The restaurant dishes that I crave the most
A top 10 and a bunch more
Breakfast tacos are a perfect food, and no one does them better than the folks at Macheen in Boyle Heights. This made me a little sad the first time I visited — that the food I grew up eating every week in Austin had been mastered elsewhere. But the flawless combos Jonathan Perez and his team prepare are a thing I regularly wake up thinking about.
I started the day at Macheen yesterday and continued a leisurely food crawl that stretched from Bakers Bench to Canyon Coffee to the Little Fish happy hour to Quarter Sheets for dessert. It shook me from a dining out rut, a stretch of fine meals with no memorable dishes.
When friends ask for dinner recs, I tend to suggest experiences more than must-orders. Estela is great for an indulgent weeknight date, hit up Frenchette for a special brunch, make Superiority Burger your stop for drinks and dessert. When you get there, order whatever you want. I find that arriving at a restaurant with a pre-ordained order in mind creates a bit of a homeworky, I did the thing so I can post about it experience that’s muted and utilitarian. Talk to your server, take some risks and be a little surprised.
But as I’ve found that dining out malaise extending to plenty of food-obsessed friends, I’ve been seeking out bites like Macheen’s longaniza breakfast tacos. Like whatever Little Fish is whipping up on Friday nights. Like Hannah Ziskin’s chocolate cream pie. It’s easy for meals to blend together, for new spots to land with a touch of disappointment, for cooking at home to become more and more appealing. The best salve for that: Food that simply always hits.
In March, I ranked my 10 favorite restaurant dishes so far this year. Here, I’m compiling all of the dishes I crave the most. The ones I’ve had multiple times and can’t stop thinking about. The ones that make me the most excited about food, and stand out as my modern classics. There’s a top 10, and then a long list of honorable mentions.
Some rules
Only one choice per restaurant
Only one choice per primary ingredient (mostly)
Only items that (I’m pretty sure) you can still order
Savory only, plus a couple breakfast items (the pastry list is coming)
Here’s the list. Enjoy.