The world has made it through the last gasp of 2009, and those of us here at The Eaten Path who haven’t been completely swept up in the holidays have taken some time to reflect on the year in bites. Our favorite meals?

Vicky
The best meal I had this year had something to do with the food, more to do with the wine, and everything to do with the company. It was a going-away dinner at Cafe de la Poste as the hot Beijing summer wound down. Phoenix, who usually chooses our Friday night dinner destinations, had found a gem – this French restaurant is a stone’s throw from the Lama Temple and had managed to create the atmosphere of a small Parisian bistro, with a crowded bar counter, warmly painted walls and chalkboard menu including mainstays like steak and frites.

The clientele spilled onto the sidewalk, with tables and wine glasses set up right next to the local Chinese shops. Weather-worn photographs of the owner’s travels placed on the walls – a welcome wind-down from a hectic week. We managed to finish the last of the restaurant’s selection of a particular type of red wine and moved to apple liquor, on the house. The volume of our table, and of the whole place, it seemed, grew progressively louder as the night went on and the candles burnt down. It was a lovely evening.

Stephen
The best meal I had this year was one I partially cooked myself. Last February, for my roommate Nikki’s birthday, my other roommates and I decided to cook a surprise dinner. The birthday girl hails from Georgia, so we decided to try and recreate as traditional a southern dinner as we could in Mallorca. It was decided that chicken would be fried. It was decided that I would fry it. Frying enough chicken for nine was no small task, and it was magnified by the fact that I had never done it before. The chicken was purchased from the grocery store, and we decided to set a large paella dish over four eyes on the stove to serve as fryer. For a good little while chicken was breaded and fried, and I stood over the stove with a bandana around my forehead to protect our food from my sweaty brow.

The chicken wasn’t the absolute best I’ve ever had, but it was pretty good. That, combined with some accompaniments – broccoli, mac & cheese, mashed potatoes, etc., rounded out with a lovingly prepared chocolate cake – accomplished what we set out to do, even if it was all served in decidedly un-American looking terra cotta. It was a trifecta of memory, good company, and a wonderful place. Not only the best meal of 2009, but surely one of the better meals of my life.

Zach
Last Valentine’s Day, Mele and I decided to trade in our usual dining out habits for a shopping cart full of ground pork, chives, miso, dachi and dumpling wrappers at the local Ranch 99 market. We spent our afternoon as an assembly line, a study of carpal tunnel syndrome, and wrapped over sixty dumplings while watching “The King and I” on TCM. Then we spent the evening reaping the rewards of our surprisingly sufficient efforts, popping fried and steamed gyoza like popcorn, washing it down with miso soup and emulating Yul Brynner’s Siamese accent.

The dumplings were delicious, the hands-on cooking process made for the best kind of romance, and the shelter it provided us from the hooplah of a regrettable holiday was the ponzu sauce on the side.

James
The sheer breadth of comestibles that found their way across my gullet in 2009 begs at last a couple of honorable mentions before I get to my main event.

Best eradication of hunger: The moment Amit and I took a break from walking through central Budapest and stumbled across our first Langos stand in the city was one of hunger’s last great stands. Two rounds of deep fried dough topped with garlic, cheese, sour cream and ham sent that fucker packing for the hills of old Buda. They also taught us a thing or two about deep fried dough topped with garlic, cheese, sour cream and ham.

Best free meal: While I was working AAIFF09 in Chelsea, a barrage of mini Baoguettes found their way into the hospitality room, courtesy of Michael Bao. HELL YES. Between the endless parade of banh mi and the bottomless cooler of free Stella, I can’t think of a better way to justify sponsorship of anything. Then again, I have listened to that TAL episode about Cuervo Man.

Best over-the-top meal: The first NYC food blogger dinner I organized went down at Grand Sichuan International on St. Mark’s, and it was so epic that our waiters had to bring out pedestals for SECOND STORY EATING. Highlights included the unbelievably crispy and savory cumin beef, good-anywhere-anytime sauteed pea shoots, jellyfish with scallion sauce, and the fun and reliability of our lazy susan. Thanks to Boppy, Cathy, Danny, Lindsey, Nichelle, Talida, Ulla, Yvo and Zach for a wonderful evening. We’ve already had a second dinner meetup and will have many more in the future!

Best Dog: Lily Dog!

I did not eat this dog. I was, however, intermittent witness to her best-of-the-year-ness.

Best Virtual Dog: Sleeping Bulldog vs. Cheese
The call between this dog and the French bulldog who loves slides was a close one.

Best Barbecue: Purists be damned – Royal Rib House, I’ll never forget our first night together. Before you, I did not know it was possible to make love to the itis. At least, not with chopped pork.

Best Breakfast: My favorite breakfast of 2009 wasn’t served at my favorite breakfast spot in the city. It was a bowl of ramen at Minca Ramen Factory, eaten first thing after waking up to over a foot of fresh New York snowfall. I put on my coat and hat, caught a train over to 1st Ave, and trudged through ten blocks of blissfully crystallized winter to rediscover to salt-blessed, garlic-drenched joy of Minca’s sio ramen. Much better than I remembered, and absolutely choice in the first great snowdrift of the year.

Best Meal of the Year: Like Zach and Stephen, I have to place a great, (at least partially) home-cooked meal ahead of anything I’ve eaten in city, country or suburb. This year, that meal happened to be Thanksgiving dinner – a celebration of camaraderie, good food and one eye-opening year in New York City.

Three weeks before the 26th, I obtained a deep fried Cajun turkey from Popeye’s in Bushwick. On Thanksgiving I joined fourteen of my fellow New York transplants in Brooklyn, each of us armed with a different homemade side dish or dessert – hits included mac and cheese with potato chips crumbled atop, roasted carrots and parsnips, garlic mashed potatoes, my months-in-the-mastering Southern red beans and rice, and Amit’s pumpkin cheesecake from scratch.

Our graceful host in Fort Greene fronted the cash and roasting time for a second turkey to feed the table. I had somehow forgotten to defrost the turkey from Popeye’s, so I showed up with 24 pieces of Popeye’s fried chicken and 24 biscuits instead – no complaints filed!

Three days later, the cajun turkey had been successfully defrosted. Five of us Billyburgers heated it up under lemon slices in my apartment and went to town, leaving leftovers for a week and a savory carcass that would eventually become the basis for a gallon of incredible cajun turkey stock. If I have anything cause for thanks, it’s the fact that I have two ice cube trays filled with the distended bullion of the deep fried shadow of a brilliant meal. That, and friends.

What were your favorite meals of 2009?
Comment and share!

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 1st, 2010 at 7:19 pm and is filed under Majorca, New York, San Diego.