Pop the Cork – It’s 2023!

Happy New Year From Lisbon!

2022 was a crazy year. It started out quiet here in Lisbon. Then the tourists started arriving in February and didn’t stop until, well… they never stopped arriving.

Lisbon’s streets were suddenly filled from the Avenida to the riverfront and it seemed like every other week we received messages from friends, some close, some distant and some old, announcing their vacation trips to Lisbon. We loved seeing all of them (including some reading this article) but there’s still a tiny bit of us that pines for the desolation of Europe that existed during the pandemic.

But who are we to judge? We traveled this year too.

It all started when we got boosters in the first week of January. It wasn’t long before we traveled to Paris, London (twice), Madrid (once plus a tasty layover), Hamburg, Graz, Vienna, New York (twice), New Haven, Madeira, Central Portugal, Northern Portugal, Las Vegas, Tucson, Chicago, Philadelphia, Alto Adige, Milan and Bergamo.

We also got a taste of rip roaring tourism in our Lisbon home during an infernal summer filled with plenty of friends and even more sweat. Of course, we also ate our way through the year with plenty of pizza, sardines, wiener schnitzel and Italian beef sandwiches.

Before we close the chapter that was 2022 and glide into 2023, we want to share our best bites, sips and trips of the year.

Saint Malo Scallops At Le Chateaubriand In Paris

Just when we thought we’d seen every cliched way to plate food from drags to drops to 3-D printers, leave it to Iñaki Aizpitarte at Le Chateaubriand to find a new way to plate scallops – surrounded by a turtle-like shell of sautéed endive. It was a cheeky, creative spin without any in-your-face gastronomic tricks. More important, the dish’s combination of sweet scallops, salty capers and bitter endive tasted great.

Backhendl At Der Steirer In Graz

We’ve eaten great fried chicken all over the world but we’d never had wienerschnitzel fried chicken until we traveled to Graz. While this Austrian dish resembles fried chicken we’ve eaten at diners in the USA, Der Steirer’s crunchy well seasoned bird was a backhendl to remember.

Rainbow Kitchen In Las Vegas

Las Vegas has one of the country’s best Asian food scenes and Rainbow Kitchen has some of the city’s best dim sum. Despite its suburban strip mall location, its dim sum was as good as any we’ve eaten in Hong Kong and maybe better.

La Estrella In Tucson

Food and Wine called La Estrella’s donuts the best in Arizona. While we haven’t eaten enough donuts in the state to confirm this accolade, we can confirm that the Tucson bakery’s donuts were some of the best we’ve tasted in the US and beyond.

Fuku Burger In Las Vegas

We love Fuku Burger’s fun spin on burgers. Eating one satisfied our cravings for burgers and Asian food in one tasty bite.

Eli’s Ark In Chicago

Who says that super instagrammable food can’t taste great? Okay, we’ve said that a time or two. Eli’s Ark proves otherwise by creatively serving excellent gelato that doubles as edible art.

Omakase Ri In Lisbon

Score one for Lisbon’s emerging Japanese food scene that gets better every year. Omakase Ri beat out some serious competition in international food cities like London and Las Vegas. We have yet to find a better value for world-class sushi anywhere.

23 Miles Of Mexican Food In Tucson

One mile of excellent Mexican food would be enough to make our heads spin and our hearts happy. Tucson has 23 miles of local spots serving tacos, burritos, quesadillas and more. We visited many for research purposes, proving why we love what we do.

Septime In Paris

Due to its Michelin star and seemingly permanent spot on the 50 Best Restaurants list, scoring a reservation at Septime was an amazing feat that involved numerous phone calls and online attempts plus a lot of luck. Sadly, our lunch time meal didn’t justify our efforts. The globally inspired food was good and sometimes excellent but we can’t say the same about the service which was surly and rushed.

Tapisserie In Paris

Ironically, we ate our favorite pastry of the year at Tapisserie, a patisserie owned by the same team that owns Septime. We’ve eaten a lot of pastries in Paris and Tapisserie’s Tartelette au Sirop l’Érable stole our hearts with its buttery crust, maple center and dollop of whipped cream on top.

Osteria Della Brugheira In Bergamo

Osteria della Brughiera was our splurge meal in Bergamo. It was a special meal with a standout pasta dish that knocked us out with its tongue ragù, verdant green sauce and tangy mustard seeds.

Esthers Kitchen In Las Vegas

We ate a lot of corn this summer including a sweet corn ice cream cone in Philly and lots of elote in Tucson. However, the agnolotti filled with corn pudding we ate at Chef James Trees’ Esther’s Kitchen was our favorite iteration.

Il Corso In Bolzano

We didn’t just eat a lot of corn in 2022. We also ate a lot of great pizza in cities like Brooklyn, Vienna, Chicago and New Haven. However, the best pizza we ate was at Il Corso in Bolzano. We were surprised it was so good since every other pizza we ate in Alto Adige was just okay. Then again, Il Corso’s owner is from Naples so it adds up.

Chicago’s Italian Beef

Somehow we never ate an Italian Beef sandwich in Chicago during our previous visits. We’re not sure how that happened but we made up for lost time by eating several during our most recent visit. We wrote a guide with our favorites if you’re curious to learn more.

Limpets In Madeira And Aguachile In New York City (Tie)

Limpets are funky yet tasty mollusks that look remarkably similar to abalone. Both shellfish are bottom feeders but distantly related species. They’re called lapas in Madeira and we enjoyed them enough to eat them twice during our visit. We also enjoyed our first taste of aguachile, the fiery Sinaloan twist on ceviche, that we ate in Jackson Heights in Queens, NY.

The Marksman In London

The Marksman has a downstairs bar that looks like a typical old English pub. But head upstairs and you’ll find a sunlit dining space where you can enjoy some of the best cuts of meat in London. That’s where we shared a gorgeous medium rare “Hereford Wing Rib” with sides of mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and carrots. It’s also where we spent an outstanding Sunday afternoon in East London.

Bar Soriano In Logroño

We’re sure that the Champiñón a la Plancha con Gamba at Bar Soriano in Spain’s Logroño has caused many a chef to wonder “Why didn’t I think of that?” This simple pintxo featuring mushroom caps sautéed in plenty of butter (on the plantxa) and stuffed with garlicky shrimp may be one the best things we’ve eaten… ever.

L’Arpège In Paris

We’re obviously not vegetarian diners but that didn’t stop us from enjoying our mostly vegetarian midday meal at L’Arpège in Paris. Since Chef Alain Passard pulled out all the stops during our multi-course dining experience, we didn’t miss eating meat at all.

Vienna

Finding excellent coffee is our top priority when we arrive in a new city. Though we were mostly successful when it came to finding good coffee this past year, Vienna’s vibrant coffee scene is the one we loved most. To be clear, we’re not talking about the city’s historic cafes. They’re great for dessert but not for quality joe.