Dallas-Fort Worth food folk share their favorite dishes of 2010

by Teresa Gubbins

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Check out these picks from some of the city's savviest diners.

With 2010 coming to an end, Pegasus News has already considered some of the top tastes in Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants, as well as the biggest news stories of the year. But it's not enough. Here, we petition the area's top foodies -- bloggers, mainstream journalists, wine professionals, and professional bon vivants -- to share their favorite bites of the year.

Marc Lee

Lucia kitchen

¶ "You know what sent me over the moon: Homestead Land & Cattle's all-beef hot dogs, produced by the community at Brazos de Dios near Waco, which also makes Brazos Valley cheeses. Gosh, they were wonderful." -- Kim Pierce, Dallas food writer and blogger for Eats

¶ "Easy: the steamed mussels in a yuzu kosho-butter sauce at Tokyo Cafe in Fort Worth. I want to pick up the bowl and drain it every time I eat them." -- Meda Kessler, 360 West Magazine

¶ "In a year of austerity and uneasiness, especially over the safety of Gulf seafood in the wake of the BP oil disaster, the best menu item I savored was Chef Cory Bahr' s Wood-Grilled Oysters with lemon, herbs, parmesan, and grilled French bread ($10) at Restaurant Sage in Monroe, LA. That barely edged out an off-the-menu platter of paper-thin serrano ham and fresh figs (from the family garden) by Chef Adolfo Garcia at RioMar in New Orleans." -- Ron Ruggless, Southwest Editor Nation's Restaurant News

¶ "Corned beef hash at Crossroads Diner. They brine the beef themselves. It's tangy and with just enough salt to carry it. Nice and simple and old-fashioned." -- Dave Faries, founder of Critic’s Guide

Baked bread

¶ "How about the 'No Knead Bread' (see Lucia). I've made a dozen loaves for my family in Florida, Fredericksburg, and Dallas, and everyone loves it." -- Whitney Meyers, Virtuoso Selections

¶ "Kobe meatballs with Hollandaise at Nosh. Like Lucia, you can sit there in front of the kitchen and watch them cook. The meatballs have truffles in them, and they are so succulent. The Hollandaise sauce Avner makes is luscious, creamy, and velvety." - Jim White, co-founder of Savor Dallas

¶ "I would have to say the beef tongue at Lucia has got to be one of the best pieces of beef I've ever tried in my life. People that pass on it because they 'don't eat tongue' are really missing out." -- Rob Shearer, Go Oak Cliff

¶ "My legitimate response is 'Whatever Teiichi just served me.' Tei-An is a constantly evolving and consistently stunning dining experience. But another dish recently impressed me: Mansion on Turtle Creek chef Bruno Davaillon's Roasted Texas venison with sunchoke, red cabbage apple compote, pear poached in red wine, venison pepper sauce, finished with red berry marmalade. It tasted like December." -- Brad Murano, The Brad's Adventures in Food

¶ "The braised Kobe cheeks with tart cherry sauce served over spoonbread at Brownstone. I passed my plate of this fork-tender deliciousness around a table of six people and hardly any of it came back around to me!" -- Stephanie Allmon, Your Life Editor overseeing restaurants & dining at the Fort Worth Star Telegram and Indulge magazine

¶ "This one is easy for me: Bolsa's Seared Sea Scallops with fingerling potatoes, wild arugula & piquillo vinaigrette (or any other way Chef Graham Dodds wants to cook scallops)." -- Nanci Taylor, Edible Dallas & Fort Worth

Doria at Tei An

¶ "Doria at Tei An -- small shrimp, cream, mum leaves, shiitake, topped with shaved black truffle and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Or maybe the skin-on pork belly with peaches and roasted eggplant bitter almond puree at Nana." -- Scott from DallasFood

¶ "The best dish I ate? Was a red snapper at Eddie V's. But I also liked the oatmeal at Craft Dallas." -- Nancy Nichols, D Magazine and SideDish

¶ "For a nice place, the bread pudding at Ellerbe's Fine Foods. For a workingman's lunch, the etouffee at Damian's Cajun Soul Cafe in Arlington." -- Bud Kennedy, Eats Beat

¶ "The Salumi Plate at Lucia, and the nduja spread was the standout for me. I also liked the trio of sausages at Smoke (pork andouille, all spiced rabbit, and beef paprika and fennel seed sausage), and the sliced brisket from the fatty end at Pecan Lodge." -- Daniel Vaughn, Full Custom Gospel BBQ

Marc Lee

Lucia's salumi misti

¶ "Yellow noodle in creamy egg sauce or hokkien lor mee at Blue Ginger Garden. The sauce is gravy-like and eggy. A few drops of black vinegar give it an assertive but not too acidic flavor, with a body that's sort of like combining Worcestershire and balsamic. -- Airon Peralta, Made With Air

¶ "The pumpkin souffle at Rise No 1, because it tastes just like my grandmother's pumpkin pie." -- Kellyn Curtis, Food Editor, The Feast DFW

¶ "Salumi at Charlie Palmer. Sous chef Richie Blankenship runs the charcuterie program and turns out stuff every bit as good, as, sometimes superior to, David Uygur's, and more varied (30 kinds of cured items), but doesn't get the same recognition." -- Chef Hung

Lucia's browned butter ice cream at right

¶ "The frozen desserts that came to Italy via Arabia were notable. First was ice cream from Antica Gelateria Ilardo in old Palermo, one of jasmine and cinnamon and the other of strawberry pistachio and decorated in the style of a cassata cake. The Arab-Norman influence brought tears to my eyes in recognition of something on such a deep DNA level. Gorgeous stuff. Second was the browned butter ice cream from Lucia in Oak Cliff. Never have I seen this flavor in Italy. But when they find out about it they will add it to their roster of flavors." -- Alfonso Cevola, On the Wine Trail in Italy

¶ "I'm crazy in love with photographer Lauren McClure's Bourbon and Cream Drenched Bread Pudding, the recipe for which appeared in Edible Dallas & Fort Worth's Winter issue. I plan on making it again this weekend--a last splurge before January diet." -- Terri Taylor, Editor, Edible Dallas & Fort Worth

¶ "The chopped salad at Ray's Prime Steak & Seafood in Fort Worth. It's cheap, just six bucks, but is large and has a lot to it: yellow and red tomatoes, red onions, real pieces of bacon, thin well-seasoned onion rings, and killer homemade blue chesse dressing." -- Malcolm Mayhew, restaurant reviewer for the Fort Worth Star Telegram

¶ "Tei An Shrimp -- potato crusted and deep fried, OMG you must try this. It has only been on the menu for four months, so it's new as of 2010 and super yummy." -- Iris McCallister, It's A Cooking Party

¶ "Chile-rubbed wild boar at Ellerbe Fine Foods in Fort Worth in November.... tender and falling apart, served with mesquite beans blinis, crisped nopalitos, and a pepper jelly. Every bite of the boar just dazzled the taste buds. I was torn between resting between bites to really savor it and wanting to gobble it up. The fried nopalitos were a delight...too often I've had them served slimy." -- Suzanna Marta, Dallas freelance writer and blogger at Eats

¶ "Good 2 Go Taco's 'Morraccoli.' I can't remember when, if ever, a dish featuring broccoli was something I would (and happily did) wait in long, long lines to get my hands on. This seemingly innocent (but magnificently tasty) concoction of caramelized broccoli, onion, currants, tomatoes, red peppers, and couscous is but one example of why Jeana and Colleen's opening of their new Good 2 Go location is one of my most anticipated openings of 2011." -- James Scott, Dallas Vegan

¶ "It's not on any menu, but The Grape chef Brian Luscher's "Uncle Jimmy", a homemade sausage topped with succulent pulled pork nestled inside a fantastic bun and served with an ever-so-spicy giardiniera. Luscher has promised to open an Uncle Jimmy's shop. We can only hope." -- Steve Doyle, Dallas blogger and tour guide director