Food News

New England has 4 of the best American dishes of 2023, according to the New York Times

They are located in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont.

By Laura Emde

December 15, 2023

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If you’re looking for a delicious restaurant meal in New England, you’re in luck — four of the best American dishes come from the region, according to the New York Times.

A group of writers from the Times compiled a list of 23 of the best dishes they ate while covering restaurants and food across the country, and four New England restaurants made an appearance on the list: fried chicken at Tavern on State in New Haven, Connecticut; halibut chraimeh at Honey Road in Burlington, Vermont; bacalhau a Gomes de Sa at Portugalia Marketplace in Fall River, Massachusetts; and littlenecks and chouriço at Matunuck Oyster Bar in South Kingston, Rhode Island.

The fried chicken at Tavern on State comes with a green tomato relish and radish salad, wrote New York Times reporter Julia Moskin, and is a standout dish in the “tavern category,” which Moskin describes as “a much-needed bridge between pub grub and tweezer food.”

Honey Road in Burlington, Vermont offers a combination of Mediterranean and North African flavors, says reporter Brett Anderson. The halibut chraimeh, which was a fall menu special, is a Tunisian stew with influences from “the Jewish American dishes [chef de cuisine Elliot Sion] grew up with.”

From its opening in the 1980s, bacalhau has always been a staple at Portugalia Marketplace in Fall River, and “it locally follows that one of the few dishes you’ll always find at the prepared food counter is this classic bacalhau casserole,” says Anderson.

Matunuck Oyster Bar’s littlenecks and chouriço is a sauté of sausage and Rhode Island clams, says reporter Patrick Farrell, honoring the both state’s Portuguese American population and abundance of mollusks.

See the New York Times’ full list of the best American dishes here.