Best of 2009, Meal Edition

Well, another year has gone by; another 365 days of eating and drinking and living all wrapped up. With 2009 on the verge of being over, never to be seen again, it's time for my second annual 'best of' round up. Last year I included 17 memorable meals, but this time around I tried to be a little more discerning with my choices. Taking a tougher approach wasn't too difficult. I ate a great number of meals and had my share of fun times, but the truth is, I feel like I didn't quite eat as well as I did last year or in the years before it. That is not the right attitude, however, for a best of meals list, so let's pretend I didn't say that. Instead, let's take a look at all the great stuff I did eat.

While technically a 2008 meal, the Christmas lobster from last year deserves a mention.
While I have had my fair share of oysters this year, the crispy salmon skin salad and oysters from Aqua Grill were truly marvelous.
K.'s visit to Philly, and our trek to South Philly, led to the surprising find of the best donut of the century.
When I lived in Chicago, anyone who knew about the blog would ask me if I had eaten at Lula Cafe. Their main suggestion was that I try the banana cream pie, which just made me not want to try the place due to my unfortunate lack of interest in bananas. But when I went back for L. and B.'s wedding, M. Lady and I went for brunchy breakfast, and I really loved the earl grey tea and eggs Benedict from that I consumed in their entirety.
My first, and only thus far, visit at Zahav, was great from the opening pickled treats to this perfect bite of lamb.
Sometimes the circumstances of a meal can accentuate its overall awesome-ness. This was certainly the case when M. and I shared a smoked salmon, tuna fish and triscuit snack by Crystal Lake.
Just having L. visit Philadelphia for the first time this summer was great, but the lamb I cooked in her honor made it that much better.
When A.S. invited me up to her family's house on Cayuga Lake, I expected a lovely few days of reading and swimming, but I didn't expect some of the best pizza of the year (sorry Luigi's).
The seven course tasting meal at Le Bec Fin was a lovely eating experience, from the first course that really woke my tongue up to the marvelous cheese cart.
Thanksgiving at XIX included everything from butternut squash to pork crackling, but the seafood aspect really made it special.