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My 10 Favorite Dishes of 2016

Must-try bites from the year.
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It was hard to pick 10 best dishes from a year’s worth of meals. For every one I’ve included here, there are two others I wanted to but couldn’t. The selection is not necessarily about culinary fireworks. But these are the dishes that stand out, that, when I close my eyes, I can still taste and remember.

 

Rockfish and chicken oysters at On the Lamb

On the Lamb recently closed, but I was smitten by the usual fusion of perfectly cooked rockfish, crisped chicken oysters, yellow mole, pink peppercorns, walnut gastrique, and lightly grilled green tomatoes. Long live smart uses of the less-common animal parts.

 

Monkfish liver with ponzu at Tei Tei Robata

Monkfish (ankimo) liver came as a luxurious, smooth-textured slab with jelly-like dabs of citrusy ponzu gelee. The textures and flavors were varied, with kelp and lightly braised cucumber all brought together by the slightly wild, aromatic tug of shiso leaf. It was rich and light, complex and compelling.

 

Cassis parfait at Flora Street Café

The work of pastry chef Ricardo Sanchez is a study in French technique. His cassis “parfait,” on the Flora Street menu since the beginning, is essentially black-currant mousse over a cinnamon brown butter shortbread biscuit. But little details matter: the berry-infused jicama strands’ almost imperceptible crunch over the lofty cassis mousse, the fresh blackberries and blueberries, the small quenelle of hibiscus sorbet, the tiny cassis meringues, and the passion-fruit gelee circle off to the side as an accent. It’s a unified, quite perfect composition.

 

Alaskan king crab at Montlake Cut

Two crossed crab legs come elegantly presented; the meat slips out in big, voluptuous morsels—sweet and tender and divine. Swipe it through ponzu sauce to bring out citrusy qualities or dip it in drawn butter so the sweetness is accentuated. So simple, yet one of those rapturous pleasures.

 

Goat guisado at Bolsa

Warmly spiced, with the plump coziness of hominy and chunks of Windy Hill goat whose flavor marvelously permeated the dish, this was the best thing to come to me in a skillet all year (and believe me, it was a year of skillets). On the side: a fan of avocado, cilantro, radishes, and a pile of warm tortillas made at a local taqueria. It tickled all the senses.

 

Raw octopus and wasabi at Mr. Max

There’s something about the cool nubs of octopus riled by wasabi that makes me want to slip off my shoes and stay for a while in this low-key izakaya.

 

Fennel and apple salad at Top Knot

I fell head over heels for this apple-fennel salad with a showering of sharp cheddar cheese, and especially for its swoosh of walnut puree hiding under the petite endive curls. Salads rarely take your breath away; this one did.

 

Garden charcuterie board at Wayward Sons

It feels like cheating, as this is not a single dish but a year’s worth, not a morsel but an idea. But every iteration of chef Graham Dodds’ vegetarian charcuterie board delighted, whether summer—delicate shavings of asparagus, paper-thin and tousled; a carpacchio of tender young zucchini topped with ricotta salata shavings and drizzled with olive oil; carrot-top pesto; a fluffy terrine of goat cheese with tomato and basil—or winter, with lentil sausage and sunchoke pate. With his crispy seeded lavash, it was a seasonal fashion show.

 

Hoppin’ John at Filament

Anson Mills heirloom black-eyed peas, bay-laurel-aged Delta Blues rice, and a fully integrated firm, funky underscore of black truffle shavings. It was the year’s best and most soulful meeting of high-brow and low-brow.

 

Strascinati at Lucia

Chef David Uyger’s handmade strascinati were adorable—“It looks like pea pods with the peas taken out,” my server said, and she was exactly right. They came playfully disguised, tossed in a rich, luxurious pea butter with tender pea pods, a generous helping of fresh peas, sprigs of mint, and spring onion—a plateful of spring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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