My Top 20 TV Shows of 2024, #10 - #6

10.) Baby Reindeer (NETFLIX)

The actress that played the love interest was so good at being so creepy and disturbing. It really made this show of a failed joke turned obsession gone wrong into the best type of light horror. The actor central to it you could tell was so personally invested into the story in how carefully he went through each step. It isn't easy to tell a story like this in 2024 and have it come off fair and well drawn out rather than overly abrasive / anti-the woman in the story, so taht's another area of great praise for Richard Gadd's great show. Also, I really loved how carefully it told the story of unease and emotional distress resulting in his dalliance with a transgender woman, but telling it super fairly. This was a great show to say you can touch on dark subjects with aplomb in today's world.

9.) A Man on the Inside (NETFLIX)

Sue me, I think this was better than most seasons of The New Place. I like that Michael Schur went away from the gimmickry, the progressive silliness, and just went to doing a show with ridiculous heart. Ted Danson played that role so well - no, not the role of the undercover private detective, the one of teh caring old man in his twilight years mixing with so many others in their twilight years. Mike Schur filled that golden years home with so many incredible characters. So much emotional poignancy in all those stories, while still maintaining some levity. Mary Elizabeth Ellis was great also as the daughter, as was Stephanie Beatriz in a role so opposite to hers on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. There was no room for snark here, just heart and goodness. It's like Schur took Parks and Recreation, took half the humor out, but someone doubled the heart, and it still worked magically.

8.) The Sympathizer (HBO) 

The story of a Vietnam refugee who turns spy but gets coaxed into not being a spy by becoming involved in a movie production about the Vietnam War - all of it sounds crazy. It was played as such, down to the point of Robert Downey Jr playing the five or six recurring non-Vietnamese characters. Describe it to anyone and it sounds insane - other than I guess the pull of Downey (who helped make the show happen in the first place). That said, if we get past all of that, this was a great story about everything from loneliness to the pull of home, to realizing how the other side is not too different, to propoganda from the war, both in Vietnam and in the USA. It was an award winning book turned show, and the show lived up to the combination of zaniness and poignancy of the book. The parts that didn't really work for me was teh spy stuff (including the CIA Agent played by Downey - easily the worst of his various roles). The best parts was the satire on the shallowness of some of the sympathizers in the US. All in all, it was a fascinating, thought-provoking, and weirdly complex tale.

7.) The Penguin (HBO)

It's funny, with Marvel series after Marvel series alternating between being largely forgettable or just bad, I was kidn of out on Superhero stories, but heard some early good press on The Penguin, and then buckled in for what was just a fantastic piece of television. Colin Farrell and Cristina Milloti were brilliant as the two leads, as were a bunch of the other character actor types. The story was told painstakingly, but with great backstory - like the semi-bottle episode of Sofia Falcone's childhood and time in the mental asylum. The darkness throughout gave such great gravity to it. It's rare you can combine so deftly the great fun that the actors were clearly having with teh darkness and seriousness of the tone of the story, but it worked perfectly well here. I don't know if there will be a season 2, or it's just a lead-in to the next Batman movie (ending it with the shot of the bat signal was just perfect), but wherever The Penguin and Sofia Gigante reappear next, I'm in. I just hope it's played with this same combination of humor, farce and drama.

6.) The Gentlemen (NETFLIX)

I don't know if the fact I've seen the movie helped or hurt in my enjoyment of The Gentlemen. Of course the plot is super similar (but more exhaustive and wider - makes sense given they have more time), but if anything I found this better. The added time let a complex plot from the movie breathe more, giving us more time with ridiculous side characters (the entirety of wrestling subplot, the hangers-on at the weed farm), and more time to watch the plot slowly unfurl. The acting was great as well - Theo James was better here than on White Lotus in my view, but if anything Daniel Ings as the coke-fiend brother and Kaya Scodelario as the crime lordess stole the show. I could watch another season of this easily. Sure, I put a bit of a demerit for basically rewriting your own movie to be a TV show, but hard to argue that the show was excellent.

My Top 20 TV Shows of 2024, #15 - #11

15.) Nobody Wants This (NETFLIX)

I will watching anything with Kristen Bell, and similarily a show with Jonah Ryan and Willa playing the side characters will make it even more of a must see. So this show was right up my alley. And it paid off - it's a fairly small, fairly traditional romantic sitcom storyline of a girl falling for a guy from a wholly different backgroudn, but the side aspects were so enjoyable. I also appreciate they teased the two siblings (Willa and Jonah) having a crush on each other, but never doing anything with it. Kristen Bell can still play amazingly funny, and it was great to see good old Spiros Vondas himself back on teh stage playing the aggreived Jewish dad. I guess I was also happy this show opened my eyes to the concept of hot, young rabbis.

14.) House of the Dragon (Season 2, HBO)

It became a running joke about how little actually happens in Season 2 of the show. Season 1 covered a ton, and Season 2 started with us almost at war and ended with us almost at war, but now with more dragons and dragon riders. Yes, some of the plot was off - either slow or completely devoid of logic. But you know what? I don't care - at its best House of the Dragon can still hit some truly high peaks - from the for battle where we really see dragon on dragon for the first time, to the beautiful, mystical scene or Rhaenyra calling out for Vermithor in valeryon in the dragon lair. No show looks better. The acting is still top notch (even if the plot and dialogue is fairly middling). I'm still super excited to see what this show will be in Season 3, assuming you know we actually get around to war this time.

13.) Interior Chinatown (Hulu)

 

At its best, Interior Chinatown was a searing portroyal of the Model Minority problem the asian community has faced, the namelessness of so many in that community. It played great games with the politics of that community. It did many of these things so well all teh while telling it from this bizarre point of view. It featured some great central performances - from using Ronny Chieng so well, to a great performance from start to finish from Chloe Bennett. I just wish it was 10% less weird and/or less obvious about its conceit of it all being a fake story. After an episode or two that all was pretty clear. Still, it mined a lot of humor and great moments from it. This was a spectacular show being hidden by merely a very good one. I hope we continue to get these swing for the fences type shows, even if most won't be as good or memorable or, mainly, fun as Interior Chinatown was.

12.) The Bear (Season 3, Hulu)

My #1 show from last year was similarly thought of by many people as being excellent. Many of those same people called out some of the shows flaws in Season 3, just like I am here. It still remains impeccably well acted, and the combination of its frenzied and exacting style is so unique. Few shows making anything look as good as cooking does here. But it is undoubtable that the show got a bit too high on its own supply this season - from bringing in so many celebrity chefs as guests (rather than just making them up with actual actors) that blur the lines a bit with the reality of the show vs. 4th wall breaking. Case in point, bringing actual chefs on the show highlights the absurdity that even in Carmy is brilliant, the rest of the chefs just don't have the training to successfully run a tasting menu restaurant that changes recipes daily. The show tried to have its cake and eat it too. Anyway despite all of that, its highs were still super high. Their impeccable ability to avoid a Carmy and Sydney romance, and similarly fall into a lot of other cliche traps. It's just this was the first season I found the stuff outside the restaurant more compelling than what happened inside it.

11.) The Diplomat (Season 2, NETFLIX)

Sure, teh show could get a touch too complicated at times, and I'll never forgive them for the fact it was only six episodes, because man a well written political / spy drama is catnip, especially when its so well acted as this one. Of course, Keri Russell is the star, and this is a performance that honestly I feel like is better than she was in The Americans, but it was all the others that made the show even better this season - from a far better use of Hal (I thought, way less overbearing this time), to the great addition of Vice President in Allison Janney. I still have no idea if politics works this way at all - especially the around the clock access and involvement the Ambassador to the UK has to the Prime Minister, but whatever, I'll let taht slide. The show, the emotions, the drama, it's all just too good. Just wish we had a few more episodes.

My Top 20 TV Shows of 2024, #20 - #16

There's a weird dichotomy this year. This might have my favorite/best #1 since maybe Succession Season 1 in 2018 (quickly, in past years it was Chernobyl in 2019, and then Tiger King, Only Murders in the Building Season 1, Stranger Things Season 4 and The Bear Season 2). The #1 was one of the great TV series I've ever seen. The rest of the Top-20 is a bit of a step down. I don't know if it was just a slight lack of original story, or that a lot of them happen on Apple+ which I don't really watch. The other thought is this is just a lingering impact of the dual strikes in 2023 that pushed and delayed a lot of productions. Anyway, as normal we start with what's fallen off since 2023 - a lot of the list"

Shows Ended/Were a Mini-Series:

#20 - Perry Mason (cancelled)

#18 - Party Down (assuming it won't come back)

#16 - A Murder at the End of the World (miniseries)

#14 - Justified: Primeval (again, assuming it won't come back)

#13 - Winning Time (regrettably, cancelled)

#9 - Telemarketers (documentary)

#7 - The Great (still annoyed it got cancelled)

#6 - Bodies (miniseries)

#5 - The Fall of the House of Usher (miniseries)

#4 - Succession (ended)

Shows that Didn't Air in 2024

#17 - I Think You Should Leave

#15 - Beef

#12 - It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

#11 - The Righteous Gemstones

#4 - Babylon Berlin

#2 - The Last of Us

20.) Under the Bridge (Hulu)

This was a good show in what could've been a great show's body - taking a very real story of teenage bullying, class, race, and what-not, and putting some great actors about it, but leaning more into the white perspectives rather than the real story of the class / race / bullying part. It's not that it shied away from it - the characters in the foster home who bully the Indian girl and then murder her are told with some deftness to not make them out as complete monsters (well, aside from the rich girl), but I just wish more of the show focused on that. 50% of the show was incredible, the other 50% spent on Riley Keough and Lily Gladstone was merely above average, and probably would've been worse had it not been played by two great actresses.

19.) A Good Girl's Guide to Murder  (NETFLIX)

Hey, it's another show about an investigation of a murder that rocked a small town (this one a fictional story of course). But this was investigated by a precocious high schooler. It also mixed in race slightly. It was almost the opposite, in a way, of Under the Bridge - this was lighter, more investigative, more Veronica Mars, less Mare of Eastown (though neither of these shows rose to the heights of those two). I really enjoyed the lead performance - the rare case of a US actor playing someone from England. Also enjoyed the slow pace of the story - it felt more like mystery shows of old, teasing little by little until the last couple episodes. At the end, it was a bit too small, and the peformances a bit too inconsistent to go higher, but for what was a PG-13 type show, this was excellent.

18.) Letterkenny (Season 13, Hulu)

This was the year Letterkenny, that weird Canadian comedy that is far smarter and sharper than anyone would think, finally came to an end. Realistically, it could've probably gone on much longer - they were not losing their fastball for a second. If anything, the creative minds behind the show (Jared Keeso & Jacob Tierney - playing Wayne and Glen) showed they could branch off, with the great spinoff show Shoresy. Anyway, it's hard to do a last season right when you only have 6 epsidoes, but they came as close as possible, giving every part of the show spotlights as much as sendoffs. They made this random town in Canada seem so much more alive over the years. Yes it helps that the average woman in Letterkenny I geuss is a model (never a bad running joke) but the heart of the show was the main 8-9 people who were there from the start, and made the show at the end. Long live this weird, Canadian gem of a show.

17.) Three Body Problem (Season 1, NETFLIX)

It's a bit weird that the sci-fi aspect of the show that is the central problem (a society from a different galaxy far in teh future infiltrates the present to inhibit overly fast progress of the current earth) I found way more compelling than the conceit of the "game" that they all play that reveals this. The interpersonal stuff was interesting. The visual masturbation that was the game was pure Ready Player One. Still, the showe ended in a great spot, and from what I understand of the books we've barely begun to scratch the surface of how zany this well acted, dramatic pierce is. If this was Benioff & Weiss's return to TV, at least they waited for something worth coming back for.

16.) Only Murders in the Building (Season 4, Hulu)

As I mentioned earlier on the reason I find this entire set of 20 a bit weaker than in years past is because of shows like Only Murders - returning shows that were usually a bit better in years past. It wasn't like this season was bad. There were some great elements - I thought over time the three "stunt casting" characters played by Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria and Zach Galifanakis did work, but I found the humor just less successful than in years past. There is still enough chemistry between the three leads - and this year had probably the best solo Mabel story of any, but even the mystery this year seemed more forced / slightly too confusing than in years past, especially since the murderer isn't someone we really got to know or care about. The show isn't done, and I'm hopeful they can clean up a bit of the excess fluff for a Season 5 to make what was a great show that has dropped a bit towards a good show back into a great show that can match up with its three leads.

2024 NFL: Week 16 Power Rankings & The Rest

Tier I - The "Let's Start Scouting 2025 Guys" Trio

32.) New York Giants  =  2-12  (208-328)

31.) Carolina Panthers  =  3-11  (247-416)

30.) XXXXXXXXX

The Giants are just pitiful. Injuries haven't helped as it made the only good parts of the team worse, but this is just a broken team. I guess they'll let Daboll play out the string but it will be interesting who they go for next year. The Belichick acolytes routine has to stop. For the Panthers, this was a slight hiccup in the Bryce Young redemption tour. I still worry he just doesn't have the requisite ceiling to make it in the league. XXXXXXXXXXX.

Tier II - The "Just Mindlessly Bad Teams" Quinto

29.) Tennessee Titans  =  3-11  (254-379)

28.) Jacksonville Jaguars  =  3-11  (263-377)

27.) Cleveland Browns  =  3-11  (239-356)

26.) XXXXXXXXX

25.) New England Patriots  =  3-11  (238-337)

The Titans are just so bland. In theory their defense has some talent but injuries and low energy has ruined that as well. Levis is certainly not a long term answer. I'm hoping Brian Callahan can do better next year, but taht was a fairly uninspired choice to begin with. For the Jaguars, the rest of this season doesn't really matter. All that will is if they can get a new coach that can bring out the best in Trevor Lawrence (if there is a "best" worth bringing out, which is definitely a question at this point). For the Browns, I guess it is something similar also - from the sense of the reports that Watson will indeed be brought back as some sort of QB competition. They need to burn it all to the ground, even if I actually trust the Berry/Stefanski brain trust in that effort. I absolutely do not trust the owner though. XXXXXXXXX. For the Pats, Drake Maye remains promising but it is worrying how high variance that defense is week to week. They're great some weeks and then disasters being walked over like in that game. It may come down to coaching as I think there are still a lot of questions on Jerod Mayo.

Tier III - The "What Could've Been" Quadro

24.) New Orleans Saints  =  5-9  (309-312)
23.) New York Jets  =  4-10  (283-325)
22.) Dallas Cowboys  =  6-8  (298-380)
21.) XXXXXXXXX

It seems like the Saints are finally reaching the point where they realize that this needs a hard reset. I actually like some of the pieces in their recent draft, but the vestiges of the infamous 2017 draft are on the 17th hole. It will take a year or two to get out of cap hell, but it seems they're ready to start that effort. For the Jets, it's funny that Rodgers has sneakily been fairly good these last few weeks, just enough time to trick Woody Johnson and others to giving him 2025 to see what a 42 year old can do. For the Cowboys, their decent play post Dak injury is inspired but also a bit fruitless. They need a hard reset - they need to figure a lot out (starting with teh coach), but much like my Rodgers comment on the Jets, I worry if this is enough success under tough circumstances to somehow get McCarthy another year.

Tier IV - The "Do We Really Have to Care About Them?" Trio

20.) Indianapolis Colts  =  6-8  (280-329)

19.) Cincinnati Bengals  =  6-8  (399-387)

18.) Miami Dolphins  =  6-8  (276-312)

The Chargers terrible loss means that we have to care about these teams again. Very likely none make the playoffs, but since they're still alive... The Colts realistically could have been way more alive, but as someone who is trying to hold onto the last 10% of their Colts fandom, I'm happy they were exposed. They need to clean house - Richardson included at this point. On the Bengals, I find the discourse around them so weird in one specific way: People are acting like Burrow's season is unprecedented and such a shame. It is a shame, but the comparison is staring us in the face: the 2014-2016 Saints, that went 7-9 three straight years despite prime Drew Brees. Burrow better hope a 2017 Saints-like draft is in the Bengals future. For the Dolphins, my interesting area to watch is does McDaniel have any counter-coutner-punch. His offense, to some degree, is just figured out at this point. The explosives are gone. Something has to change here.

Tier V - The "Weirdness Out West" Quinto

17.) Seattle Seahawks  =  8-6  (315-313)

16.) Los Angeles Chargers  =  8-6  (294-247)

15.) San Francisco 49ers  =  6-8  (314-320)
14.) Arizona Cardinals  =  7-7  (314-306)
13.) Los Angeles Rams  =  8-6  (310-338)

I'm tickled that the order for these five teams have little to no correlation between their record or their point differential. The Seahawks are in last because now we have uncertainty around their highest relative strength in their passing game. Their defense is starting to come back to earth after a super strong middle of the season. The Chargers offense has way too low a ceiling on it, even if their defense remains strong. Granted, they were far from strong that last game, so will be important to see if that's an abberation. For the 49ers, it is super unlikely they win the division but games like that show they probably still are the most talented team in the division. The Cardinals have too high a variance, and a tough path to get there, but oddly I almost feel the strongest about theri future. I'm very much a Jonathan Gannon believer. Finally in the Rams, we have the team I think will win that division. Stafford to Nukua / Kupp is too good right now. Their defense is getting just enough pressure to keep their back seven from being fully exposed.

Tier VI - The "High Variance Pretenders" Trio

12.) Houston Texans  =  9-5  (328-300)
11.) Washington Commanders  =  9-5  (396-315)

10.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers  =  8-6  (403-326)

I don't think any of these teams will be playing on Championship Sunday, but all three could absolutely pull off first round upsets. Granted, the Texans and Buccaneers if they make it would likely be at home so it may not even be that much of an upset. The Texans pass rush has come back in force with Anderson back, and the defense as a whole is playing like a top-8 unit again. For the Commanders, the offense hasn't been super explosive in a bit, but that was the closest they've come in a while. The Buccaneers are a plain good team that has beat up on a paper soft schedule for a while now. Still, they survived the period without Evans, and the OL is giving Baker time. That's really all they need to be super spicy.

Tier VII - The "High Floor Pretenders" Duo

9.) Pittsburgh Steelers  =  10-4  (336-265)

8.) Denver Broncos  =  9-5  (336-247)

Same script at the top where I can't imagine either playing on Championship Sunday, but if we go with the "defense travels" mantra, I guess these two I have slightly higher hopes for. The Steelers better not miss TJ Watt for too long, but that defense still to me is a top unit. The Eagles grinded them but most teams won't be able to on demand pull of 10-15 play drives like that. The Broncos survived a rare Bo Nix disaster because their defensive playmakers remain so strong. That will travel. Teams can attack the non-Surtain corner a bit too easily that again a better team than the Colts can make hay, but they have the pass rush to limit the chances of that.

Tier VIII - The "High Ceiling Contenders" Duo

7.) Green Bay Packers  =  10-4  (379-287)

6.) Baltimore Ravens  =  9-5  (418-332)

The Packers are becoming a trendy Super Bowl pick now that Jordan Love has for the second straight year been brilliant down the stretch. I guess it's more sustainable this year because the defense is very good. I believe all of that. My biggest risk I see actually is the OL making Jordan have to create too much, He can be great at that, but also where we've seen his worst moments. For the Ravens, the defensive improvements remain real and apparent from early in the season. Whether they will remain is another story. This upcoming game will be a great test. They should throttle the Steelers. Should.

Tier IX - The "They're Just Good, Man" Uno

5.) XXXXXXX

Tier X - The "Still The Top?" Quadro

4.) Kansas City Chiefs  =  13-1  (329-259)

3.) Buffalo Bills  =  11-3  (445-310)
2.) Detroit Lions  =  12-2  (459-282)
1.) Philadelphia Eagles  =  12-2  (369-247)

The Chiefs are easily the worst 13-1 team I've ever seen. If I were them, I definitely do not play Mahomes this weekend against teh Texans and hope your defense can win the day. If they lose, then fine because they have a cushion now. I so worry about them rushing Mahomes back and him re-injuring himself against The Texans pass rush. The Bills defense has been awful two straight games, but also a lot of that is the Rams and Lions (two very good offenses) converting a bunch of 3rd and Longs. From being a devoted DVOA guy over the years, I've learned that teams with that profile - great on 1st and 2nd down, poor on 3rd, will often see that positively regress. They have to be hoping for that. The Lions have to be hoping for just any defenders at this point. Luckily for them they are the team best positioned to win three playoff games 38-35, but it is just tragic how this amazing season has been impacted by injuries. Finally the Eagles. I get that one game does not mean their passing game is solved, but realistically they don't need that. They need their defense to remain a Top-3 unit, the running game to play great, and grind out three 27-17 type wins. This team can absolutely do that.

Looking Ahead to Next Week's Games

16.) Jacksonville Jaguars (3-11)  @  Las Vegas Raiders (X-X)  (4:25 - CBS)

-15.) Tennessee Titans (3-11)  @  Indianapolis Colts (6-8)  (1:00 - CBS)

14.) New York Giants (2-12)  @  Atlanta Falcons (X-X)  (1:00 - FOX)

13.) Cleveland Browns (3-11)  @  Cincinnati Bengals (6-8)  (1:00 - FOX)

12.) New England Patriots (3-11)  @  Buffalo Bills (11-3)  (1:00 - CBS)

11.) New Orleans Saints (5-9)  @  Green Bay Packers (X-X)  (MNF - ESPN)

10.) Arizona Cardinals (7-7)  @  Carolina Panthers (4-10)  (1:00 - FOX)
9.) Los Angeles Rams (8-6)  @  New York Jets (4-10)  (1:00 - CBS)
8.) Detroit Lions (12-2)  @  Chicago Bears (X-X)  (1:00 - FOX)

7.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-6)  @  Dallas Cowboys (6-8)  (SNF - NBC)
6.) San Francisco 49ers (6-8)  @  Miami Dolphins (6-8)  (4:25 - CBS)
5.) Denver Broncos (9-5)  @  Los Angeles Chargers (8-6)  (TNF - Prime)
4.) Minnesota Vikings (X-X)  @  Seattle Seahawks (X-X)  (4:05 - FOX)

3.) Philadelphia Eagles (12-2)  @  Washington Commanders (9-5)  (1:00 - FOX)

2.) Houston Texans (9-5)  @  Kansas City Chiefs (13-1)  (Sat, 1:00 - NBC)

1.) Pittsburgh Steelers (10-4)  @  Baltimore Ravens (9-5)  (Sat, 4:30 - FOX)

My Favorite Restaurants: Top 35 Tasting Menus, Pt. 3 (#10 - #1)

10.) Pujol  (Mexico City - 2018)

Pujol is Mexico City's best or 2nd best restaurant, going back and forth with Quintonil (haven't been). It was the first on this list to be featured on Chef's Table with chef/owner Enrique Olvera. On the downside, there were only six listed courses which expanded to eight with a few extras thrown in. On the plus side, each was immaculate, from the famous baby-corn coated in a sauce made from ants, to a perfectly cooked octopus, to another perfectly cooked dish with lamb chops and a green mole. Even the desserts with their mango dessert and best churro you will ever have were both excellent. But of course, one cannot talk about Pujol without talking about the Mole Madre dish, their centerpiece, which is just a plate with two concentric circles of dark and light mole, with nopal tortillas. It seems crazy to serve just that as effectively the main course - but it is truly unbelievable. It is accepted people will go as far to lick the last drop of mole off the plate. It truly was a showstopper of a dish that elevates a bunch of other really great dishes.

9.) Salon  (Cape Town - 2024)

One of my only real regrets through all my trips to Cape Town is taht I never made it to The Test Kitchen, which for years was the premier single restaurant in Cape Town. Bookings were frighteningly tough. Then Luke Dale Roberts closed it during Covid, but I guess got the itch back to open a fine dining spot. It was incredible, a culinary tour through all the spots the Chef Roberts has worked or taken inspiration from. Brilliant South African dishes to be sure, but also a foie gras take on black forest cake, a brilliant "tamale" dish featuring the most Mexican of flavor profiles, to a brilliant play on Duck l'Orange, to authentic Korean to end it. It was all brilliant. In isolation, maybe you would worry about how successfully a place could pull off all these different cuisines, but apparently Mr. Luke Dale Roberts is a talented, worldly man - and after going to Salon, if anything I rue not having gone to The Test Kitchen even more.

8.) Mingles  (Seoul - 2022)

Mingles is Seoul's top ranked restaurant, and after going I can see why. It was a classic tasting menu shop, with sharp clarity on its menu, its decor, its everything. It also had a really nice 'Korean Liquor' pairing along with the wine pairing, something I took that got me to taste various different Korean localized liquors. The meal itself was great, with some of the best, most interesting dishes I've had, such as a great king-crab two ways dish, a brilliant take on surf & turf (pork & squid stuffed oyster, along with a braised beef cube), to an incredible lamb three ways dish as the primary main. The vegetable dishes were also spectacular, such as a corn soup dish that opened my eyes to just how sweet corn can be. Mingles was a special restaurant showcasing the best of modern Korean cuisine.\

7.) I Pupi  (Sicily - 2019)

This was the second tasting course meal we had in our trip to Italy in 2019, and while the first one - Imago in Rome - was a big disappointment, the seafood-forward I Pupi in Bagheria, Sicily (about 30 min away from Palermo) was incredible. Their first course of a random assortment of small bites was inspired, each being seafood forward. The second plate which was a platter with six nigiri on it with six different salts to add on top was divine, and while not 'Italian' in any way was just an insane dish. The rest of the meal got more Italian, but still small, focused, refine, seafood plates, from a zuchinni noodle wrapped fish, to an incredible soup, to lamb chops (the only meat). Each dish was so well put together, alternating from amazing small bites to dishes that approached the size of a normal restaurant starter, to everything in between. This was just a fabulous meal and such a nice comeback after being disappointed with Imago earlier in that trip.

6.) Borago  (Santiago - 2024)

Central gets all the notoriety from showcasing native food and different altitudes and all that stuff. Deservedly so - it is still to come. But the Chilean version, to some degree, is nearly as good. Rodolfo Guzman's restaurant was the highlight of my trip to Santiago, with some staggering dishes. From a paper scallop with a bright blue algae sauce, to a staggering monkfish and lobster cooked in seaweed. There were incredible small bites to start, like a little makeshift bumblebee of honey and a Chilean corn. And of course that final dish, that Patagonian lamb - just a piece of lamb, roasted over a fire for 24 hours. Much like say it takes balls for Enrique Olvera to serve mole as the main dish at Pujol, so too is it here serving a piece of lamb with no sauce, no sides. Nothing - and it was truly perfect. As was Borago more or less as a whole.

5.) Maido  (Lima - 2016, 2022)

Maido will always have a soft spot for me as it was the first tasting menu spot I went to, at a time where I didn't really know just how well reputed it was. We went for lunch, unable to get a dinner reservation but the menu is the same either way. It is a japanese-peruvian kaiseke meal that is just perfectly designed, executed, presented and crafted. 13 courses, all seafood based, all incredible, from various nigiris, to incredible takes on ceviche, to a choripan of fish & octopus sausage, to a very complicated but inredible soup decanted in front of you. Even the deserts of sea urchin and what they call the 'reef' which is a giant edible reef rock, are wild. I'm sure there are places in Japan that are just as good and more 'authentic', but this is my favorite take on Japanese cuisine ever. Just now I remember being mesmerized at each dish, on how it looked when it was brought out, on the complexity of the way it is described and of course on how it tasted. This, and to be fair the two above it, are peerless for me in the sense that I have zero idea how to recreate any of these dishes. They are simple while being complex, each ingredient, each little piece just so perfect. I hope to go Lima's other world reknowned restaurant Central at some point (maybe even this year, to which I will have to likely re-write this list to add it in), but if we could only go to one premier spot last time, Maido was a perfect pick.

4.) Gaggan Anand  (Bangkok - 2022)

Because of many reasons, I'm going to rank my 2nd trip to a Gaggan Anand restaurant separately from the first one. One reason is it technically is a different restaurant, in a different space. Another is the experience was different - this is a restaurant where he serves just at a chef's table to a group of 14 people. And the biggest difference was Gaggan Anand himself was present, was there to talk to the patrons, the entire thing being equally an experience along with the food. The food was still great, with some of the most inventive dishes I've ever had with insane preparations that he explained so well. It still had all the measure of excitement, like random things that tasted like tom yum soup, or charcoal chicken balls or a dried paper lightly filled that tasted just like hummus. It was classic Gaggan, classic modern cooking, and the only restaurant on this list whre the Chef was there to personally chat with and serve to the customers. The old restaurant is higher up the lsit because at the end I think the food was even better, but my second trip to a Gaggan was about as good as I could have imagined.

3.) Azurmendi  (Bilbao - 2021)

Azurmendi came as close as any meal I've had to unseating what might be a lifetime pick at #1. The basque restaurant certainly met it for downright creativity and presentation. From the picnic basket of small bites, to the greenhouse where they were literally picking up roses from a garden bed before you realized it was sorbet, to of course each incredible bite at the table. All in all they technically had 27 dishes, almost all of which were excellent in their design, freshness, preparation and ultimately taste. My favorites of the small bites were the cod fish brioche and the truffle meringue, just incredible little bites. The daiquiri rose was incredible, from presentation to taste. The asparagurus three ways and play on fish taco were divine. The tempura oyster was maybe the best bite I've ever had, and the ending dishes of cod tart and iberico pork were just sublime. They have a rich tapestry to which to create from local produce and Iberian meats and fishes, but Eneko Atxa's brilliant mind puts it to incredible use.

2.) Central  (Lima - 2022)

Very likely next year Central will be named the best restaurant in the wrold by San Pellegrino in their World's Best 50 list. It is well deserved (the restaurant ranked above it for me has reached similar heights on the same list). The dishes are both uniformly incredibly tasty, and ridiculously inventive. As shown on his turn on Chef's Table, what chef Virgilio Martinez and his team create are art pieces, they're stunning, they're beautiful, they look as good as any dishes I've had, and they were all very good. From dishes made out of random amazonian vegetables, to amazonian fish, to incredibly weird lattice things, to some of the most inventive desserts I've had, including a panoply of peruvian chocolate as the final dish. The best part of the restaurant is how focused the theme is, with showcasing hte beauty of Peru across elevations and its various weird ingredients. It may not have been as many courses as it was in its height pre-covid (I believe 18, now down to 14) but I can only imagine what the four extra would have been.

1.) Gaggan  (Bangkok - 2019)

I don't know if any restaurant will ever top Gaggan, which had so much hype entering in, having seen it on Chef's Table, see it rise up the world rankings, and it being Indian focused. I was expecting a lot, and it somehow overdelivrered. The 25 course menu was just perfect from the start of audacious versions of famous Indian street food (still unsure how my little bit of what looked like a cracker with foam and curry leaf tasted like idli sambar), to the mains of prawn balchao, decronstructed curries, a perfect lamb leg, and multiple Japanese dishes during Gaggan's Japanese phase. The setting, sitting at the chef's table watching his sous chef's go to work, with Gaggan's noted love of Heavy Metal ringing through the speakers, was a delight. IT was so well paced, 25 dishes of 3:30, never once making you feel like you're being rushed through each delectable dish. It is astounding to think this is what is possible with Indian food, that this is how good a menu can be even if you limit yourself to just five meat courses in the 25, and how great an atmosphere, a perspective, a cuisine and a legendary chef can concoct together.