Welcome to my annual best things I ate post, a compilation of 2025's most memorable dishes. This was an especially travel-packed year, with trips to Wisconsin, New York City, Iceland, Nova Scotia, Boston, and Japan, plus fabulous meals close to home in the Twin Cities.
Full disclosure: some of these meals were comped due to my journalism work. I've noted where that's the case.
1. Evergreen duck, Owamni (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
James Beard award-winning Indigenous restaurant Owamni offered a special tasting menu at the the beginning of the year, and they comped my and Mike's meals at a press preview. The highlight of the evening was the evergreen duck, served kebab-style on a foraged juniper branch. The fattiness of the duck, plus the accompanying duck sausage, sweet potato pave, and thick wild rice treacle, made the dish feel like an exuberant celebration. Usually, the specific courses of a tasting menu meld together into a pleasurable memory, but I kept thinking about this specific dish for weeks.
2. Red wheat porridge and corn fritters, Myriel (St. Paul, Minnesota)
Instead of giving each other Christmas gifts, Josh and I splurged on the tasting menu at Myriel, which was incredible (chef and owner Karyn Tomlinson was recognized with the James Beard award for Best Chef Midwest later in the year). My favorite dish looked simple—corn fritters with a side of wheat berries—but the depth of flavor was a revelation. The wheat berries were intensely nutty and grainy, and the tangy vinegar and tiny bits of fermented peppers made them taste almost like fresh produce. The deep-fried corn fritters were State Fair-adjacent but more nourishing, made with corniest cornmeal you can imagine and brightened up with a punchy mayo.
3. Flapjacks, Saint Dinette (St. Paul, Minnesota)
Because there are so many restaurants in the Twin Cities, several highly regarded establishments are on my "I'll get around to eating there eventually" list. One of those was Saint Dinette, which closed in March after a ten year run. Luckily, we were able to squeeze in for dinner, and I had to order the beloved burger and famous dessert flapjacks. Pancakes are a food I'm very familiar with, but these were so fluffy and light it was like eating a carbohydrate cloud. It was the perfect ending to a very special evening and a worthy send off to an iconic restaurant.
4. Noord Hollander Gouda, Murray's Cheese (New York, New York)
In April, I traveled to NYC for a cheese boot camp class at Murray's Cheese. I sampled 44 different cheeses over the course of the weekend, and my favorite was Noord Hollander Gouda. Gouda is not one of my go-to styles (I prefer blues and grana cheeses like Parmesan) but this cheese completely upended my conception of what a gouda could be. Since Noord Hollander is aged for four years, it develops a hard, crystallized texture, but retains the sweet, butterscotch notes of a gouda. It's a bold, lovely cheese, and we bought an entire wedge to take home.
5. Classic board, Russ & Daughters Cafe (New York, New York)
On previous trips to New York, I've made a pilgrimage to Russ & Daughters, which has been selling bagels and lox on the Lower East Side since 1914. The nearby Russ & Daughters Cafe is a much newer addition to the business, but they serve the same translucently-thin smoked salmon. No does smoked fish like Russ & Daughters—it's so silky that it coats your tongue, and the flavor is rich without being intensely fishy. I opted for the classic board with an everything bagel and fixings including cream cheese, tomatoes, onions, and capers. I especially appreciated that format because I like to go light on the cream cheese to allow the salmon to take center stage.
6. Grilled cheese, Mint Mark (Madison, Wisconsin)
In May, I visited Madison, Wisconsin on an all-expenses paid press trip focused on the city's incredible food scene. One of the most memorable meals was lunch at Mint Mark. It sounds pretentious to call the grilled cheese "elevated" but the depth of flavor was amazing—the garlicky ramp butter captured the exuberance of a Midwestern spring. The red pepper and tomato soup was an ideal pairing, with the sweet notes of the soup complementing the intense herbal notes of the grilled cheese.
7. Campanelle, Fairchild (Madison, Wisconsin)
Another highlight from my press trip to Madison was dinner at Fairchild, especially the campanelle pasta with duck egg, Swiss chard, turnip greens, pecora nocciola (a firm sheep's milk cheese), and rosemary lamb jus. Our server described it as a take on spaghetti carbonara, but that doesn’t quite capture its dreaminess—comforting and approachable, but without compromising the complex, layered flavors. The cheese had the nutty sheep’s milk flavor I love, but with the texture of Parmesan. The meatiness from lamb jus and the greens balanced the richness of the cheese and pasta, and I'm still thinking about the perfectly crisped bread crumbs.
8. Mushroom soup and sourdough bread, BakaBaka (Reykjavik, Iceland)
I ate a lot of soup during our June trip to Iceland, and my favorite bowl was at BakaBaka in Reykjavik. The vegan soup of the day was a mushroom soup unlike anything I've tasted before, with bold umami, earthy notes from wild mushrooms, a drizzle of herb olive oil, and a garnish of fresh onions. The sourdough bread on the side was also incredible, with a crackling crust and deep tangy flavor.
9. Krauma platter, Krauma (Reykholt, Iceland)
The Krauma platter at Krauma (a geothermal spa and restaurant in Reykholt, Iceland) was a wonderful sampling of local flavors. The platter included lime-marinated goat, pine-smoked goat, coriander and basil-marinated salmon, birch-smoked salmon, cucumber, mint skyr, horseradish cream, fresh goat cheese, blueberry jam, and baked blue cheese topped with honey, served with slices of sourdough and rúgbrauð (a dense rye bread). Everything was exquisite on its own, but the best part was trying different combinations: goat with the mint skyr, horseradish and salmon, sourdough spread with goat cheese and blueberry jam.
10. Sourdough, The Ostrich Club (Halifax, Canada)
Dinner on the streetside patio at The Ostrich Club in Halifax's Hydrostone neighborhood was the perfect end to our July trip to Nova Scotia. Although it was the simplest dish, the sourdough bread was my favorite. Thick slabs of bread from nearby Luke's Small Goods were transformed into the best toast I've eaten in my life—crusty, extra-thick, and grilled to perfection. The toast was hearty and airy at the same time and was served with fresh housemade butter.
11. Kataar-aaloo, Himalayan Restaurant (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
I spent days reminiscing about the kataar-aaloo at Himalayan Restaurant. The jackfruit buds were remarkably meat-like, and the little cubes of potato were the perfect vessels for soaking up the warm, complex blend of spices. Even the rice was memorable—a special extra-long grain basmati variety with a wonderful texture.
12. Mac & cheese kugel, Lehrhaus (Boston, Massachusetts)
Our evening at Lehrhaus was one of those meals where each dish is so good that you just keep ordering food to see what the kitchen does next. The peak was the mac and cheese kugel, a dense slab of noodles with a cheese sauce that was rich in a elegant, understated way, rather than overwhelming you with dairy. The bread crumb topping was well-toasted and the carrot and dukkah slaw on the side added lightness and an herbal note.
13. Gnocchi with cauliflower and orange, Bar la Grassa (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
The gnocchi with cauliflower and orange at Bar la Grassa was the ideal dish for Mike's mid-October birthday dinner—hearty and comforting, but light enough for a sunny fall day. The plush, cushion-like gnocchi glistened with a bright orange cream sauce, with a smattering of chili flakes and orange zest as accent notes. The crisp, nutty bits of roasted cauliflower contrasted nicely with the sauce and gnocchi.
14. Sesame, shiso, and plum onigiri from Kyoto Onimaru (Kyoto, Japan)
My favorite Japanese food is onigiri: handheld rice balls with a wide variety of meat, seafood, and vegetarian fillings. Although the convenience store versions are ubiquitous, Kyoto Onimaru has them beat hands down. The freshly-made rice clumps together beautifully, and the sweet and sour plum, nutty sesame, and herbaceous shiso flavors were harmonious and balanced.
15. Flower cheesecake, Hana Souffle Cheesecake (Kyoto, Japan)
I happened across Hana Souffle Cheesecake because it was close to our Airbnb in Kyoto, and I was completely unprepared for the exquisite presentation. My flower cheesecake arrived in a glass dome, and the cheesecake itself was a work of art, lovingly decorated with edible flowers. Japanese-style souffle cheesecake has a very different texture than the New York or Philadelphia-style cheesecakes common in the U.S.—it was fluffy but also a bit chewy. The blueberry herb jam had a lovely depth of sweet and savory flavor notes.
16. Crispy seared tilefish with yuzu sauce, Barrier (Kanazawa, Japan)
Barrier is an upscale restaurant that offers a contemporary, creative take on Japanese cuisine—the dining room feels more like an art gallery than a restaurant, centered around a series of soup courses with broth served from a chemistry flask. My favorite course was the fish soup, made with a piece of seared tilefish that had an amazing honeycomb-like skin. It was one of the most intriguing textures I've ever come across, and it felt amazing on my tongue. The creamy, delicate yuzu sauce was a lovely complement.
And that's a wrap! As fortunate as I've been this past year (culinarily and otherwise) 2025 has also been quite heavy, due both to U.S. and world events and personal burnout. I'm looking forward to a more intentional—but just as delicious—2026.
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