The Best (and Worst) Things That I Cooked and Ate in 2024
From lamb shanks Rogan Josh to fish eyeball pie, this year had it all.
Hey everyone,
We’re rapidly approaching the end of the year and every critic in every category — books, music, figure skating — is writing their “best of the year” lists and now it’s my turn. Normally I do “The Top Five Things I Cooked This Year” and “The Top Five Things That I Ate (at Restaurants) This Year” but that’s a little boring and overly reductive.
So this year, I’m making it a little more interesting by assigning awards in specific categories. You’ll see what I mean. So without further ado here are The Best Things that I Cooked and Ate in 2024!
Let’s start with my favorite category, that being pasta. 🍝
The Best Pasta That I Cooked at Home: Jimmy Nardello Pepper Pesto Pasta.
As someone who cooks pasta all the time, it takes a lot to astonish me when it comes to a giant pot of pasta. But this one, based on a recipe from the SF Chronicle, dazzled me and my dinner guests with its smoky, sweet, creamy combination. It’s going to become a new summer staple. (Sorry, you have to wait until summer to make it.)
The Best Pasta That I Ate at a Restaurant: Raviolini with Prawns and Saffron at Torrisi.
Sometimes a picture tells the full story and I feel like this one does the trick. Though the price tag at Torrisi is steep ($36!), this simple bowl of ravioli stuffed with seafood and coated in a briny tomato sauce infused with saffron is worth every penny (especially since we were celebrating my parents’ fiftieth anniversary).
My Best Pasta Substitute: Romano Bean Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Olives.
Buying Romano beans at the farmer’s market, I didn’t intend to make them the main event… but when I started cooking them like a pasta, I realized they could be a pasta: and a much more nutritious one too! So that’s how I came up with this dinner which is still memorable all of these months later.
Moving on, let’s talk cake.
The Best Cake That I Made at Home: Jessie Sheehan’s Cranberry Buckle.
Maybe it’s fresh on my mind because I just made it, but the tartness of the cranberries up against the sweetness of the cake and then the crumbliness of the crumbs on top? This buckle was worth the extra notch on my actual belt buckle. Clear runner-up: this upside-down banana cake from Melissa Clark.
The Best Cake That I Ate at a Restaurant: The Chocolate Cake at Claud on My Birthday.
The cake at Claud is famous for a reason. It’s just as deep, dark, fudgy as you want, with a shocker of sea salt on top. Close runners-up: the layer cake at Gertrude’s and the chocolate layer cake at Jupiter.
The Best Pie That I Made This Year (and I Made a Lot of Pie): Strawberry-Rhubarb.
I’m married to an apple pie person, but if I had to sum myself up in one pie it would be strawberry-rhubarb. It’s tart, it’s sweet, it’s colorful (just like me!) and what makes it extra great is you can really only make it (with integrity) once a year and that’s in the spring.
Now let’s move into some broader categories:
The Best Post-Colonoscopy Bite: The Lil’ Shonda at S&P.
Imagine being in a desert made of lime green Jell-o powder and off in the distance you see a glimmering white plate topped with toasted rye bread, thick slices of pastrami, muenster cheese, and “Shonda” sauce (which I think is Russian dressing). That’s how it felt as I wandered bleary-eyed from the doctor’s table to one of New York’s most charming diners in New York to eat the best breakfast sandwich in the city.
Worst Fish Eyeball Pie: Noma.
I can’t believe our Noma odyssey was this year… that feels like an eternity ago. And though I’ve reconciled my experience there — if I hadn’t been food poisoned the night before, I might have enjoyed it? — I’m still shook-eth from this course which was the one that finally sent me packing. I still get nauseous looking at this picture.
The Best Meal in Copenhagen: Kodbyens Fiskebar.
If that fish eye were looking through a telescope, at the other end it would’ve seen a restaurant that was every bit Noma’s opposite: casual, welcoming, fun. I loved every moment of our meal at Kodbyens Fiskebar, the only thing I don’t like about it is trying to get a slash through the “o” of Kødbyens.
Best Tacos in Mexico City: Expendio de Maiz Sin Nombre.
This place that Susan Spungen sent us to in Mexico City was so sublime, I don’t think I’ll ever eat a better taco (even though that’s a picture of a quesadilla).
Best Friend Who Turned Fifty and Invited His Friends to Mexico to Celebrate: Chris DuFault.
Best Meal That Chris Took Us To That I Didn’t Write About Because My Pictures Came out Too Dark: Criollo. It was so good!
Favorite New Plates: The Ones Craig Just Got Me for Christmanukkah. (They’re Vista Allegre… we got them on sale at Bloomingdales. I love them so much.)
Best Souvenir Plate: This One That I Bought in Oaxaca.
The Best Ice Cream to Eat from the Tub with Your Dog: Jenni’s Brambleberry Crisp.
The Most Elaborate Meal That I Cooked This Year: Lamb Shanks Rogan Josh with Ajwain Pancakes
New Favorite NY Restaurant: Café Kestrel.
Other New Favorite NY Restaurant: Sailor.
Favorite New Fancy NY Restaurant: L’Veau d’Or.
Old Favorite NY Restaurant That We Still Love Going To: Bar Bete.
Best Celebratory Cauliflower: The whole roasted one that I ate with my agent Jenni Ferrari-Adler at abcV after selling my novel.
The Best Burger That Lived Up the Hype: The one at Red Hook Tavern.
The Best Food on a Stick: The S’mores Ice Cream Bar That I Ate in Vancouver.
Favorite Go-To Weeknight Dinner: Miso-Salmon Rice Bowl with Cucumber Salad.
Best Ingredient That I’d Never Cooked with Before: Chestnuts.
Okay, I could keep going and going but it feels right to stop with chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
Thanks for making this year such a fun one to write about… excited to share more in 2025!
Your pal,
Adam
I certainly don’t need more dishes, but seeing the ones you bought is making me reconsider…
Discovered Vista Alegre store in the Chiado neighborhood of Lisbon last month and fell in slightly obsessive love. Your dishes are fantastic. I bought a set of little cups and saucers that need each other; the cups have a rounded bottom that sit in the well of the saucer. They're painted with scenes of Portuguese history.