Great Meals Of The Year Just Passed

When I returned from Nashville I had an email from one of the original Eat Clubbers who now lives in Indiana. I didn’t really know him, and I had never met his wife. He wanted to meet at Mandina’s, a place I generally ignore. They were literally heading to the restaurant from the airport, so I had a little time to wait for them to arrive.

In perusing the menu I noticed two things that excited me. The first was Buster Crabs, a regular on menus when Tom and I started dating. It was the era of the Contemporary Creole Revolution when chefs were reinventing New Orleans classics in a newly delicious way.

Buster crabs are baby soft shells, and when they were on menus all over town they were served Amandine style With light brown butter and lots of sliced toasted almonds. I was shocked to see them at Mandina’s, and they had a predictable but equally delicious New Orleans preparation here too. They were served over a bed of shredded iceberg lettuce and were flanked by a pile of boiled shrimp on either side. The entire thing was generously napped by a New Orleans Remoulade sauce.

I also saw daube and spaghetti here, which I had to get because we talk about it so much on The Food Show.  It came doused in the thick cooked-all-day red sauce with a touch of sweet. It was an enormous pile of spaghetti with the daube sliced and interspersed with the pasta. This was not the way my mom cooked it. She had a big chunk of chuck roast but I’ve also seen it with brisket. A listener called The Food Show to take me to task for even suggesting chuck roast. He insisted that real daube is made only with calf.

It's amusing to me that Mandina's made a list of best dining experiences of the year, but its presence here is not about the food. I very much enjoyed this first meal with new friends. And the appearance of these two dishes made it pop out from the crowd. Good food is where you find it, even at Mandina's.

Another favorite meal also involves meat cooked in red gravy. TANA Italian offered Braciole as a Wednesday special, and I went over to have it. I was curious to see Michael Gulotta's version of this Sicilian mama's dish. He's a terrific chef, but his mother is a Sicilian New Orleans cook. At $36 I thought it was way too expensive, because by the time I got to it the pot was very low, and the Braciole was mostly bits of meat. But the sauce was so rich and flavorful I have thought about it many times since, and one of these days I will get back there to have it again. Earlier in the day next time.

The last of the memorable dining experiences of 2025 was the Reveillon at Cafe Degas. The point of all these special dinners is to give diners a chance to get acquainted with new places by offering price incentives. The evening was extraordinary, and the food was wonderful. I will definitely return to Cafe Degas soon. Besides a great salad and cassoulet topped by duck confit, I had pots de creme, and it doesn’t get much better than that. All this was experienced in what amounted to a treehouse filled with twinkle lights. Magical.

I’m sure that there were plenty other meals that made me happy, but these immediately come to mind when reviewing a year of great eating.

I hope 2025 was a year of great eating for you. And that 2026 will also be one to remember. Happy New Year