I always enjoy reading Top 10 lists at the end of the year. As a writer, I enjoy posting one of my own because it allows me to be a little lazy — I’m just recycling old posts.
I restricted myself to meals I paid for, and meals that I blogged about (it may be hard to believe, but I eat a lot of meals that I don’t blog about). You can click on the photos to read my full write-up of each meal. So without further ado, here are my five favorite blogged meals of 2008:
The Red Hook vendors were back after a fight with the DOH, and even though the venue was a little different the food was better than ever. In fact, the pupusas above tasted better to me than the pupusas I had last year.
After a disappointing meal at Babbo earlier in the year, I was caught completely off guard by the excellence of this late summer meal. The sweet corn fregula was one of the best dishes I ate all year.
Speaking of great dishes, the goat cheese tortellini with roasted beets I had at Park Ave Spring was amazing. Although as Park Ave went through its seasonal iterations it wasn’t always consistent, there was always something to admire about the meals I had there.
Pizza in the number two spot? Yes, because it’s the greatest pizza I’ve ever eaten. The night after eating this I was laying awake in bed fantasizing about the crust. Is that so wrong?
Was there really any doubt? The vegetarian tasting menu at Per Se was by a wide margin the greatest meal I had this year. Truly innovative and delicious food, wonderful service, and sharing the meal with my sister for her birthday made this one of the greatest (if not the greatest) restaurant meal of my life.
What are the best meals you’ve have this year?