favorite dishes of 2020…

I covered a considerable amount of ground in the two, short months that I traveled in 2020. Yet, despite experiencing a wide range of restaurants, old and new, it was the familiar that still impressed me the most.

In fact, most of my favorite dishes from 2020 were ones that have appeared on this annual list in the past. So I was tempted to skip issuing a list for such a clipped calendar, and one that witnessed such high redundancy.

But, as this blog enters its sixteenth year, tradition and discipline prevail. And, perhaps more importantly to me, I believe that it’s important to publicly acknowledge and reinforce good cooking, and in my own way, thank those who make dining a lifelong pleasure. And so, I have chosen to feature eight, excellent dishes from a year that was otherwise dominated by my own, terrible cooking at home.

Note: I have been hired to photograph for two of the restaurants that appear on the following list.

8. WALNUT SHRIMP
(Great China; Berkeley, California)

This dish first appeared on my radar in 2014, and it remains a joy when I am able to have it.

7. WOOD-FIRED 3-DAY CORNED BRISKET
Mustard-crusted, with fries and three sauces.
(Birdie G’s; Santa Monica, California)

This was the highlight of my first visit to Jeremy Fox’s restaurant in Santa Monica, and I couldn’t wait to have it again. By the time I returned in early 2021, it was moved off the main menu and featured as a “Blue Plate Special” one day of the week. Figure out which day that is, and go get it.

6. SCHNITZEL
Herb butter sauce, fermented gooseberries.
(Džiaugsmas; Vilnius, Lithuania)

Chef Martynas Praškevičius’s schnitzel was simple, hot, and good. The breading was golden-brown and crunchy, and the veal was tender and juicy. At the end of a bitterly cold, Baltic winter day, it was a glowing beacon of comfort.

5. OMELETTE BOURSIN
(Verjus; San Francisco, California)

That Michael Tusk offered this at Verjus, a French wine bar, is a testament to the universal and timeless appeal of a good egg dish, and, perhaps, breakfast for dinner. This buttery, fluffy roll – tunneled through with hot, creamy Boursin – was flawless every time I had it.

4. MALLARD
Brined breast; tourte; and salad of confit.
(Kong Hans Kælder; Copenhagen, Denmark)

3. WHEY-BRAISED KENNEBEC POTATOES
Pickled spring herbs, leeks, and garlic buds.
(The Barn at Blackberry Farm; Walland, Tennessee)

In the eddy between summer and autumn, these creamy little gems provided a steady backdrop on which to project a collection of alliums; a delicious, Appalachian vichyssoise.

2. VENISON
Beets, blackberry, sauce mystérieuse.
(Kong Hans Kælder; Copenhagen, Denmark)

The ability for restaurants to serve wild game in Denmark (see also no. 4 on this year’s list) has yielded some of my favorite dishes in the past few years. This dish – a nearly identical version of the one that topped my list of favorite dishes of 2019 – featured venison from deer shot by chef Mark Lundgaard Nielsen. The meat was lean, clean, and incredibly tender.

1. MARINATED COLLARD GREENS
Preserved peppers, pecans, and dill pollen.
(The Barn at Blackberry Farm; Walland, Tennessee)

Cassidee Dabney is a sorceress of the humble earth, transforming its most homely products into spectacular showpieces. One of my favorite dishes from 2019 was her fire-roasted beet; in 2018, it was a bowl of her pinto beans with charred cabbage. Topping the list of my favorite dishes this year is Dabney’s Appalachian salmagundi of warm collard greens, rendered velvety in a marinade, and made tangy with pickled peppers and parsnip crème fraîche. It was fantastic.

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Banner photo: The Barn at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee.