As 2025 comes to a close, I’m struck by the miles I traveled to land on the best bites of 2025.
This list took me from Austin to Seattle, France-adjacent decadence to Japan hotel lounges, and all the way to Korea for one of the most prized beef experiences on Earth.
It wasn’t easy to land on these nine restaurants. As always, variety was key and perhaps this year more than most, extravagance shaped the list. But as always, great food doesn’t mean a license to spend. Every one of the best bites of 2025 offers the same thing: value, but with a degree of context.
And with that, let’s dive into the best bites of 2025!!
The Vitals:
the spot: Jabs Burgers and Fries 111 Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78704
the eats: Excellent Smash Burgers
the bucks: $
the full nelson: Some of the best Bang for your Burger Buck Smash Burgers in town
There’s smashed burgers and then there is Bang for your Burger Buck. IYKYK.
JABS delivers a textbook smash burger using Creekstone Farms beef, crisp edges, and a burger sauce so addictive it immediately reminded me of Raising Cane’s sauce energy. Simple, flawless, and priced like someone still remembers burgers are supposed to be affordable. In a city allergic to simplicity, JABS keeps it simple and that’s exactly right when making a smashed burger you crave over and over again.
The Vitals:
the spot: Burnt Bean Co 108 S Austin St, Seguin, TX 78155
the eats: athe burger only available on Thurs and Fri + all the BBQ
the bucks: $$
the full nelson: One of the most exceptional Barbecue restaurants in Texas makes one mean burger
Yes, Texas Monthly’s #1 BBQ restaurant also served me the best lamb of my life. The lamb breast is smoked till meltingly tender, the smoke balances the gaminess of lamb fat, and then paired with pillowy housemade naan and a chermoula so balanced it stopped the table cold. This wasn’t BBQ flexing — this was a chef showing restraint, confidence, and world-class technique.
The Vitals:
the spot: Juniper 2400 E Cesar Chavez St UNIT 304, Austin, TX 78702
the eats: Egg Custard(off the tasting menu)
the bucks: $$$$
the full nelson: A dish one might expect at The French Laundry
This is as close as I’ve ever come to eating at the acclaimed The French Laundry in Yountville — and that is high praise.
Silky, restrained, and technically perfect, this egg custard was a reminder that greatness often whispers. Like so many dishes off the tasting menu at Juniper, days of work go into crafting dishes that seem to fade away in seconds off the plate but stay in one’s memory for a lifetime.
The Vitals:
the spot: David Doughies 2427 Webberville Rd, Austin, TX 78702
the eats: Artisanal Bagels
the bucks: $-$$
the full nelson: a bagel to make an NYer jealous
A three-day bagel process will do that. The housemade pastrami lox is excellent, but it’s the bagel itself — chewy, structured, deeply flavorful — that steals the show. When the bread makes the protein take a back seat, you’re dealing with something special.
The Vitals:
the spot: Le Calamar 1600 S 1st St Suite 100, Austin, TX 78704
the eats: Chicken Wing inspired by one of the most revered living chefs today, Gnocchi, Snapper Ceviche, Mutton Snapper in Salsa Matcha
the bucks: $$$
the full nelson: the fanciest chicken wing God could have imagined.
This wing is based on Pierre Koffmann’s legendary trotter dish where a pig’s foot is deboned, and stuffed with chicken, sweetbreads and morels — and yes, it’s as decadent as that sounds.
Chef Casey Wall takes his own spin with chicken wing instead of trotter, huitlacoche in place of morels and grills it over Japanese charcoal. At $8 a wing you don’t order a dozen. You commit to savoring each bite slowly. And once you do, you’ll understand why some dishes exist purely to haunt you. And possibly cause gout.
The Vitals:
the spot: Moto Pizza locations throughout Seattle, tested at T-Mobile stadium
the eats: Root Pizza
the bucks: $$
the full nelson: My fav version of Detroit style pizza to date
Moto proves that Detroit-style pizza isn’t a novelty — it’s a canvas. Creative riffs, bold toppings like dungeness crab, and a respect for the genre that shows how much room this style still has to grow. Seattle quietly became one of my favorite pizza cities this year because of places like this.
Oh and they even have an outpost at T-Mobile Park where the Seattle Mariners play. Huge upgrade from a hotdog swimming in water.
The Vitals:
the spot: Top Roe 120 W 5th St, Austin, TX 78701
the eats: Matcha Pot De Creme
the bucks: $$$
the full nelson: Proof that the matcha craze has merit
I love Chocolate Pot De Creme, one of my all time fav desserts. It is a hard sell to steer me away from chocolate too. But Matcha makes a compelling exception.
Like chocolate, matcha offers bitter notes which is compelling in any sweet and fat ladened dessert. Matcha provides remarkable balance in a pot de creme and this dish exemplifies balance.
And I suppose caviar didn’t hurt it much either. Though sprinkle of sea salt could have made a similar point too and for less $$$.
The Vitals:
the spot: Grand Hyatt Fukuoka 1 Chome-2-82 Sumiyoshi, Hakata Ward, Fukuoka, 812-0018, Japan
the eats: Grand Club lounge
the bucks: $$
the full nelson: best hotel food I have ever had and some of the best food of the trip
Imagine starting your breakfast ritual every morning with a bowl of sashimi over rice(Kaisen don) that featured impeccable fish and rice. And then you moved on to a breakfast buffet with silk scrambled eggs, artisanal breakfast sausages and delightfully rich sauces like mentaiko(sauce/dip made from fish roe) and a velvety green sauce that is a special of the hotel. Suddenly hotel dining doesn’t seem like a cop out.
Though I only hit the cocktail and hors d’oveurs once, I will forever remember they had bottles of Japanese single malt scotch out for you to pour at will. Grand Hyatt Fukuoka’s Grand Club Lounge will make you not want to explore Fukuoka Japan because the food and value are just that good.
The Vitals:
the spot: Hanwoo Beef Market experience from Airbnb
the eats: Korean BBQ featuring Hanwoo Beef aka the “Kobe beef of Korea
the bucks: $$
the full nelson: The ultimate beef lover experience featuring Korean BBQ
The best beef I have ever had in my life was from Seoul Korea. And thanks to the exchange rate, it wasn’t even that pricey. An AirBnB experience set us up along with fellow foodies from all over the world to experience a tour of this massive industrial food market. From there we went to a restaurant who cooks the beef you purchase from the market.
Eating this beef is like eating Tuna belly sushi or toro. With minimal seasoning one relishes the marbling and flavor that truly has no equal. Sorry Kobe beef. Sorry NYC steakhouses. Seoul Korea got the best beef Ali Khan Eats has ever had.
Not surprisingly, Japan and Korea capped off the year. But it isn’t just airline miles that leads to good eats. Value matters and so did balanced flavors. Truth be told, some of best food moments happened in my kitchen too. So be on the lookout for more recipes in 2026 – cheers and Buen Provecho!
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