LUCY BURDETTE: you know how much I love to eat and to talk about food and write about it and read about it. I decided this was the year. I should make my top 10 list for the best things I’ve eaten. Turns out none of these were dishes I made, that would have to be a separate list! Here you go, in a rough though not definite order...
*Clemente’s pizza, Key West. This is my favorite pizza place in Key West—it’s New Haven style pizza, which we adore. Being creatures of habit, we almost always order the same thing—pepperoni and peppers on the pizza, along with Baby’s House Salad.
*Eggplant tower at Cafe Routier in Westbrook, CT. (This reminded me of Hayley Snow’s leaning tower of eggplant.) I would have shown you their house-made frites with homemade dipping sauce but apparently I didn’t take a photo. We order those every single time we go.
*Waffles with fish roe and sour cream in Copenhagen. We had this dish twice in two Copenhagen restaurants. Usually neither of us would order lumpfish roe but the combination was amazing.
*Mexican chicken soup This was the chicken soup from our daughter and son-in-law’s favorite restaurant in Encinitas, La Especial Norte. The broth was to die for, with big hunks of succulent chicken and avocado. I need to try to recreate it!
*Greek salad in NYC, Pylos. We eat at this Greek restaurant at least once a year—it’s off the beaten track in the east Village. Everything is good, but we always kick off with their farmer’s Greek salad.
*Fried chicken with waffles at Louie’s Backyard, Key West. Brunch on the porch overlooking the water with the most decadent and delicious waffle dish imaginable? Sausage gravy? Put me in, Coach!
*Hot dog in Copenhagen. We ate these more than once at an organic hot dog stand in downtown Copenhagen, served with mustard, ketchup, remoulade, fried onions, pickles. I try not to eat pork, but this was unbelievable!
*Pork chop fried rice at Din Tai Fung in New York City. This chain opened in the fall in New York, and I managed to snag a table. So what if we ate dinner at 3:30? They are known for soup dumplings, but don’t skip the pork chop fried rice. (See above, I try not to eat pork, but sometimes I fail.)
*Gnocchi bolognese in Oslo. I always order gnocchi when I see them on a menu, and these were so good. But the real star was the quaint Italian setting and the owner crooning while we ate.
*Lobster roll with potato chips. This was served as an hors d’oeuvre at our nephew Rusty’s wedding to Lauren in Maine. Can you see the potato chips embedded in the rolls? OMG I wish I’d eaten another one or two and skipped the dinner. (Although that was good as well.) I will dream of these lobster rolls forever…
