My 25 best new restaurant dishes of the year
A first-half ranking
I had a great time chatting with
on the This is TASTE podcast. You can listen to us get into my journey from ESPN to line cooking to my role at Substack, as well as some restaurant and food media takes.Matt and I spoke this spring before my first meal at Le Veau d'Or, a restaurant I kept trying to hit in 2024 but finally tried in 2025. Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson accomplish everything you’d want to see in an opening — a distinct point of view, an incredible vibe, warm service, and, of course, some fucking unforgettable plates of food. As I reflected on the best new dishes of the year so far, I kept going back to my evenings at Le Veau d'Or.
Here’s my top 25 rankings since January. We’ll do a top 100 again in December that includes everything from the year. For this one, I’m sticking to either brand new dishes or dishes I tried for the first time. Desserts are — of course — included.
Go check ‘em out.