The first restaurant meal we ate in 2023: Technically, it was takeout from McDonald's on New Year's Day after a visit to urgent care, but since I don't count McDonald's in these recaps (or it would be the answer to many of these and therefore not a very interesting recap other than trying to figure out just how much we spent at McDonald's over the past year), the first would be a delivery order from local Palestinian restaurant, Ayat. We love their babaghanoush, kibbeh, and other appetizers, but are sad they no longer offer the oven pies (the pizza slice in the photo) for delivery from this location. Our first meal dining out as a family didn't come until halfway through the month at one of our South Indian favorites, Saravanaa Bhavan (delicious).
The first home-cooked meal we ate in 2023: Grilled Oaxaca cheese sandwiches for lunch on the second day of the year (mostly because we wanted to use up our leftover Oaxaca cheese from the tlayudas). Dinner that day was cotechino con lenticchie, the traditional Italian New Year's dish, but unfortunately thinking about that just reminds me of how we rushed through dinner and then took B to the hospital for his illness.
The last restaurant meal we ate in 2023: Excluding the donuts we brought home for snack on New Year's Eve, it would be a belated birthday dinner for my mom at Lobo Loco, where we enjoyed some fajitas, quesadillas, tacos, and fries. We were thankful to find another safe restaurant for B's allergies.
The last home-cooked meal we ate in 2023: A random assortment of pre-made appetizers along with air-fried potato pancakes from a mix and some Chinese vegetables for New Year's Eve dinner, but fully from scratch would be risotto with peas, pancetta, and mushrooms that started from the risi e bisi recipe I used for a challenge this year.
# of different restaurants we tried in 2023 (together and separate): 123 in person and 49 for takeout/delivery. These numbers seem back near 2019 levels, which is probably a good reflection of where we are as a society right now as well.
Places explored (outside the NYC metro area): Washington, DC; Arlington, VA (and a few other spots in Northern Virginia); Goshen, NY (and nearby towns); Beacon, NY; Chicago, IL.
Most frequented restaurant of 2023 (together, in person): If you exclude McDonald's (visit number in the double digits), it would be the Wendy's that we would go to on our Target and BJ's trips, which came in with 7 visits. If you exclude fast food, it would be Bricks Restaurant in Goshen, NY, the hotel restaurant at the Legoland Resort, because they had daily breakfast included, plus we had a couple dinners there during torrential downpours. If you want someplace local that is not fast food, it would be Ayat (mentioned above) with 3.
The massive family-style breakfasts at Bricks
Most frequented restaurant of 2023 (takeout or delivery): We ordered far less delivery this year, so if you exclude all our McDonald's orders to go (not even going to count how many those were), it would be a tie between the same Wendy's (we had a lot of breakfasts in the car on the way to BJ's) and Cloudy Donuts, the vegan donut spot in Brooklyn Heights that we love. Their donuts, cinnamon rolls, cookies, everything are amazing.
Cloudy Donuts!
Progress on Around the World Cooking Challenge: Starting with Angola (unit 8) in the new year, which means we've gone through Afghanistan, Alabama, Alaska, Albania, Algeria (although I still have a couple desserts I didn't make yet and keep forgetting about), American Samoa/Samoa, and Andorra. We've definitely made some progress this year, which means there's a lot of posts that still have to be written/finished.
Pani popo (Samoan coconut rolls)
(We didn't post about any new or past WorldEats restaurants this year, so last year's numbers are still valid.)
Favorite overall meal of 2023: Dinner at Tupelo Honey in Arlington, Virginia on our spring break trip to DC. The service was fantastic, both while there and in advance when we were inquiring about allergens, and the food was delicious. We got the honey-dusted fried chicken, blackened mahi-mahi, sides of grits with goat cheese, braised green beans, and crispy brussels sprouts, and everything was fantastic. B loved his massive grilled cheese sandwich, and we started with their signature cathead buttermilk biscuits with whipped butter and blueberry jam, which were also special for another reason. I had done a Zoom session through Yelp learning about how to make those during the height of the pandemic, and it was so nice to finally try them in person (obviously better than mine). There was so much on the menu that we could order without any modifications that would be safe for B, and it felt so good to have a nice dinner out that was also safe. Truly wonderful dinner and our favorite meal for this year.
Wishing you a wonderful 2024!
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