We’re already 10 days into Western civilization’s latest year, but I’m still working on the backlog of eats that’s been on my mind since October. To kick things off after my winter break from food blogging, I’m happy to carry on our tradition of recounting our most memorable meals of the previous year.

Stephen

My favorite meal of the past year was, without a doubt, the meal I shared with my cousin, her husband and her daughter when I was visiting them in Oregon last Spring. My cousin and I made Eggplant Parmesan with pasta. The meal was simple, but delicious. What made it so memorable to me was getting to cook it with my cousin, who is one of my favorite people to cook with. It helps that Eggplant Parmesan is also one of my absolute favorite things to eat. I hope I get to share a meal with her again in 2011!

Tyler

Drowned in French wine, the French language, and French food is how I experienced my best meal of 2010. Let’s be clear: I’m not stating that French food automatically translates to a best meal (nor that I speak French), but the fact that I got to participate in a seven-course meal at a wedding in a small village in France contributed to my most memorable meal in 2010. Aside from being introduced to the potential diversity of a single meal, including prosciutto-wrapped foie gras, stuffed beef cutlet, baked salmon and various forms salads and side dishes, I learned that portion size plays a central role in being able to enjoy such an extended meal. Each course was perfectly sized, allowing a tasty preview into each dish, but also permitted enjoyment of the course to follow. After eating what I thought was the dessert, consisting of sherbert-like ice cream, I was shocked when later came a plate of beef and other courses, and that I still had room and the appetite to enjoy them.

Also contributing to that experience was the fact that the meal wasn’t one successive gorging event – it was broken up by singing from the various attendees of the wedding, dancing, speeches involving lewd jokes (translated by my friend), and plenty of local French wine. This was the true art of enjoying a meal and enjoying the company around you, even if it was completely foreign to me in all respects. And what was the wedding party’s choice of late-night eats, served at 3am? French onion soup. Talk about a delicious cap to a wonderful meal.

Zach

After a few months as a vegetarian, my biggest craving is hamburger. That’s been a constant over the years and I always look forward to that first burger back after my omnivorism resumes. 2010 was no different.

After a turkey-filled Thanksgiving delay and a disappointing Double-Double with cheese in Kettleman City, my hero came in the form of a breakfast counter on Clement Street in San Francisco. The burger came as a surprise, because even though the joint is called Hamburger Haven, previous meager attempts at breakfast there had since reduced expectations.

Then I ordered the hamburger and noticed, to my delight, the patty was placed not on a griddle, where burgers go to die, but onto a grill over open flame. It was perfect. Between a very forgettable bun, topped with sub-par lettuce, tomatoes and pickles, was a beautifully fire-touched burger patty that was smokey on the outside and pink from edge to edge on the inside. Welcome back, beef.

James

I chewed my way through many more corners of New York than I did in 2009, so I think it fitting to recall my favorite meals of 2010 by borough. I also did a much better job of writing up my New York eats in 2010, so this year-in-review is going to be a bit of a clip show. FORGIVENESS PLEASE!

Manhattan
My first taste of West African food at BOA/Treichville was without a doubt my best Manhattan dining experience of the year. The thrill of tasting something completely new, the warm welcome from the staff and fellow diners, the comforting qualities of the house’s thiebou djienne, the snap of complimentary cafe touba, and the victory lap of a post-meal slice at Patsy’s just around the corner all translated to an unforgettable introduction to this East Harlem gem.

Brooklyn
I discovered many more flavors of Brooklyn after moving away form Williamsburg; still, a summer’s night of rooftop grilled chicken and home brewed craft beer by Conner and Fields, followed by superb neo-classical pizza at Paulie Gee’s, was one of those extended nights of food and drink that I would be ashamed to interrupt with a camera.

Bronx
The tip that led me to Tamales Ebenezer (a.k.a. “Neo,” the tamale master of Mott Haven) was the most exciting food recommendation I received in 2010 – and the most difficult to take up. Making it to the South Bronx before Neo runs out of his dimension-shifting tamales oaxaqeuños is a challenge worth its weight in lard-livened masa, and it’s a trip that should be mandatory for every hungry New Yorker.

Queens
My footsteps in Queens were originally guided by my friendship with Jeff, but after the dissolution of his Jackson Heights Food Group I was left to tread this path largely on my own. My favorite meal was a quick bite that would do the borough justice: En route to LaGuardia for the first time, I opted to take the Q47 bus, which took 15 minutes to reach the airport and departed just a few yards away from one of Roosevelt Ave’s many antojitos trucks. Polishing off a fresh pastor cemita as I stepped off the bus and into the terminal, I decided that LaGuardia via comida pueblana is the only way the fly in this city.

Staten Island
I have never written a story on Staten Island, and I’ve only been to the fabled bronze island once – when a few friends and I boarded the Whitehall ferry on a late summer morning with one Hell of a lust for pizza. The slices of Shaolin did not disappoint. Our first stop, Pier 76, won me over immediately with its beautiful New York slice – thin and crunchy, with a nice punch of flavor and just enough grease to cry out for a beer. The joint’s fried calamari slice was equally impressive, surprising the palate by blending a bit of hot sauce into the tomato. Our second stop, Salvatore of Soho, also lived up to the hype it had received from the Slice gang and the 5-Boro Pizza Tour. Sal’s coal-fired crust was a smoky, savory stand for the New York Neopolitan pie, while the quality and craft of everything that topped it gave visits to Staten Island – if for nothing else than the love of pizza – a standing reservation on the next year’s calendar.

Best Meal on the Road
None of my travel food this year was as singularly stirring as my 1/2 chicken medium order at Prince’s Hot Chicken in Nashville, TN. Tearing into that greasy, spicy mess of a Southern legend right off the plane, rushing through an hour of remote office work, sauntering downtown for lonely pints at the Broadway Brewhouse, then devouring the remaining dark meat in a corner of my hotel room before handing myself over to the demons of spicy-food-instigated nightmares must be one of the best nights of eating I’ve ever had.

Best Meal Cooked at Home
I’d be a fool to let this one go without a replay:

Share this story. Stay hungry.

• 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 at 1:08 am and is filed under Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, San Francisco, Staten Island, news, travel.