The 10 best things I ate in 2025

I squeeze so many restaurant meals into a year that it's hard to keep track of my favorites. Which is why scrolling through Instagram is like revisiting an old high school yearbook, a way to revisit past meals and figure out which dishes made the biggest impact. It took some serious thought to figure out the best dishes I ate in 2025, but I've narrowed them down to these ten.

The Swabinatian at Tuba Baking Co.

The Swabinatian at Tuba Baking Co., The Nasi Lemak at Sago, The chicken mole at Cantina, The ranger chicken tortelli at Wildweed, The marinated beans at Wayfarer Tavern, The charred romanesco at Boca, The rigatoni with blue crab at Salazar, The pork chop at Mita's, The cavatelli with mushrooms at Via Vite, The delicata squash croissant from Two Seven Two

The Swabinatian at Tuba Baking Co. in Dayton, Ky.

Tuba Baking takes their glorious house-made spaetzle and tops it with Cincinnati-style lentil chili, a combo of shredded aged cheeses and chopped raw onions. The result is a chewy and cheesy comfort food that'll give any of our local chili parlors a run for their money. Along with the Cincinnati ramen at Cafe Mochiko in Walnut Hills, it’s the best reinterpretation of our birthright chili I’ve ever tasted. 

The Nasi Lemak at Sago

Chef Paul Liew, who grew up in Kuala Lumpur, is known throughout the Cincinnati region for the Malaysian cuisine he serves at Sago in Mount Lookout Square. If you've never been, start with the Nasi Lemak, the national dish of Malaysia. Tender coconut rice is seasoned with lemongrass and served with sambal (a spicy, funky chili sauce), hard-boiled eggs, sliced cucumber, pickled vegetables, peanuts and beef rendang, a Malaysian-style curry made with aromatic spices such as star anise, cinnamon, lemongrass and cloves. Use your chopsticks to mash everything together then savor each sweet, spicy, tangy bite.

The chicken mole at Cantina

The Swabinatian at Tuba Baking Co., The Nasi Lemak at Sago, The chicken mole at Cantina, The ranger chicken tortelli at Wildweed, The marinated beans at Wayfarer Tavern, The charred romanesco at Boca, The rigatoni with blue crab at Salazar, The pork chop at Mita's, The cavatelli with mushrooms at Via Vite, The delicata squash croissant from Two Seven Two

The chicken mole from Cantina.

One of the biggest surprises of 2025 was how extraordinary Cantina's take on chicken mole is. This is a time-intensive recipe passed through generations of families in the Puebla and Oaxaca regions of Mexico. It's often made with dried chiles and spices, but every recipe differs. Cantina uses about 30 ingredients cooked for 36 hours to make their version. I have no idea what variations of ingredients they use, but the result is extraordinary.

The ranger chicken tortelli at Wildweed

The Swabinatian at Tuba Baking Co., The Nasi Lemak at Sago, The chicken mole at Cantina, The ranger chicken tortelli at Wildweed, The marinated beans at Wayfarer Tavern, The charred romanesco at Boca, The rigatoni with blue crab at Salazar, The pork chop at Mita's, The cavatelli with mushrooms at Via Vite, The delicata squash croissant from Two Seven Two

The chicken tortelli (right) at Wildweed in Over-the-Rhine.

Chef David Jackman's ranger chicken tortelli has been on the menu in some form or another since Wildweed's pop-up days, but it's still hard to pass up. Jackman makes the striped pasta for his tortelli (like tortellini, but bigger) by adding chili powder to half of the dough. He then stuffs it with heirloom chicken sausage. It arrives tossed in chicken and smoked shrimp sauce and, if things weren't already sounding ambitious, topped with house-made fish sauce and fried shallots. As complicated as the process sounds, the result is a trojan horse of a dish that introduces even the most traditional pasta lover to something entirely new.

The marinated beans at Wayfarer Tavern

The Swabinatian at Tuba Baking Co., The Nasi Lemak at Sago, The chicken mole at Cantina, The ranger chicken tortelli at Wildweed, The marinated beans at Wayfarer Tavern, The charred romanesco at Boca, The rigatoni with blue crab at Salazar, The pork chop at Mita's, The cavatelli with mushrooms at Via Vite, The delicata squash croissant from Two Seven Two

The marinated gigante beans at Wayfarer Tavern in Dayton, Ky.

This ostensibly simple appetizer at Wayfarer Tavern packs a punch with its tangy flavor. Plump, creamy gigante beans are tossed with sundried tomatoes (a '90s superstar ingredient that's making a welcome comeback), red onions, sweet peppers, and plenty of garlic, torn herbs and lemon zest. It's served at room temperature so you don't have to wait to dig right in.

The charred romanesco at Boca

The Swabinatian at Tuba Baking Co., The Nasi Lemak at Sago, The chicken mole at Cantina, The ranger chicken tortelli at Wildweed, The marinated beans at Wayfarer Tavern, The charred romanesco at Boca, The rigatoni with blue crab at Salazar, The pork chop at Mita's, The cavatelli with mushrooms at Via Vite, The delicata squash croissant from Two Seven Two

The Romanesco appetizer at Boca, Downtown.

"It's sort of our sleeper hit," my server told me when I ordered this underappreciated appetizer at Boca. Charred, slightly caramelized wedges of romanesco, a chartreuse Italian vegetable with a mild broccoli-like flavor, are served on a bed of sweet sorghum pearls, pistachio pesto and bitter Swiss chard. Along with a sprinkle of crunchy chopped pistachios on the side, this so-called sleeper dish did a magnificent job awakening my palate.

The rigatoni with blue crab at Salazar

The Swabinatian at Tuba Baking Co., The Nasi Lemak at Sago, The chicken mole at Cantina, The ranger chicken tortelli at Wildweed, The marinated beans at Wayfarer Tavern, The charred romanesco at Boca, The rigatoni with blue crab at Salazar, The pork chop at Mita's, The cavatelli with mushrooms at Via Vite, The delicata squash croissant from Two Seven Two

The rigatoni with blue crab at Salazar.

Salazar came out swinging this year when it opened its stunning new location in the former Saks building downtown. During my first visit, I fell silent as I savored this tender rigatoni with sweet blue crab in sauce americaine (a Parisian lobster sauce). Brussels sprout leaves add nuttiness and preserved lemon zest (mixed with herb-y breadcrumbs) give it oomph with its salty, fermented flavors.

The pork chop at Mita's

The Swabinatian at Tuba Baking Co., The Nasi Lemak at Sago, The chicken mole at Cantina, The ranger chicken tortelli at Wildweed, The marinated beans at Wayfarer Tavern, The charred romanesco at Boca, The rigatoni with blue crab at Salazar, The pork chop at Mita's, The cavatelli with mushrooms at Via Vite, The delicata squash croissant from Two Seven Two

The pork chop at Mita's, Downtown.

These chops, procured from acorn-fed, free range Iberian pigs raised in Spain, are magnificently marbled with a rich, nutty flavor. Cooked to a rosy shade of pink, the meat is as tender and juicy as a Jeff Ruby's steak. It's not always available, and the sides and sauces with which it's served are dictated by the season, but if you see it on the menu, I beg of you to order it. My bet is that it will be the best pork chop you've ever eaten.

The cavatelli with mushrooms at Via Vite

The Swabinatian at Tuba Baking Co., The Nasi Lemak at Sago, The chicken mole at Cantina, The ranger chicken tortelli at Wildweed, The marinated beans at Wayfarer Tavern, The charred romanesco at Boca, The rigatoni with blue crab at Salazar, The pork chop at Mita's, The cavatelli with mushrooms at Via Vite, The delicata squash croissant from Two Seven Two

Wild mushroom cavatelli in veal jus at Via Vite, Downtown.

Decades after he moved from Italy to the Queen City, chef Cristian Pietoso still has some surprises up his sleeve. A good example is the soul satisfying cavatelli with tender cubed mushrooms I enjoyed at Via Vite this fall. Mushrooms lend earthiness and veal stock adds something far more unattainable, like a warm memory that's been lost in your head forever.

The delicata squash croissant from Two Seven Two

The Swabinatian at Tuba Baking Co., The Nasi Lemak at Sago, The chicken mole at Cantina, The ranger chicken tortelli at Wildweed, The marinated beans at Wayfarer Tavern, The charred romanesco at Boca, The rigatoni with blue crab at Salazar, The pork chop at Mita's, The cavatelli with mushrooms at Via Vite, The delicata squash croissant from Two Seven Two

Delicata squash croissant (left) from Two Seven Two bakery, in Clifton.

Crunchy, chewy and savory, the delicata squash croissant from Blair Fornshell, who also owns Brown Bear Bakery in Over-the-Rhine, featured subtly sweet dough topped with nutty roasted delicata squash and spicy chili crisp. There are so many great savory pastries in Greater Cincinnati these days. None, however, are better than the ones Fornshell bakes up.

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