro in Bologna. We had appetizers and drinks outside, including fried zucchini blossoms, salt cod balls, ham, flatbread filled with local cheese, and then a 3-course meal of eggplant, tortelloni, and meat. I'm looking at pictures of all that food and getting hungry even though I'm eating lunch (a so-so turkey sandwich).
solidarity, I had a replacement-level sandwich at my desk
I forgot to add that we're going out to a new (to us) steakhouse on Wednesday for my birthday, but I'm confident that that experience won't be better than drinking wine and eating cheese and pastries at 9 AM in a farmhouse in Italy.
We were lucky enough to spend a week in Mexico City this year. Picking a favorite meal there would be like asking me to choose which of my dogs is my favorite. Some highlights included octopus salad at Imbiss, Lengua tacos at Los Cucuyos, and Roasted Squash with Mole at Quintonil.
Some other "bests" that come to mind this year:
Homemade Bratwurst. Something about making it and cooking it fresh really puts it at another level.
Pumpkin Spice Chili at our local chili cookoff. All the various chilis were good (duh) but for some reason this one, made with beef, pumpkin, and pumpkin spices really grabbed my taste buds. On paper the idea sounds novel at best and potentially meh, but it really was great.
Random tasty garbage category winner: Rap Snacks chips. Despite my skepticism curiosity got the best of me and damn, they're good. Especially Lil Baby "ALL IN" flavor, which I believe is a knock off of the Lays "All Dressed" that Canadians are always lording over us.
And of course, the reigning champion for several years running: a ripe tomato picked right from the vine.
I peaked early, with the hoagie room omakase at Pizzeria Beddia in Philadelphia. Easily the most fun experience I've had eating sandwiches, and that's saying something.
You went to that?? I saw that going around on social media but didn't know I knew someone who'd been. I want to hear more.
Yes! My wife arranged it for my birthday, five friends and me. Beautiful, simple hoagies prepared in front of us. Just the top quality ingredients for an Italian, a veggie, and a tuna. Plus pizzas, apps, and drinks. It felt illegal
Things I made from ABCN
- the cod (replaced with chicken) Chorizzo Gnocchi
- the Hot Pork Skewers. Both totally delivered and the Chorizzo Gnocchi was my first time every making anything soup-like, so thanks for the inspiration!
Things I ate from restaurants
- Terry Black's BBQ in Austin, lived up to all the hype. Traditionally sausage is not the thing I enjoy the most in BBQ but I think it was their best meat.
- Au Cheval, a fancy burger place in Chicago that doesn't take reservations and has a burger that was as good as they say. Plus a side of candied bacon that rocked my world.
- Trivoli Tavern, an Italian/seafood restaurant in Chicago. It had a rock my world Spicy Orecchiette with sausage, pepper, and rapini. It was the most unique pasta dish of my life but I felt like I had the best meal in our whole group.
- Bar Vetti in Louisville at your recommendation!
Sweet Treats
- Clear River Ice Cream in Fredericksburg, TX that introduced me to Cookie Monster Ice Cream.
- A homemade apple pie that my girlfriend made, and it was the first pie I've ever liked (which I know is a character flaw)
anyone taking my restaurant recommendations (and enjoying them) makes me so happy