This is the first full year I’ve lived in Los Angeles since I escaped for New York in 2022. It’s also a year ending with a lot of change, which I love. Change is essential. I go a little crazy when there’s not enough of it.

But in putting together the annual Bangers Only list—the rankings of my 25 favorite restaurants, 25 favorite movies, top 100 songs and five books you’ll find below—the experiences rooted in consistent, reliable joy rose to the top. So many of the standouts from this year felt lived-in, timeless and deeply considered. The exercise reinforced what a lot of my friends wrote last week about their year in dining: a bend toward comfort, discovery without the chase, and a gravitation to the personal touches rather than the latest trends.

That’s what you’ll find here, along with a bunch of recs to get you through the holidays and into the new year.

Food

I make up different rules for what’s eligible here each year. This round, I’m going with the 25 places where I spent the most time, garnered my loudest recommendations, or just consistently broke through the noise. Some are old and some are new.

I wouldn’t have expected this list to be so LA-heavy. But there’s a simmering sentiment that LA dining is back on the rise — an energy around heartfelt, scrappy stars that force you out of your home. That applies especially to the No. 1 pick.

Read more

I’m not an instinctually simple cook. I grab for one ingredient too many, I consider what will impress just a hair above what will be satisfying, I put one or two too many things on a dinner party menu. It’s annoying, and it gets in my head.

That’s probably why so many of my favorite bites from the year are stars due to their simplicity. Fewer things on the plate, considered sourcing, cooked perfectly or not cooked at all, rarely a buzz-worthy combination that travels far on a vertical scroll. We love what we lack the most.

Read on for my top 100 restaurant dishes in 2025. The only rule I followed in making this list was that there are no repeats from last year’s edition. Otherwise, anything goes. The top 10 is open for everyone, and the other 90 are for paid subscribers only.

Top 100 restaurant dishes

1. Squid, cucumbers & yuzu kosho | Baby Bistro | LA

   Last year, I just knew the confit oyster from Penny had to be No. 1. It was a knockout on first bite that never relented on repeat visits. A perfect blend of restraint, creativity, peak ingredient and texture. For the second year in a row, there was no real competition.
   
   This is the dish that made me fall in love with Baby Bistro. It became infamous in my texts, developing its own whisper campaign. Miles Thompson takes segments of aged squid and pairs them with matching smashed cucumbers, dressing both in a bright combo of citrus, soy and Japanese spice. You alternate between spurts of “wow” and “what the fuck” as the bowl disappears sooner than you’d like.
   
   More of Miles’ dishes show up on this list. He’ll certainly have new creations here next year, too. But for now this is the one, the little slice of brilliance that transcends into something else. He takes a known nigiri reference point and lets weird, instinctual interpretation take over. There’s a wine description on the Baby Bistro menu right now for a French cab that reads “quiet voice with quite a lot to say.” That’s Miles on a plate, here and everywhere.

2. Sweet shrimp sashimi | Anjumaeul | Seoul

   

   In the morning, these shrimp travel from the sea between Korea and Japan to an unassuming shop on a Seoul side street. They’re sweet, yes, but they’re also pristine. You taste the precious few hours from departure to arrival.
   
   The amount of shrimp on the plate feel egregious when it lands. The idea of ever eating any other shrimp feels even more ludicrous minutes later.

3. Dad’s sardines | Bar Kabawa | NYC

   Chef Paul Carmichael pulls from one his father’s reliable post-work snack growing up to deliver this showstopper. On the plate there are tinned sardines, avocado, shallots, oil and a pepper sauce Carmichael has been messing with for years. Build up a bite on a cracker and follow it with a boozy daiquiri. Order a second round of each. Leave the world behind.

4. Duck and cherries | Le Veau d’Or | NYC

   Here’s a nightmare scenario multiple poor diners have recounted to me. They finally get into Le Veau d’Or. It’s sexy and dark and fun. The cocktails are flowing, the first course is a delight, and then the entrees come. They devour a beautiful lobster or chicken or lamb. And they watch as someone else takes down this impeccably spiced duck solo. Sucker shit.
   
   My best LVD meal came over the summer, when my guy announced to the table you don’t turn French food like this into a small plates, sharing experience. I said, respectfully, no.
   
   There’s this moment that happens with the right group at LVD. You’re passing big plates of mains around a four top that barely holds all of them on one table. The third person to receive the duck leaves just enough for the final turn, an act of grace when selfish gluttony might otherwise be forgiven. Palms exchange now-dilapidated proteins like hand-me-down Christmas gifts, criss-crossing friends and dates, new and old, indulging in one of New York’s greatest displays of love.

5. Iceberg + mimolette | Penny | NYC

   The best dish at the city’s premier seafood counter starts with a wedge of iceberg face up on a plate. Next comes thick squiggles of a mustard dressing that leans way closer to balance than it does a flavor bomb. It needs to, because a true mountain of mimolette cheese is coming next.
   
   This is the salad of my dreams. Yes, there’s something to be said for Jody Williams’ bright, fresh, herby acidity or the secret, layered complexity of Ignacio Mattos. I’m here for all of that. But Joshua Pinsky had a burst of “fuck it” on this one that’s admirable. Lettuce. Dressing. Cheese. When it’s done this well, just let it shine.

6. Beef noodles | Kato | LA

   

   Okay, I’m going to try to recall what I know about this dish. Jon Yao takes inspiration from the niu rou mian he grew up eating in the San Gabriel Valley, a Taiwanese beef noodle soup that screams comfort. He incorporates American wagyu beef cheek from a New Mexican cow that I’ve been assured is quite special. I don’t know. By the time this bowl arrives at the Kato bar, I’m at least three drinks deep and merely nodding along to the spiel. This dish inspires a “let me at it” sensation. They’re the country’s best version of takeout noodles, elevated by a singular Los Angeles talent.

7. Bansang | Baroo | LA

   

   The entree course of Baroo’s vegetarian tasting menu is Kwang Uh’s time to cook. Yes, your carnivorous dining companion will be treated to a luscious pork chop or beef short rib. Steal a bite if you can. But you’ve made the right choice. On one visit, the bansang platter read: dried radish leaf soup, baby corn, artichoke mushroom, burdock perilla pancake, dooboojang.

   
   This is head-spinning stuff. Each small dish is served in baroo, the titular Buddhist bowls behind this LA gem. Monks dispel material possessions, yet they’re allowed baroo as a vessel for meals.
   
   I don’t find food to be a spiritual experience. Inspiring, invigorating, communal, emotional, yes, but I draw the line somewhere. I left a March birthday dinner at Baroo among the happiest I’d been all year. Plastered, I ignored the card they slipped me on the way out. The next morning, I finally opened it. The header read, “Yang Earth Yin Water” and featured a translation of a Korean poem:
   
   The will of earth is to maintain balance among the elements
   The nature of water is to sprout life
   
   Like soil with ample waters, One can grow
   Something immense from something small
   
   And, you know, fuck. Fine. They got me.

8. Lady Edison ham with Asian pear | Lei | NYC

   Once a year I eat something and think, “Oh, yeah, I’m blatantly stealing this.” This salty as hell cured ham is paired with sweet, crunchy Asian pear. Does the kitchen do anything else before sending it you? Do they need to? I didn’t ask or think about it. This is charcuterie at its finest, from a delicate little corner in Chinatown and now on my table at home.

9. Bangers & mash | Wilde’s | LA

   Wilde’s could do excellent business on B+ food given its A+ vibe in what has turned out to be an irrationally ravenous Los Feliz location for this kind of crowd pleaser. Natasha Price isn’t bothering with that. This sausage. My god. Natasha cranks up the sweetness just to the point of you wondering, like, is it too much? It’s not. The complementary notes of funk and umami round out what has quickly settled into drop everything, destination dining.

10. Steak tartare | Here’s Looking At You | LA

    Here’s Looking At You was a fighter. It survived, over and over again, until it was finally time. On a dreary night in June, I stopped in for my final HLAY meal. It’s a rare, disorienting experience, knowing you’re eating dishes for the last time. I’d ordered this steak tartare with regularity for nearly a decade. It was a constant as I decided to move to LA, then leave, then return. It was the truest example of a global, small plates approach that went on to proliferate across America. You’d catch little nods, both knowing and subconscious, at Jonathan Whitener’s masterpiece in Austin and Portland and Atlanta. But then you’d come back to this weird dining room in Koreatown and find that, yeah, this is it.
    
    Midway through that June meal, the tartare hit the table, alongside the tomato bagna cauda classic. Owner Lien Ta stopped by to check in and I choked up. I couldn’t find any of the right words. It’s just food, right? It’s just a space, it’s just another passed app. There are millions of these. That’s what I told myself, trying to shake out of it while Lien put her hand on my shoulder. Because no, in brief moments when a few wild, crazy, creative people push hard enough on their vision because they can’t imagine doing anything else, this is my favorite thing in the world.
    
    The words hit me eventually. It was all simpler than my brain would let me believe. I realized I just needed to say thank you.

11. Silken tofu salad | Flavourtown | Seoul
    

Read more

I do a version of this every year. This is the second time it’s lived in full on Bangers & Jams. Here are my 25 best restaurants (mostly in New York and LA), 25 favorite films, top 100 songs and 5 must-read books of 2024, all ranked in order.

It was a good year. Thanks for being here.

Food

Top 25 restaurants

Read more

I get text like this one a lot, and while I like answering them, I try to be careful about overdoing it with what-to-order lists when giving restaurant recommendations.

I think showing up somewhere for the first time with a pre-ordained order in mind — whether it’s via a friend or The Infatuation — is a little lame. It dampers the experience. Movies are the most enjoyable when you don’t watch the trailer and know as little about them as possible going in. Restaurants are the same. During the best meals, you forget about everything happening outside as the hours stretch on, and you let the night overtake you. It’s difficult to have that happen when you’re box-checking your way through someone else’s experience.

That’s why I usually answer with something like a short list of the truly special dishes, encouraging people to take control from there. And I’ve had a lot of special dishes this year. Here are my 100 favorite, ranked in order, for paid subscribers. Paid subs also received an email last week to RSVP to Jabroni’s, a dinner pop up I’m doing in LA on Nov. 23. If you missed it and want in, just reply here.

Restaurant dishes of the year

A mix of new spots, new dishes from old spots, and classics that still hit hard.

Read more

This is my favorite thing to do each year. Below you’ll find lists of favorite restaurant dishes, film performances, shopping finds, songs and outlandish takes I believe wholeheartedly. 

In previous years, these lists have bounced around various platforms, but 2023 is the first time it’s behind a paywall. So I’m opening up seven day free trials for the next week or so, if you wanna dive into it. Then I’m turning that feature back off because I don’t really believe in it. 

Enjoy. (Bangers & Jams City Guides are all updated, too).

Jump around to each section here:
Food | Movies | Music | Books | Everything else

Food

I’ve aged into being way more Chris Black than in my dining out, and that’s cool with me. The pure food discoveries are dwindling and the “you have to eat here because it’s an incredible time” recs are increasing. 

I don’t really have patience for the whole New York City reservation panic. If you really want to go somewhere, make a friend who works there. Be smart about the apps. Book day-of. Sign up for a Bangers & Jams Reckless Spender membership (I got you). Or just don’t go if you can’t get in. Like, it’s fine. It’s dinner. Get over it. I was at a party the other week and a guy was telling me about the Resy bot he set up so he can hold tables at Cote a month in advance. That sucks. But mostly it’s … lame? 

With all that said, it was a very good restaurant year. All the favorites are listed below. (And, of course, RIP Cool World).

Best food things

1. London, a better restaurant city than New York: I don’t even think this one is that hot. The restaurants feel more special, with a more distinguished point of view. The cooking is more dialed in and interesting. The service has just the right level of warmth. Somehow the entrees are amazing. And you don’t need to only sell steak frites and martinis to survive.

Read more

Books

• Time Is A Mother | Ocean Vuong

• Groovy Bob | Harriet Vyner

• The Marriage Plot | Jeffrey Eugenides

• Red Carpet | Erich Schwartzel

• Via Carota | Jody Williams & Rita Sodi

• Cassandra At The Wedding | Dorothy Baker

• Acts Of Service | Lillian Fishman

• The Gimmicks | Chris McCormick

• How Should A Person Be | Sheila Heti

• Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels

• The Cook You Want To Be | Andy Baraghani

• Home Cooking | Laurie Colwin

• Assembly | Natasha Brown

• A Dream Life | Claire Messud

• A Sport And A Past Time | James Salter

• Stay True | Hua Hsu

• Franny & Zooey | JD Salinger

• The Copenhagen Trilogy | Tove Ditlevsen

• Bad Behavior | Mary Gaitskill

Read more

Books

• Afterparties | Anthony Veasna So

• Kink | R.O. Kwon & Garth Greenwell

• Beautiful World, Where Are You? | Sally Rooney

• No One Is Talking About This | Patricia Lockwood

• The Right To Sex | Amia Srinivasan

• With Teeth | Kristen Arnett

• Objects Of Desire | Clare Sestanovich

• Monogamy | Sue Miller

• Real Life | Brandon Taylor

• The Loneliest Americans | Jay Caspian Kang

• Slow Days, Fast Company | Eve Babitz

• Exciting Times | Naoise Dolan

• Happy Hour | Marlowe Granados

• Topeka School | Ben Lerner

• Matrix | Lauren Groff

• The Netanyahus | Joshua Cohen

• How To Blow Up A Pipeline | Andreas Malm

• The Longing For Less | Kyle Chayka

• Black, White & The Grey | Mashama Bailey

• Bavel | Ori Menashe & Genevieve Gergis

• Cooking At Home | David Chang & Priya Krishna

• Italian American | Scott Tacinelli & Angie Rito

• Mister Jiu's | Brandon Jew

Read more

Much more “things that made 2020 not terrible” than bangers only

But still plenty to like.

Read more

Books

• Nothing Fancy | Alison Roman

• Trick Mirror | Jia Tolentino

• On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous | Ocean Vuong

• Go Ahead In The Rain | Hanif Abdurraqib

• My Year Of Rest And Relaxation | Ottessa Moshfegh

• How To Do Nothing | Jenny Odell

• Normal People | Sally Rooney

• Lot | Bryan Washington

• The New Me | Halle Butler

• Fleishman Is In Trouble | Taffy Brodesser-Akner

• SprawlBall | Kirk Goldsberry

Read more