Featured image: La Cave, Charelston
I eat for a living, which sounds glamorous until you’re unbuttoning your jeans in a restaurant bathroom and restocking your purse stash of Tums for the third time in a week. But someone has to do it in order to make sure your hard-earned money isn’t wasted, and as a pathological people-pleaser, I’ll carry on.
2025 delivered some genuinely extraordinary meals, many hailing from the kitchens of my friends, family, and fella, and most carefully crafted by the South’s best chefs. So as I reflect on a year gone by and usher in a new one, I’m reflecting on my best bites (which MICHELIN and James Beard seem to agree with!).
These aren’t ranked because my favorite soapbox begins with, “food is subjective, and our favorites all differ.” But also, how do you compare Turkish pastrami to a raclette burger slider and a food truck smashburger? You don’t.
So without further ado, I present to you our inaugural ranking of the best bites from last year.
Hearth-Roasted Oysters at Easy Bistro & Bar, Chattanooga
This meal kicked off 2025 as a celebratory dinner for my fella’s birthday at Easy Bistro, which just earned a Michelin nod this year. Owners Erik and Amanda Niel opened the original Easy Seafood in 2005 when they were 26 and 24, driven by what I can only describe as audacious optimism and serious talent. Nearly two decades later, it’s evolved into one of Chattanooga’s most beloved restaurants, now in the West Village (double-check the address if you’re using rideshare, it dropped me off blocks away).
Every bite we had was incredible—focaccia, romanesco, all of it. But the hearth-roasted oysters drenched in smoked butter and finished with black pepper and lemon were, without a doubt, the star of the show.
Mashed Potato Bar and Corn Casserole at The Swag, Great Smoky Mountains
We visited The Swag in February during a massive Southern snowstorm and almost called off the whole trip. Thank God we didn’t, because snow-covered Smokies made the experience all the more magical (once we made it up the mountain and got a glass of wine in us). The Swag is a stunning resort-style property of cabins that borders Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and food is included—though the menu is pre-set and you make selections each morning.
I won’t lie, I had the tiniest twinge of disappointment upon finding out my one night there was a BBQ dinner and not a swanky steak night. But let me tell you, I salivate like a dang Saint Bernard when I think about that night. My plate was piled high with smoked meats and every kind of side you could want for a BBQ dinner, each one award-worthy in its own category. Live bluegrass from Darren Nicholson played for our intimate group of 10 or so guests. My cheeks hurt from smiling, and my phone battery was near dead by the end of the night.
The meat was stellar, but I’m a carb gal. My best bites were a tie between the mashed potato bar and the corn casserole that brought a pleasant sweetness and a perfect crunch anytime it mixed in a little with something else on my plate.
PB&J Bacon at Haberdish, Charlotte
Haberdish is a mill town Southern kitchen and craft cocktail bar that earned a Michelin nod in 2025. And, its restaurant group now has its own PBS show, Fork & Hammer. I dined with a friend over fried chicken, Brussels sprouts, and incredible sweet potato gnocchi, but my favorite bite was something they brought to our table that I absolutely never would’ve ordered for myself: PB&J Bacon.
Thick-cut bacon, maple peanut butter, peppadew jelly, banana vinaigrette, jalapeño slaw, and green onion sounds to me like chaos, but it was a perfect balance of savory, sweet, and spicy, and the combination of textures was delightful.
Red Flannel Hash at Switchback, Cataloochee Ranch
Cataloochee Ranch is The Swag’s sister property, but takes a totally different dining approach. Instead of all-inclusive, they drop off continental breakfast at your cabin daily (thermoses of coffee, fresh pastries, fruit), and the onsite restaurant Switchback operates more like a standalone.
I didn’t expect world-class dining in a little mountain town in North Carolina, but Chef Jeb Aldrich is doing high cuisine in the High Country—Appalachian favorites influenced by French techniques and flavored by locally grown produce. We had our favorite wine to date there (Big Table Farm and Lingua Franca Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley), and the dinners were spectacular.
But the brunch—coming from a firm breakfast hater—was what stands out the most in my memory. The Red Flannel Hash made with local beets, their own beef short rib, spinach, sunny egg, and hollandaise would get me to make the five-plus-hour drive there and back alone.
Tuna Crudo and Orange Granita at Yolan, Nashville
Yolan is back and better with a new culinary team inside the Joseph Hotel in downtown Nashville. They invited me in for the La Tavola in La Cucina (the table in the kitchen) experience, which has a minimum spend of $375 per person and gets you access to the team of culinarians whipping up dishes for the dining room and in-room dining guests.
We did the “Esperienza Yolan” tasting menu—bread service, pasta, a tray of tea-style bites, beef or fish, dessert, each carefully paired with Italian wine. Gun to the head, my best bite was the tuna crudo and orange granita, which was delightfully refreshing during a brutal Nashville summer.
Smashburger at Bad Luck Burger Club, Nashville
I go feral for a smashburger, and 2024’s reigning champion for best in Nashville got dethroned by a food truck. Bad Luck Burger Club parks in East Nashville across from the Basement East and serves simple smashers dripping with American cheese, grilled onions, dill pickles, and special sauce. You can level up with lettuce, tomatoes, jalapeños, and pineapples if you’re feeling adventurous (or crazy). They don’t have fries, but they do have tots and churros.
Raclette Burger Slider at La Cave, Charleston
I visited La Cave because I was scouting it for a future “most beautiful restaurants” roundup, and while that was solidified within three seconds of entering, I became a fan at first sip and a fan for life at first bite. It was summertime in Charleston, and cooling off is essential, so I opted for a burnt corn cocktail because I’m a savory gal and I live for weird flavor combinations.
It was so unbelievable; I ordered two, then came back for another after dinner with friends elsewhere. Don’t worry, I brought them. La Cave has French small plates, and we ordered a few as a precursor to our dinner reservations. Let’s just say we did not eat at the next location, and we did not have a single regret about that.
We had crudo, filet, pommes frites, an amuse-bouche that left us gazing with puppy dog eyes at the kitchen door in hopes they’d bring us another. But my best bite should come as no surprise if you know anything about me, my addiction to dairy, and my affinity for the Swiss: a raclette-topped burger slider.
Country Ham Corn Cake at Audrey, Nashville
Audrey is renowned Southern chef Sean Brock’s love letter to his grandmother, showcasing his Southern and Appalachian roots in an open-kitchen concept in East Nashville. The restaurant is under new ownership but maintains the same inspiration, and I was eager to try its second act in 2025.
This catapulted near the top of my best bites list. Any time I have a tasting menu, I assume there will be a bite or two I won’t enjoy, but I’ll be glad I tried it—that’s the fun of the experience. Trying something new, stepping out of my comfort zone, and the excitement when something you know you never would’ve ordered ends up being your favorite thing…
Every course at Audrey was divine—from bread service through soups and starters to mains and desserts. My best bites were a country ham-topped corn cake (doesn’t get more Southern than that!) and a crab bisque that was presented as beautifully as it tasted.
1,000 Layer Potatoes at Siren Social Club, Gulfport
Coastal Mississippi has some very unexpected culinary surprises, and Chef Austin Sumrall is getting the recognition he deserves with nods from Michelin and James Beard. He’s behind White Pillars in Biloxi and Siren Social Club in Gulfport, hidden within the charming new Hotel Vela.
Not only is Austin a delight to be around (known to dole out a tequila shot and a side-splitting story or two), but his talent is palpable. My dinner at Siren was one of those that left me clutching my purse in front of me, trying to hide my unbuttoned jeans, grateful I only had to make it to the elevator before I could hibernate for the evening.
For starters, I had a spicy margarita (or a few, I suppose) where the jalapeños were literally ground up and frozen into the ice cubes. We shared a platter of oysters on seasoned saltines, paddlefish caviar with all the proper fixings, crudo almost too beautiful to eat, rolls so good I’m pretty sure the leftovers found their way into some pockets. I’m getting overwhelmed just thinking about it all, and if you glanced at the menu prices online ($20 beef tartare, for example), you’d already be halfway there.
But the best bite(s)? Chef Sumrall’s 1,000-layer potatoes, sliced thin, compressed, and deep-fried to crispy perfection, then dressed with pesto and paprika aioli.
Fresh Pastrami in Parchment at Argos in Cappadocia, Türkiye
I went on a culinary adventure in 2025 that changed my approach and appreciation for international dining—I have a new favorite cuisine. I spent a week traveling Türkiye, including Cappadocia, the Riviera, and a brief stint in Istanbul, where I fell in love with doner, meze, manti, and Turkish coffee and tea.
The universal best food experience was at Argos in Cappadocia, a luxury hotel tucked in an ancient cave system that’s the perfect theater for the daily hot-air balloon launches. We enjoyed a buffet breakfast daily that, to my delight, was very savory and lunch-like. We wandered through their onsite gardens, wine cellars, and fermentation rooms where the teams keep food supply going year-round, and learned about Turkish customs, as this was my first stop on the adventure.
The highlight was a private dinner in a 2,000-year-old monastery, where we had traditional clay pot kebabs, pickled vegetables, lovely wine, and perhaps the year’s number one best bite—a dish with a name I’ve yet to track down but consisted of fresh pastrami sliced thin, baked in sheets of parchment paper with butter, tomatoes, small bits of lemon, parsley, and salt.
It was unfurled ceremoniously, and I’m unsure if it was my jet lag and sleep deprivation, a pinch-me moment in my travel writing career, the excellence of the dish itself, or perhaps a combination of it all. But it did literally bring me to tears.
Tell us, what were your best bites in 2025, and what must be on our list to try this year?
Find more Southern dining inspiration here.
