The Most Read American Food Stories of 2025
What folks read on Eater, Saveur, Grub Street, The NYT, L.A. Taco, and The Lo Times
Welcome to the third annual edition of the Most Read American Food Stories, our yearly guide to what folks are checking out across the internet.
But first…
On not keeping quiet…
Last January, I wrote about M.F.K Fisher’s Consider the Oyster.
It didn’t make my “most read” list, but it’s the one column I wrote in 2025 that speaks most directly to what I want for this tiny newsletter.
What impressed me about Fisher— nearly two decades after I first encountered her writings — is how fluently she shifted between the delights of food and the horrors of war.
She let readers indulge in epicurean pleasures, in the joy of slurping down bivalves, while also slipping in references to bombs and the people they maimed.
She did this nearly a century ago.
When I read Fisher, I was reminded of the importance of not shying away from the realities our era — the student deportations, the family separations, the president’s “xenophobic tirade” against Somalis, the fear coursing though immigrant communities, the armed raids by masked agents in military fatigues, the Supreme Court-sanctioned racial profiling, the detention of U.S. citizens by La Migra — even as we food writers try to provide a modicum of respite and diversion from these very issues.
Even as we write listicle after listicle.
It’s a tough balance to strike, but it’s an ethos that I’ll work hard to remember throughout 2026. And it’s an ethos that so many folks throughout the food writing community really nailed in an amazing way this past year.
Food journalism is journalism.
Shout out to Jaya Saxena for having published this incredible piece of explainer journalism last year: “What Should You Do if ICE Comes to Your Restaurant?” That column went live less than two months before the heartbreaking layoffs at Eater that ended up costing many of my former colleagues, including Ashok Selvam, Amy McCarthy, and Saxena, their jobs.
The Most Read American Food Stories
This was yet another year when long restaurant guides dominated a handful “most read” lists from around food media. It reflects how more publications are trying to make a dent in the competitive market for service-y content and recommendations.
I also thought it was interesting how protein, steak, or hot dog-related stories appeared on multiple most-read lists. It’s a reflection of the very weird RFK red meat MAHA saturated fat inverted food pyramid carnibro era in which we’re living. A world in which you can get your Starbucks coffee topped off with a little banana protein. A country where beef tallow, “a fat that both cardiologists and the federal government told Americans to avoid for nearly half a century, has become an unexpected breakout star in the new federal dietary guidelines,” as Kim Severson writes for the NYT.
So…let’s get to it!
Saveur’s Top Food and Travel Stories
Saveur is run by Kate Craddock. The editor-in-chief first joined the brand in 2015, but she took over the esteemed publication in 2023 and re-launched it. What follows are Saveur’s most-read food and travel stories. Among the top twelve are:
That Chewy, Bouncy Texture You Love Has a Name. This is Cathy Erway’s wonderful essay on Q, the bouncy texture in gummy bears and rice cakes that’s particularly prized in Taiwan.
Meet the Vendors Keeping New York City’s Hot Dog Carts Alive
The Quiet Joy of Doing the Dishes. Dwight Garner of the NYT takes a look at how literary figures — including George Orwell, Henry Miller, and A.E. Stallings — wrote about doing the dishes and keeping a clean kitchen.
The most read story was…“Why Are the Hot Dogs in Maine Neon Red?”
Grub Street’s 20 Most Read Stories
Here are some of the top food and restaurant stories by New York Magazine, a Vox Media publication.
No. 12: Le Creuset Is Cheugy. Tammie Teclemariam writes about why a collection of $400 pots suddenly looks so cheap.
No. 5: Big Food Gets Jacked: How protein mania took over the grocery store.
No. 3: Drinking Was the Job: On Mario Batali. Excerpted from Laurie Woolever’s “Care and Feeding.”
No. 2. The Tin Building Is a $200 Million Flop: On the Seaport’s epic food hall by Jean-Georges Vongerichten
No. 1: Critic Matthew Schneier’s best restaurants list.
This year marks the first time that Schneier has put together an extended restaurant guide, the type of product we’re increasingly seeing around food media, at the Los Angeles Times, The Lo Times, the New York Times, and now, at New York Magazine.
Shout out to New York Magazine’s Chris Crowley, who’s leaving the publication for the soon-to-launch Caper Media. Crowley was the author of numerous seminal columns, including “The Nightmare Inside Mission Chinese Food,” and “He’s Taking Advantage of Your Dream,” a vital story about an entrepreneur who preyed upon street vendors seeking out permits.
Eater NY: DoorDash’s $1 Million Donation to Cuomo PAC
The Vox Media-owned site, where I worked for nearly a decade, and which continues to do great work, published a list of its most read news stories of 2025.
Among the top 10: The opening of Tashkent Supermarket’s West Village location, the debut of Bradley Cooper’s cheesesteak restaurant (I still haven’t been), the launch of members-only club San Vicente (where I enjoyed some tasty fried vegetables during a summer meeting), and the arrival of Juici Patties.
Juici Patties nabbed the top spot — not something I’d have predicted, especially as the patties are just a little better than average — but it shows how folks are eager to consume more stories about the city’s Caribbean scene.
Two of the stories in the top five were particularly meaningful news items: In the No. 4 slot was Emma Orlow’s story on DoorDash’s $1 million donation to a pro-Cuomo Super PAC (imagine what else that cool million could’ve went to….). And the No. 2 spot went to Melissa McCart’s NYC Department of Education Spends $745,000 at a Single Restaurant. Rock on.
Emma Orlow, one of my many brilliant former colleagues at Eater, is also joining Caper Media. You’ve surely seen her coverage about so many different aspects of the restaurant industry, including regulation of the reservations black market.
L.A. Taco: Richard Hart, GMO Corn, Best Tacos!
In the larger food writing world, publishing “service-y” pieces typically means putting out “best lists” or proffering advice on what to order at a restaurant.
L.A. Taco performs a very different type of service journalism.
Javier Cabral and others published regular dispatches on ICE and border patrol raids. A recent snippet: “…agents chased a man to the front of a donut shop, where they were seen handcuffing him and taking him away.”
The independent publication’s most-read list is a cool mix of cultural and policy-minded columns, alongside the type of lists you might expect from an outlet called L.A. Taco :)
No. 10: British Baker Richard Hart Insults a Nation—And Shows What He Doesn’t Get About Mexican Bread. “Fallen baking hero Richard Hart painted a big target on his back for talking smack about Mexico's working-class bread culture.”
No. 8: Little Tokyo’s New ‘Punk Izakaya’ Is Also a Temple of L.A. Punk History
No. 4: The 43 Best Mexican Restaurants in Los Angeles, Ranked
No. 2: What to Know About Mexico’s Bold Move to Ban Growing GMO Corn. “The move to at least ban Mexico’s planting of GMO corn is President Claudia Sheinbaum’s way of fighting back against Mexico losing its war against the import of American-grown GMO corn in Mexico.”
Here’s a separate list of L.A. Taco’s most-read reports and investigations, which includes stories about so-called “Kavanaugh stops” and the detentions of taqueros and customers during a food truck raid.
NYT Food: The Two Big Guides, Protein Breakfasts, Salad Dressing
A combination of recipes and long, labor-intensive guides dominated the NYT most-read list. Here are some of the selections from the top 12, including one of two stories about Anne Burrell:
No. 12: Inside Meghan’s Real Kitchen, Away From the Cameras (Julia Moskin)
No. 10: 4 Rules for Better Burgers (J. Kenji López-Alt)
No. 8: 18 High-Protein, Make-Ahead Breakfasts… (Emily Johnson)
No. 5: The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Announces Its 2025 List (Moskin)
No. 4: 3 Salad Dressings You Should Memorize (Samin Nosrat)
No. 3: Anne Burrell, Chef and Food Network Star, Dies at 55 (Priya Krishna)
No. 2: The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City in 2025 (Krishna, Melissa Clark, Brian Gallagher)
Click through for the full list!
This was the year that Ligaya Mishan and Tejal Rao assumed the roles of chief restaurants critics, while Luke Fortney started writing the “Where to Eat” column alongside Becky Hughes. Mahira Rivers and Ryan Sutton (that’s me) joined the section as freelance contributing critics, as Meghan McCarron filed vital dispatches about SNAP, food prices, and the Los Angeles Fires. I’m still so unbelievably grateful and excited to share a little space at the NYT with all the amazing journalists there.
The Lo Times in 2025 | What you loved
If you’re a regular reader of The Lo Times, you can probably guess which post did the best of all: The Steak Guide. That long list — a series of mini-essays and short reviews about where to eat red meat — performed quite well in an age when more and more diners are expressing an interest in steak, no matter how expensive it might be.
With that in mind, my reporting on prices at restaurants — a staple area of coverage for me since the early 2010s — resonated well with readers. The Power Lunch Price Index, and my column on price increases at Per Se came in at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.
Rounding out the top five was our comprehensive guide to America’s best edibles, and a review of Ceres, an expensive slice joint that no longer serves slices. I’m also quite proud that four other reviews (Limusina, Sip & Guzzle, Monkey Bar, and Red Lobster) cracked my top 12.
I don’t release too many metrics, but: The Lo Times received ~700,000 views this past year, with search impressions clocking in at a little under 12 million in twelve months. Not bad for a small, independent newsletter that publishes once a week* and that doesn’t advertise. A sizable portion our traffic comes from Google search, which helps drive free and paid subscriptions. I put a lot of thought and effort into SEO!
*Sometimes we publish twice a week during busy seasons
Our Most-Read Stories of 2025
12. You Will Love or Hate This $35 Burger
I swung by Sip & Guzzle, an experimental West Village bar and restaurant, after Mike Bagale’s burger started picking up attention on listicle sites and elsewhere.
11. Who’s Thankful for Clubstaurant Nachos?
A review of Limusina by the Quality Branded crew.
10. Amazing Tasting Menus for $125 or Less
I reviewed some pricey spots in 2024, including the exorbitant (and incredible) Sushi Sho. But for whatever reason, I found myself drawn towards more affordable spots in 2025.
9. These Steaks Are Not for Beginners
A long review of Monkey Bar, now under the auspices of the Hogsalt group, with a focus on the city’s growing class of cheese-aged steaks.
8. Red Lobster’s $50 Lobster Roll Is Bad
Red Lobster is a Times Square institution with a lively crowd. But the lobster roll I tried was not good. It’s no longer offered.
7. Dining Out in 2025: What I Loved (And Hated)
This is what I published instead of my typical “best restaurants” list (though you can find a best dishes list right here). Maybe I’ll keep it this way going forward?
6. New York’s Best Tacos: The Full Guide
Rest assured, this won’t be the only taco list we publish! I’ll have some more cool stuff coming your way on this front throughout the year.
5. Behold, the $9 Slice. Yeah, It’s Good!
A review of Ceres. It’s a slice spot by two former Eleven Madison Park vets that transitioned to a pie-only joint after a YouTube clip helped the venue go viral.
4. America’s Best Edibles: Your Definitive Guide
I can’t even begin to tell you how nervous I was when I first launched The Lo Hi, our vertical about edibles and consumables. Fingers crossed, I’ll do my best to update this guide on a regular basis.
3. Per Se’s Long Tasting is Now $1K. Is it Worth the Mortage? (20.6k)
I’ve been covering price increases at Thomas Keller’s flagship New York restaurant for nearly twenty years!
2. The Power Lunch Price Index (22.4k views)
Looks like I’ll be doing this one every year! A column that looks into the current boom in posh midday dining in Manhattan and what those meals now cost.
1. New York’s Best Steaks and Chops, Reviewed! (64,300 views)
This is last year’s steak guide! I publish this long column every December or thereabouts.
You can read the 2026 version of the steak guide right here!!!
On Art…
Museums are a huge part of my life, and so you’ll continue to see occasional notes about the art world in this space, especially when it pertains to food and restaurants. This past year, I’m proud to have written about José Clemente Orozco and the immigrant experience, Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernism, Amy Sherald and strawberry ice cream, and Francis Bacon’s thoughts on butchery.
Ryan Sutton is editor of The Lo Times and a contributing restaurant critic for The New York Times. This week, he returns to CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism to teach a short food writing seminar. Hopefully more of that, fingers crossed!
Previously…
Those metrics!! Congrats Ryan!!!
Our number one story at Chicago magazine was our new steakhouse ranking, so right on trend! Thanks for compiling these - so interesting to see what resonated where.