My favorite restaurants of 2024
against the homogeneous and chic; in favor of lunch, quirk, & quality
What follows are my ten favorite restaurant experiences of the previous year. Since I’ve spent the majority of years of my life working in restos and since I hate the globalizing, homogenizing tendency of restaurant spaces especially in big cities, I think it matters to praise and share those places that aren’t that. These were my ten favorite experiences of the year that felt like they couldn’t be reproduced even if others tried, with special mention when the wine lists were great, listed in no particular order.
Spoiler alert: there are three luncheonettes on this list. I learned something about myself this year, which is that a luncheonette is rather important to me emotionally.
S&P Lunch - New York, NY (Manhattan) – luncheonette #1
This place is where I go when I am having a rotten day in New York. Jackhammers all morning, too much email, broken public transit? I come here and get a patty melt or matzo ball soup or a turkey club or onion rings and regular-degular coffee in a diner mug: suddenly everything in the world becomes manageable again. I think I had lunch here three times this year and it cheers me up every time. I’m so glad the new owners took it over and kept it alive with a revamped kitchen a few years ago—it is an New York oasis and feels like stepping back into a city I wanted to write poems about when I first moved there in 2009. And they offer a whole plate of pickles, in the Jewish/NY half-sour style. I get them almost every time.
Casa Memo - Villafranca di Verona, IT (Verona province)
A thoroughly charming little restaurant, though a touch off the beaten path from the city of Verona proper. I prefer its village location, as it means you don’t have to vie for space next to an enormous group of dudes jostling to order vintage Quintarelli or ’90s Barolo or whatever, which is common in Verona’s well-known spots. Casa Memo’s dishes are precise and lovely, clearly taking shape and delicacy from fine dining kitchens without ever losing sense of real northern Italian cooking, for example, the luccio in salsa pictured here or my favorite cotechino and pearà I’ve eaten yet. Their product sourcing is meticulous, including tiny artisanally-produced cheeses, anchovies, cured meats, and more. And the wine list is worth the trip—notable is a focus on natural sparkling wines of northern Italy, which not nearly enough Italians take seriously. Best of all, Casa Memo has a lovely trellised dining area outside, just dang magical in spring and fall.
Eel Bar - New York, NY (Manhattan)
My most beautiful meal this summer! I’ve always liked this group’s other restaurants, but Eel Bar feels a bit more fleshed-out, grown-up, with elegant dishes of vegetables and seafood that give nods to Barcelona and Spanish coastlines but never feel like an exact copy of stuff you can get for half the price if you travel there. I like the maritime interiors mixed with weird nineties disco vibes, too, and for drinks the cocktail / bar list was superior. And service was totally friendly, eschewing the very common thing in major cities where cool or fashionable young people waiting tables act aloof, which I can’t stand. Sincerity makes hospitality. Special nod goes to my friends for always allowing me to finish bites of different dishes even when I’m routinely the slowest eater at table.
Salty Lunch Lady’s Little Luncheonette - New York, NY (Queens) – luncheonette #2
Real ones know your girl, me, regards most highly a sandwich. Bad mood? Sandwich. Long night previous? Sandwich. Leftovers in the fridge? Sandwich. I was tickled when I finally tried these excellent sandwiches with make up the bulk of the menu here. Also worth the trip: cakes! Apparently the owner is a supremo baker, too, and the cakes are triple-layer and remind me of baking in the ’90s: colorful and cheerful stuff from like, Family Circle magazine. Extremely recommend, praise be that it is in Ridgewood, where I spend a lot of time.
L’Avanguardia - Solferino, IT (Mantua province)
I’d never before had a proper bollito misto, a tradition hailing from Lombardy and the Piedmont absolutely meant to fortify entire large families or communities in winter. The proprietor at L’Avanguardia does the whole “mixed boil” thing on an enormous stainless steel hot cart that he wheels around the room, which is so weird and fun, with steaming trays from which to select various cuts like beef tongue, testa, cotechino, veal, etc. It’s accompanied by delicious house-made condiments of salsa verde, hot sauce, roasted peppers, and so on. I was impressed at how heavy I did not feel after this meal—everything felt cooked very gently and lightly, despite the sturdy cuts of meat and prejudice I have because my forebears over-boiled meat and vegetables to an unholy pallor. Plus there’s a nice little selection at L’Avanguardia of artisanal and natural wines focusing on producers around Mantova, Verona, and elsewhere nearby, a rare emphasis.
Bandini’s - Barcelona, ES
This contemporary bistro / wine bar-type spot weaves together Catalan and Italian cuisines, in what seems a dominant mode in Barcelona dining these days, I presume because of both the influence of the Colombo brothers and Joan Valencia over the last decade—the chef and sommelier partners of Bandini’s both came up at Bar Brutal—but also because of the notable influx of Italians to work and party in this city. (I am informed it’s a bit like more northern Americans living in Miami or Tulum.) The wine list is full of the best Catalan and Spanish natural winemakers to drink; the dishes all taste fresh and properly seasoned; pastas are very good. Plus it’s a convivial space, where the staff actually seem to enjoy themselves, with a warm mix of Catalan, Castellano, and English spoken cheerfully throughout the room. Bandini’s embodies many of the sensations I love about this city.
Beauty’s – Montreal, CN – luncheonette #3
One of my friends who’s a great lover of Montreal sent us to this luncheonette which is best in class; thank God for him. A good BLT would be among my chosen end-of-life meals, and this and a Caesar salad were absolutely ideal. The array of baking that’s done at this family-owned, multi-gen establishment is very impressive: in an adventurous gluten dive, we had very good sourdough, challah, an everything bagel, and banana bread. Finally, their build-your-own Bloody Mary, on a shiny little tray with a personal bottle of Worcestershire sauce and fresh horseradish, is the type of drink service I wish I could get on every train, plane, and Sunday morning. A chrome-laden, joyful place.
SantoPalato - Rome, IT
Perhaps not an ideal spot for vegetarians when you’re visiting the Eternal City, but then very little in Italy is. I had some of my favorite dishes of the year at this modern and excellent trattoria, including these oxtail polpette, pictured, which for a great lover of “Italian foods in ball form,” were pretty much perfect. There was also, to accompany, a delicate little dish of various tender radicchios and chicories, nothing hard or fibrous – so pretty. All of this is supplied in order for you to explore a wine list packed with Italian natural producers on whom I really wish the rest of the world would catch up, with many bottles available with age, for relatively fair prices. Mi piace.
Vermut - Catania, IT
This place is the best. In a perfect expression of Sicily, Vermut is always packed and tumultuous; people both stand and sit, inside and outside on the cobbled streets, to eat and drink. It offers a menu where everything good about Italy’s endless traditions for cured meats and cheese is available. To drink, Vermut has great options for well-made beer, gin, and house-made vermouths, plus there’s a great selection of new and established natural wine producers from all over Italy, special emphasis on Sicily proper, by the generous and unpretentious oste Antonio Lombardo. I’ve been three times in the last four years, and every time, I like Vermut more and more. Get a big ol’ table outside on the street, order snacks all night, please have at least four bottles. It is raucous and sexy in the summer.
Gia Vin & Grill - Montreal, CN
This meal sort of made me emotional, because it is close to my dream restaurant. Gia is a combination of something like an elevated tavern, a high-quality Italian osteria, a wine bar, a bistro. All front-of-house are warm and genuine. We asked for an easygoing wine pairing and were given compelling wines that actually suited the dishes, in quantities that didn’t lay us flat at the end, and I even had introduced to me a small new young producer from Alsace who intrigued and surprised me. The steak was so satisfying, the chips were melty on the inside and very cronchy outside, and the seafood tower reminded me of back when Gramercy Tavern did the best version of it in the world (maybe ten-fifteen years ago). Just — excellent.