NFL 2024: Preseason Projects, for Posterity & Hilarity

 

6 Favorite Things about the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony

6.) Just Doing it in the City

I don't know when Paris came up with the amazing idea of not hosting it in a stadium and instead centering it around Paris. I wonder if this will become a fairly common thing in future. Not everything worked. I think the idea of teh athletes floating down the Siene was better in thought than execution, but many was it so great to just highlight the incredible architecture of Paris. The people dancing on roofs, the use of the bridges from the opening salvo of a smoke flag; The singer showing up at the top of the Palais for the anthem. All of it so well done. You can argue the performances as a whole weren't up to par (some of that probably due to the weather) but in a sense the performacnes drift over time. The moments of the city, this beauitful city, won't be forgotten. Certainly, if nothing else, it was the most unique opening ceremony maybe ever.

5.) The Use of the Eifel Tower

The Eifel Tower obviously is Paris's main feature and man did the organizers milk it entirely, but in all great ways. Of course, there was Celine Dion playing on top of it - more to come on that - but before that we got the amazing laser light show, turning the Eifel Tower into the world's largest open air club for ten minutes. Also I loved the makeshift stage resembling the Eifel Tower, sitting right in the shadow of the main thing. It was a magical presence, a beautiful lighthouse in the misty skies of Paris. Kelly Clarkson got a lot of much deserved shit on her over-use of calling everything cool and amazing, but the one thing she was right about is that the rain made it seem, visually at least, a bit more magical.

4.) The Heavy Metal Performance

Yeah, Gojira's awesome performance, befit with the Marie Antoinette intro, the fireworks and smoke, the set piece with teh boat, adn of course the monstrous performance by the band itself. I had no idea that France has a bit history with metal music, and I still don't know how big Gojira really is, but all I know is that I do wish the US can embrance metal with such fervor and enjoyment. There are a ton of options, even for 2028 itself, but the idea of Metallica being called on to play over some iconography of the Revolution or some such is, sadly, a pipe dream.

3.) The Interspersed Parade of Nations

While I think the boats didn't work as well as probably intended (the rain didn't help), I actually did like the curveball of having the parade of nations be throughout the ceremony, switching back and forth from nations to performances. I far preferred that mixed approach versus just having a block of 60-90 minutes of parade of nations like prior ceremonies. The parade can really start to drag, but here it was like a little sprinkling of countries mixed in with everything else, which kept it fresh. It probably only works in this style when each boat went on its 40-minute boat ride or whatever - not sure how feasible this would be in a normal stadium-based ceremony, but the whole thing flowed nicely for me without it being so rigid between formalities, performances and the parade.

2.) Zidane to Nadal to the Boat of Champions to the Balloon Cauldron

There's such importance placed on the end of the torch relay and lighting of the cauldron, and what the cauldron is and what not. It started rocky, with the masked man traipsing around Paris, and then the elongated run down the Siene on the mechanical horse. That was forgettable. From the second Zidane took it back, walking down the stage in front of the Eifel Tower, it was somethign special. Of course, Zidane passing to Nadal is something after my heart in particular. They've overlapped in my life, but beyond that, when Nadal won his first French Open, Zidane was the special presenter. Nadal is a passionate Real Madrid fan. And of course, Nadal was so good at the French Open that they built a statue of a Spaniard there. Zidane playing a role in teh opening ceremony was obvious - he is arguably France's most legendary living athlete. But them deciding to elevate a non-Frenchman in Nadal was something special. As was the boatride with him, Serena, Carl Lewis and Nadia Comaneci. And then of course the score of French athletes leading up to in my mind the most creative cauldron, or at the very least the most beautiful adn picturesque one to date. 

1.) Celine Dion

I mean, could it be anything else? That was insane, jsut a perfect, haunting, glorious moment. The image of her in the middle of the Eifel Tower, rain falling on the piano beside, backlight to the nines, was just stunning. That I will never forget. As clsoe as you can come, in all honesty, to Ali being brought out in 1996 to light to cauldron. Perfect.

Re-Post: Nostalgia Diaries of the 2016 Rio Olympics

**The 2024 Summer Olympics are about to start on Friday. I'm not an Olympics nut, but I'm probably 2% less than that. I try to make it a point over the games to watch a bit of every sport. Especially since NBC started broadcasting online basically every sport at all times. From random shit like Judo, to the various divings, swimmings, bikings and more. All of it is fun in some ways. I'll probably re-run my ranking of Olympics sports later as well - maybe even 2024 will have me adjust things. This piece is writing about the 2016 Olympics in Rio, doing so with reverence as it was the peak of my time enjoying an Olympics, and was written in 2020, as the Tokyo Olympics were nowhere to be seen due to Covid. Well, in 2024 Covid still exists, but no one cares. And no one should. The world really hasn't had a true communal opportunity to celebrate a return to normalcy. Sure, in some ways the Euros this year came close, but that was still just one Continent. The 2022 Winter Olympics were still under the pall of Covid in Beijing, similar of course the 2021 games in Tokyo. This is different. This is normal, in one of the world's great cities. I can't wait, and more than anything, I hope it approaches 2016 in greatness.**

Yesterday should have been the closing ceremony for the 2020 Tokyo Games. Instead they will, at least we hope, take place next year. I'm not the biggest Olympics nut, and the lack of Olympics in 2020 was more than negated by the surprising presence of teh NBA and NHL in July/August. I'll take that trade (of course, stripping away the 'you know why, right?' of it all.

That said, not having the Olympics does remind me how much I enjoyed it in 2016, when the Games were in Rio, a time zone that was perfect. It was a nice combining of a few elements as well, with me in the throes of a horribly sedate project that was in my own town, allowing me to come home each night with a few hours to kill. What did I do to fill the time? Watch the damn Olympics.

My enjoyment of the 2016 games wasn't about watching sports I didn't know existed - though seeing people shoot skeet and jog around on horses still has some charm. It was about finding a new appreciation, if not outright love, for sports that were there all along.

The sport that best defined 2016 to me was Volleyball - something Brazil apparently sees as second only to football/soccer as the National past-time. The volleyball played inside the Maracanazinho was incredible - mostly because the fans were bonkers. They would play EDM and techno in between points. They would thrown on random songs of the day, like 'This Girl' (Kung vs. Cooking), or 'I Just Came to Say Hello!'. There was this weird 'Monster-Smash' chant that broke out anytime someone just hammered a smash proper. It was bananas, it was amazing.

It took a while to really understand it, but that time it takes to learn and study a sport through is part of the fun. The athletic exploits of volleyballers is insane as well, just people diving around left and right and somehow, someway, getting the ball back up nearly every time. Women's Volleyball, equally popular in Brazil largely because of how good the Brazilian women's team was, became a favored pastime. It was amazing seeing these athletic godesses - almost all ridicuously tall - display their brilliance.

Outside of volleyball, I enjoyed some of the other middle-tier sports, like the velodrome stuff on the track, the fencing, water-polo, diving - all the hits. It was endless fun to sit back at the end of the day and flip through the dozens of Comcast/NBC channels that showed Olympics and go back and forth between them all. It's hard to say I was invested in outcomes, but moreso in curiosity and imbibing the feeling that was present enough in those arenas, gyms and fields that it shook through the screen.

Brazil had a lot of problems leading into the Games, as the period that went through them getting awarded the Olympics and actually hosting it was filled with unsettling times locally. It still is seen locally from what I can tell, as a horrible boondoggle. Don't care. The attendees, be them locals or tourists, created a great atmosphere at nearly every setting.

At the end of the day, Olympics are centered around gymnastics, swimming and track & field - maybe so because the US generally at worst does well and at best dominates at all three. 2016 was a prime example of just how good these sports can be and just how much drama and intrigue can be created by just showcasing on awesomeness. 

2016 saw pinnacle performances in each area. First, you had the US Women's Gymnastics team, headlined by Simone Biles, dominate at a level never seen. Gymnastics calculus-level scoring system essentially assured that no one could match Biles if she just did what she planned to do - because what she plans to do is just technically better than anyone else. And she did just that. The whole team finished miles ahead of anyone else. Country limits may have been the only reason the US didn't go gold-silver-bronze in individuals.

Swimming and Track was about the same people that lighted up 2008 and 2012 - Phelps and Bolt, but not in the same way. 2008 was Phelp's coronation. His dominance was the story. His 2012 was similar - even if Phelps personally was in a low point as he would later reveal. Well, 2016 was a goodbye, but no one expected just that level of dominance in his final showing. More medals, more records, more amazing performances. Watching Phelps swim is one of the great viewing experiences of my life. It was insane in 2004 when he was 17, and it was still insane twelve years later.

Bolt showed up in 2008 and set world records. In 2012, he did the same. In 2016, much like Phelps, he wasn't assured of victory. Dominance wasn't the expectation - it just happened again. Much like watching Phelps swim, watching Bolt run is amazing, but more for its sheer audacity. The way his gait slowly just takes over. The way it looks like he is just playing a different game in teh second half of some of his races. The way he always is able to almost celebrate while running, that giant, infectious smile of his just beaming while everyone else is thrashing around to finish those last few steps.

I remember I was at a crowded bar in New York, The Blind Tiger (RIP bars), with a few friends the night of Bolt's 200m win. They had a small tv in the corner that was broadcasting NBC. No one really paid too much attention. That was until Bolt was about to run. Suddenly, this packed bar became a sports bar, everyone turning their eyes towards the small TV in the corner. We all unleashed in equal parts celebration and absolute amazement - seeing people n various levels of drunkenness try to understand how it is possible for someone to run like that.

2016 had stars, it had moments, but what it also had that prior Olympics lacked, was tennis played at a ridiculous level. Tennis has always been part of the Olympics, but was never really seen as too important. Certainly nowhere near the slams or even maybe secondary tournaments like Indian Wells. That all changed in 2016, largely because the players got really invested. 

In 2016, Djokovic was the clear best player in the world, but had his Nole-slam ended in Wimbledon a few weeks prior - the start of a two year malaise (for him). Nadal was down in the dumps, relatively. Federer was playing well but not great. Murray had just won Wimbledon. Those four men were expected to be key parts of the 2016 story, but the fifth Beatle in this case was the one that changed everything: Juan Martin del Potro.

Del Potro had a cursed career, one that started with so much promise when he mashed his way to the 2009 US Open title. Various wrist injuries cost him pretty much all of 2010-2011 and 2014-15. In the brief periods he did play, mostly 2012-13, he returned quickly to being a Top-10 player. By 2016, he was far from that, but he came to the Olympics in his home continent, and was unleashed. 

An interesting part of this cadre of Tennis stars is how nationalistic and prideful they are of where they came from. We saw it with Murray at Wimbledon - especially when he won Olympic Gold at Wimbledon in 2012. We see it all the time with Nadal and Spain, and of course with Djokovic and Serbia (especially pointed given how he grew up at the height of the unrest/war). And here we saw it with Del Potro.

The matches in that tournament were legendary. Del Potro's 7-6 7-6 win over Djokovic was probably the most memorable. Djokovic couldn't touch Del Potro's serve and epic forehand. It was a battle that should have happened so many times over the years. At the end, both players were crying, Del Potro with the emotion of the crowd and his own injury demons. For Djokovic, it was losing while representing his country - the Olympic Gold being the only real missing piece in his cabinet. 

The Semifinal played between Del Potro and Nadal was similar, again with Del Potro prevailing. Once again there were so many 'Ole's' and chants. It was a world cup soccer match crowd, a high intensity we would have only expected in tennis in Ashe or Laver. It was beautiful, an unexpected glory of the 2016 Olympics.

The 2016 Olympics had it all. It had the personal stories and stars that you can easily get behind - I was able to get a newfound appreciation for the brilliance of Phelps and Bolt. It had the sport I love but never cared about at the Olympics become one of the best shows in the games, with legendary tennis players staging epic battles for a tournament that earned them no money or even ranking points (something that was there in prior Olympics). And it had those other sports you latch onto and ride for two weeks, with volleyball being the central star. For the next 200 weeks after it ended, I didn't miss it. But when teh Olympics didn't return on that 201st week, it became apparent to me again how special it is, and how much we do need it.

Did the Summer of Soccer Live Up to the Hype?

I wrote a few weeks back about how amazing the first set of Group Stage games were in the 2024 Euros. I don't regret it. That first set of games were brilliant - generally open play, tons of goals, so many great moments in front of crowds, after having to live through the half baked Euro 2020 (in 2021). The first set of games was all of that.

Around that time, the 2024 Copa America (hosted by COMNEBOL, played in CONCACAF's USA) started as well, and basically from that very second the much ballyhooed Summer of Soccer (granted, only the US would've called it this...) started hitting some cracks.

Frist, the goals massively dried up at the Euros. Little by little, the darlings of the first set of games, or the darlings of the group, were picked off one by one. We had some great on paper matchups that went absolutely nowhere, like England's successive slogs through the group stage, Round of 16 and Quarterfinal, and of course the biggest disaster of all of it: France v Portugal's utterly boring quarterfinal that went to penalties.

It's not to say some soccer is worse than none at all. The fans stayed into it. It was loud, it was chaotic. It was a glorious display of fandom, but also had a group of teams that were playing boring, drab football but winning and advancing, and their fans basically being put off by all of it.

Not making any of it better was so much that went wrong with the Copa. From the fields being a constant source of scrutiny, to the always controversial officianting, to the rowdiness and "gamesmanship" of intra-COMNEBOL games, to the empty seats because they played in 60,000 - 75,000 seat football stadiums. It just felt off. There was some greatness, mostly tied to Uruguay and Colombia playing great football, but all of it put off by the fact COMNEBAL rigs the format so that Brazil v. Argentina would always be a potential final, and the resulting lopsidedness of the draw.

Ultimately, stories like Canada's run to the semifinals was fun, but made for some rather drab knockout games - basically anything on the Argentina half of the draw. It crested then in a pretty meh final, made at all notable from Messi's ugly ankle injury, through to the goal to win it/ A fine ending, but a rough game.

The Euro's ended similarly, with a surprisingly well played game in the final despite the clear best team (Spain) taking on that mess of Southgate-ball. In fact, what was really offputting was the idea of France and England make it that far despite playing truly awful, negative soccer at times. England rode the luck there to the very end, but worse than that even was France, again despite all their talent, leaning into to Didier Deschamps' worst tendencies - making the semifinal without scoring a goal from open play (excludign own goals). Just awful stuff.

I wrote in that post about how good the first set of games that one of the aspects that helped was that we had left the Pep way of playing a while away - no team went out to dominate 80% of the possession. Sure, some games went in that direction - say when Georgia was involved, but they also were so explosive, fast, entertaining on the counter. The endless pass-pass-pass that got stale when not played by Pep's Barca (and even then got a bit dour at times) was gone, replaced by something better. That still remains true, but even then there was way too much defensiveness at times later on. 

The sport will recover, but there's a weird sense as we head into the two year sprint through to the 2026 World Cup. Some of that is the US hosting it, after the problems that cropped up in the Copa. Granted, I'm fully on the #COMNEBOLSFAULT on most of it, but still the empty seats, the lack of relative noise and passion compared to what was going on in Germany, there are some qeustions for sure. This was the first time both tournaments would line up, excluding 2016 when the Copa held the Centenario (a one-off tournament). COMNEBOL did this for a areason - we will have these Summers of Soccer again, as early as 2028. I do hope we can keep the early momentum going that time.

My Favorite Restaurants: Top 20 Fancy, Non-Tasting

20.) Manda de Lao  (Luang Prabang - 2019)

Luang Prabang is arguably the most remote, random place I've traveled to, but even in the heart of this two road town is a beautiful little restaurant, open air with a pond of lotus flowers that all the tables are situated around. Their "tasting menu" as it were comes as three courses with multiple dishes, all being quite good, from a great spiced chicken leg, to their take on a samosa, to fried fish, to so much else. The best may have been their banana four ways dessert. All of it was a great night in Laos.

19.) Ravintola Muru  (Helsinki - 2024)

Muru serves a simple 4-dish set menu that is executed with exacting precision. Nothing overly tweezery, nothing that a lay person won't understand (e.g. some ingredient unearthed from under a cave). No, they just serve great food. From smoked whitefish with pickled asparagus, to a perfect preparation of elk, to one of the better risotto's I've ever had. Again, nothing of that was so crazy - I could make versions of each (well, maybe not the smoked whipped whitefish) but they won't be a patch on the great produce and great preparation.

18.) Robin Square  (Montreal - 2018, 2019)

To my knowledge, this is the only restaurant on this list to have closed. It's a shame really, but not too surprising since the place was completely family run, with dad being the chef, mom being the maitre'd, and kids being waiters and cooks (they had non-family employees as well). The food was great, from a truly excellent pork belly I had when we went on my friends bachelor party, to one of the great desserts I've ever had at a restaurant. My only qualm was their lunch menu was a set of sandwhiches, which while good, paled in comparison to their food for dinner.

17.) Tavaci Recep Usta  (Izmir - 2024)

If you like lamb, this is the place for you. White table cloths, great service, and dozens and dozens of preparations of lamb. From full lambs, to braised lamb over rice, to glorious lamb stews with teh weirdest, spiciest curry, to of course kebabs. Tavaci Recep Usta has their lane - serve great lamb in every conceivable way, and they do it super well. The place also has a fantastic wine menu, great little amuse bouches of grape leaves and kibbeh, and so much else to make it great. But really, it is the amazing lamb.

16.) Espiritu Santu  (Valparaiso - 2018)

Valparaiso is a town on the Pacific Coast of Chile, and high up in the hills is Espiritu Santo, often ranked highly on the list of best seafood restaurants in Chile. Seafood isn't all they serve but it basically is and was all great, from cured tuna with chilean chiles, to a great octopus and fish play on a ceviche, to so much else. In totality, Espiritu Santo more than lived up to its billing, with the only real downside being a more expensive menu than maybe it should be.

15.) Hilda  (Budapest - 2024)

It's always hard to judge places on this list because they have fairly sizable menus and I pick just a couple things. But for Hilda, what I did order was great, as was the tile-based yellow and blue striking, lively decor. The place was so lively. The dishes were a lovely white asparagus and pork jowl dish (something I went on faith given the waitress couldn't translate that effectively), and of course, a lovely goulash with a perfectly velvety stew consistency, the consistency I dream of. Hilda is a lovely example of refined, but still super approachable, Hungarian cooking.

14.) Murver  (Istanbul - 2024)

Deep in the heart of central Istanbul lies Murver, on the top floor of the Novotel. Get past the "hotel restaurant" stigma and you get a super cool spot with just a great menu of smaller bites and mains. It takes a truly modern view of traditional Turkish ingredients, such as a great preparation of celeriac (a very popular vegetable in Turkey), an insane beef cheek and beets main, great use of things like Tahini, persimmon and much more. Add to it slate black tables and a great view of the Bosphorus and you get so much more then just the food with a great atmosphere as well. 

13.) Avenio  (Avignon - 2018)

Avenio was a classical french restaurant that served, as I would come to learn is fairly standard, set 3/4-course meals, at a relatively high fare and great level. The main dish I remember is an exquisite duck preparation, and their dessert was fantastic with a take on a lime pie. I would like to go back to Provence to try more of their great food; Avenio was a nice appetizer in that sense.

12.) A Terra  (Ponta Delgada - 2019)

We went to the restaurant in a hotel in a corner of beach-front in Ponta Delgada a bit dismayed taht it was fairly empty (mostly because it was pouring outside). But luckily we stayed, and it was amazing. We ordered about six dishes that were all great, the best being their take on Leitao, which while it wasn't the full pig, was just all the best parts. They also had great fish and squid to go with it, and even some good veggie dishes. The setting was lovely, the food even better - to me by far the best food we had in Ponta Delgada and the Azores.

11.) Restaurante Olde Hansa  (Tallinn - 2024)

I thought long and hard how high to rank what is, in many ways, a gimmick restaurant. Set to look like an old middle ages restaurant, it leans in to that with the way the waiters dress, with old timey music being played live, with beer served in giant earthenware steins. All of it. But you know what: the chef worked at Michelin star restaurants, and makes sure that the food tastes damn good and is presented well. I got a giant appetizer platter with rabbit, elk, bear and various pates and the like - all of it from game aroudn in the middle ages and all so well spiced. Same with the spiced beer, and the trio of elk, deer and boar filets. The place is a gimmick, but with very serious food.

10.) Pirouette  (Paris - 2018)

More than maybe any restaurant on this list (other than maybe the one at #2) this place had all the trappings of a tasting menu spot, from the preparation, to the setting (right in the heart of Paris). We had enough people that we ordered enough (seven dishes) that it almost served like a tasting menu. The best dishes might have been the perfectly cooked elk (with the sauce in a shape of elk antlers) to a really nice play on a stuffed pumpkin, a dish I've tried and failed to emulate since. Often I find French haute cuisne to be just a little bit too much, but in this case it was all excellent.

9.) La Tagliata  (Positano - 2019)

The only issue of this family meal style place high up on the hills of Positano was that they didn't tell us ahead of time how many courses they were preparing, so we all gorged a bit too much on the grilled vegetables, char-grilled meat starters and delicious pastas which didn't allow us to enjoy the really well cooked meats and fishes at the end. The place is family run, with a boisterous, brilliant chef heading the family and the place. It all works. It might be a bit pricey, but it is about as good a "family meal" as you can possibly have.

8.) Miller's Thumb  (Cape Town - 2018, 2020, 2022)

It was the #1 restaurant on Tripadvisor in Cape Town when I frst went to the city in 2013. It's maintained a super high ranking ever since, and done so by just doing what it is - a mom & pop shop serving incredible, fresh, local fish in myriad styles with great starters (mussels are always my go-to), and a charm that is diametrically opposite to its garish green and orange decor. Miller's Thumb has remained just a brilliant stronghold in the Cape Town cuisine, despite never once feeling the pressure to change from just serving combinations of 8 different fish over and over and over again.

7.) La Calma by Fredes  (Santiago - 2024)

Seafood in every form is the name of the game at La Calma, from the normal (all types of fish, all immaculately cooked) to the abnormal but brilliance (limpets and snails). All of it was so well done, including a lovely starter of just a shit ton of various seafood in a spicy lech de tigre broth. Even the main, of a garlic rubbed fish, was so perfectly cooked. The seaweed and algae side was even better. Chile has some weird (read: good) seafood options, and maybe no restaurant does a better job, at least certainly any that I went to, than La Calma.

6.) Eucalyptus  (Jerusalem - 2018)

Eucalyptus has a tasting menu, but its mostly a sampling of menu items at a smaller size. Instead since I went with my parents on our trip to the Holy Land, we ordered our own sampling of the menu to share, which were all fantastic. They were plated well, seasoned well, prepared well, from a duck pastilla which was excellent to fish kibbeh to my favorite dish which was their mansaf - essentially their take on lamb biryani. The restaurant was also in a lovely setting down a wide, green alley near the Jaffa Gate, a perfect scene for a great Christmas Dinner.

5.) Noir: Dining in the Dark  (Ho Chi Minh City - 2019, 2022)

No picture for this one, because that is the point. This restaurant has great food, but also a better story. Noir puts diners in a completely black room, a level of black and darkness that seems impossible. Your given feed that you don't know what it is, but are told to eat and experience it with your sense other than sight. What really makes the mark, though, is the food itself is excellent and might have been on this list. Sadly I don't have pictures, but remember it being a mix of Vietnamese and Thai, from great little bowls of red curry, to galangal soup, to great beef preparations. Even the desserts were great, with maybe my favorite asian dessert I've ever had, with a dragon-fruit pannacotta. For the great idea, the excellent execution, and better food than you would expect from what is openly a fairly gimmicky concept, Noir was a full success.

4.) Olam  (Santiago - 2024)

The chef worked at El Bulli, and brings that style, maybe amps it down one degree below the $400/menu molecular gastronomy El Bulli is known for, and it works perfectly. Mixing in asian flavors, weird combinations (my favorite dish being a kombu, chilean fish dumpling in coconut broth with aju verde - just the weirdly best combination of words), and so much more. Olam probably could convert itself into a 10-course tasting menu one day. And it is very much like the Chilean version of the two restaurants to come - probably best enjoyed with a group of six people where you can share 8-10 dishes from their collection. If I go back to Chile, I can't wait to go back to Olam, probably get those dumplings again (they were that good) and try more - even if I could get say the salmon tataki again as well.

3.) Hiroo Onogi  (Tokyo - 2023)

This is about as good as you can get in Japan without spending hundreds of dollars. A trendy bistro spot with just amazing food, including a smorgasboard appraoch to the way they serve dishes. From an incredible, to a ridiculous combination wagyu and maitake mushroom sukiyaki, to lobster fried rice, all of it perfectly elevated versions of what otherwise are traditiona dishes. All with incredible sake pairings and highballs and the rest. The best version of a fancy Izakaya I geuss, as the key still is to just have a great time with great food. Hiroo Onogi was basically 10% less than a tasting menu spot, for about 50% less price and basically as good an overall experience.

2.) The Pot Luck Club  (Cape Town - 2016, 2018, 2022, 2023)

So damn good each time, and with a cosntantly changing menu of say 12-15 different tapas-sized brilliant options, you can easily keep going back. Some of my favorites over the years was a malay-style caulifower (seriously), a lamb ras el hanout with aubergine caviar, a lamb belly and berry tartine, and any of their deserts over the years. Given that The Test Kitchen (a sister restaurant, tasting menu style) has closed, the fact that Luke Dale Robert's culinary soul lives on with this brilliant place is all the more special. Given it's South Africa as well, it isn't all that pricey (even if The Test Kitchen was a fairly standard priced tasting menu). Secure a reservation early though, they understandably get booked up really quick.

1.) Don Julio Parilla  (Buenos Aires - 2023)

When you have a restaurant that is really high up the Top 50 Restuarants list and is not a tasting menu place, you know it has to be great. Of course I had ridiculously high expectations given that, but Don Julio blew it away. The steak truly was just that well cooked, perfectly medium rare, perfectly charred on the outside, perfectly fatty in the right places. The starter I had which was a coiled fennel sausage was about as good, as was the "ember potatoes" which were incredibly smokey and sweet. Probably helps that we ordered a wine far more expensive than we thought we were getting which was just an amazing Malbec. The whole experience was something amazing - again one of the rare places that somehow, someway, exceeds every bit of hype you can possibly put against it.

My Favorite Restaurants: Top 20 Non-Fancy, Non-Tasting

***Hey, another series I get to periodically update!!***

**As a brief intro, I'm doing a quick series on my favorite restaurants, all international (non-US). In past I did one list that was basically all tasting menus with a few exceptions. Instead, I'm going to blow it up, doing this in three parts.

1.) Non-Fancy, Non Tasting Menu - basically places that are, as stated not tasting menu restaurants, that are on the cheaper, lighter, side. Some probably toe the line here, but due to the countries they're in, probably still qualify as "non-fancy"

2.) Fancy, Non-Tasting Menu - which is as it states. Again, probably there's a few that are toeing the line on whether they are any more "fancy" than a couple in the "non-fancy" area

3.) Tasting Menu - again, fairly self explanatory. Howevrer, I'll state that a place with a set 3-4 course menu, I'm not counting as a tatsting menu. The fewest number of courses I have here in 6

Anyway, on the the stuff.**

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20.) Hangkook Jib  (Joenju - 2022)

Technically the place has more than one thing, but pretty much everyone comes here for their bibimbap, noted as one of the best in Jeonju, the home of bibimbap. The kimchi and various assortment of small bowls they give you at the start were all great. The bibimbap itself was about as tasty as any I had on the trip, with the raw beef preparation being a nice touch and more eatable, in my view, than the cooked beef version I had elsewhere.

19.) Jose Ramon Sangucheria  (Santiago - 2024)

Sanguche's are basically Chile's national food, and make a truly perfect lunch time meal. There's a wide range, from roadside stalls to super fancy ones. Jose Ramon probably leans on the fancy side, but barely so, with a fairly simple presentation, menu and options. But just made super well. Great bread that holds its form. Great meat adn add ins. A lovely decor and craft beer. All of it adds to a really nice spot. Are there better Sanguche spots? Maybe, but Jose Ramon is pretty great for a one and only.

18.) Miorskie Oko  (Krakow - 2014)

I went here twice in my time in Krakow. Partially because it was great food, and partially because it was super affordable. The food in the style of the highlander Polish people, adorned with traditional dress and live traditional music, enlivened up what is at the end of the day, really good takes on traditional polish food. The dish I remember was a really well seasoned, thick and great beef stew, somethign way beyond what i've gotten elsewhere in Poland or Berlin.

17.) Chori  (Buenos Aires - 2023)

Argentina's version of the Sanguche is similar in taking a classic and elevating it. Here the hot dog becomes the Choripan, with excellent sausage options, made with local beef or prok. Some great fixings, with say great peppers and local cheese. The buns are well cooked. Everything is really great. It's also a great late night spot, though I went for lunch, splitting halves of two different choripans. South America has their hamburger/hot dog situations on point.

16.) Cha Ca Thang Long  (Hanoi - 2019)

They serve one dish. That is in a way the genesis of this list to begin with. But that one dish, which is a cumin and turmeric spiced white fish, cooked in front of you. The server sets everythign up, gets the cooking goeing and prepares your first bowl, combining the fish with a little bit of rice noodles, bean sprouts, basil and mint, chili oil and seaweed. It is a perfect concoction, truly. After that you have to make the next few sets, but it isn't too difficult. Truly this was a special place, packed all for one dish.

15.) Hassaku  (Kyoto - 2023)

In a way, this is a stand-in for all the amazing Izakaya's in Japan, but Hassaku was the best. Like any Izakaya - it's fairly cheap, it has a weird, eclectic, random assortment of starters and dishes, and it is all cooked with such care and affection. Like all, it was a mom and pop joint, with them both acting as cook and server, along with their daughter who showed up halfway. Places like Hassaku are what make Japan special. Their amazing lightly dusted fish starter, and incredibly pungent, deep, complex short rib braise, are incredible memories - washed down with the best of sake. Just a great place.

14.) Myeongdong Kyoja (Seoul - 2022)

Down little lanes all over Seoul are tehse small noodle soup shops. All have fairly similar menus, of noodles of different variety, various additions of pork you can add, and other stuff. Jongmo is set apart because of theri amazing, spicy, brilliant broth. The noodles and meat and nori and seaweed and everything else is super nice as well, but the broth was just amazing. Definitely a lunch spot, where you idle up in a counter, sitting on a little stool, unsure how to order. But whatever you do order, it will be excellent.

13.) La Marmita  (Punta Arenas - 2017)

We went to Marmita for our first dinner on our trip to Patagonia. It was a really nicely adorned place and while the menu was super affordable, the chefs did a great job playing it up. It was the only place on our trip to serve Guanaco (cute animals are delicious, sadly) and they had some great other dishes as well. It is a bit more lowkey than some of the fancier places in Punta Arenas. Really nice spot.

12.) Safran  (Amman - 2019)

This is one of them that toes the line a bit between fancy and non-fancy. In the end I went non-fancy given the cost. The food was excellent, from a great take on Mansaf (their version of biryani) a couple good grilled lamb dishes, and even good vegetables. The only real negative I would say about the place is that their mezze was a bit uninspired. But since I'm not a huge fan of mezze to begin with (I realize that is a bit weird), I'll give them a well earned pass on that.

11.) Ayasofya Kebab  (Istanbul - 2024)

If you could think of a place where you would get great Turkish kebab's, you probably wouldn't pick an alley with tons of other restaurants all wooing passerby travelers in the shadows of the Hagia Sophia. But indeed, deep in this tourist trap area is a perfect kebab spot. Truly the best adana kebab I've ever had - so succelent and smokey, a combination that should be fairly impossible. Their other dishes were great as well, such as a really nice take on Dolmas, and Kunefe. You may have to trust me, because this is basically like finding a great spot in an alley off of time square.

10.) Martin's Corner  (Goa - 2013, 2015) 

    

On my second trip to Goa in 2013, I was dismayed that the resort we were at were far away from the shack-lined beaches of North Goa. The one positive development was getting a chance to go to Martin's Corner, which combined the great shack food, elevated it up a few notches and built out the rest of the meal beautifully. The menu is pure Goan classics, from Xacuti's to Vindaloo's to Pepper Fry's and everything else. The setting, open air with the breeze of the Indian Ocean waters wafting in, adds to it really nicely.

9.) Sushi Ichii  (Nara - 2023)

This is 100% a stand-in for all the gaitenzushi and non-super-fancy sushi spots that are all over Japan. Sushi Inchii in Nara isn't exactly a gaitenzushi spot. It's a more traditional sushi counter spot, with a sushi master cutting pristine cuts of fish on an elevated counter - with counter seats and ratan mat seats abound. There was no prices in the menu, which terrified me, but instead it was super affordable. The best was the unagi, which was amazing. But so were the cuttlefish, the various tuna cuts, and the great tea from a tap. This was a great space overall in the heart of Nara, a nice stop after the deer.

8.) Cuc Gach Quan  (Ho Chi Minh City - 2019, 2022)

Another one that toes the line between fancy and not, I went here because they want to be traditional vietnamese cuisine, served in a large home converted into a restaurant. The setting is gorgeous, with various rooms all adorned well. The food is even better, pure home-style Vietnamese cooking cooked perfectly. Their beef stew there was something incredible, as are the fresh salads with chicken or shrimps. Vietnamese cooking over the years has really risen up my rankings of foods, and places like this are a big reason why.

7.) Mahesh Lunch Homes  (Mumbai - 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021)

There's a few of them in Mumbai (and elsewhere in India). I believe each time I've gone is to the one in Fort, which has been excellent. For starters, they have maybe the best single curry I've ever had in an Indian restaurant. a half white, half red amalgamation of everything great about Indian food. The restaurant nominally serves Coastal food, similar if not right from my ancestral home of Mangalore, and all that stuff, from the pepper fry's and bangda's are all spectacular as well. The menu is giant, and to be hoenst you can go dozens of times and not hit everything.

6.) Getto Guylas  (Budapest - 2024)

Maybe stretching the definitions of non-fancy here, with a cool, metal-clad decor, but price wise, Getty Gulyas isn't. What it is, is a place that just serves great paprikash. They also have nice starters (had both an audacious bone marrow dish and a lovely, simple, rustic in the best way potato soup) and other mains, but in the name is goulash, and that's what tehy do best. Their veal paprikash, with a bacon-wrapped spaetzle pie, was jsut spectacular. Beyond that they have six or seven other variations of paprikash, all I'm sure being special.

5.) Gli Specialisti  (Rome - 2019)

It was our last day of our Italy trip, reaching a neighborhood on the outskirts of Rome after a flight delay with little options for food. So we went to Gli Specialisti, adorned with bicycles everywhere. On the plus side, it had maybe the best Cacio e Pepe I've ever had. So well seasoned and cooked. The other food we got, from pizzas to lightly grilled fish, were all great as well. It was so good, that when I was alone after a flight cancellation the next night, I went back.

4.) La Picante  (Lima - 2022, 2023)

In a fairly random part of Lima, certainly a distance away from the main touristy areas, on an unassuming residential street, lies La Picante, a lovely establishment with homey decor and upmarket fare at a fair price. Amazing ceviche of all types, amazing Chifu's (fried rice), and lovely stews of braised beef, oxtail and much else. La Picante though is best experienced with its ceviche - the best might be when I ordered a "leche de tigre" which was served in a vase-like glass with fried pieces of fish and squid to dip. Seemed reasonable - until I realized there was also normal ceviche fish in the vase-flute too. That's the type of place this is.

3.) Romdeng  (Phnom Penh - 2013)

The star of the show was the tarantula, a famous appetizer of theirs. It might seem gimmicky, but the fried tarantula is truly very tasty. But this is no gimmick. The rest of the food at Romdeng was excellent as well. The curry I had there was a pure combination of the richness of Malaysia with the spiciness of Thai food, and it was excellent. The setting too, open air right in the heart of Phnom Peng made it all the better. I believe this restaurant to have since closed, but man was it a great spot in Cambodia.

2.) Ruta de Azafran  (Granada - 2021)

This is the restaurant that probably comes closest to not being "not fancy". It has tons of outdoor seating at the base of the hill that leads up to the Alhambra. We went for dinner, with the Alhambra glowing above it. The food was all excellent, from my braised & curried short rib, to a strange but excellent meat pie in philo dough starter. My friends got fish and an eggplant dish (he's vegetarian) which both seemed excellent as well. The setting itself is worth a good deal of the price of admission, and add onto it great Moorish cooking (hence the name - "The Saffron Route" in English) and you get a truly special restaurant.

1.) Schwartz's Deli  (Montreal - Many Times)

I half made these various series of lists because I wanted a place to extol the brilliance that is Schwartz's. I've gone probably a dozen times on various trips to Montreal. In recent years it's generally been getting take out (a far shorter, though still long line) and eating self-made sandwhiches with their incredible smoked meat in a park. But a few times we waited the line and were treated to a slice of Canadian history. The line is due to notoriety, but that notoriety is due to consistent brilliance. The meat is always amazing, and truly not as fatty as you would think (granted, you can ask for the "fatty" option). The sauces, the bread, the mustard, the pickles, all the other stuff is top class as well. Some times, the experience exceeds the hype. Schwartz's is always one of those times.

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.