The 25 Greatest Dishes Our Eating places Editor Ate This 12 months
Jeremy Repanich
Another year of crisscrossing the country and stuffing myself to the gills has drawn to a close. My dining was filled with familiar names and exciting newcomers that took inspiration from a rich array of cultures, from Sri Lanka to Spain to Haiti to France to the Levant. Looking back on a packed year of eating, I was struck by how much great food I had—and that there are far more photos of food in my camera than pictures of my children. So it was tough to narrow down this list, but nevertheless, I was up to the task. Here are my 25 favorite dishes of 2023.
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Hailey Pizza, Pizzeria Sei
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich For years after working at a restaurant specializing in Chicago deep dish pizza after college, I swore off all pizza entirely. I just didn’t want to eat the stuff. Eventually I would return to the fold (there’s a N.Y. pizza pun there, but I’m too lazy to explore it further), and my trip to Japan a few years back really fueled my passion for a great pie. At Pizzeria Sei in L.A., William Joo is inspired by Tokyo-style pizza, too. However, chef Joo isn’t sticking to ultra-classic pies like Susumu Kakinuma of Seirinkan; instead, he’s getting creative with his pizzas more in the vein of Tsubasa Tamaki’s eponymous Pizza Studio. This was on display with Joo’s Hailey, a pizza loaded with squash blossom, slow-roasted cherry tomato, ricotta di bufala, green goddess aioli, pecorino Romano, Parmigiano Reggiano, lemon zest, basil, extra virgin olive oil, and Sicilian sea salt.
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Foie Gras and Grits, Diner Bar
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich It’s a modern classic for a reason. Mashama Bailey merged her French training with Southern tradition by taking the classic beef liver and grits, substituting foie gras, and adding a strawberry mostarda and onion gravy. She debuted the dish at the Grey in Savannah, Ga., and when she opened in Austin, Bailey brought the dish with her. During a brief reprieve during SXSW, I snuck away so I could try it, and the fatty, rich, comforting dish lived up to the hype.
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Jonah Crab Rice, Bar Spero
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich When I went to Bar Spero in Washington, D.C., in the spring, my dining companion had to unfortunately bow out last minute. That didn’t stop how I ordered that night, feasting on as much as I could of Johnny Spero’s Spanish-inspired life-fire restaurant. His Jonah Crab Rice really tells the story of the restaurant. The dish looks like paella but zags by swapping out the traditional Spanish bomba rice for Carolina Gold, eschewing the crispy socarrat, and going easy on the saffron. Instead, it’s made with a rich crab stock that’s reduced with the mildly sweet Japanese rice wine mirin, so that when the pan is thrown in the fire to finish cooking, the result is a hint of dark caramel that contrasts with the fresh crustacean. It rides the line between sweet and savory, showing a chef in control of his flavors.
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Black Cod Pollichathu, Copra
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich Trekking across America this year, I could not find a better restaurant than Copra, chef Sri Gopinathan’s transcendent San Francisco spot. He left America’s only Michelin two-starred Indian restaurant to create a menu rooted in South India and Sri Lanka. The real stunner on offer is the black-cod pollichathu, where the flaky, shallot-crusted fish is seared before finishing cooking wrapped inside a banana leaf and served with moilee broth (a coconut curry) and red matta rice.
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Beef Rib, Kann
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich Among the most lauded restaurants in America the last year, Gregory Gourdet’s Kann deserved all those accolades. There, the Haitian-coffee-rubbed smoked beef rib is a showstopper: The meat is tender and moist without being greasy, and the mushrooms complement the flavor of the beef while the pickled onions cut through the richness. A lot of chefs are making big, shareable, Flintstone-sized ribs around the country now, but Gourdet’s can lay claim to being at the top of the heap.
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Braised Pork With Quail Eggs, Array 36
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich This glistening, jiggling, sticky, salty, sweet pile of pork cubes was a one of many delightful dishes from a big night at Array 36, a new Chinese fine-dining destination in the San Gabriel Valley. It’s the restaurant’s take on the classic hong shao rou, where pork belly is braised and coated in a mix of rice wine, sugar, and light and dark soy sauce.
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Crab Cake, Navy Blue
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich There was no sophomore slump for chef Aaron Bludorn. He followed up his eponymous restaurant with a seafood-focused triumph in Houston. He and executive chef Jerrod Zifchak turned out a bevy of outstanding dishes, with their crab cake being one of the stars of the show. The jumbo lump crab cake is served with a celeriac remoulade that offers an herbal note with the tarragon, and the tomato-onion jam provides a sweet-sour-umami counterpoint.
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Scallop, Hestia
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich A few weeks before the world shut down in 2020, I ventured to Austin and proceeded to have one of the best meals I’d had in some time. Later that year, I still went forward with crowning the Best New Restaurants in America, putting Hestia at No. 1, because it and the other dining destinations still deserved their due in that crappiest of years. Well, at SXSW this year I carved out time to head back, having another exceptional dinner that included a seared scallop with beef tallow and apple kosho.
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Burrata, Bar Sprezzatura
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich It’s caviar and burrata, folks. What else do I need to say? Delightful.
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Raviolini With Prawns and Saffron, Torrisi
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich Major Food Group may be spreading around the country, but its most acclaimed opening was back in its old stomping ground of Lower Manhattan. Rich Torrisi takes the lead here, leaning more modern Italian than the reimagined red sauce classics at Carbone. The dish that really shows off the kitchen’s subtle skill is the raviolini—it tastes of the sea, with pieces of prawn perfectly cooked inside a delicate pasta that’s bathed in an understated olive-oil-and-saffron sauce.
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Kebab, Hamsa
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich From Laser Wolf on the East Coast to Saffy’s on the west to Galit in between, great coalfired Israeli restaurants have been popping up the last few years. Down in Houston, Hamsa has joined the fold, and its lamb and beef kebab shows why the restaurant is worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as those greats. The texture of the kebab is closer to shredded that minced, giving it an appealing texture that’s accompanied by the nice char on the outside that gives it a crispy maillard crust while still maintaining its tenderness inside. The parsley salad with pickled onions offers a fresh counterpoint to the rich charred meat.
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Ten Layer Carrot Cake, Mitchell’s Ocean Club
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich In my line of work, I go to a lot of tasting menus and fine-dining establishments that are wildly creative and offer new perspectives on dessert. They’re great and I love it. That doesn’t mean I secretly don’t just want an insane slab of cake to shove in my face. So when my wife and I ventured back to her ancestral lands of Columbus, Ohio, I took the opportunity to indulge in that giant confection. Cameron Mitchell has spread restaurants around the country, but Central Ohio is his home, too, so we felt it was appropriate to pay our respects and head to one of the jewels in his crown. To cap a night at Ocean Club, we ordered the massive 10-layer carrot cake with a rich cream-cheese frosting. It was classic. It was delicious. It took me multiple days to finish.
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Fried Anchovies, Grand Fir Brewing
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich Husband and wife duo chef Doug Adams (of Top Chef fame) and brewmaster Whitney Burnside have opened a brewpub in Portland, combining their skills in a comfy space serving delicious beers. Fortunately, Adams’s pub grub holds up to his wife’s brews, especially the little snack of fried anchovies with fennel and onions, which offer a perfect accompaniment to a crisp lager.
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Pâté en Croute, Obelix
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich This relative newcomer on Chicago’s River North excels at French classics, especially one of my favorites: pâté en croute. Its version is wild boar, duck, pistachio, and foie gras sheathed in pâté brisée and served with pickles and mustard. It’s one of the better renditions you’ll find. And for fans of The Bear, after you finish your meal you can walk a few blocks to see where the Original Beef of Chicagoland is located.
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Lamb Shank, Jūn by Kin
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich Chefs Evelyn Garcia and Henry Lu blend their backgrounds beautifully at their new restaurant, while also pulling flavors from the rich cultures throughout Houston. The beef tartare has toasted-rice-powder aioli and is served beneath a crispy fried black-sesame buñuelo. Charred carrots feature salsa macha, Salvadoran cheese from Garcia’s grandparents’ farm, and an oolong tea–pickled quail egg. And I especially loved the tender braised lamb shank with Thai and Indian flavors that arrived nestled in curry and topped with pickled daikon.
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Provoleta, Qué Bárbaro
Image Credit: Andrea D’Agosto Ray Garcia was back serving up Latin flavors in Downtown L.A., but this wasn’t the return of his dearly departed Broken Spanish. He’s looking to South America, not Mexico, as the inspiration at his new Qué Bárbaro. The restaurant offers up an insanely delicious cheese dip with San Marzano tomatoes and crusty bread that’s a decadent start to a meal.
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Oysters, Wildair
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich On a trip to New York, my oldest brother tagged along for a night of restaurant hopping, and I was excited to take him to one of my old favorites on the Lower East Side, Wildair, where chefs Jeremiah Stone and Fabian Von Hauske are still serving up creative, shareable fare to pair with their natural wine list. We started with the oysters, where the raw bivalves were served with Meyer lemon vermouth, pickled, fennel, and artichoke. These little oysters packed a briny-tart punch.
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Sfeeha, Yellow
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich When we first met chef Michael Rafidi in early 2020, he’d just opened his Levantine restaurant Albi in Washington, D.C.’s Naval Yard. Though it had only been open a few weeks at the time, it was already exceptional, landing on our list of Best New Restaurants and eventually earning a Michelin Star. His more casual spinoff Yellow in Georgetown serves wood-fired pita, hummus, breakfast sandwiches, and pastries. The sfeeha is a delicious meat pie where minced lamb is blended with sumac, coriander, za’atar, clove, and garlic.
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Caviar and French Toast, Anomaly
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich It’s a restaurant that lives up to its name. At a time when big city restaurants have multimillion-dollar build outs and tasting menus are becoming less fashionable, Anomaly is San Francisco bucking the trend. Mike Lanham used Kickstarter and the help of friends and family to build his intimate fine-dining spot. He has filled the meal with playful touches, including the creative caviar service where the briny little eggs are served not with little pancakes, but French toast sticks that make for an outstanding salty-sweet bite.
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La Zucca, The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills
Image Credit: The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills Under owner Dom DiBartolomeo, the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills moved into bigger digs this year, where you’re greeted by mountains of cheese upon entering the shop. In addition to the 600 fromage selections in the shop and various other delicacies, there’s an impressive collection of sandwiches. My favorite is La Zucca, a fried zucchini sandwich served on the airy and crisp Spanish bread pan de cristal. The lemon tapenade with the ricotta offers a creamy and tart counterpoint to the rich crunch of the fried zucchini.
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Sweet and Sour Quail, Tenderheart
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich In San Francisco’s Tenderloin, chef Joe Hou has a different take on the neon orange chicken served across America. At his restaurant, Tenderheart, a delightful row of fried quail parts perches up against each other. A sticky sweet glaze envelopes a crisp bird and is offset by a palate cleanser of fermented pineapple arrayed beside it. The dish is refined and thoughtful, and you have no choice but to get messy eating it. Of course, I also had to have Hou’s incredible milk bread rolls, as he’s making some of the best anywhere in the country.
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Chicken (Malai Tikka), Indienne
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich Sujan Sarkar has spread his cooking with restaurants from New York to L.A., but he now calls Chicago home, where his ambitious tasting-menu spot Indienne resides. Sarkar presents his creative takes on Indian food through a French lens with meticulously pretty platings served in a dining room with white tablecloths. The standout dish during my visit was called Chicken (Malai Tikka) on the menu, but it was far from a traditional preparation. Instead, it was a terrine of poultry and leeks, with earthy spices and heat from the creamy chili-cheese kulcha.
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Suadero Tacos, Suerte
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich I made multiple visits to Fermín Núñez restaurants this year, with Este landing in our Top 10 Best New Restaurants list and Núñez winning our award for Chef of the Year. His tuna carnitas from Este landed on my list of best dishes in 2022, so I’m including a favorite from a night at Suerte in my 2023 roundup. The deeply flavored beef atop the house-made masa tortillas is brisket cooked in fat and then topped with a dollop of avocado crudo.
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Baby Albacore, Dunsmoor
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich The best new restaurant to open in Los Angeles over the last 18 months had a bevy of standout dishes, so it’s hard to narrow it down to one. But the little plate of tuna covered in ginger and crispy shallots is an unfussy yet outstanding plate of food. Chef Brian Dunsmoor has really honed his craft at his eponymous restaurant, a place that’s poised to be an essential dining destination in the city for years to come.
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Broccoli, Campfire
Image Credit: Jeremy Repanich For most of my life, George H.W. Bush and I had something in common: our hatred of broccoli. We were both forced by our mothers to eat the cruciferous vegetable and we resented it all the same. Well, unlike the late president, I haven’t held onto my disgust as tightly as he did. In fact, done right, I enjoy broccoli. Such is the case with Campfire’s head of charred florets served with chermoula and like and topped with candied peanuts. I think it’s so tasty, it could have converted old George.
Authors
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Jeremy Repanich
Source: Robb Report
