Mike Winston’s Best Meals of 2015

Yes, I know this year-end list is beyond belated. Actually, I’m probably over a month late. Normally, I’m not one to make these kinds of excuses, but my life has been pretty hectic lately.

As you may or may not know, I’m getting married in a couple of months, so my time has recently come at an extreme premium and I haven’t been able to commit as much attention as I’d like to this little publication obsession. With that being said, over the next couple of months, I’ll be playing around with post style and formatting a bit in an attempt to find new ways to rapidly pump out awesome food articles with fewer publishing limitations on my end. Please feel free to give me feedback on the new content — I’m planning to review this little experiment in a few months and we can take it from there.

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Catfishing for Southern Deep-Fried Perfection in Denison, TX

Over my many trips to Texas and other parts of The South, there’s one thing I’ve learned for sure – the most delicious foods usually come deep-fried. There are exceptions, of course, but in general I’ve found that Southerners have a very skilled hand using a deep fryer. Whether it’s deep-fried bacon, deep-fried eggs, deep-fried breakfast steak, deep-fried vegetables, deep-fried cheese, deep-fried balls of mystery meat, deep-fried sushi rolls, deep-fried samoa Girl Scout cookies, deep-fried sandwich fillings, or even an entire deep-fried sandwich – it’s all bound to taste really good and of course be really bad for you. But, one of the simplest, but most incredible things I’ve found you can get deep-fried in Texas is catfish and there’s one place I constantly return to for the very best – Huck’s Catfish in Denison, Texas.

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California Freshness at Rusty’s Southern in the Tenderloin

I always get really excited when new restaurants open, especially when they are close to enough to my home that they can easily become part of my regular dinner rotation. This particular new opening in the Tenderloin was only under a week old, but I couldn’t help but find myself drawn to it. Rusty’s Southern may be in a dicey part of town, but this spacious spot is serving up affordable, California-inspired takes on North and South Carolinan Southern classics. In a town desperately in need of more Southern food, what more could you ask for?

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Read more about the article How I Almost Missed Out On an Awesome Burger at Burger & Barrel
How I Almost Missed Out On an Awesome Burger at Burger & Barrel

How I Almost Missed Out On an Awesome Burger at Burger & Barrel

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Let me tell you a story about how one awful waitress nearly ruined a great restaurant for me. On a random, spur of the moment Saturday evening, Amy and I decided we wanted to go out for date night dinner and drinks.

We had each heard nice things about Burger & Barrel and were particularly excited to try Josh Capon’s food because we frequently watch him on TV fixing awful kitchens on Bar Rescue. I also had heard that a few months back at this year’s NYCWFF Burger Bash, Josh’s burger was voted the best in the city. For all of these reasons, Amy and I were excited to experience Burger & Barrel for ourselves.

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Creole and Cajun Comfort Food in Astoria at Sugar Freak

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I had always heard great thing about Sugar Freak, but had never before had a reason to trek out to Astoria to check it out for myself. Sugar Freak is located on 30th Avenue, a bustling, gentrified strip of Queens that is lined tons of energized bars and restaurants highlighting a variety of nationalities, cultures, and cuisines.

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