Here are the ten most devastating dishes I ate in 2007, regardless of cuisine or price level, excluding Los Angeles. The Top 10 is listed by restaurant, in alphabetical order.
1. FIG – Charleston, SC – Sautéed Roe Shrimp With Spaghetti
FIG chef-owner Mike Lata has developed a national reputation for his seasonal, market-driven cuisine. No dish we sampled demonstrated this approach better than his sautéed roe shrimp ($11). According to our waitress, the shrimp are caught three miles off the coast, during their spawning stage. The roe is undetectable in the bowl, but produces sweeter, more delicate shrimp. In this case, they were tossed with spaghetti, cherry tomatoes, basil, pesto and Nicoise olives.
2. Hiro’s Yakko-san – North Miami Beach, FL – Whole Hog Fish, Nitsuke-Style
On the fringes of a residential neighborhood in North Miami Beach, Hiroshi Shigetomi’s izakaya is turning out incredible Japanese comfort food. Though not a sushi restaurant, Hiro and his staff approach local seafood with surgical precision. As a result, we decided to go whole hog (hog fish, that is). Our waiter presented us with a silver tray of orange-skinned specimens, plus other varieties like tilefish, wahoo and grouper. Our waiter recommended a fish at the bottom of the pan with “good eyes and flesh.” He also suggested that we have it prepared nitsuke style, steamed with sweet brown sauce. Done and done. The fish ($31, at $1.25 per ounce) was startlingly good, with luscious chunks of snapper pulling easily from the bone and caramelized skin. The fins were crispy and caramelized. The fish was so addicting that I plucked nuggets of sweet flesh from the fish’s cheek and from behind tiny, sharp teeth. I even ate an eyeball (not recommended). The dish also featured squares of caramelized eggplant and creamy tofu, which soaked up the brown sauce.
3. the house – San Francisco, CA – Salmon Roll
Larry and Angela Tse’s North Beach Asian cafe rarely gets mentioned as a heavy hitter in the San Francisco dining scene, which is a shame, since the food is consistently terrific. The house’s top-flight salmon roll ($7.50) was cased in delicately fried nori, topped with orange smelt eggs and plated on spicy Asian slaw, which included cabbage, chilies, chile oil and sesame seeds. Another flavor jolt: the dish of house-made Chinese hot mustard.
4. Pizzaiolo – Oakland, CA – Rambassici
Charlie Hallowell fired his traditional margherita pie in a wood oven, leading to a supple crust. Topped with prosciutto di Parma, gobs of fresh mozzarella and tangy tomato sauce, the pizza was excellent, but not as good as the Rambasicci ($14). This was a new but welcome concept for me, cabbage stuffed with spiced ground pork, pine nuts and currants, served in broth and sprinkled with shredded cheese. The juicy, meatball-like filling packed incredible flavor.
5. Pizzeria Bianco – Phoenix, AZ – Sonny Boy
I ate at Pizzeria Bianco for two straight meals in 1996 and ever since, remembered Chris Bianco’s wood oven pizzas as some of the best of my life. Eleven years later, they exceeded my memory. We ordered one pizza with sauce and one without. The sauce-free Wiseguy was topped with candy-sweet wood-roasted onions, phenomenal house-smoked mozzarella, and spicy cuts of fennel sausage from Schreiner’s Fine Sausage in Phoenix. The sauce-laden Sonny Boy ($13) was slightly better, a thin layer of robust tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, Gaeta olives and salami shipped from New York, made crispy in the oven. On both pizzas, the crust was excellent, with a good chew, and not a single dry centimeter.
6. Red Drum Gastropub – Mount Pleasant, SC – Wood Grilled Quail & Venison Sausage
The increasingly affluent Charleston suburb of Mount Pleasant now hosts a number of ambitious restaurants, perhaps none better than Ben Berryhill’s Red Drum Gastropub. My plate of Wood Grilled Quail & Venison Sausage ($25) held twin piles of succulent single-boned quail topped with “spicy pepper hash.” The birds bracketed dense but flavorful game sausage. Skillet cheddar cheese grits were bubbly and probably the best ground hominy I’ve tasted, both blended and topped with white cheddar. The cheese’s browned crust sent this dish into the stratosphere.
7. The Salt Lick BBQ – Driftwood, TX – Family Style Barbecue Plate
Unless you’re a half-wit, the only viable option at The Salt Lick is to order family style ($15.95 per person) - unlimited portions of sliced sausage links, pork ribs and beef brisket. All the meats came slathered in burnt-orange sauce. The ribs were especially succulent, with bronzed skins and tender meat that was infused with sauce and smoke. The brisket was juicy, with a nice quarter-inch smoke ring and caramelized crust. The links could have featured crisper casings, but they were still juicy and had good flavor. The most eagerly anticipated part of the meal is always the burnt ends - prized caramelized brisket crusts that form when the slathered sauce is buffeted with oak smoke.
8. Sienna – Daniel Island, SC – Berkshire Pork In Two Preparations
Don’t discount Sienna just because it’s situated in a planned community outside Charleston. Chef Ken Vedrinkski is still producing astoundingly good Italian food. For “Berkshire Pork in Two Preparations,” a rich braised pork cheek was strewn with roasted salsify slivers and crispy bits of pancetta. The cheek was set on a bed of farro “risotto” that had been blended with just enough Parmesan to add a subtle creaminess to the grain. Two adjacent slices of pork tenderloin Parmagiana were pounded thin and fried until crispy, topped with mozzarella, toasted pine nuts and sweet pear compote. Both preparations utilized spinach.
9. Stroud’s Oak Ridge Manor – Kansas City, MO – Cinnamon Rolls
The original Stroud’s on 85th Street served their final chicken dinner on December 31, 2005, victimized by a Kansas City roadwork project. Thankfully, the country manor north of town is still dispensing pan-fried birds with crisp, bronzed skin. I expected big things from the chicken, but the accompanying cinnamon rolls took me by surprise. The warm cinnamon and sugar-dusted beauties were phenomenal. And since they weren’t drowned in sickly-sweet icing, they weren’t heavy. My waitress was even kind enough to give me a bag of four hot rolls to go.
10. Woodlands Resort & Inn – Summerville, SC – Grand Tasting of Homemade Charcuterie
While all of the appetizers were compelling at the crown jewel of the Lowcountry dining scene, none compared to The Grand Tasting of Homemade Charcuterie, with twelve house-made varieties (made from eight different animals) and an equal number of condiments, a dazzling display of color and texture. The dish was presented with a basket of assorted crackers and flatbread. The five rows quickly led to sensory overload, but the overall effect was startlingly good. Here’s the tally, courtesy of our waiter, Fabien:
Charcuterie: Duck Rillette, Salumi Cacciatore, Chicken Liver Parfait, Monkfish Liver Torchon, Foie Gras Terrine, Mushroom-Goat Cheese Terrine, Venison-Foie Gras Terrine, Beef Bresaola - Coppa, Pate de Campagne, Cured Egg Yolk, Potted Shrimp
Mustards: Saffron, Orleans, Apple, Violet, Pommery
Pickles: Okra, Watermelon Rind, Garlic, Cornichon
Mostarda: Rhubarb, Apple, Fig