The best dishes Craig LaBan ate in 2023

By conservative estimates, my work took me to over 275 restaurant meals across the Philadelphia region in 2023, where I feasted on well over 1,000 dishes. It’s a good thing my appetite matches my desire to be a thorough reporter. It’s even more fortunate that Philly is blessed with so many talented cooks. I ate great food on a regular basis. But some plates truly stood out as special. From stellar burgers to barbacoa, Portuguese pastries and yes, even a simple green salad done to elusive perfection, these are the Philly dishes that helped shape 2023 as one of my best eating years ever.

There are so many wonderful dishes that set Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon’s kitchen at Kalaya apart. From the extraordinary dumplings to her vivid curries, street snacks, and epic tom yum, no one in America is sharing the story of the Southern Thai table with as much breadth, elegance, and no-shortcuts-effort as Nok. Her move of Kalaya this year into a much larger space in Fishtown gave her yet one more tool to deepen the repertoire: the coconut charcoal-fired grill that is essential for goong phao, Philly’s Dish of the Year. Two majestic river prawns are roasted over the coals then stripped tableside, where the sweet meat is mixed into jasmine rice with tangy sweet nam pla waan, tamarind sauce, crunchy shallots, bitter herbs, and glossy orange fat from the heads. Eaten together, it’s intricately complex, each bite a spell of contrasting textures and bright harmonies that transported me back to a steamy riverside pavilion in Thailand more convincingly than I ever expected. Kalaya, 4 W. Palmer St., 215-545-2535; kalayaphilly.com.

This was the year some chefs focused on the beauty of simplicity and elevating the mundane to memorable. The green salad at Meetinghouse is case in point. I normally glance right past green salads on most menus. But chef-partner Drew DiTomo and his crew lavish so much love on their towering piles of leaves, carefully building crowns of juicy sweet baby romaine that rise around leggy tangles of watercress, that it looked like a floral arrangement in shades of chive-dusted green. And what flavor! The delicacy of the lettuce is key. But the dressing is also electric, a traditional vinaigrette amped with extra Dijon and pureed shallots, softened just enough with the sweet tang of verjus. Meetinghouse, 2331 E. Cumberland St.; meetinghousebeer.com

A magical reporting trip to Mexico this year following James Beard finalist Dionicio Jiménez to his hometown of San Mateo Ozolco was one of the highlights of my year. Thankfully, Jiménez brought plenty of inspirations back with him, including the desire to dig two big barbacoa pits in the Kensington backyard of his restaurant Cantina de la Martina. The six-foot-deep brick holes radiate 800-degree heat before maguey leaf bundles of seasoned beef and goat are lowered inside to roast 20 hours for weekend specials. The goat barbacoa is truly special, its tender flesh seasoned with a cuminy red adobo fragrant with canela and Jiménez’s touch of star anise. Served by the pound for $45 alongside an intense consommé from the drippings and all the fixings (nopales salad, cilantro-onions, and fresh tortillas), this is an event plate worth sharing. Cantina La Martina, 2800 D St., 267-519-2142; cantinalamartinapa.com

Philadelphians are hot for khachapuri, the Georgian-style cheese bread boats that drew fans to Saami Somi in the Reading Terminal Market, bi-level Sakartvelo (705 Chestnut St., 267-319-1631) and Gamarjoba (13033 Bustleton Ave., 215-677-6070), the kebab house, khinkali dumpling kitchen and beer garden in Northeast Philly that also made my Top 10.

Long overdue, Pinoy flavors are finally popping with staying power at Tambayan, Kathy Mirano’s diner counter where the hand pies, meat skewers, adobo comfort plates, and purple ube macarons, has made it one of the best destination at the Reading Terminal Market (look for another brick-and-mortar location from Mirano next year). Chance Anies’ tiny but mighty Italian Market BYOB, Tabachoy (932 S. 10th St.) showed the cuisine’s contemporary potential with fusion hits like the bagoong-spiked Caesar, cracklin’ sizzle plates of sisig, and a festive ube sundae.

Who doesn’t like the flaky custard cup of a good pastéis de nata? The precious tarts were suddenly everywhere this year. But at Gilda in Fishtown (300 E Girard Ave.), it’s the caldo verde, pastéis de bacalhau, and bifana cutlet sandwich that had me dreaming of a trip to Lisbon.

Have you had enough fried chicken sandwiches? Maybe not based on this guide to 24 contenders by my colleague, Michael Klein. I’ve got my own favorite: the Kale Caesar cutlet at Liberty Kitchen PHL (1400 N. Front St., 215-964-9535). But it’s time for other food groups to shine, like the masterfully crisp eggplant cutlet with broccoli rabe pesto and chili mayo at Sweet Amalia Market & Kitchen. Or crispy seafood wonders like the South Indian-spiced Kerala fish sandwich at Two Robbers Fishtown (1221 Frankford Ave., 215-279-7575), or the Friday fish hoagies at Honeysuckle Provisions (310 S. 48th St., 215-307-3316), where the “Dolla Hoagies” on house-baked benne seed rolls always rule.

Pennsylvania is known for its rye, especially in whiskey. But rye flour, most of it milled fresh at Bucks County’s Castle Valley Mill, has lately added its subtle shade of earthy tang to unexpected places, like the ethereal ricotta gnudi glazed in hazelnut butter at Illata (2241 Grays Ferry Ave.), the crêpe wrapping smoked potatoes and cabbage at Ground Provisions, and the popovers with short rib dip at Sweet Amelia’s (102 E. State St., Kennett Square, sweetameliasksq.com).

I’m over the smash burger craze, because it’s mostly become a griddle license to overcook. My two current favorites prove there’s more finesse in a plumper patty, especially with live fire to offer extra flavor boost. The brisket IncuBurger at the Lucky Well Incubator (990 Spring Garden St., 445-223-2290) is house-ground and smoked rare with Jersery white oak before its fiery finish over the grill, with extra layers of campfire in the housemade bacon and Thousand Island dressing. The burger at Dave Conn’s fantastic new Alice (901 Christian St., 215-798-6766; alicephiladelphia.com) also takes full advantage of the open kitchen’s charcoal-fired hearth, its thick patty of dry-aged beef recalling a deluxe backyard cookout beauty topped with clothbound Cabot cheddar melting down its sides, aioli and house BBQ sauce over caramelized onions.

Ice Cream Creatives: In a town of small restaurants where dedicated pastry talents are rare, my most satisfying desserts in 2023 were frozen, from the jidori yolk ice cream with strawberry red bean sauce for the Taiyaki sundae at Royal Sushi & Izakaya (780 S. Second St.,), to the seasonal soft-serve swirls at My Loup (still dreaming of summer corn and blueberry), to the taste of imported Poblano bee pollen helado at El Chingón, and Kelly Bradley’s reinvented Good Humor strawberry bar at Hearthside (801 Haddon Ave., Collingswood). The scoop that haunts me most, though, is the frosty steel coupe of absinthe ice cream at Alice, where this grown-up take on mint chocolate chip is infused with the herbal anise liquor and crowned with a grooved cloud of Chantilly dusted in cocoa.