2013 was a great year for me, and my travel agent. I trod the globe restlessly, ever eager for a good answer to the eternal question: “where’s dinner?”
Here are the 25 bites I loved the most, in no particular order (at the end of the list I’ll give you the top three). Please note: the criterion, again and again, is only crazy good flavor. Deep, life-changing flavor. I am immune to three-star restaurants…unless they come up with deep, life-changing flavor!
SAUTEED CHICKEN WITH VINEGAR
IN MEMORIAM, JUDY RODGERS (San Francisco)
February
Probably the top gastronomic moment of 2013 for me was an invitation in February to my friend Rolando Beramendi’s apartment in San Francisco (he’s the owner of the fabulous Italian import company, Manicaretti). Our mutual friend, Judy Rodgers, Rolando told me, would be cooking dinner for us. Judy was one of my all-time favorite chefs, the genius of Zuni Café in SF, a woman who changed American cooking. (See my paean to Judy on this site under The Ten Most Important Chefs of My Lifetime). A few months before our dinner, Judy had been diagnosed with a very virulent stomach cancer. But she rebounded. There was hope for a while. Judy, who’d been grounded by her docs, wanted to get behind the range once again. I was so lucky to be there. She whipped up a memory from her days at Troisgros, a sautéed chicken dish, related to coq au vin, but so changed by its major infusion of red-wine vinegar. It was simply but insanely good, tangy as hell, alive, like all of Judy’s cooking. Ten months later, she passed away…and Roland told me that this dinner was the last one she cooked for anyone. No photos were taken that night, and no recipes were requested. Eternal rest to you, Angel Judy.
TORTELLINI IN BRODO (October)
CAVALIERA WINERY (Emilia-Romagna, Italy)
One gets addicted easily to this daily dish in Emilia-Romagna, where I enjoyed five glorious days in the fall. When I went to a dinner at Cavaliera, one of my favorite Lambrusco producers…I had this miraculous, springy version, worked on all day by eight local ladies. Pure insanity with dry, foamy red Lambrusco. I also loved the tortellini in brodo at Sunday-lunch-dream-restaurant Zoello in Castelvetro di Modena…also with Lambrusco!
SANDWICH OF HOUSE-MADE BOLOGNA (November)
AU CHEVAL (Chicago)
Au Cheval may well be my restaurant of the year…a mind-blowing bar/diner imagined with the dash and gravitas of a three-star restaurant. The one dish that says it all for me is an ambrosial sandwich stacked with amazingly velvety house-made bologna.
RICE PUDDING (November)
L’AMI JEAN (Paris)
At my favorite bistro in Paris, an excellent rice pudding is turned nearly psychotic by side dishes of salted caramel sauce, and crunchy, candied hazelnuts.
KATZ’S PASTRAMI EGG ROLLS (July)
RED FARM (New York)
Red Farm (a downtown place that just opened an upper west side satellite) would be great enough just by dint of its dumplings and wildly delicious Chinese food. But no. Maestro Ed Schoenfeld had to go and do this…a Jewish-Chinese collaboration with the famous Katz’s Deli. (You should have what I’m having.)
MONDONGO (March)
EL MALECON (New York)
Well, “March” doesn’t really apply. I’ve been back six more times since last winter to this fantastic Dominican roast chicken place, starting my meals with the meatiest, tripiest tripe soup in New York City. Even tripe revilers love it!
MALFATTI (October)
MORBIDI (Siena, Italy)
At the bustling Siena lunchtime institution Morbidi, you can get Sienese specialties the Florentines won’t touch. It’s true that the word “malfatti” (which means “badly made”) is used all over Italy…even in the U.S….but in Siena it has a special meaning: a casserole with “dumplings” that have no pasta, each mound made with spinach, ricotta, eggs, and a little tomato, covered in besciamella. So creamy and seductive!
SUCKLING PIG (March)
YUNG KEE (Hong Kong)
Yung Kee is probably Hong Kong’s top destination for roast Cantonese meats…but nothing in my thorough tasting topped the incredible crunch and juiciness of their suckling pig. By the way, they like to serve it on a nice bed of…roast pork! Vegans stay away!
MEZE ASSORTMENT (January)
NAR (Istanbul)
Nar, the super-stylish, multi-story restaurant and culinary center in downtown Istanbul, turns out an array of breathtaking vegetable starters to be enjoyed together…as many mounds of vegetable heaven as you want!
COQUILLES ST. JACQUES, CHANTERELLES, ET TRUFFES NOIRES (February)
DIANE DE MERIDOR (Montsoreau, France)
Diane de Méridor, on the banks of the Loire a few miles from Angers, is a small, pretty restaurant, around for decades, that’s probably going nowhere fast in the Michelin ranks. No matter. The journeyman chef serves Michelin-like food, and occasionally hits it out of the parc. That’s what he did with this simple, lovely conflation of delicious things. What? No yuzu? No hoja santa? No vertical stacks? No! Just the pure, untrammeled rush of superior ingredients.
CHICAGO HOT DOG (November)
AMERICA’S DOG (Chicago)
I cannot go to Chicago without having at least one Chicago hot dog, classic dressing. I was there twice this year and had about seven. My favorite is in the burbs, Superdawg (with a fairly new location in Wheeling). But on both my trips this year I couldn’t wait to get to a car–I needed Chicagoness now! At the airport! And that’s when I discovered America’s Dog, on O’Hare’s Concourse C, a place that builds this thing right. Sublime airport food! My November dog was best of the year–fresh, crunchy, great garlicky wiener!
AMSTERDAM STREET HERRING (April)
FRENS HARINGHANDEL (Amsterdam)
I love me my herring, though most Americans don’t seem to have the same passion. But on this, my first trip ever to the Netherlands, I went herring-mad–despite being two months short of the big herring season in June. The best I tasted was at this crowded street stand on a bridge over a pretty canal. It struck me as sashimi of the north, with the real-and-raw texture you can practically experience in the second photo. Onions on the side…a winner!
TAGLIATELLE AL RAGU’ “DI CHIANINA” (October)
CASTEL DI PUGNA COOKING SCHOOL (Siena)
At the lovely Castelpugna estate, where Chianti Colli Senesi is produced, I was treated to a cooking class/dinner that included fabulous fresh pasta–slathered in a meat sauce made with the Chianti region’s famous cattle breed, Chianina. I’ve had Chianina before as a steak, a definite contender–but after three hours in the stew pot, it became one of the best meat sauces ever!
ROASTED WHOLE FOIE GRAS WITH FRESH-GROUND COFFEE COATING (November)
L’AMI JEAN (Paris)
During my wonderful post-Thanksgiving dinner in Paris with my daughter, we splurged on this chunk o’ foie. Now I’m not saying I always want Illy on my organ meats…but the roasting of this thing by superstar Basque chef Stephane Jégo was off the charts. How much more flavor can a chunk of meat have?
SASHIMI ASSORTMENT (October)
15 EAST (New York)
Twice this year I went to 15 East, the pistol-hot NY sushi bar opened last year by the talented owners of Tocqueville, just a few doors away. Both times I had the Tasting Menu…and both times the super-velvety, resilient assortment of sashimi was the star of the show.
WONTON SOUP WITH FISH BALL AND FRESH SLICED BRISKET (March)
TSIM CHAI KEE NOODLE (Hong Kong)
Among all the amazing food on my early spring trip to Hong Kong, this bowl of noodles and wonton really stood out: the old-time flavor of the broth, the chew of the noodles, the packed-in quality of the wonton. I wish I could find quality like this in New York! (But I do have a local fave in NYC: go to Yee Li in Manhattan’s Chinatown, and tell them you want a big bowl of wonton soup for the table, at least 3-4 wontons per person The broth ain’t as good, but the combo of chopped meats and shrimp in the wonton is sublime!).
DONUTS (November)
GLAZED AND INFUSED (Chicago)
Everything is made from scratch at this cleverly named West Loop sensation. The donuts all have unusual textures: some cakier than usual, some with cracklin’ glaze on the outside, some like French Toast. I spent way too much time here on a Sunday morning, going through the Maple Long John with Bacon, the Pumpkin Crème Brûlée, the Glazed Peanut Butter, all too many others.
BLOODY MARY (January)
JUNOON (New York)
One consumes many a Bloody in the course of a year…but this one, at the glam Indian-food Michelin-one-star Junoon, is likely to be my standout for years to come. Not only is the tomato-vodka ratio just right…but the mound of sun-bright vegetables, and the perfect blend of Indian spices in the drink, set you up for a re-invented Indian meal like no other drink possibly could.
FRENCH FRIES (April)
VLAAMS ON VOETBOOGSTRAAT (Amsterdam)
Yeah, the Belgians are the most famous french-fry-makers. But when the Dutch put their minds to Belgian-style fries, with a slather of mayo…look out! These golden fries (which demand about a 40-minute wait to get to the counter) are everything you want fries to be: lightly crisp on the outside, tender-sweet and steamy on the inside, packed with the real, earthy taste of northern potatoes. Try to imagine what it takes to get a french fry on my “best 25 of the year” list: perfection like this!
BREAKFAST AT THE PLAZA-ATHENEE (February)
ALAIN DUCASSE AT THE PLAZA-ATHENEE (Paris)
The Plaza-Athenée is my favorite luxury hotel in Paris; I think the thing that keeps drawing me back can be described as “unerring perfection.” Since I don’t usually shoot my wad on Michelin three-stars in Paris, it has been a while since I’ve put their famous Alain Ducasse restaurant to the test. However, I ADORE eating in this swanky room at breakfast time–for the simple continental breakfast brought to your table fits right in to the “unerring perfection” theme. These croissants and breads (not to mention butters and jams) keep me awake at night in blissful anticipation…an effect on me that breakfast never has! I’ve been lucky enough to do this breakfast twice this year–but I must let you know that the Plaza is closed for renovations for the rest of the year. Recently, I stayed at sister hotel Le Meurice–and found the same brand of grand perfection, even in the petit déjeuner.
LA TAGLIATA RAZZA CHIANINA ALLA GRIGLIA CON VELI DI LARDO AGLI AROMI (October)
LE LOGGE DEL VIGNOLA (Montepulciano, Italy)
Chianina again…this time grilled…but neither the provenance of the beef nor its cooking style were the keys to glory here. The big deal, as you can see…was the draping and slight melting of lardo over the sliced beef! I’m a big extra-fat-on-steak man–butter at home, marrow in restaurants. But nothing has ever worked as deliciously as this! Le Logge del Vignola is a small, atmospheric restaurant in the old part of the great wine town Montepulciano (center of Vino Nobile de Montepulciano production). Great service, great pastas, great desserts…and beautiful lardo-enrobed steak!
SAGO PEARLS WITH MANGO CUSTARD & POMELO (March)
SUMMER PALACE, ISLAND SHANGRI-LA (Hong Kong)
It has become very trendy, all over the China/Chinatown world, to bring together little “pearls” (whether tapioca or sago) with fruity, creamy stuff. This was like the three-star version of it, at the top restaurant of Hong Kong’s sumptuous Island Shangri-La Hotel. Dreamy dessert!
RIJSTTAFEL (April)
TEMPO DOELOE (Amsterdam)
One of the great gastronomic hand-me-downs of the historic Dutch involvement in Southeast Asia is the bold presence in Amsterdam of Indonesian restaurants…which usually offer the 30-40 dish lineup of spicy, traditional dishes known collectively as the “rice table,” or “rijsttafel.” I checked out a few rijstaffel places, and this was the best by far–reflecting the oft-repeated “best in town” recommendation.
LE MAC AUBRAC (February)
RESTAURANT DE VEZ (Paris)
For those Americans who have never actually visited France…but persist in thinking that “they hate us”…ponder the American things that are passions over there. Jeans. Music. TV. Movies. And now…hamburgers! The grand civilization is obsessed with them these days…as I discovered last winter at this family restaurant just across the river from the Eiffel Tower. The two keys to greatness were: 1) meat from the Aubrac, the most famous beef region in France; and 2) an ungodly amount of béarnaise sauce on the burger! Vive la difference!
CAPELLETO DA PRETE (April)
IL CAPPERO ALLE MURA (Castelvetro di Modena, Italy)
It is an outrageous concept…cured pork (bristling with color and flavor) stuffed into pork skin, shaped into a three-corner hat (a “priest’s hat”), and meticulously stitched together. It’s something you would see only in fat-worshipping, rich-worshipping Emilia-Romagna…which is where I caught it at this dreamy restaurant in the gorgeous old town of Castelvetro di Modena. And with mashed potatoes, too!
EXTRA: TOP THREE BITES OF THE YEAR!!!
The Third Best Bite:
ROASTED WHOLE FOIE GRAS WITH FRESH-GROUND COFFEE COATING,
L’AMI JEAN (Paris)
The Second Best Bite:
WONTON SOUP WITH FISH BALL AND FRESH SLICED BRISKET, TSIM CHAI KEE NOODLE (Hong Kong)
The #1 Bite of 2013:
CAPELLETO DA PRETE (STUFFED PORK TRIANGLES), IL CAPPERO ALLE MURA (Castelvetro di Modena, Italy)
