The Best Things I Put In My Mouth in 2013...that are fit to print.

It's that time of the year again, where I browse back through my posts and rehash the year in food. As is my style (or lack thereof) I'm not going to get all flowery with effusive descriptions, just the pictures and a few memories. If you'd like to see the full review of the restaurant click on their name in the post.
Here we go:

Kimchi fried rice from Maple Ave Restaurant in Vienna, VA.
This was a huge boat of spicy, perfectly cooked rice with slabs of crispy, melty pork belly on top and diced in the rice as well. It was enough for lunch and leftovers for another meal. Joey and Tim do good work here.

This Egg Three Ways was a special at Daikaya. Kat called it, 'The Rocky Balboa".

My earliest memories of food are all umami flavors. I didn't even know the name for it until a few years ago, but now that I know what I'm looking for, it's much easier to find.
This was a whole bowl of it and it almost brought me to tears. Honsen egg, cured roe, uni, and house-made Ponzu. Katsuyu is a beast in the kitchen. Well done.

The Pineapple Upside Down Cake at The Pineapple Grill in Maui.

We ate a ton of Pineapple Upside Down Cake in Hawaii. Each was it's own interpretation, but this was the best. Macadamia Brittle Ice Cream, moist cake, perfect pineapple caramel sauce.
I don't think I'd go for dinner next visit, but I'd definitely stop in for dessert.

The Pork Belly at Pulpo.

Better than 9 out of 10 of my attempts at pork belly. Once in a while you score, but apparently these guys have the formula down, or at least they did while Billy Klein was there. I haven't been back since he left. Time will tell. It was crisp on the outside, unctuous and almost liquid inside with perfect seasoning. The only competition to this that I've had in DC was The Source.

The Roasted Bone Marrow with Caviar at Bearnaise.

The picture above is not how it is served, but it is how I ate it. I didn't get a good shot of the actual plating of this dish, probably because I saw it and immediately dug in, forgetting that I had a job to do. Regardless, this is a stupendous dish and a great idea...how much luxurious goodness can you fit in one bite? Not sure I've found my limit yet, but this was close.

Bravo Spike and Brad.

Who makes the best pasta in the city? It's a toss up between Roberto Donna and Mike Isabella. Roberto is more old guard and Mike is the young upstart.
Mike's flavors and textures on his hand-made ravioli can't be beat. My wife said it best with this dish, which was the Sweet Potato Ravioli at Kapnos: "It tastes like Thanksgiving."

And last, but not least, the Linguettine with garlic, parm, and white Alba truffles at Rose's Luxury.

This dish is exactly what you should get when you order a truffled pasta at exactly the right price. Too many places serve old, stale truffles with other things that shouldn't be on the plate for twice what they should charge. Aaron Silverman and his crew do it right.  It may be hard to get a table there, but the wait is worth it. You won't be disappointed.

Thank you for taking the time to check out my year. I hope yours was just as tasty and I look forward to providing you with reviews of some of the best restaurants in the Mid-Atlantic in 2014.

Until then, bon appetit!