The Best of 2019, plus your first meal of 2020
What a year!
Hi friends,
Welcome to the final This Needs Hot Sauce of 2019! I’ve been writing this since 2017 and am excited to ring in the new year with all of you! If you’re looking for lots of inspiration in 2020, consider signing up for a paid subscription. You’ll get access to the full archive including my worst meals of 2019, my go-to weeknight dinners, and lots more.
Now, let’s dive in!
Something to cook:
I made apple crisp for Christmas with Dale’s mom and it was a hit. I made a small batch with five apples and one stick of butter for the topping.
Leah, Julia and I made cauliflower quesadillas on Saturday with some refried beans added. I didn’t bother to char the peppers this time and sauteed them with the cauliflower. Quesadillas were one of my most frequent dinners this year and I plan to keep that up in 2020.
I had dinner at my parent’s house for the last Shabbat of the year and we had my favorite beet dip, challah, brussels sprout risotto, and this excellent kale salad. It keeps really well.
If you’re grocery shopping today or tomorrow, pick up coconut water and ingredients for breakfast tacos. They’re my new year’s day tradition and the best way to start the year.
Something to order:
Lizzi and I grabbed dinner at Five Leaves last Monday. So many people were already out of town but the restaurant had a great buzz to it, with candlelight and antique mirrors. We ordered so much food and the highlights were the spicy kale salad, the crispy black rice with kimchi, and the fries. This restaurant is definitely better for dinner than brunch.
We had a Christmas Eve family dinner at Jack’s Wife Freda (also better for dinner than brunch) in the West Village. The team was so great with my three-year-old cousin and the adults were happy too, with great appetizers and cocktails (get the zucchini chips, the salt and pepper eggplant, and ask for the green hot sauce).
Molly came to town and naturally we had to get pizza. She, Julia and I got pizza at Motorino, which is always a great option. All of their wines are $40 and they have some great Italian options (get the Aglianico). Get the kale caesar and some classic pizzas.
Something to read:
Why every fancy store is now a coffee shop (featuring a fancy store in my neighborhood)
Indian food should be an American home cooking staple
Very achievable New Year’s resolutions
Love to see a Grub Street Diet from a woman politician from Queens
I know Hanukkah is over, but I still dig Melissa Clark’s latke style:
Some NYE links: a guide to Champagne from my friend Karen and a round up of delicious sparkling wines at all price points (from $9 to nearly $100).
Now, without further ado, it’s time for the best of 2019! This year felt incredibly long, mostly in a good way. Being freelance means a ton of variety (and this year, I was able to travel a bunch). In the best moments, this translates to really special meals which are about more than the food! I also can’t write this list without thanking you all for reading and sharing your thoughts with me. To end a year of great eating, I made a donation to The Edible Schoolyard, an organization that builds edible education programs for public school children.
Grab your google maps/recipe saving apps/Pinterest etc. and start bookmarking!
At restaurants:
Chez Janou in Paris on the last night of this trip. We didn’t leave till 1:00 am and I still think about the chocolate mousse, which comes in a giant urn.
Dinner at Nopalito our first night in San Francisco. It was an epic crew (shoutout to Dale, Isa, Noah, and Clare) and perfect Mexican food. I could eat chips every day for the rest of my life and be so happy. Margarita pitchers are rarely good, but they are great here. (Honorable Mexican mentions go to brunch at Mesa Coyoacan and a birthday dinner at Oxomoco)
Win Son Bakery Friends and Family Night/Every time I went to Win Son: Win Son truly feels like a second home when I’m sitting at the bar with Julia. And it was so great to welcome Win Son Bakery to the neighborhood (and host a wonderful happy hour there).
Guatemalan breakfasts: Returning to Guatemala was long-awaited and it did not disappoint. The first breakfast I ate really hit the spot and things got better from there. Some combination of the weather, nostalgia, and a perfect tortilla is the ideal way to start the day. If you want to try this in New York, check out Claudia’s.
Burrata/everything at Lighthouse: I look for any excuse to visit this restaurant and can’t leave without ordering the burrata (it’s the perfect creamy pool and served with grilled sourdough bread) and some oysters. The burrata at La Buvette in Paris also haunts my dreams. They also do vegetables so well (get the big salad) and have an awesome happy hour.
In homes:
A tomato and mozzarella sandwich at the height of summer. We walked to the farmer’s market for tomatoes, picked up bread and cheese on the way home and made drippy sandwiches with the best ingredients.
Squash pasta! I made this for a This Needs Hot Sauce dinner party this spring and need to make it again. It was a fairly involved recipe but so worth it.
Julianne and Ian threw a fourth of July party potluck that was so much fun. It started pretty casually…and then people started dancing. Food highlights included berry pie, cucumber salad, and Aperol spritzes.
I strive to always have this cookie dough in my freezer and it’s made my life better.
Now, it’s your turn! I’m so happy to hear you all had delicious years and I’m including as many links as possible so we can all benefit from each other’s recommendations.
Julianne and Ian are the best home cooks!
Best foods out:
1) our anniversary dinner at DeStefano's Steakhouse in Williamsburg was insane. To your non-vegetarian subscribers, this steakhouse is the move!
2) I think Le Petit Italien 1000% makes the cut. Also the best french fries of our life (think: crispy on outside, soft on the inside, magical and perfect and one of the natural wonders of the world) were at Le Petit Vendôme
Two best home-cooked meals:
1) Ian bought a sous vide machine and made me a peppered steak with asparagus and a baked potato for our rooftop steakhouse date!
2) Ian made Sunday Gravy for some friends last month and it was probably the best cooking sitch yet. He cooked red sauce all day, swapped tomatoes for roasted sweet peppers in his autumn Caprese salad, and made meatballs, braciole, sweet sausage, and short rib with rigatoni. It paired perfectly with tiramisu, red wine, and a lot of freshly grated Parmesan!
Julia (my roommate) and I have lots of overlap :)
I ate too many delicious things to choose just one, so: dollar oysters and gnocchi at Union Square Cafe happy hour on my birthday, short rib ravioli at Casbah in Pittsburgh, bread/tomatoes/mozz bought separately from a bakery/farmer's market/cheese shop, smashed cucumber salad (which I made at least 10 times this summer), a vat of chocolate mousse at Chez Janou in Paris, and everything I ever ate at Win Son. (It is a coincidence but also not a coincidence that almost all these meals were with you.)
Hillary knows pasta is unbeatable:
My top 2019 restaurant meals are both pasta related. I finally got to Via Carota this year and their cacio e pepe is just as good as everyone says, if not better. I also went to L’Artusi for my birthday and their spaghetti seems simple but it is so outrageously delicious.
The restaurant runner-ups: the burger at Au Cheval, the bacon at Keens, the vegetarian coconut grits at Lalito (Ed note: rip, Lalito closed), and the moussaka and zucchini chips at Kiki’s.
My home-cooked faves: the Smitten Kitchen chickpeas, a pumpkin and spinach pasta bake, and finally learning how to poach an egg.
Zoe is a well-traveled Resy queen:
Best meals:
- Short rib pastrami from Surf BBQ in Rumson, NJ.
- The burger from Au Cheval.
- My entire brunch as a whole from The Friendly Toast in Boston.
- I don't know what they do to them to make them so good but the Japanese sweet potatoes from Don Angie are an absolute must order and then add the caramelle, lasagna rolls, prosciutto and melon, and a chrysanthemum salad and you've got yourself a perfect order.
- onion rings from Hodad's in San Diego (they're breaded not battered and that 100% makes a better onion ring)
- and of course a tie dye pizza from Rubirosa
Gemma knows how to eat well while traveling:
Love this idea and excited to learn about new spots!
Every time I go to Toronto I get the Singapore slaw salad from Lee. It has 18 ingredients including flowers and it’s the most delicious vegan dish ever. I think that dish tops 2019 but a close second was Eem in Portland which was super yummy Thai with good cocktails
Liz sometimes adds wine to food:
By December 27th, I can barely remember any other weeks or months of this year, so the only two meals that have stuck in my memory are very similar (but meat-forward, so apologies to you and your veggie readers):
First the pork osso buco at Taverna Restaurant in Austin, TX, which I had at a dinner with friends in the fall where they all ordered variations on the house risotto (also delish), and I ordered a giant hunk of meltingly tender meat, lol.
Second was just on Christmas Eve, when I cooked the garlic braised short rib from the Alison Roman cookbook. It made our house smell amazing and I literally could not believe how good it was.
More meals you can cook in wine in 2020!!
I’m saving all of Paige’s recs for my next trip to Boston (and her cookbook club sounds amazing):
Restaurants:
Sofra - Their spinach falafel pita is the best falafel I've had outside of Israel and the brown butter tahini donut is the best pastry I think I've ever had ever anywhere!!
Dakzen - They've been winning awards since they opened but I went in the spring and their noodles brought me right back to a hawker centre in Singapore!
Sarma - Same people as Sofra (and Oleana which is also very good) and I finally went twice in September - everything is incredible, not all of the ingredients for each dish is on the menu so it's a fun surprise, there are walk-around specials that are incredible, and the greek frozen yogurt with goat's milk caramel is in my dreams once a week
Runner ups go to Alden & Harlow and Field & Vine - small plates places where you literally cannot go wrong with anything on the menu. A dream.
Honorable mention to Roxy's Grilled Cheese which is a well-known foodtruck staple here in Boston, but only at their brick and mortar do they serve the best fried chicken sandwich I've ever had! And I've had a lot of fried chicken sandwiches!!
Home cooked:
Golden curry from Ivan Orkin's The Gaijin Cookbook - yes it's made with boxed curry but it's fucking amazing!!
Rigatoni with vodka sauce from Bon Appetit - I thought vodka sauce this good could only come from Jersey Italian restaurants but I was wrong!
NYTimes takeout-style sesame noodles - The first thing my bf cooked for me and I knew it was meant to be :') He cooked both of the other things on this list too lol
Bonus category: I started a Cookbook Club this year and there have been 3 meetings so far. The first one was for Simple (Ottolenghi) and we made 6 dishes (for 3 people) but the standout was the roasted eggplant with anchovy vinaigrette. The second meeting was for Dining In (duh) and the Chocolate Tahini tart almost made us cry. Most recent was Salt Fat Acid Heat and my bf and I spent five hours cooking the ragú from scratch (including grinding our own meat in a food processor) and it was out of this world!
Kendra’s birthday trip sounds incredible:
Best restaurant dishes from this year:
- The potato dumplings at LaLou blew me away. The ingredients were humble and simple - and so delicious. Dressed with lemon and plenty of butter, adorned with barely-wilted lettuces and herbs, it was perfectly balanced. I still think about this dish. The fantastic hospitality was the icing on the cake.
- Everyone raves - very rightfully so - about the burger at Red Hook Tavern, but what really struck me were the other outstanding touches throughout the meal, like the creamed spinach that accompanies the strip steak. I also could have eaten the grilled corn with 'nduja by the quart container.
- The rich, deep flavors of Adda's Tawa Kaleji - chicken liver, bell peppers, and ginger served on pao - were also eye-popping!
- As a treat to myself for my birthday, I ventured solo to Holbox, an island with no cars off the northern coast of the Yucatan peninsula. It's so beautiful, peaceful and fun that I'm almost afraid to tell anyone about it. Almost daily, I ate at Raices, a no-frills seafood shack on the beach with the best ceviche on the island. The combo of fresh fish, citrus, thinly sliced tomato and onion hit the spot after a couple hours in the hot sun. Add a Sol, and a sunset = perfection!
I can’t think of a better note to end the year on! We’ll resume questions next week. In the meantime, I wish you all a very happy new year.
Happy eating and thanks for reading.
xo, Abigail