The Best Thing I Ate This Month – February 2026
SpicyMAN, 958 Merivale Rd, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Authentic Sichuan and Northeast Chinese cuisine.

SpicyMAN, 958 Merivale Rd, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Authentic Sichuan and Northeast Chinese cuisine.

The Best Thing I Ate This Month is usually about one dish, one bite that refuses to leave your mind. It is not designed to survey an entire menu. But this time, any attempt at restraint felt dishonest. I found myself thinking about this meal for days afterward. I told people about it unprompted. This is not my usual habit. I am typically an eat it and move on kind of guy. This lingered.

SpicyMAN sits next to a barbecue spot in a stretch of Merivale that feels more practical than picturesque. You could miss it. Open the door and you are greeted not by a dining room but by a mountain of stairs. No explanation. Just a climb. So many steps that my friend, already inside, texted to ask if this was truly the place.

Climb them.

At the top, the space opens wide and bright, all exposed ceilings and visible pipes, an industrial expanse that feels unexpectedly airy after the awkward entrance. It is unadorned but confident, as if to say the spectacle will arrive on the plates.

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Chocolate Cake with Mocha Frosting
Chocolate Cake with Mocha Frosting excerpted from Brunch Season: A Year of Delicious Mornings from the Buttermilk Kitchen by Suzanne Vizethann. Photography by Suzanne Vizethann.

Chocolate Cake with Mocha Frosting excerpted from Brunch Season: A Year of Delicious Mornings from the Buttermilk Kitchen by Suzanne Vizethann. Photography by Suzanne Vizethann.

Brunch Season: A Year of Delicious Mornings from the Buttermilk Kitchen by Suzanne Vizethann.From the Buttermilk Kitchen, a beautiful, year-round, go-to cookbook highlighting more than 60 made-from-scratch brunch recipes incorporating fresh fruits and vegetables at their peak times of year.

★ ★ ★ ★ “Straightforward yet elegant and full of inspiration, this will become a go-to for home cooks looking for an excuse to make brunch for any occasion.”   —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“The flavors of Atlanta’s Buttermilk Kitchen—famed for its dazzling breakfasts and lunches—shift to coastal Maine in Suzanne Vizethann’s Brunch Season, an inviting cookbook.”                          —Foreword Reviews

Brunch is a lovely way to celebrate a meal with friends and family, and a great way to make any midday or mid-week dining special. The recipes in Brunch Season: A Year of Delicious Mornings from the Buttermilk Kitchen include both sweet and savory dishes, drawing ideas from Buttermilk Kitchen breakfast favourites, and adding seasonal soups and salads, as well as drinks. Chef Suzanne Vizethann’s fresh farm-to-table approach to this cookbook, divided into spring, summer, fall, and winter chapters, reflects her commitment to providing high-quality meals made with ripe, flavourful ingredients.

All of the recipes are simple yet refined, and the seasonal section openers include a list of peak ingredients for that season. For spring, you will find recipes such as Young Garlic and Radish Focaccia and Rhubarb Cobbler; for summer, Heirloom Tomato Toasts and Watermelon Mimosas; for fall, Roasted Squash Oatmeal with Crispy Rosemary Seeds and Chocolate Hazelnut Sticky Cake; for winter, Coddled Egg with Creamed Kale and Winter Citrus with Whipped Ricotta and Honey. The home cook can expect balanced dishes that are as beautiful as they are delicious. (more…)

THE BEST THING I ATE THIS MONTH – January 2026
Skillet-Fried Chicken

Skillet-Fried Chicken recipe by Bon Appétit Test Kitchen, Bon Appétit magazine, February 2012.

The Best Thing I Ate This Month
Skillet Fried Chicken, the Bon Appétit recipe that never lets me down

There are fancier things to cook this time of year. Dishes with pedigrees. Garnishes that require tweezers. Sauces that simmer for hours only to reduce into a glossy whisper you can barely taste.

And then there is fried chicken.

Not just any fried chicken, but the skillet fried chicken from Bon Appétit, a recipe I have been cooking for more than a decade. It has been with me so long it no longer reads like instructions on a page. It feels more like muscle memory. Like tying your shoes. Like calling someone you love without thinking twice.

Every year, I make it for my annual Southern Dinner with friends, a loose, comfort heavy spread that leans Southern in spirit but fully Canadian in execution. The table is gloriously crowded, bottles, bowls, and elbows fighting for space like nobody bothered with a seating chart. This chicken is the centrepiece. Not the mac and cheese. Not the dessert. Not whatever sad green vegetable I toss in to look like an adult. The chicken. (more…)

Corn and Tapioca Pudding
Corn and Tapioca Pudding Thah Ko

Corn and Tapioca Pudding excerpted from Family Thai: Bringing the Flavors of Thailand Home by Arnold Myint and Kat Thompson. Photographs © 2025 Linda Xiao.

Featured on Best of 2025 Lists

• The Los Angeles Times, 33 Best Cookbooks of 2025
• The New York Times, The Best Cookbooks of 2025
• Eater, Best New Cookbooks Fall 2025
• Bon Appétit, 14 Standout Cookbooks for Fall 2025
• The Washington Post, 14 of Our Favorite Cookbooks of the Year
• Southern Living, The Best Southern Cookbooks of Fall 2025
• Chowhound, 21 Best Cookbooks of 2025

About the Book

James Beard nominee and chef Arnold Myint, the force behind the beloved Thai restaurant International Market in Nashville, shares the food he grew up with in a stunning cookbook that is welcoming, practical, and full of bold flavour.

In Family Thai, Arnold breaks down an often intimidating cuisine into clear and approachable building blocks for home cooks. He starts with pantry staples, answering essential questions about ingredients like fish sauce and soy sauces, then moves into core techniques such as steaming perfect sticky rice or making fresh noodles at home when they are hard to find.

The recipes move fluidly between tradition and personal expression. Arnold shares the dishes he cooks at home, Thai recipes shaped by his Nashville roots and global travels, and the vibrant world of Thai street food, from shumai and shrimp toast to curry puffs, classic noodle dishes, and his own creative interpretations. Longtime fans of International Market will also find the restaurant’s most requested classics finally written down. (more…)

Guinness Beef Stew
Guinness Beef Stew

Guinness Beef Stew excerpted from Passport to Flavor Copyright @ 2025 Abigail C. Cheshire. Photography by Kris D’Amico Photography.

Passport to Flavor Copyright @ 2025 Abigail C. Cheshire

Join social media sensation Chef Abby Cheshire on a culinary adventure on the high seas, in this internationally inspired, travel-infused cookbook with over 100 recipes from fourteen incredible locations around the world. No matter your location or kitchen setup, you can create delicious global cuisine right in your home with Passport to Flavor.

Yacht chef Abby welcomes you into her galley, sharing the international dishes that have delighted her passengers and guests for years—with menus imbued with regional flavour and fresh, local ingredients—from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, from Asia to Europe and beyond.

Grab your passport (and spatula!) and get on board for this worldwide tour of flavour, which includes:

  • A full day’s menu, including breakfast, lunch, appetizer, cocktail, soup/salad, dinner, and dessert from fourteen different port cities around the world (locations like Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Cinque Terre, Italy; Mykonos, Greece; Mumbai, India; Phuket, Thailand; and Prince Edward Island, Canada)
  • Inspiring food and travel photography
  • Tips for cooking in small spaces and in minimally stocked kitchens, and how to shop for fresh ingredients in your local markets
  • Your go-to “galley” or pantry list for internationally inspired meals

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Silky roasted garlic hummus + courgette bowl
Silky roasted garlic hummus + courgette bowl

Silky roasted garlic hummus + courgette bowl excerpted from Bold Beans Full of Beans: Delicious Beany Recipes to Obsess Over by Amelia Christie-Miller. Photography by Sam A. Harris.

Bold Beans Full of Beans: Delicious Beany Recipes to Obsess Over by Amelia Christie-Miller“Beans are quite simply one of the best foods you can eat, so get stuck in!”
– Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall

“This book is the PR beans have always deserved!”
– Yotam Ottolenghi

Get ready to become bean obsessed.

Back by popular demand, this book features 70 brand new, individually photographed recipes from the trailblazing Bold Beans company. Following the Sunday Times bestseller Bold Beans: Recipes to get your Pulse Racing, a growing community of so called bean champs emerged across social media, supermarkets, independent food stores and word of mouth – all calling for more brilliant bean recipes.

Organised by type of bean and showcasing the brand’s newly launched black beans, borlotti beans, queen carlin peas, and queen red beans, the book introduces fresh ideas like beanottos and tray bakes. The result is food that is super healthy, totally unprocessed, planet friendly, and deeply satisfying.

Recipes include:
– Sausage and butter bean stew
– Chickpea, sweet potato and peanut butter curry
– Spiced onion and borlotti bean frittata
– Crispy chorizo and red bean shakshuka with charred padron peppers (more…)

Tamarind Barbecue Chicken Wings
Tamarind Barbecue Chicken Wings

Tamarind Barbecue Chicken Wings excerpted from Eat Jewish: Over 100 Recipes That Blend Jewish Heritage, Modern Flavors, and Family Traditions by Melinda Strauss © 2025 by Quarto Publishing Group USA, Inc. Photography by Schneur Menaker.

Eat Jewish: Over 100 Recipes That Blend Jewish Heritage, Modern Flavors, and Family Traditions by Melinda Strauss

Carry on the rich customs and flavours of Jewish food culture with over 100 comforting kosher recipes, both traditional and modern.

Food serves as a bridge connecting us to our ancestral roots and shared heritage. When we share food, we’re also sharing our culture and history. In Eat Jewish, Jewish social media influencer Melinda Strauss (@therealmelindastrauss) embraces this connection by pairing kosher recipes with key stories and insights into Jewish life, history, and heritage.

Addressing commonly asked questions about Jewish customs along the way, Melinda identifies and celebrates regional flavours drawn from thousands of years of Jewish wandering across the globe. Including easy-to-follow recipes for challah breads, dips, soups, dairy and non-dairy dishes, desserts, and holiday recipes, this is your warm, welcoming companion to Jewish cooking at home.

Packed with mouthwatering photos, learn how to make:

  • Sweet and Fluffy Challah
  • Schmaltz Matzah Balls
  • Barbecue Brisket Soup
  • Classic Potato Latkes
  • Panko-Crusted Gefilte Fish
  • Israeli Chicken Sofrito
  • Butternut Squash Kugel
  • Spaetzle with Mushroom Sauce
  • Turkish Cheese Borekas
  • Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookie Sticks
  • Cinnamon Bun Challah Bread Pudding
  • Cold Brew Cheesecake
  • and more!

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Sour Cherry and Sally Sheep’s Cheese Danishes
Sour Cherry and Sally Sheep's Cheese Danishes

Sour Cherry and Sally Sheep’s Cheese Danishes excerpted from Dobre Dobre: Baking from Poland and Beyond by Laurel Kratochvila. Photography by Malgosia Minta.

Dobre Dobre: Baking from Poland and Beyond by Laurel Kratochvila.New York Times Best Cookbook of 2025

“In Dobre Dobre, Laurel Kratochvila leads us down the gloriously buttery, poppy seed strewn path of modern and classic Polish baking. Ms. Kratochvila, who runs a bakery in Berlin, writes meticulous recipes that deliver impressive results.”
New York Times

Discover the vast and varied Polish baking tradition, old and new, Jewish and diasporic, in this authoritative collection of 120 plus recipes from James Beard Award finalist Laurel Kratochvila.

Poland’s distinctive baking culture is a product of its rich and complicated history, from the World Wars to the rise of Communism to the cultural exchange that inevitably comes with being a country with seven neighbors and generations of migration. Step into a Polish piekarnia or bakery and you are greeted by an abundance of tiny cookies and rugelach, decorative layer cakes and cheesecakes, sweet yeast buns and danishes, and hearty rye breads and sourdough loaves.

In this repertoire expanding baking book, American born, Berlin based baker and 2023 James Beard Award finalist Laurel Kratochvila brings you more than 120 familiar and inventive treasures. These include innovative recipes of her own as well as recipes from pioneering Polish bakers, such as:

  • Horseradish, Beet, and Summer Greens Bialys
  • Sunflower Rye Loaf
  • Plum Butter Carnival Donuts
  • Rano Piekarnia’s Summer Bilberry Buns
  • Chocolate and Whipped Cream Warsaw Cake
  • Karpatka also known as cream and choux cake
  • Soft Iced Toruń Gingerbread
  • Rose and Almond Jewel Rugelach
  • Twisted Krakow Bagels
  • Sauerkraut and Mushroom Rolls
  • And much more.

Vivid storytelling and fascinating historical details illuminate the significance behind each recipe. (more…)

Gingerbread Cake, Cranberry and Zabaione Trifle
Gingerbread Cake, Cranberry and Zabaione Trifle

Gingerbread Cake, Cranberry and Zabaione Trifle excerpted from The Christmas Companion: Simple Recipes and Creative Ideas for a Magical Festive Season. Used with the permission of the publisher, Bloomsbury. Text copyright © 2025 by Skye McAlpine, Photography copyright © 2025 by Skye McAlpine.

The Christmas Companion: Simple Recipes and Creative Ideas for a Magical Festive Season by Skye McAlpine

From beloved author Skye McAlpine, an all-things-Christmas cookbook and gifty guide to the perfect holiday, from hosting to roasting-and everything you need to spread cheer with the people you love.

From inimitable author Skye McAlpine, The Christmas Companion is a gorgeous wall-to-wall guide to an unfussy yet elegant Christmas to remember. With recipes both celebratory and deeply comforting that skew Italian, the book includes Christmas canon favorites like Ginger and Apricot Glazed Ham and Panettone Woodland Cake, edible gifts like Marzipan Fruits and Chocolate Salami, and fool­proof menus for every event-from two­-person romantic dinners to blowout cocktail parties or Christmas lunch for twenty. But like any holiday devotee, Skye knows the preparation is half the fun. In The Christmas Companion, she also gives her best tips for creating the perfect holiday space: guides to making Candy Cane Heart Ornaments and “playing Santa,” how to make your own Christmas crackers, and the most beautiful ways to decorate the Christmas table.

A highly giftable holiday treat, The Christmas Companion is sure to perennially spread Christmas cheer.

The Christmas Companion: Simple Recipes and Creative Ideas for a Magical Festive Season by Skye McAlpine is available at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Indigo.ca.

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Potato Knishes
Potato Knishes

Potato Knishes excerpted from RUSS & DAUGHTERS: 100 Years of Appetizing by Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper. Copyright © 2025 by Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper. Reprinted with permission from Flatiron Books. All rights reserved. Photography by Gentl & Hyers. Illustrations by Jason Polan, LLC.

Russ & Daughters: 100 Years of Appetizing by Niki Russ Federman, Josh Russ Tupper, Joshua David SteinFrom the legendary New York destination for Jewish appetizing, a beautiful and inspiring cookbook that encompasses history, tradition, and absolutely delicious food

In 1907, a Jewish immigrant named Joel Russ landed in New York City, where he took a pushcart of herring and built a legacy that would pass down through fathers and daughters (and sons and husbands and wives) for more than a hundred years. Four generations later, the ancestral heart of Russ & Daughters continues to bustle on the Lower East Side, with three more locations throughout the city.

Over the course of a century, Russ & Daughters has fed hundreds of thousands of customers, many considering a visit to the original shop on East Houston a family tradition, weekly ritual, or New York experience. Now, for the first time, Russ & Daughters brings its world-famous institution into readers’ homes. Its rich history is told through insider anecdotes from the family and characters on both sides of the counter; illuminating guides to its most famed offerings―smoked salmon, sable, sturgeon, herring, and caviar; and more than 100 cherished recipes for favorite foods like latkes, matzo ball soup, babka, and bagels, among many others.

Nothing can ever replace the experience of taking a number, kibbitzing with a slicer, waiting in line, and ordering your whitefish or belly lox. Yet this book captures some of that infectious Russ & Daughters appetizing spirit, and most importantly, brings families and friends together around the table. (more…)