The 10 most delicious dishes we tasted all year

All year long, the Phoenix New Times food team travels around the Valley in search of metro Phoenix’s best eats. We conduct research for our lists, such as the top 10 Chinese restaurants in town, and check out newly opened spots to determine if they’re truly worth the hype.

Throughout all of that tasty research, some dishes linger a little longer in our minds. This year, standout seafood left us making second reservations before we’d finished our first. Exceptional sandwiches stood out in the crowd. And one bright, tart, exciting salad blew us away.

We also endured some less-than-exceptional meals this year, but we do the research so you don’t have to. From a year of exploring the Valley through food, these 10 dishes were the best things we tasted at Phoenix restaurants in 2025.

Yam Mamuang Boran at Lom Wong

218 E. Portland St.
At many Thai restaurants around the Valley, papaya salad is a menu staple. However, at the award-winning Lom Wong in downtown Phoenix, the fruit is swapped out for tart green mango. This particular recipe comes from chef Yotaka “Sunny” Martin’s grandmother and results in an intensely flavored blend of shredded green mango, hand-torn shrimp, toasted coconut and peanuts, lime, fish sauce and coconut cream. Martin’s exceptional cooking skills were recognized this year when she won a James Beard Award for the best chef in the Southwest. She and her husband Alex run the upscale eatery, where they serve rich curries with hand-pounded pastes and homemade coconut milk. But no visit to Lom Wong is complete without a refreshing, tangy, sour, exciting bowl of Yam Mamuang Boran.

Sonora Burger at Main Burgers

161 W. Main St., Mesa
Chefs and restaurateurs Roberto Centeno, Armando Hernandez and Nadia Holguin have created something special with Main Burgers. Their casual, counter service joint in downtown Mesa takes the exquisite simplicity of the best vintage burger bars and infuses ingredients that the owners know like the back of their hand: zingy chiltepin, creamy queso asadero and flavorful beef. On the five-item menu, the Sonora burger is a star. What could have been a ho-hum cheeseburger gets serious flavor upgrades at every turn. The cheese is griddled, giving it a rich caramelized crust. As if that weren’t mouthwatering enough, it’s studded with salty bits of bacon and the heat of chiltepin. The burger is layered with caramelized onions, creamy house sauce, lettuce and tomato. It’s a big, rich bite with enough balance to not overwhelm, showing the finesse that this team brings to even the most everyday dishes. 

Tacos al Pastor at Taquería El Fundador

3245 W. Van Buren St.
Tucked into a tiny restaurant on the southeast corner of Van Buren Street and 33rd Avenue, we found our favorite tacos of the year. And that’s not to say they’re new. The family behind Taqueria El Fundador, formerly known as El Nuevo Taquito, has been slinging excellent eats since 1985. The menu packs all of the classics from smoky asada to tender cabeza, which can be enjoyed in tacos, burritos, tortas, quesadillas and plates. But our go-to is the pastor. Tender marinated pork is sliced off a spinning trompo just behind the counter and finished on the flat top with sliced onions. A few cubes of pineapple join the party, and when ordered with everything, each taco gets a sprinkle of cubed raw onion, cilantro and red salsa. Add a squeeze of lemon and dig in. You’ll soon be back at the counter ordering round two.

Little Jerry at First & Last

1001 N. Third Ave., #1
It is rare when a dish that goes viral online actually lives up to the hype (and the long lines that follow). The “Seinfeld”-referencing sandwiches on First & Last’s lunch menu nearly knocked us out of our seats at the airy downtown restaurant. These sandwiches start with an exceptional foundation. The housemade focaccia is crisp and sturdy on the outside, with a bubbly soft interior. The Little Jerry is a maximalist take on a chicken parmesan sandwich. A fried chicken cutlet is enveloped in gooey mozzarella, zesty vodka sauce and a bright basil pesto. The sandwich gets wrapped in paper, cut down the middle and presented with those halves facing up on a plate, buried underneath a mountain of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Take a deep breath, roll up your sleeves and get ready to unhinge your jaw to get into this sandwich. Your reward is a complex bite that is at once tender and comforting with the right amount of crunch, sweetness and spice. It’s cheesy and rich with an herbaceous burst. This is a knockout sandwich that, to quote Kosmo Kramer on Little Jerry, is “struttin’ his stuff.”

Yellowtail Tostada at Marisco Boys

2026 N. Seventh St.
The yellowtail tostada at Marisco Boys played a large part in us declaring the new seafood restaurant the essential spot of the summer. First of all, this isn’t a tostada you can pick up. When the small mountain of fish hits your table, you’ll need to reach for your fork. Two crisp fried tortillas create a base, slathered with a savory black garlic aioli. Next up, cold cubes of soft, slightly sweet raw yellowtail are mixed with chunks of creamy avocado. At the top of the mountain, a nest of crispy fried leeks adds a savory crunch. It’s at once cold and refreshing, texturally interesting and generally fun to eat. Anytime the temperatures top 100 degrees, this is the dish we’ll reach for.

Kheema Dosa at Indibar

6208 N. Scottsdale Road, Paradise Valley
Upscale Indian restaurants are having a moment around Phoenix and one visit to Indibar will show you why. The culinary team crafts whimsical cocktails, classic Indian bites (including what has become our gold standard for butter chicken) and innovative dishes that are rich with flavor and technique. One of the more simplistic dishes, Kheema Dosa, is a standout item. A massive crisp-tender pancake arrives rolled up like a scroll on a platter. This shareable starter got our table talking as we ripped off bits of crepe and topped it off with one or both of its accompaniments: a bowl of richly spiced ground lamb and a roasty, sweet-and-spicy tomato condiment called thakkali thokku. Those small but mighty sides brought savory warmth to this starter that whet our appetite for the rest of the meal.

Chicken Tecolota at Requinto

6522 N. 16th St., #6
Chef Erick Pineda has served his Guerrero-style Mexican brunch at Linger Longer Lounge since 2022, yet Requinto still manages to fly a bit under the radar. So, if you haven’t been yet, make it your resolution to rectify this immediately. We haven’t stopped thinking about the chicken tecolota, a chilequiles torta. Between the halves of a voluminous bolillo roll are a crisp chicken milanesa, chips covered in tangy salsa verde and rich crema. It comes with a side of spicy salsa arbol, which you can use to add zip to your sandwich. As the dish sits, the salsa seeps further into the chips, making those final bites a little more tender but no less decadent. 

Tellicherry Lamb Fry at Haldi Indian Cuisine 

18561 N. 59th Ave., #122, Glendale
13761 W. Bell Road, #213, Surprise
Tellicherry peppercorns have a distinct, bold and citrusy flavor that sets them apart from traditional black pepper. Grown along India’s Malabar Coast, the berries are left on the vine for a longer period, until they grow larger and more mature. They are harvested when they are fully ripe, which imparts a deeper, more aromatic flavor. And they are delicious paired with lamb. At Haldi Indian Cuisine in Glendale, the peppercorns are used to season cubes of tender lamb, fried with onions, tomatoes and peppers. The meat comes with a side of lemon rice and fresh lemon wedges, which amp up the citrus flavor and provide a bright contrast to the rich meat. On a menu packed with punchy flavors, the fragrant, savory lamb fry is a must-order dish. 

Herb-Roasted Branzino at Catch 

7014 E. Camelback Road, #612, Scottsdale
We could rave about almost everything we tasted at Catch. However, one dish stood out just above the rest. The new restaurant opened at Scottsdale Fashion Square in September, adding to its roster of locations in New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dallas and Miami. As the name implies, Catch focuses on seafood, although there is a strong steak program, too. We loved the raw seafood options, but were blown away by a filet of roasted branzino. The tender fish was crusted with a verdant herb blend and set atop a bed of creamy rice. The vegetable basmati rice itself was a showstopper – so buttery and lemony at the same time, it seems impossible it didn’t split. But paired with a bite of the herbaceous, flaky fish, this dish instantly solidified its spot on this list of the best things we tasted all year.

Chicken Soup en Croute at Maeva 

50 W. Vaughn Ave., #107, Gilbert
Maeva was a late addition to the Valley dining scene this year, opening in downtown Gilbert in November. But the all-day destination has quickly become one to watch. At dinnertime, the restaurant serves a prix-fixe menu for $90 per person. The menu outlines four courses, but on a recent visit, the kitchen plussed up the offerings with a few surprises for everyone. After serving some delectable appetizers, the chef brought out individual ceramic soup crocks, each topped with a golden pastry lid. Crunching through the lid with a spoon let out a puff of steam and revealed a savory chicken soup inside. Flavorful shreds of chicken were paired with tiny cubes of root vegetables in a comforting broth. While a bonus to the regular menu, the warming soup en croute was one of our favorite bites.