With so many wonderful dining experiences this year, the struggle was real when it came to narrowing them down to just a few especially memorable ones.
I hope my picks inspire you to try some new places or to revisit ones you haven’t been to in a while.
Here are my Top 10 eats of 2025, in no particular order:
Read more
It’s as guilty a pleasure as there ever was one.
Spam is both beloved and maligned. But as anyone who grew up like me with the canned lunch meat will attest, there’s just a comforting nostalgia that tugs whenever we spot the familiar blue and yellow can on a supermarket shelf.
It’s mandatory for Hawaiian musubi, handy for noodle stir-fries on the spur of the moment, and a right of passage with eggs of any sort in the morning.
Now, get ready to enjoy it in “Whipped Spam with Toast Points,” in which it takes on an airy, chopped liver or dip-like consistency when whipped with cream cheese and herbs.
This intriguing recipe is from “Padma’s All American: A Cookbook” (Alfred A. Knopf), of which I received a review copy.
It’s by Padma Lakshmi, the former host and executive producer of Bravo’s “Top Chef” for 19 years. The cookbook draws from her travels and experiences from her Hulu series, “Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi.” If you haven’t yet watched the two seasons, I highly recommend them not only for the salivating food that’s highlighted, but for the deep illuminating cultural insights.
Read more
Move over, matcha.
The new “It” Japanese tea in town is hojicha.
With its rather homely, dirt color, it may lack the splashy, attention-grabbing vivid green hue of matcha. But like a brooding, slightly mysterious friend, it can take a little time to reveal just how appealing and intriguing it can be.
This low caffeine, Japanese green tea is pan-roasted over charcoal to create its characteristic smoky, toasty and nutty quality that has hints of coffee and caramel.
It stars magnificently in “Hojicha Shortbread,” which bakes up with an unusual top.
The recipes is from the new cookbook, “Baking & the Meaning of Life” (Abrams), of which I received a review copy.
Read more
The dress that droops like a sad sack on the hanger but is transformative when slipped on. That plain cookie you reached for last that is surprisingly the most scrumptious of the bunch. And that quiet, nerdy guy you initially dismissed who turns out to be the love of your life.
Yes, looks can be deceiving.
“Long Beans Amatriciana” is proof of that.
Using Chinese long beans, otherwise known as yard beans or snake beans, in place of bucatini might seem virtuous and the ultimate no-carb, gluten-free hack. But in the hands of Chef Jeremy Fox, it is decidedly decadent, loaded with crispy guanciale, and finished with butter.
And wow, is it ever dangerously delicious.
This clever recipe is from his newest cookbook, “On Meat” (Phaidon), of which I received a review copy. It was written with his wife, Rachael Sheridan, a writer and actress.
Read more
When Vittal Shetty and Reshmi Nair — formerly corporate executive chef and operations manager, respectively, of the Bay Area’s Amber India restaurants — decided to venture out on their own, the plan was to always open their own restaurant together.
Little did they know, they joked, that it would take 11 years.
That’s because they didn’t count on the catering company that they immediately started to try to raise money for that restaurant venture turning into an immediate juggernaut.
Indeed, their Jalsa Catering & Events has grown into one of the largest and most sought-after Indian catering companies in the Bay Area. It was one of the first Indian catering companies to go beyond standard steam tables to present food with more fine-dining finesse. Shetty’s intent was to take the skills he used at Amber India and transfer them to the catering industry.
Jalsa, which means “social gathering,” caters upwards of 400 events annually, many of them weddings with as many as 500 guests, as far north as the Napa Valley and Lake Tahoe, and as far south as Carmel. It’s even been hired to do events in Arizona and Mexico.
“People would attend the weddings we did and ask ‘Where is your restaurant?’ because they enjoyed the food so much, ” Nair says. “We would have to tell them there wasn’t one.”
Not anymore. When the catering company relocated three years ago from Milpitas to Santa Clara (the former Justin’s Restaurant and Wilson’s Bakery site), it gained a lot more space. Enough for Jashn, which means “celebration,” to open there earlier this month.
Read more