Wow! What a year 2010 has been. The NYC Foodie has gone on some truly magical culinary adventures. I've had some amazing meals and dishes, and just a few bad meals, and clunkers. Here are some of the highlights.
Top 5 Meals of 2010
1. Marea- my first meal of the year was the best. A tasting of Michael White's Northern Italian Seafood blew my mind.
2. Daniel- this was 4-Star dining at it's best. One of the best meals ever!
3. Recette- Jesse Schenker's newcomer this year also became one of my favorite NYC restaurants.
4. Sushiden- a sublime sushi birthday lunch was mind-blowing.
5. Bo Ssam dinner at Momofuku Ssam- David Chang does wonders with pig butt.
Honorable Menton: Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles- every meal I had here made me smile. For $5-$6 a dish, it made me smile even more. Also, my recent meal at Millesime was surprisingly fabulous!
Top Dishes of 2010
Wow, this is a hard one, I've had some amazing dishes this year. The peanut butter and jelly donut from The Donut Plant might be the best all round thing I've ever put in my mouth. In terms of dishes I've eaten at restaurants, the most memorable dish of 2010 is:
1. Smores dessert from Recette. I really loved many dishes of 2010, but Christina Lee's take on the classic Smores blew my mind, and is the one dish that is most memorable.
Top Newcomers of 2010
Many restaurants opened and closed this in 2010, here are my top newbies:
1. Recette
2. Torrisi Italian Specialties
3. Millesime
4. ABC Kitchen
5. Xi'an Famous Foods (St. Marks)
6. Hung Ry
Top 4 Worst Meals of 2010
The NYC Foodie is all about positivity, and if I go to a restaurant I dislike, I won't write about it- until now. Here are the places I had the 4 worst meals of 2010.
1. Ichiumi - I actually wrote about this mess of a Japanese buffet.
2. The Bryant Park Grill- a lobster burger was more crap breading than lobster, and a disgrace.
3. Xiao Ye- this restaurant was such a mess, it actually closed a month after I dined there. I knew it would!
4. Quattro Gastronomia Italiana- this Italian restaurant in the Trump Soho Hotel is ridiculous. Undercooked lobster risotto and a serving of 3 bombolini to a table of 4 made me cringe. They didn't even try here. Eek!
Worst Dish of 2010 (and probably my entire life)
1. The BBQ flavor soft-serve ice cream at Momofuku Milk Bar. I took one spoonful of this and put it in my mouth and almost threw up. Whomever thought this one up must have been on some sort of drugs. This was ridiculous! The worst thing I've ever put in my mouth! Just picture barbecue sauce in ice cream form. Disgusting. Wait, did I tell you it was disgusting?
Burger of the Year
I've had some fantastic burgers this year, but the most memorable, and my favorite goes to the burger from ABC Kitchen. Akaushi Wagyu beef with aged Bloomsday cheese, herbed mayo, and pickled Japanese jalapeños. Amazing!
Lobster Roll of the Year
Luke's Lobster- not only was this the best lobster roll of the year, for $14, it's just an amazing bang for your buck!
See you guys all in 2011! Look for some more amazing and magical culinary adventures. Also, look out for a new design of this site, and look for me on TV too..I'm coming!
Bon Appetit!
NYC FOODIE
:)