I had a LOT of great eats this past year – so much so that it was incredibly difficult to pick just 12 that I liked the best. But after a lot of internal debating, I came up with my list of best bites of 2022.
2022 was filled with outstanding food, so trying to come up with a list of just 12 dishes was incredibly difficult. To be clear, there were many, MANY dishes that I love which aren’t appearing on this list – such as everything I ate from C4 Table this year. I’d gladly order these items repeatedly (and, at times, have). So don’t think for a minute that just because I don’t list something as one of my best bites of 2022 that it isn’t incredibly tasty and special!
Best Bites of 2022
Without further adieu, let’s get into my best bites of 2022 list.
12) Elote – Luna Mexican Kitchen (San Jose)
Good elote are hard to find in Hawaii, so this was a real treat for me. That said, I’ve never seen elote where the corn kernels are all charred. I loved the charred flavor on the still slightly raw, super-sweet corn sprinkled with just the right amount of queso fresco and ground chile. The chipotle aioli and squeeze of lime really tie everything together.
11) Summer Lettuces – Tomo (Seattle)
Yes, a salad has made my list of best bites of 2022, and this won’t be the only one! Here, you get a mixture of regular and grilled lettuces tossed with a fantastic vinaigrette, mint, dill, karasumi (think bottarga), and breadcrumbs. The result is a salad like no other – smokey, umami, acidic, cooling, and herbaceous all at once. If more salads were like this, I’d eat them more often.
10) Porcini Bruschetta – Progress SF
Thick slices of broasty toasty sourdough comes topped with fresh cooked and raw porcini, micro greens, salt, pepper, a drizzle of saba, and Hudson Ranch olio nuovo. This dish is broasty, meaty, fresh, rich, and slightly acidic all at once. The perfect embodiment of the season, in my opinion.
9) Mango Coconut Tapioca Danish – Breadshop (Oahu)
Imagine that a croissant and Thai mango sticky rice had a baby. That’s basically what you get with Breadshop’s incredible Mango Coconut Tapioca Danish, though they use tapioca instead of sticky rice. Buttery, mildly sweet, coconutty, creamy, fruity, slightly tart, crisp, and flakey all at once. Literally, the perfect pastry!
8) Crispy Arroz Caldo – HeiHo House (Oahu – defunct)
Puffed crispy rice, crispy chicken skin, bright herbs, sweet onions, and a savory vinaigrette helps to tie together and balance this inventive dish. I’m so sad that I won’t be able to get this dish or any of the other incredible dishes at HeiHo House ever again.
7) Sweet & Sour Pig Ears – Press Napa Valley
Our server described the dish as a chicken wing, and bacon had a baby. She wasn’t wrong! The pig ears were the best I’ve ever had – super airy and crispy, almost like great chicharron, but with a slight meatiness. The Espelette glaze makes it a bit spicy for me, but the spice with the sweet and sour flavors made it incredibly addicting and easy to eat – not greasy at all!
6) Potato Pancake – Stationaery (Carmel-by-the-Sea)
Imagine a hashbrown that’s creamy on the inside and very crisp and broasty on the outside. That’s the famous potato pancake at Stationaery. The toppings vary by season and feature homemade pesto, roasted delicata squash, bacon, parmesan, basil, chives, and a sous vide egg (optional) to create one of the most incredible breakfasts I’ve ever had.
5) Lobster with Shirodashi Butter – Bar Maze (Oahu)
Sweet, succulent, perfectly cooked lobster swimming in deeply savory, herbal butter sauce with crisp. That’s this dish. Crisp, raw green asparagus and charred, crisp, intensely sweet white asparagus help to balance the dish out. A side of optional caviar help to punch up the richness even more, while the Breadshop brioche rolls provide the perfect vessel to sop up the extra sauce. This dish was the reason I was able to try the next one on this list.
4) Monterey Red Abalone – Aubergine Carmel (Carmel-by-the-Sea)
Tender, meaty abalone atop delicate, tender, fermented & grilled napa cabbage swimming in a broth of intensely green chicken stock and topped with both crispy chicken skin and a shiso-like flower. I went speechless when I first took a bite of this masterpiece! Perfection. Plain and simple. Everything was cooked so perfectly. The balance was just incredible. And who doesn’t love crispy chicken skin?! This dish overshadowed the over-the-top incredible caviar one that came before it!
3) Poached Shrimp – Jacqueline (Portland, Oregon)
Who would’ve thought that a salad would break into my top 3 best bites of 2022? But here we are. This isn’t any ordinary salad, though. This allegedly poached shrimp dish combines smokey, fatty, intensely caramelized grilled pork with a zingy, umami-enhancing vinaigrette, a smattering of lettuce, cilantro, parsley, shiso, crispy-fried shallots, and the best nectarines of the season to create the most interesting, flavorful, and exciting salad I’ve ever had in my life. If I could fit it in my belly, I would’ve ordered a second serving.
2) Foodxjitsu Omakase (Hilo, Hawaii – now Oahu @ Izakaya Agaru)
Taking second place in my best bites of 2022 ranking is a platter of takeout sushi. But this isn’t any ordinary takeout sushi – it’s takeout sushi that can rival the likes of Sushi Sho in Waikiki. Daysen is a true master of his craft, combining the best quality fish that’s, when he deems it appropriate, is aged or pickled to perfection. His more assertive sushi-su really helps to balance the richness of the fish, while the toppings add a whole different dimension. As great as everything was, the salmon with shiso and tomato was the clear standout for me – and I’m not that big a salmon sushi fan!
1) Kauai Shrimp Gyoza – Na’au Hilo
Taking first place in my best bites of 2022 rankings is Chef Brian Hirata’s Kauai Shrimp Gyoza. I know, this sounds very basic. How could gyoza stand up to an intricate Michelin-starred dish? Execution. Chef Hirata created these perfectly crunchy-chewy exteriors while nailing the interior temperature, leaving the hunks of sweet shrimp perfectly plump and juicy. Then, he sets these gyoza into a nutty, intensely-umami brown butter XO sauce made with homemade XO. I nearly cried when I tried it. It took every one of self-control in me not to pick up the bowl and lick it clean. It was that good.
Final Thoughts
I said it before, and I’ll say it again, 2022 was an incredible year in food for me. There were so many incredible bites to enjoy, many of which I’ll be reviewing in detail in the future – stay tuned!
What were your favorite bites of 2022?