This is by no means a full list, so I apologize if I’ve left anything off. In retrospect, it was a truly fantastic year of eating and I’m so lucky to get to share my thoughts with you! Please feel free to let me know what you think!
Los Angeles:
Dialogue: This is the best fine dining restaurant in Los Angeles. 18 seats and an ever-evolving menu make this my favorite place to be when I have 3 hours and the desire to be challenged and comforted all at once. Full disclosure: I went here 5 times this year. I have a problem.
Orsa & Winston: I’ve loved O&W for a few years now and it has consistently been a favorite of ours for romantic dates and even big festive occasions. The brunch is also incredible with fresh matcha croissants, satsuki rice porridge, and katsu sandos. The best.
P.Y.T.: Another child of Chef Josef Centeno, this vegetables forward restaurant has one of my favorite dishes in the city. Hand torn pasta with poblano cream. The rice pudding dessert is also completely insane.
Aburiya Raku: Great chicken on skewers, done perfectly, and other dishes like cold soba and stone-cooked wagyu, but my favorites here are the sashimi plates, the ikura bowls, and the tofu, which is phenomenal.
Bestia: It’s been here forever. It’s always good. I love their pastas and I love their chicken gizzards and endive. Also get the tonnato.
Majordomo: I love the giant format dishes here, from pork shoulder to short rib. The spicy lamb bing is fantastic as is the baked cod, the steak with pickled onion rings, and the very worthwhile kakigori desserts.
Park’s BBQ: Just get one of everything, but always get a kimchi pancake. My God.
Jon and Vinny’s: What’s not to love? The spicy fusilli is a classic and the meatballs with ricotta are an appetizer I would happily eat twice a day.
Petit Trois (Valley): I’ve always like Petit Trois but the original location was just too cramped for me. Now, I can spread out and have a Boursin-stuffed omelet and then crawl right back into bed. The steak and eggs are also a great way to stuff 1,000 calories into your morning and still make it feel worthwhile.
Broken Spanish: Refried lentils have always been the highlight of this place to me, but I can’t leave without the tostadas, which change regularly and always pack a nice punch.
Night + Market: CRISPY. RICE. SALAD. Also, the pastrami Pad Kee Mow which has been a special for a while really makes me very happy.
New York:
Momofuku Ko: (Bar) I love Ko but I also was really happy to see their new addition, which included a la carte dining, some really incredible sausages, sourdough crepes, and an unbelievably delicious steak.
Peking Duck House: Nuff said.
Una Pizza Napoletana: Marc and Pam Murphy took us here one night and we each had 1.25 pizzas (after dinner). It’s all just so very good.
Blackseed Bagels: These are my favorite bagels. They’re dense and slightly sweet and there’s a sandwich with beetroot gravlax, horseradish cream cheese, and I dare you to not order a second one.
Aska: I think this may be one of the better fine dining restaurants in America, and for me, one of the only New Nordic meals I’ve had outside of Scandinavia that really felt magical. The bread, the squab, the caviar and onion dish, and the pig’s blood pancake really warm my heart.
Sushi Noz: Is this amazing? Yes. Is it expensive? Very. And while I feel it is a little too much of an “homage” to other sushi shops in Tokyo, it is really the closest thing you can get to eating in Ginza without crossing the Pacific.
San Francisco:
Benu: This place just continues to improve. The thousand year quail egg will forever be one of my favorite dishes in the city. I always leave wanting more.
Saison: No matter how many times I eat here I always want more Uni on Liquid Toast. I can’t think of a more impressive mouthful.
East Ocean Seafood: It’s a 40 minute drive from the city, but it’s worth it. From the har gown to the char siu bao to everything else, this is just a great place to dim sum. Go early or the line is a nightmare.
The Mill: Good bread with cream cheese and jam can never go wrong.
Copenhagen, Denmark:
Noma 2.0 (Seafood Season): What can I say that hasn’t already been said? This is the world’s test kitchen, pushing boundaries while always delivering the most elegant and wondrous vibe. I wish I could visit more often.
Baest: Sorry, everyone else, this is the best pizza in the world. Here’s a perfect order: pickled mussels, garlic bread, 1 pizza per person, and end with the tiramisu. Doesn’t get better, or fresher, than this.
Sanchez: The tacos and tostadas are amazing and the desserts are some of the best I’ve ever had. Also I just love the vibe. Sit at the counter if you can and watch it all go down. Molly and I loved this place so much we ate here two days in a row last trip.
Manfred’s: I dream about the tartare at Manfred’s on a daily basis. Everything here is good, but the tartare is world class, unmatched perfection.
Geist: Fun, beautiful, delicious dishes in a very lively environment and in the most convenient part of town if you want to wander the bridges or go to the theater after. The avocado wafer is the best known dish, but the enoki mushrooms and the peas are the things I remember most
Gasoline Grill: A good, good, good, filling burger. No bullshit.
Tokyo, Japan:
Sushi Yoshitake: To me this is the world’s best restaurant. Yoshitake is someone I consider a friend, but that came long after my respect for his work. I dream about this place and I try to go, at the very least, once a year. His abalone liver sauce has been imitated all over the world but never duplicated. I love this.
Moritaya: This is maybe Molly’s favorite restaurant in Japan. Really great and rich sukiyaki with an unbelievable view. You can even see Mount Fuji as you dine if it’s a clear day.
Ishigaki Yoshida: This is the most indulgent restaurant I visited this year. White truffles, A5 wagyu, caviar, and crab turn this meal into an event. It’s very much a special occasion place.
Rokurinsha: The one in Tokyo station is my favorite but you can also get their tsukemen at the store in Haneda airport on your way out. Thick thick broth and perfectly chewy thick noodles make this my favorite morning ramen stop.
Yakitori-Tei Ginza: This is an upscale yakitori spot but really a fun intro to all the different parts of the chicken you can eat, from oyster to skin to thigh to throat!
L’Effervescence: I love the vibe. I love the soundtrack (Counting Crows!). And I love the fish and the slow cooked radish.
Takumi Shingo: This was by far the most innovative and wild sushi dinner I ever had. We had 30+ pieces of nigiri before we finally relented, but we had fish we had never even heard of before. This place is totally impossible to find, so make sure someone who you know takes you.
Savoy Pizza: My second favorite pizza in the world is here. There are only about 10 seats, but from the moment you walk in and order a pizza, it’s only ten minutes before a little ball of dough becomes a thin and crispy Neapolitan style pizza.
Niseko, Japan:
Niseko Cheese Tarte: It’s a stand on the side of the road that just serves cheese tartes. Its fucking perfect.
Zaborin Ryokan: I’m honestly not sure if you can eat there unless you’re staying, but this ryokan serves classic kaiseki and somehow makes it different every single night, I had some of the most beautiful dishes of my life there.
A-Bu-Cha 2: After coming in from the cold, what could be better than a bowl of steaming hot rice and just a huge tray of uni? Nothing.
Kyoto, Japan
Kappo Sakamoto: This small kappo restaurant in Gion has a Michelin star but should have three. Six seats are at the counter and there are two small tables behind, and the intimacy extends beyond the seating arrangement and goes into each dish, which is handcrafted right before your eyes. The Yuba skin dish haunts me. I must go back soon.
Hatakaku: In the winter, this place does one dish: Wild Boar Hot Pot. Mushrooms and onions and rice balls and miso go into a bubbling broth over burning coal in the center of a room and for about eighty minutes you just keep eating until you fall over.
Nakamura: This place only has six seats and the chef does everything. The meal starts with chicken sashimi, which I know is scary to some, and slowly works through many variations of chicken, but this place feels more like a hip church than anything else. I’m not even sure how to tell you to get there, but maybe someone in Kyoto can help you. (this is NOT the 3* place by the same name
Seoul, South Korea:
Full disclosure, I had so many great meals in Korea but did a terrible job of remembering or writing down their names. Maybe Peter Merelis can help me put something together for S. Korea in the near future, BUT…
Jangin Dakgalbi: Hot and spicy chicken, served with a thick layer on mozzarella cheese. Sounds weird? It is. It’s also one of my favorite dishes I had this year. And it’s cheap and fast.
Mosu: After leaving San Francisco, I was happy to revisit some of the old dishes in a beautiful new space, as well as sampling some new dishes. An abalone taco was a real highlight for me here, but in honesty the whole experience was just remarkably homey and pleasant, a rarity in fine dining.
Four Seasons Patisserie: Get the bingsu. It’s good. Trust me.
Mos Burger, Incheon Airport: I just don’t love fast food burgers, but for some reason, this one really understood me.
Singapore:
Tim Ho Wan: Yes, I know it’s a chain and it’s growing out of control, but I still think their pork buns are the second best I’ve ever had (after Lung King Heen in Hong Kong), and their radish cakes, Sichuan wontons, and abalone mushrooms are all some of my favorite casual daytime dishes. I’ve literally eaten here three times in a day.
Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle: This is a 1 Michelin starred pork noodle shop. The line is long, but it’s worth it because the flavors here are just so unique.
Tambua Mas: This Indonesian restaurant has delicious gado gado and some of the best otak otak I’ve ever had. Service was fast and the tumis udang (sauteed prawns!) was my favorite. The beef rendang here was also wildly rich and hearty.
Tian Tian Chicken Rice: Is this a tourist trap? Absolutely. It’s also really really fucking good. The chicken is moist and tender, but most importantly, the rice itself was just so flavorful. It’s totally changed the way I think about the possibilities of rice and for that I am grateful.
A Noodle Story:
Taste Paradise: All the classics are here and for me this place is such a great restaurant to just get all the classics. The Peking duck is great, along with the fish maw soup, swallows’ nest soup, abalone in XO sauce, and pretty much everything else. Oh, and the honey glazed pork is filthy addictive.
Jb Ah Meng: This casual walk-in restaurant is known for its white pepper crab and chili clams, both of which are really really delicious, but the lightly fried pork and the noodle pancake are the things that dreams are made of.