What You Might Have Missed: 2012 In Eat/Dine

There's a lot of great content that gets published on these pages every year, and we understand if on occasion you miss an article or two. But all is not lost: we went back and found some of our favorite articles and slideshows from the Eat/Dine section from throughout 2012, so you won't miss a thing.  

Clear your schedule for the next hour or so; you're about to dive in to the deep end of a pool filled with culinary awesomeness.

10 Best Non-Burger Fast-Food Dishes: When it comes to fast food, there's plenty more on the menu besides burgers and fries. There are the best ones out there.

America's 50 Most Powerful People in Food for 2012: Who's rewriting the rules, shifting the paradigms, and affecting how, where, and why we eat? We tracked down the top 50.

The 101 Best Restaurants in America: Quite simply, the finest places to eat in the country today.

America's 10 Most Romantic Restaurants: It takes a lot more than roses and a string quartet to make our list of the most romantic restaurants in the country.  

The Strangest Packaged Foods of All Time: A cheeseburger in a can? Really?!

15 Food Jingles You'll Never Forget: The marketing department's easiest way into a consumer's heart? Through a catchy jingle. Here are some of the best of all time, sure to be stuck in your head all day.

America's 15 Best French Fries: The fry: so much more than just a fried potato. A perfect balance of crispiness, saltiness, and a fluffy interior, this is a countdown of the country's finest.

When Did Pizza Meet Red Pepper Flakes? It's such a natural pairing that we don't even give it much thought: red pepper flakes on pizza. But what pepper is it, exactly? And how did this tradition get its start? Our intrepid Executive Editor Arthur Bovino answers all your (mouth-) burning questions, and learns a few life lessons along the way.

America's 28 Most Expensive Restaurants: Feel like dropping a couple thousand bucks on dinner this weekend? Here are a few worthy options.

19 Ice Creams You've Never Tried: Did you know that bagel-flavored ice cream exists? You do now.

The Great American Fried Chicken Roadmap: The earliest published recipe for fried chicken comes from 1828, and countless varieties have appeared since then. Our guide traverses the country, city by city, sleuthing the experts' opinions on each town's finest.

Most Popular State Fair Foods of 2012: With summer in full swing, we took a look at the State Fairs across the country to find the wildest, most popular food items available.

America's 35 Best Pizzas: Like the humble French fry, a pizza is much more than just the sum of its parts. Bread, cheese, and sauce combine to form what many consider to be the perfect food, and we found the best that the country has to offer.  

52 Best Colleges for Food in America: College food isn't what it used to be. From on-site gardens at Virginia Tech to over 30 eateries at Cornell, to farmer's markets and luaus at USD, college campus eating has certainly evolved beyond greasy pizza in the dining hall.

The Top 50 Cupcakes in America: 'Nuff said. We searched the country for the finest cupcakes, and found 50 that are drool-worthy.

101 Best Food Trucks in America 2012: The food truck zeitgeist has taken America by storm, and what was once associated with only hot dogs and Halal food has now become a bastion of democratic eating, popping up in just about every city (and lots of small towns, too). We took an exhaustive look at the 101 finest on the road.  

'Uni' Pizza Napoletana, Manhattan's $8 Slice: We think we might have actually made history with this one: We found a high-quality pizza Margherita and topped it with uni, the fabled, love-it-or-hate-it sea urchin roe. The results? Read on to find out.

America's 12 Best Donut Shops: Biting into a fresh, sticky donut is one of life's finest pleasures. And while a couple on our list are mega tourist destinations, most are just quietly turning out simple, fresh, delicious little rounds of sweet fried dough.

Dan Myers is the Eat/Dine Editor at The Daily Meal. Follow him on Twitter @sirmyers