GQ Eats: Alan Richman's Five Best Dishes of the Year

By Alan Richman, GQ Magazine

After thousands of miles and countless calories, our tireless correspondent names the tastiest this land has to offer.

1. Pig's Foot for Two
The Breslin, N.Y.C.
Our waiter warned, "No party of two has finished it." The bargain of the house. The shocker of the year. Sumptuously perfumed pork meat loaf stuffed into a crunchy, crazy, fried hog-leg casing. Talk about supersizing-it comes on an oval platter nearly two feet long and fills half of it. One portion can feed four-maybe everybody in the place.

2. Hay-Smoked Gulf Mackerel
Bootsie's, Tomball, TX
You've heard that Gulf seafood is back. Here's proof. The freshest, softest, meatiest, mildest mackerel ever, on the bone and lightly smoked atop a mini stack of hay. Accompanied by a gumbo-like combination of grilled okra and roasted tomatoes. Cooked fish can't taste any better than this.

3. Diver Scallops
ABC Kitchen, N.Y.C.
So simple, so sublime. A thinly sliced raw scallop from Maine topped with olive oil, salt, grated horseradish, and lemon zest. Genius on every sensual level, nothing less than that.

4. Venison Chile Relleno
District, L.A.
The chile relleno, staple of a billion combination plates, can no longer be classified as third-rate border-town cuisine. A profoundly savory and alluring take on Mexican food.

5. Uni Pasta
Lincoln, N.Y.C.
Adour, N.Y.C.
Not a tie. A cross-cultural competition. Lincoln's classic Italian-style dish coats every strand of rigati pasta with a light, briny essence of uni. Adour's decadent French-style presentation consists of a mound of tagliatelle rising like Mont-St-Michel from a coral sea of fennel, garlic, and uni-emulsion foam.

Photo Courtesy of Adour Alain Ducasse at The St. Regis New York

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