Top ten tastes of 2010

On New Year's day, I always enjoy looking back at the past 12 months and thinking of the eating experiences that really stood apart from the others. These memories tend to also be a great reference point to other important moments over the course of the year (time with friends and family, special events, quiet times with each other) connecting us back the thoughts, experiences and emotions from these cross-sections in our lives.

Our opportunities for unique eating experiences were limited by a few things this year, including a good chunk of time where I was eating mostly super healthy energy food for training, as well as the intense busyness of work over the past couple of months. Even still, we were blessed with some really extraordinary food moments in 2011.

Here are my ten favorites, as they occurred over the course of the year:

The Willows Inn on Lummi Island

Thanks to a tip in Seattle Magazine, yesterday we found ourselves on a tiny island watching a beautiful sunset, enjoying a fantastic meal of pristine local ingredients. And the team preparing the meal? Led by a young and talented chef, Blaine Wetzel, returning to Washington after 18 months as a sous chef at none other than Noma, Copenhagen's gastronomic icon of intensely local and indigenous food, to lead the kitchen at the Willows Inn.

Why was this one of the most exciting meals we've had in recent memory? Maybe it was the spectacular setting of the property... the amazing sourcing of ingredients from the gardens adjacent to the property and from the waters viewable from deck... or the techniques and flavor combinations expressed in the dishes we enjoyed... perhaps the time taken by Chef Blaine, his sous chef Jason, and Riley Stark (the proprietor of the inn) to hang out after the meal to talk about what they are trying to accomplish with the food at the inn.

What I do know is that the first bite of each dish had a bit of revelation, sparking an interest and anticipation for what might be coming next.

tajarin al burro e salvia

In 2006, Perbacco opened in the Financial District of San Francisco, giving a legitimate option for Piemonte cuisine just a few blocks away from my office. It was at Perbacco that I first heard of, and tasted, what was to become one of my all-time favorite pastas: tajarin.

Tajarin comes from the Langhe region of Italy, an area known for its Barbaresco and Barolo as well as its white truffles. The pasta itself is simple but decadent: flour, egg yolks and a pinch of salt. Nothing more.