The 2025 Flood's Awards
It's good to be back — the 2025 Flood's Awards winners are here
Another year in the books at Flood’s — and it’s been a damn good one.
This year was filled with growth, which always becomes clearest when you think through the firsts: first story published in print, first co-written collaboration, first time my photos were featured on The Infatuation and Resy. It’s been a lot of fun growing two skill sets in tandem — writing and photography. Both are equally important to what I’m building here, and I’m really glad they’re resonating with an audience.
I can’t tell you how grateful I am for the continued support of this project. Thank you for reading, for subscribing, for sharing it with your friends. I’m consistently motivated to deliver a thoughtful, high-quality product because I know it’s being consumed by people who truly value it. Thank you for being here.
Today, we’re talking awards — more specifically, award winners. The Flood’s Awards are my way of rounding up the year’s biggest hits and celebrating some of the standout experiences from the past twelve months. Killer meals, travels near and far, plus the albums and songs that soundtracked them.
The 2025 Flood’s Awards mark the 3rd Annual installment: nine categories, one singular voter (me). These awards are meant to be entertaining, but they’re also incredibly meaningful — a true representation of the best of the best, the highest of highs from this year. From all around the world.
It’s always impossibly hard to narrow these lists down. But we did it. Settle in, and read on.
Welcome to The 2025 Flood’s Awards
Café of the Year
The best café visited for the first time in 2025
Winner: Burro Ostuni, Italy
Why it wins: An Italian coffee session typically goes something like this: squeeze in at the counter, order a ripping-hot shot of espresso, add some sugar, down that thing, move on. Burro is a café in Ostuni that veers from conventional Italian coffee wisdom by slowing down that rhythm, without losing the spirit of Italian hospitality.
The café blends seamlessly into its surroundings while still standing out: an old-world cave aesthetic layered with modern touches like sleek Frama fixtures and ceramics from Grottaglie. The offering is specialty coffee done exceptionally well, along with simple, high-quality baked goods and breakfast dishes. Patronized by locals and tourists alike, Burro is a forward-thinking gem of a café tucked away in Puglia.
Best Bar
The best bar visited for the first time in 2025
Winner: Chenin Detroit, Michigan
Why it wins: Unequivocally the coolest place to hang in Detroit, Chenin is a 10-seat wine bar rowing confidently against the current. It’s a place that, even in its early days, is self-aware and sure of itself. There are nods to high-energy European wine bars — thoughtful snacks, tasteful design, an unserious aura to offset a very serious wine list — but it’s also unmistakably Detroit. Square pies pair with natural wine, and the crowd leans young, creative, and well-versed in the city’s techno scene.
At Chenin, standing room — packing it in, making room for others — is a part of the experience. Plenty of bars aim to “feel like a house party,” but few actually pull it off. Chenin is rowdy and convivial, but even at peak chaos in the narrow room, bartenders are making sure everyone feels taken care of. They’ve collaborated with Detroit institutions like Dakota Inn, out-of-towners like Cleveland’s Cents, and are even hosting a collab with forthcoming Brooklyn rotisserie Gigi’s next month. There’s a cultural shift happening around wine bars in this country — dropping the pretense, making drinking fun again — and it’s starting in Detroit.
Restaurant of the Year
The best restaurant visited for the first time in 2025
Winner: Vin Mon Lapin Montreal, Quebec
Why it wins: It takes a special place — and an extremely high level of execution — to deliver such a warm, unpretentious experience while constantly in the spotlight. Mon Lapin, with its near-universal praise, was a restaurant I walked into with high expectations. And yet, it somehow exceeded them.
Mon Lapin’s produce manages to feel peak season in all seasons. The dishes are precise, without being overly avant-garde. Their hospitality is inviting and considerate. The pacing is leisurely and unhurried in a way that feels natural. The menu mainstays — like the iconic scallop sandwich — are there for a reason. The rotating cast of dishes — always a crudo, always a pasta — is just as brilliant. At Mon Lapin, it’s a masterclass in balance, indulgence, and warmth. A special restaurant — in many ways the perfect restaurant — in Montreal’s Little Italy.
Best Dish Under $20
The best thing I ate this year, priced under $20
Winner: Spicy Seafood Rice Cake — Cho Dang Gol New York, New York
Why it wins: I ate more Korean food this year than the rest of my life combined. After experiencing the savoriness, spice, and textures of Korean food, I found myself craving it all the damn time. No dish captures what I love about Korean cooking more than Cho Dang Gol’s spicy seafood rice cake. I can’t tell you why it’s listed as a singular cake, because the bowl is filled with chewy, pillowy rice cakes — stir-fried til lightly crisped, mixed with baby squid and clams, all coated in a spicy, umami-packed gochujang sauce. It’s the most comforting dish I had all year. Well worth the inevitable hour-plus wait at CDG to enjoy.
Best Dish Over $20
The best thing I ate this year, priced at or over $20
Winner: Berkshire Pork Tomahawk — Gaba Mexico City, Mexico
Why it wins: Large-format dishes are a bit of a gamble. Sometimes you lose quality in favor of volume. At Gaba, the biggest swing on the menu is a show-stopping Berkshire pork tomahawk, paired with a slab of charred pineapple — an upscale pastor, of sorts. I know what you’re thinking: pastor is already perfect — don’t go making it fancy.
But this thing is special. The pork is beautifully charred, but manages to stay juicy from end-to-end. The bright sweetness of the perfectly ripe, slightly caramelized pineapple pushes the dish over the edge. It’s a bold, generous dish, and was the perfect centerpiece for our rowdy eight-top.
Best Dessert / Pastry
The best thing I ate this year... that’s a dessert or pastry
Winner: Yuzu Parfait — Kisser Nashville, Tennessee
Why it wins: Tart, creamy, and perfectly balanced — the yuzu parfait at Kisser was the exclamation point on a meal that just kept getting better. Layered with blueberry compote and a graham-cracker-like crumble of crushed Pocky, the custardy top is torched to order. The result is impressive — sweet enough, but refreshing and not too decadent. Kisser is a casual, daytime-only Japanese lunch counter in Nashville that’s seriously throwing down — this dessert alone would be reason enough to grab a stool.
Record of the Year
The best song released in 2025
Winner: Yamaha — Dijon
Why it wins: For a song to take this title, it needs to feel immersive — completely pulling me out of my world and into its own. No track enveloped me quite like “Yamaha,” the standout tune from Dijon’s latest album, Baby. The twinkling, emotionally-packed jam builds slowly to a hooky, emotionally-packed chorus. The vocals are textured, soulful, and grand. The rhythm has clear ties to 80’s pop, with the alt-r&b, experimental sound we’ve come to expect from Dijon still prominent. Yamaha represents Dijon at his absolute best: complex, unexpected, almost abrasive; yet so passionate, rhythmic, and alive.
Best Album
The best album released in 2025
Winner: Blue Moon Safari — Vegyn, Air
Why it wins: Vegyn’s rework of Air’s cult classic Moon Safari (1998) is brilliantly restrained — rooted in the original’s otherworldly sound, and modernized without being overworked. Blue Moon Safari takes you on a late-night journey, filled with haunting synths on tracks like “Sexy Boy” and cinematic progressions like “Tailsman.”
This album shaped the trajectory of my entire year in music. It pulled me deep into Vegyn’s moody, melodic world and sent me back through Air’s discography — floaty ’90s synths that feel almost extraterrestrial. It’s a rare top-to-bottom listen, every single time.
Best Live Performance
The best concert attended this year
Winner: Oasis, Live ‘25 at Murrayfield Stadium, Scotland
Why it wins: There were a lot of great shows this year, but only one was biblical. Watching Noel and Liam Gallagher strutting onto stage, larger than life, was surreal. What followed was two hours of joy and camaraderie — lads bouncing to “Cigarettes and Alcohol,” dads with their sons on their shoulders belting “Don’t Look Back In Anger.” From the booming opening tune — “hello, hello, it’s good to be back,” — to the fireworks closing out “Champagne Supernova,” the night at Murrayfield drinking Tennent's lagers with the crew is one I’ll never forget.
A few things before you go!
I’ve contributed to a few friends’ year-end round-ups — Bangers & Jams and Corner Booth — which you can read here and here. Fun pieces — I’m honored to be included.
If you’re a paid subscriber, scroll a little further for a special list as a thank you for the support throughout the year.
I captured my favorite restaurants from around the world in one tight list — even tighter than Flood’s Worldwide. These eleven restaurants are the major hits amongst major hits. Places worth planning a trip around! The only rule: it must be a place I’ve visited within the past three years (for quality control). I’ll plan to refresh the list annually as part of the awards process. It’s sorta like my version of a “World’s 50 Best.” But it’s only 11. And I haven’t been to Lima (yet). And it’s not sponsored by Acqua Panna.