My 11 Favorite Bites From 2011

I had a stupendously delicious year, both on the road and at home. Filling out my tasty calendar, there were two trips to New York City, where I was doing research for Tom Douglas' Chef's Walk project. I wandered around Manhattan and Brooklyn with Butter's chef de cuisine Ashley Merriman for this Kindle-exclusive guidebook, which will be out in early 2012. One of the many highlights from those trips was spending the day eating around the world in Harlem, dining at Marcus Samuelsson's high-flying Red Rooster, as well as strange and super-yummy Senagalese food, fragrant Cuban black beans and the best gyros I've eaten outside of Athens.

There were also two trips to my old stomping grounds in Memphis, in search of great barbecue, but also indulging in some incredible fine dining. I was thrilled during my two treks to Vancouver, B.C., and Whistler, once in the winter and back again in the summer. A weekend in Portland, Ore., further convinced me that it's one of the most exciting dining destinations in the country. And, in Seattle, there were many reasons of swoon over spectacular plates of food. 

The one constant? Nothing was part of a long, involved fancy meal. Casual was king. I'm looking forward to more of the same in 2012.

Here are my Top 11 Bites from 2011: 

11. Kenny & Zuke's Reuben sandwich, pictured above. Love/love/love the non-traditional smokiness of the tender pastrami on this terrific sandwich at this popular deli in Portland.

10. Scotch eggs at The Breslin. A simple pub staple takes an elegant detour at this star bar in The Ace Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. The runny yolks are a perfect compliment to the pork-y coat it wears. 

9. Shrimp and grits at Big Bad Breakfast. Lots of kitchens tackle this now-famous Low Country dish, but this luxe diner in Oxford, Miss., is the first place I've found them on the morning menu. Loved every last bite of them!

 

8. Fried chicken continues its march into the top retro comfort food of the 21st Century. I made a pig of myself at the final Monday night fried chicken dinner extravaganza at Springhill in Seattle, a family-style feast that included two whole birds and some of the best side dishes to complement them. Fortunately, chef Mark Fuller caved to pressure to bring this fine tradition back. This time around, he's giving the meal a Hawaiian twist. Can't wait to try it!

7. Speaking of outstanding battered and pan-fried bird, Red Rooster in Harlem is already rightly famous for its version, which is made with carefully sourced poultry. But I was blown away by that exciting restaurant's blackened catfish on top of braised greens and black-eyed peas, pictured left. 

6. During this year's Memphis in May competition, I had the privilege of trying some winning pork. The all-star team known as The Fatback Collective used a highly marbled Mangalitsa pig during its run at coming out on top in the whole hog division and that was the absolute best barbecue I've ever tasted. And I've tasted a lot of great barbecue. Read more about that team's effort at the Super Bowl of Swine in this fantastic feature by my friend Wright Thompson in Garden & Gun, a magazine every food lover should subscribe to. I do!

5. Congee at Seatown in Seattle, pictured on the right. This Asian staple soared to new levels when embellished with housemade chili sauce, rotisserie pork, dried shrimp and a gently poached egg. Add a Chinese doughnut for dunking and you've got the breakfast of champions.

4. Best use of bacon? Tucked into a brioche roll at L'Abattoir, a gorgeous restaurant with wonderful food in Vancouver, B.C.

3. Every spring, salmon season is a reason to celebrate and there's no better place to do so than at Lark on Seattle's Capitol Hill. Chef John Sundstrom has a gift for perfectly cooking this rich fish, especially when he's working with Marbled Salmon from Washington's coast.

2. The Midnight Snack at Restaurant Iris in Memphis will give you sweet dreams. It's saucy shrimp topped with a soft-cooked egg on top of toasted brioche. I could eat this any time of the day or night!

1. Revel is one of my favorite new restaurants in Seattle, a stylish venue serving upscale Korean street food. I cannot get enough of the brilliant short rib rice bowl, a variation of the classic bibimbap, pictured here. This fall, I went to a special lunch at Revel with a group called Seattle Foodies and we tried every dish on the menu. I loved them all, but have a special place on my palate for the knockout beef paired with a spicy daikon, shredded mustard greens and a raw egg yolk. Big time bonus: It's just $14, at lunch and dinner. Hooray!

-- Leslie Kelly