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COLMAN ANDREWS, Editorial Director
BEST THING I ATE IN 2012: "This has been a particularly rich year for me gastronomically, with lots of travel, so it's harder than ever to single out a single "best" dish. Ultimately, though, I think it might be a simple snack I improvised for myself one afternoon at home from ingredients brought back from various trips: I toasted a thick slice of sourdough rye from a little bakery in a village called Albanya, in the Empordà region of Catalonia (probably the best bread I had all year; wish I'd been able to stuff more than one loaf into my carry-on), then drizzled it with Pukara Estate Hunter Valley olive oil that I'd brought back from Australia, spread on some doçe de leite (the Brazilian dulce de leche, which I'd bought in a small town in Minas Gerais, Brazil), and sprinkled it all with Maldon salt. Very international. Very wonderful."
MOST ANTICIPATED 2013 DISH: "To continue the homebody theme, I think what I'm most looking forward to eating in 2013 are the first really good tomatoes from my balcony garden, just sliced and sprinkled with some of that Maldon, on a warm, sunny day."
ARTHUR BOVINO, Executive Editor
BEST THING I ATE IN 2012: "I set a very bad example in that we do this piece every year, and I really have a hard time limiting my picks. Case in point last year's 96-dish list of amazing food, most of it eaten with my lovely girlfiriend Angela.(Our Entertain editor still gives me a hard time about the length of that list.) I don't plan on being any more self-restricting this year (expect a much longer list to come sometime during the next month). But if I have to pick just a few dishes as representative of 2012, I'd note the elbulli homage ice dessert at Next in Chicago as well as that city's tamale hot dog at Fat Johnnie's Famous Red Hots, the peameal bacon sandwich at Toronto's Carousel Bakery, and an amazing meal at Sushi Yasuda in New York City."
MOST ANTICIPATED 2013 DISH: "As every year since 2004, my most anticipated dish for next year is at Masa. I've never been. I've wanted to go since the Bruni review — I can't believe anything was lost between it and what seemed like an unfounded Sifton slight. Maybe this is the year? Other dining experiences? Husk, Blackberry Farm, The French Laundry, India, Japan? I have no idea where 2013's dining adventures will take me. But based on the past few years, I sure am excited."
WILL BUDIAMAN, Recipe Editor
BEST THING I ATE IN 2012: "Osteria Morini is one of my favorite restaurants in New York, and with good reason. Though definitely on the pricey side, people go there for one thing: pasta. I'm unafraid to say it: Michael White is a gifted man when it comes to pasta. The best thing I ate in 2012 was definitely the Creste with Shrimp and Seppia Ragù. Believe me, I've had it several times just to make sure, even at $21 a pop. Blended with breadcrumbs, it's as rich as traditional ragù, so at first bite, it's a hard to believe it's made from shrimp and cuttlefish. And of course, the fresh pasta was cooked perfectly each time."
MOST ANTICIPATED 2013 DISH: "Next year, I'm going with an old favorite — Taverna Kyclades in Astoria, Queens. They make a grilled calamari that's perfectly charred around the edges without being rubbery. Because I live in faraway land (aka Brooklyn), it's a dish I don't get to taste very often anymore."
NINA FOMUFOD, Assistant to Jim Spanfeller
BEST THING I ATE IN 2012: "If it were socially acceptable, I would have stood up and applauded after my first bite of this dish. I expected 100 layers of pasta and sauce to sit like a brick in my belly — but the exact opposite was true. It was incredibly delicate and flavorful. The craftsmanship that went into making it still stuns me."
MOST ANTICIPATED 2013 DISH: "I'm DYING to try a lobster roll from Ed's Lobster Bar. Nothing crazy, nothing fancy. I'm just on a quest for a great lobster roll. And yes, I'm embarrassed to admit I've never had one."
TIM MCGEEVER, Public Relations Manager
BEST THING I ATE IN 2012: "Reviewing my life's digestive legacy, favorite dishes have ranged from the tasting menu at Michael Mina's Bourbon Steak in San Francisco to my grandmother's pot roast served with mashed potatoes and caramelized carrots in her 10-foot-by-10-foot dining room in Queens, which still has a rotary phone in it. That's right, Michael Mina preceded my grandmother in the chronology of my favorite meals. I think it's safe to say there is no predicting what foods I will fall in love with in a given year. So when I considered 2012, despite my capricious taste buds and even more eccentric personality, I was humbly surprised to find the best thing I'd eaten was right around the corner. I moved to Astoria earlier this year for two primary reasons – it was cheaper than the see-and-be-seen borough of Brooklyn, and was famous for its culinary prowess. And when I signed the lease on that tiny, albeit cute as a button, first- story apartment, little did I know I was cementing myself within 500 yards of gastronomic ecstasy.
A small panini shop called Il Bambino has mastered their craft so ingeniously, it's no wonder it's become a local dining celebrity. My favorite order? Fried eggplant panini with lemon aioli, arugula, hot peppers, and Asiago. And while the ingredients do a fine job of representing the restaurant's sheer creativity, it's the moment those ingredients amalgamated along the ridges of my tongue and cheek, that a fit of culinary righteousness commenced. Reliving it, eyes closed in my midtown swivel chair, I find myself chanting in a disconcerting whisper, "Meal of the year!" "Meal of the year!" Excuse me..."
MOST ANTICIPATED 2013 DISH: "I'm planning on kicking off 2013 in Montreal, so in the year to come, justly speaking, I'm looking forward to waking up somewhere in the Mile End neighborhood on New Year's Day and biting into a tried and true Montreal bagel. I'm a New Yorker, I know it's a touchy subject, but my palate has a wanderlust like no other."