20. PICADITAS DE JAIBA at HECHO EN DUMBO

Hecho en Dumbo has nothing to do with a lovable little elephant, but in fact refers to the neighborhood where this Mexican gastropub was first created. They’ve since moved to the East Village, but their philosophy of refined, seasonal Mexican food in a drink-happy setting remains. We sat at the Chef’s Table and had a pretty memorable meal.

We started with these picaditas de jaiba, which are little corncakes of flavor. On top of the firm buttery patties, sits a delicious salad of fresh jumbo lump Dungeness crab meat tossed with a gently biting jalapeño oil and topped with ripe avocados. A squeeze of lime brings out the brightness and lightness. These small bites are too easy to gobble up regardless of the neighborhood. Price: $8

19. PASTRAMI RUSS at RUSS & DAUGHTERS

You know I’m a big fan of the pastrami sandwich. I’ve spent months searching for the best version of the deli staple. That meaty, smoky goodness is a heart attack that’s more than worth it. But wait a minute, a pastrami sandwich minus the meat? Why would anybody do that?

If you’ve ever been to Russ & Daughters in the Lower East Side, you’ll understand. This is a classy old-time shop that specializes not in smoked meat, but rather smoked fish. If you want the hard stuff, you’ll have to go next door to Katz’s. But they make a pastrami sandwich here that rivals the classic version. You get to pick your bagel of choice for the Pastrami Russ, but trust me when I say you need to order it on pumpernickel. Not only will you get the approval of all the guys behind the counter, but these are the flavor combinations that make the most sense. With a generous schmear of mustard, crisp sauerkraut, and the freshest smoked salmon you’ll ever taste, you won’t miss the actual meat for a minute. And you may live a little longer. Price: $10.45

18. CHIMBORI JALWA at TAMARIND TRIBECA

Crab cakes tend to be the same everywhere you go. Aside from the bread crumb to crab meat ratio, most versions are pan fried, served with citrus and an aioli of sorts. The chimbori jalwa appetizer at fancy Indian restaurant Tamarind Tribeca was unlike any crab cake experience I’ve had before.

The colorful tower of meat was loaded with plenty of sweet lump crab meat and tinged with some Indian spices, ginger, and garlic. It had a restrained hint of curry with lots of balanced sweet (tamarind) and spicy (chile) flavors. Served on a bright spiced tomato sauce with scattered scallions and corn kernels, it was complex and delicious. And made for my new favorite crab cake in the city (just beating out Del Frisco’s baked version from last year’s list). Price: $15

17. PIKE QUENELLES at MILLESIME

Millesime really is a little gem: a hidden, French brasserie that can work as a relaxing cafe or a fine dining seafood restaurant. It’s located above the bar in the Carlton Hotel and it will transport you to Paris. And not just because of the ambiance, but because of the expertly prepared seafood and classic dishes. Take the pike quenelles, which are made in the style of Jean-Louis Dumonet. I don’t know much about this old French chef, but I do know he made some amazing quenelles.

You don’t see quenelles too often in New York, especially not like these. The delicate little dumplings are absolutely delectable, so soft and tender in a rich tomato lobster butter sauce that begged to be sopped up. Reminiscent of an airy seafood sausage, they fell apart like a buttery soft matzo ball of the sea. Très bien! Price: $14

16. TOSTA MATRIMONIO at TERTULIA

The new Spanish tapas hotspot Tertulia is more than just a bar for celebrity watching. It’s one of the best restaurants of the year. Truly any of the dishes I tried could have made my Top 100. The fried eggplant was spectacular, as was the sliced acorn-fed Iberico ham, and I haven’t even mentioned the tender as sin ribeye. But the one dish that blew everything out of the water were the little anchovies that inconspicously lay on heavenly toast points.

They’re referred to as both “tosta matrimonio” and “black and white anchovies.” The two meaty fish (the black are cured and the white are pickled) are simply halved and arranged on a toast-bed of sweet roasted tomatoes, creamy tangy sheep’s milk cheese, and a generous drizzle of aged balasamic. The dish is a perfect example of balance and brightness with the sweet cheese and tomato pairing perfectly with the salty, acidic anchovies. And amazingly, the delicate dish don’t even taste fishy. Maybe that’s why so many celebrities come here. Price: $9

NUMBER 55: BUTTERNUT SQUASH MACARON at DESSERTTRUCK WORKS

Every single dessert from the brick and mortar location of Jerome Chang’s DessertTruck Works was heavenly. Time Out brought us here to sample their Honey Rosemary Ice Cream and we went a little ballistic – ordering just about everything on the menu. Including a very unique little bite: a butternut squash macaron.

French-style macarons seem to be everywhere of late, but I’ve never discovered a flavor quite this special. Sweet potato or pumpkin are one thing, but butternut squash are usually saved for soups, right? Well, the dessert masters here manage to balance the rich, earthiness of the squash with maple caramel and make it delicate, refined, and unbelievably delicious. And that was just one of their desserts. Price: $2

NUMBER 54: SFERA DI CAPRINO at DEL POSTO

If I hadn’t called this dessert by it’s proper Italian name, many people may have stopped reading. This is in fact a vegetable dessert. And the veggie used is not as obviously sweet as butternut squash or sweet potatoes. This is a dessert made with celery. Can’t even imagine it, can you? I had celery in a fruit salad a few years ago at an Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side and enjoyed the light earthiness it brought to the other fruit’s sweetness. But with this dessert at Del Posto, the celery is the main attraction.

The words actually translates to “spheres of goat cheese”. Pastry chef Brooks Headley starts with little balls of creamy goat cheesecake and dips them in salted olive oil bread crumbs. They’re accompanied by a thick sweet and sour fig agrodolce and two celery components: light, vegetal celery sorbet and a shredded celery salad garnish. All these flavor come together to make a light, refreshing, sweet finish to a rich, decadent Italian meal. And it makes me a celery dessert believer. Price: $14

NUMBER 53: ZUCCHINI PANCAKE at JAY & LLOYD’S

We all know potato pancakes. They’re a staple of Jewish deli food and a good one could have easily fit into this category as well. But the fact that Jay & Lloyd’s, which is an old-school deli in the far reaches of Brooklyn, is taking those classic Jewish dishes and playing around a bit, makes the trip on the Q train that much more worth it.

You can see specks of the green vegetable dispersed throughout the fried potato patty. The addition of zucchini gives the pancake a more vegetal flavor with a hint of sweetness and an extra textural crispness. The brown exterior is perfectly fried giving way to a moist, earthy treat. I love when restaurants re-invent the classics. It’s a subtle little change, but it makes a world of difference. Price: $4.95 (for 3)

NUMBER 52: THREE DIFFERENT EGGPLANTS at ST. ANSELM

I had some grief when I discovered St. Anselm changed their entire concept this year. They originally were serving artery clogging New Jersey specialities like disco fries (featured on Time Out’s 2010 list) and Trenton pork rolls. But after closing for a few months to obtain their liquor license, they re-opened with a brand new concept: grilled food. That meant no more fryer and no list item for me.

But after having a phenomenal meal there, I was so happy they made the change. I could have probably included any of the dishes on this list, but the one that really blew me away was the appetizer of three different eggplants. I didn’t even know there were three different types of eggplant. St. Anselm seasons and chars Japanese, Thai, and Italian varieties which gave some different levels of texture and sweetness. The smokiness of the aubergines paired beautifully with a block of fried goat cheese (wait, I thought they didn’t have a fryer!) and a sweet, tangy pool of caramelized onions. Amazing that perfectly cooked vegetables don’t make me miss fries or pork! Price: $7

NUMBER 51: MARKET PLATE at WESTVILLE

Westville is such a refreshing little spot. This is affordable food that’s real and hearty and delicious. Sure, they serve hot dogs and hamburgers, but the best thing to order here is a mixed plate of their market vegetables. Every day offers a new list of almost 20 different local, seasonal vegetables prepared simply. Not much is done to these veggies and that goes a long way.

Some of the veggies are just grilled, others are roasted, some are seasoned with garlic and parmesan cheese, others with ginger and sesame. Whatever they do, they bring out the flavor of the produce without sacrificing flavor. You get to pick any four on the market plate. Try the sauteed kale with shallots or the artichoke hearts with parmesan. It’s hard to find a plate this pure, simple, and affordable.

NUMBER 100: THE WATER MILL at QUALITY GREENS

I started last year’s list with a grilled chicken salad and I’ve found an even better one this year.

Quality Greens opened this summer inside FoodParc, an eclectic food court owned by Jeffrey Chodorow. Their salad kiosk has lots of customizable options and also a list of salad creations to choose from, including The Water Mill.

The salad itself is quite simple, with mixed greens, avocado, cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, and tender organic chicken. But it’s the quality of those ingredients along with the sweet and zingy apple cider vinaigrette dressing that make this salad stand out from all the other tiresome grilled chicken salads out there. Price: $9.75

NUMBER 99: MISO COLE SLAW at COCORON

When I think cole slaw, I think sweet, mayonnaise laden bowls on the table at Jewish delis. Cocoron may be in the Lower East Side, but that’s about all it has in common with Katz’s.

This excellent new soba joint offers a few extra appetizers and side dishes to accompany their noodles and this was by far my favorite. It’s just a few bites, but the vibrant red cabbage tossed with a smoky earthy miso vinaigrette and topped with sesame seeds and scallions, has loads of flavor, crunch, and creativity. Price: $2.50

NUMBER 98: ROASTED BEETS AND HOMEMADE BURRATA at BELL, BOOK, & CANDLE

It seems every new restaurant is required to have a roasted beet on the menu. At Bell, Book, and Candle, a new-ish haunt in the West Village, they take it up a notch.

I had no doubt the beets (which came in both beautiful deep red and cantaloupe orange hues) were going to be fresh since the restaurant has a hydroponic garden on their roof where they grow many of their vegetables and herbs.

But it was the addition of an earthy olive oil, a pistachio pesto, and dots of mint that brought the rich, sweet flavors to life. And it never hurts when you have a creamy, homemade burrata cheese to accompany it and keep it from becoming too wholesome. Turns out they’ve been serving the burrata now with blistered tomatoes instead of those delicious beets. Price: $12

NUMBER 97: SUMMER BEAN SALAD at MÁ PÊCHE

NUMBER 96: SMOKED CUCUMBERS at REDFARM

There seems to be a theme here, doesn’t there? I guess I really like Asian-influenced salads with sesame seeds. So sue me.

These were a play on pickles with rich sweet smoke flavors that gave way to a refreshing bit of heat from specks of red chilies that hid throughout the cucumbers. This was a great way to start the meal at this new upscale, market driven take on Chinese food.

And while the rest of the food was great here, I’d be just as happy to munch on these addictive and flavorful cucumbers all night long. How often do you hear that? Price: $6

I should probably be up front about this. I’ve never been a big drinker. It doesn’t take much more than two or three drinks to knock me out. So when I go out for dinner or cocktails, I usually just have one so I can keep my wits about me. Unless, of course, it’s a special occasion and I have the entire next day free to recover.

This will be interesting for me now that I’m doing a beer search. I’ll either build up a tolerance, get smashed every single day, or end up throwing half the beer away. I’m afraid, it’s the latter that happened at Spitzer’s Corner.

I had been to this corner neighborhood beer bar a few times for birthday parties and to meet up with friends. I always found it very comfortable and inviting, if overly crowded, and remember being perpetually wowed by their huge draft beer selection. They have 4o draft beers and more than that in the bottle.

I came around 6:00, so the crowd had not started to congregate yet. The service was very friendly and I didn’t even mind when the waiter checked my ID (he even needed to take it to the bar to scan it!). I’m glad I passed the test.

In a cozy little spot facing the street, I began to study their massive selection. Now it’s going to be a little easier for me to narrow down which beers I order because I’m sticking to the most local ones. The first one that caught my eye was Captain Lawrence, which is just in Westchester County. I had visited their brewery a few years ago and have been a fan of their brews. Yet I had not encountered this one before. It’s called Freshchester (presumably after the county and the quality of the ingredients).

The Freshchester is a pale ale and it had a strong amber color with grapefruit aromas on the nose. The first sip revealed some bitter hops, but those mellowed out to a sweet flavor in the middle and finally finished with some more fresh citrus. I found it quite balanced with a light, but firm carbonation. It was refreshing and complex.

I went up to the bar to get a closer look at their selection and I noticed the blackboard proclaiming the Happy Hour special. Until 7pm every weekday, they offer $2 off all their draft beers. That’s when I realized I wouldn’t be leaving here with ordering just one beer. So I examined the list again.

The second (and final) beer I got was not something I normally would have been attracted to. It was the Chelsea Brewing Company’s Blackberry Wheat. No fancy, witty names for this – just calling it what it is. I have not been to the brewery yet, but if this is an indication of what they brew, I’m not that eager to walk west.

Fruit beers aren’t generally my thing, but if they’re fresh and well-rounded, I certainly can be convinced. I am a big fan of fruit and a big fan of beer, so why shouldn’t I like fruit beers?

This one didn’t help matters. It had a hazy, unfiltered hue and the nose was not terribly pleasant. It smelled like fruit-flavored plastic, if that makes any sense. Didn’t really make me want to dive in.

But I did. I was overwhelmed with a sweet, butter flavor which surprised me (this might have been a problem with the bar’s taps). I didn’t actually get much blackberry at all. If anything, it tasted faintly of a jolly rancher (and I’m no expert, but I don’t think there was ever a blackberry jolly rancher). The beer sat heavily on my mouth and took a while for that sweet, thin, tangy flavor to settle. I’m willing to bet this beer isn’t actually even made with real blackberries.

Like the Freschester, I only drank half this. However, unlike the Freschester which I didn’t finish for practical reasons, this one left a sour taste in my mouth and I just didn’t want to drink anymore.

So I drank two half beers. For anybody keeping track, that’s one full beer, but I saved $4 and I was able to walk out of there without the need for assistance.

Is Captain Lawrence’s Freschester the best beer in NY? It’s a well-balanced and refreshingly tart pale ale with lots of complexity earning it an 8 out of 10.

Is Chelsea Brewing’s Blackberry Wheat the best beer in NY? It gets a 5 out of 10 because even for a fruit beer, this one tasted artificial and was lacking much substance.

I was not expecting any of Time Out’s list items to overlap with my search for the best bagels in the city. There were a few dumpling options on the list this year and, last year I had plenty of pizza and a few pastrami sandwiches. But overall, bagels aren’t usually thought of as mind blowing or overly unique. And for the record, no bagel actually made the list this year, but something that is so enmeshed with the bagel did and I saw no other way to sample it then to order it with a bagel. I’m talking, of course, about cream cheese. Caviar cream cheese, to be more specific.

Russ & Daughters is an institution in the Lower East Side and it’s one of the few Jewish appetizing shops left in the city. An appetizing shop is not a store that specializes in chicken wings and mozzarella sticks, but rather things that are actually appetizing. I’m talking about smoked fish, bagels, cream cheese, etc. Basically, the opposite of a deli, which sells a variety of meats. These places focus more on dairy items, which are not kosher when combined with meat products.

I had been here many times in the past to try their gefilte fish and speciality sandwiches (like the Super Heebster, which is smoked whitefish and salmon salad with wasabi caviar and horseradish spiked cream cheese). But aside from a base for the sandwich, I had never truly sampled their bagels. And many people mention these among the best in the city. So I should do a separate bagel review, shouldn’t I?

Well, as it turns out Russ & Daughters doesn’t make their own bagels. They have a local company bake them and deliver them fresh every day. The bagel shops I’ve been reviewing all bake on location and the good ones bake them throughout the day to assure a fresh, warm bagel whenever I arrive (which is usually later in the day). I didn’t get to Russ & Daughters until after 3 and since the bagels arrived very early in the morning, I didn’t have high expectations. I don’t think it’s fair to include them in the bagel search when there’s no possible way they just came out of the oven. Especially considering that oven is miles away.

So while I noticed that the bagel was cakey and slightly stale, I excused it and focused on my list item, which was the dark gray, fish egg-specked cream cheese.

And in contrast to the bagel, the cream cheese is made in house. The caviar cream cheese is double-whipped and mixed with dramatic black whitefish caviar (very different than a black and white cookie, but similar in color). I could taste the freshness of the cream cheese, which was fluffy and had a subtle sourness. The caviar, however, didn’t add much flavor. For me, caviar is all about the saltiness and the pop. There were a few bursts here and there, but the texture was more creamy than poppy.

We also tried one of their speciality sandwiches, the Pastrami Russ, which is a pastrami sandwich minus the heart attack. Pastrami cured salmon paired with mustard and sauerkraut was amazing, especially on a pumpernickel bagel. It puts the A in Appetizing.

Would Russ & Daughters’ Caviar Cream Cheese make my Top 100 of the Year? Probably not. The cream cheese itself is some of the best I’ve ever tasted, but the addition of caviar doesn’t make it any better. I’d have been fine with just plain (or horseradish cream cheese), but it still earns a 7 out of 10.

When I tell people I’m searching for the best bagels in New York, some people wonder how I stay so slim, others try to direct me to Montreal, but the truest New Yorkers ask if I’m going to include bialys on my search.

And it’s a good question. Bialys are the bagels more obscure cousin who never gained the same popularity across this country. A bialy almost looks like a bagel, but there are a few differences. First off, it’s not boiled before baking. It’s also flatter and has a pushed in center that sort of resembles a large innie belly button. That depression is usually filled with pieces of savory garlic, salt, or onions.

I think bialys are unique and iconic enough to New York to warrant their own search. Except only a very small number of places still make them. And the only place in Manhattan that specializes in bialys happens to be the oldest bialy bakery in the country. Kossar’s Bialys has been an institution in the Lower East Side since the 1930′s. And while bialys are what most people talk about, you’ll often see this kosher bakery mentioned in the conversations about best bagels in the city.

So I haven’t decided if bialys will get their own search, but I did put Kossar’s on my list in order to try their bagels. And I might have a bialy or two while I’m there.

Kossar’s, which could have been the inspiration for the now closed H & H Bagels, is a dark, dusty factory with just a couple of bar stools and a coffee station that’s been plucked right out of the 1970′s. There’s a small counter which houses the cash register and acts as a boundary for the dough bombs on display. Much like H & H, this place won’t toast or schmear your bagels. There is a refrigerator against the wall that houses packaged cream cheese and smoked fish spreads.

I asked the lady if any of the sparse selection of bagels or bialys were hot, assuming the answer would be no. The baking equipment looked like it hadn’t been touched in days and some of the bagels were wrapped up in plastic bags. She almost laughed at me. Clearly, this was the wrong time to be here. I asked when the best time to come would be and she said in the morning or Thursday afternoon. That’s when they do the baking. Well, unfortunately my schedule is never free on Thursdays, but I thought I might make a trip one morning to really get a fresh taste of these. I asked her what time in the morning and she said about 5am. 5am!!

That was when I decided I would just try the darn things right now. There’s no way I’d make it down here any day before 11am, so could the bagels really change that much in a few hours? The answer might be yes.

I got the plain bagel (and one garlic bialy) to go and found a park bench to do my tasting. And I have to say this bagel was pretty disappointing and the bialy was not much better. I have not had a toasted bagel yet on this journey because in New York at the “good” bagel joints, they should be baked throughout the day and even if they’re not still completely hot, they should be fresh. Well, these were none of those things.

These were hard and stale. There was also a deep imprint of the metal container they had been sitting in. Either I got the very bottom of the basket or these had been sitting there way too long. Either way, I wasn’t happy. The bagel was incredibly dense and took some major force to tear apart. Inside, it wasn’t soft or chewy but rather dusty and crusty. The flavor was overly salty and I wouldn’t have been surprised if this came from the corner bodega. Maybe when this came out of the oven it was a good bagel. But it had quickly devolved into something practically inedible.

The bialy was a little softer. The toasted garlic and poppyseed filling in the center was nice, but the bread had similar texture issues to the bagel. I’ve read that bialys respond better to toasting. And I bet this would have been enjoyable then, but Kossar’s doesn’t offer to toast them and I have yet to locate a toaster in the nearby park. So I guess these are only good if you get there at the exact time they come out of the oven or if you’re bringing them home to toast them. I just wanted a delicious local mid-day snack. I guess Kossar’s is the wrong place to go.

And if doing a bialy search in this city requires me to be up at 5am, I think I’ll pass.

Does Kossar’s Bialys have the best bagels in New York? I’m not quite sure they even have the best bialys, but the bagels are the opposite of some of the best. Without waking up at the crack of dawn or being able to locate a toaster, these are pretty bad earning just a 4 out of 10.

Eddie Huang may not be as famous as Bobby Flay or Mario Batali (yet), although in New York he is even more notorious. He’s always in the press, whether he’s picking a fight with a critic on his blog, outwardly supporting the illegal Four Loko, or cooking outlandish Asian “stoner food” like Cheetos Fried Chicken at his recently shuttered late night restaurant Xiao Ye.

But his original food stop, Bao Haus, is still a late night option for partygoers in the Lower East Side. Here the concept is just as gimmicky as nearby Meatball Shop, but a lot more focused. The only thing on the menu are bao, which are Taiwanese steamed buns. In fact the menu is so limited that the only real difference between each menu item (which have witty names like Chairman Bao and Birdhaus Bao) are the proteins. They all come with crushed peanuts, cilantro, Haus Relish, and Taiwanese red sugar. We tried the hanger steak and the pork belly. The buns were a little harder than I like, but the flavor combinations work really well. And were a nice snack (although slightly overpriced at about $4 each).

Yet the Time Out list item was technically not a bao, but a dessert dish that used the same base ingredient. They’re called sweet bao fries and Huang chops pieces of the stemed bun, sweetens, and deep fries them. It’s pretty ingenious and the results are bite-sized pieces of fried white bread that taste like a cross between french fries and doughnuts. You get a choice of two types of thick gooey sauces (taro or black sesame) which are usually drizzled over the top. Since I wanted the full experience, I had the guy give me both on the side and dipped my bao fries.

The taro sauce was my favorite, which tasted like an earthy caramel sauce, although the dark and sweet black sesame was also addicting. They both went extremely well with the not too greasy fries. These are a great late night (or mid afternoon) sweet snack.

BaoHaus has a cool, hip hop atmosphere, in fact the employees were arguing over whether they should listen to Jay Z or something else. There are just a handful of ghetto bar stools and Asian American knick knacks around the shop. We came in for lunch, which felt strange because you can tell this is really a late night spot that encourages debauchery and drunken eating. Just the way Eddie Huang wants it.

Would BaoHaus’ Sweet Bao Fries make my Top 100 of the Year? They get an 8 out of 10 because they are incredibly unique with the simplicity and base deliciousness of all stoner food.

I feel like I got gypped a little here. As you all know, I’m pretty diligent when it comes to the list items. I want the full experience that was written about and I’ll make phone calls, travel to restaurants multiple times, and ask questions to make sure I conquer this list properly. Yet I don’t think I got the full experience at Painkiller.

We came here on New Year’s Eve in hopes of tasting the Dragon’s Pearl. At that time, Painkiller didn’t really have a menu. The Polynesian bar listed general types of tiki cocktails (zombies, swizzles, etc.) and offered to customize a drink. I inquired about our list item but the bartender said he didn’t have one of the ingredients: dragon fruit. In my mind, this is probably the most important ingredient since Time Out mentioned the crunch from the seeds and I assume the exotic fruit is where the cocktail gets its name.

So I had other drinks that night and vowed to return. We stopped by a few weeks later and the bartender said they once again didn’t have the fruit. Then a few months ago they announced that they were re-tooling their menu to include specific drinks and one of those was the much coveted Dragon’s Pearl. I figured now that it was officially listed on their menu, I’d be able to order it no problem.

It was early on a Saturday evening so the bar wasn’t too crowded, yet the bartender was quite weeded and it took him some time to make our cocktails. Of course, I ordered the Dragon’s Pearl and he nodded and (eventually got to work). Yet when it was placed in front of me, I immediately knew it was missing the ingredients I was most excited about. It was garnished with a pineapple (the picture in Time Out shows a slice of dragon fruit) and the only round seed-like figures in the cocktail were pebbles of shaved ice. I felt gypped.

But I had spent too much money and energy on obtaining this drink already and I had ordered it from the menu and it matched the name on Time Out’s list. So here is the review.

I’m not much of a fan of tiki drinks because the cocktails are (by definition) cloyingly sweet. Yet here is a manly tiki drink. It was like a Piña Colada, but with smoky scotch and earthy mescal. I like how it balanced the sweetness of the pineapple juice and the creamy coconut milk. It was a surprising concoction at a tiki bar. And I did enjoy sipping on it.

But I truly sensed that something was missing. In addition to a seemingly low pour (shouldn’t all that ice make the liquid look as if it will overflow?), I felt like there was a brightness or a tartness that was lacking. I do wonder if the dragon fruit would have changed the game.  I guess I’ll never know. I did notice that the drink now costs $12 and Time Out listed it as $14. I wonder if they decided the dragon fruit was just too expensive and they saved their customers 2 bucks.

I thought the drink was inventive and unusual for this kind of place, but I know it could have been even more special. I looked around the bar and saw so many unusual garnishes – cloves, sugar cubes, anise syrup. Would one more strange looking fruit have hurt? I know it would have made me feel better about the pain Painkiller brought me by making this conquest so elusive.

Would Painkiller’s Dragon’s Pearl make my Top 100 of the year? Without the inclusion of the most unusual component, the drink is interesting and tasty but needs just a little something to spice it up. Might I suggest some dragon fruit seeds? 7 out of 10.

All winter I had been craving lasagna, an old-fashioned, hearty warming lasagna. The kind my grandmother used to make – if I had an Italian grandmother and she made lasagna.

I was hoping to fill my desire a few months back at the newly opened Porsena, but the much talked about lasagna there left me feeling flat with a bland sauce and soft pasta. Then I had a much better experience at Del Posto with their amazingly inventive (and delicious) 100 Layer Lasagna.

But my thirst was fully quenched when we found our way to the warmly lit and intimate Italian eatery Ápizz in the Lower East Side to taste the lasagna on Time Out’s list.

I’ve walked by here many times and expected a different sort of atmosphere inside. The restaurant has no windows and is isolated on a shady street between two housing projects. Yet my expectations for a stuffy, white table clothed restaurant were immediately replaced upon entering with red mood lighting, efficient service, and a wonderful meal at the bar.

The spinach salad (with pistachios, cannellini beans, and a lemon honey vinaigrette) was simple, fresh, healthy, and filling. A perfect way to start the meal.

And then came the Lasagna Cinghiale. I’m glad we only ordered one entree because it was more than enough for the two of us. It was served in a cask iron skillet and was floating in a sea of tomato sauce.

The cinghiale refers to a layer of boar meat ragú nestled between the pasta sheets. I made this type of lasagna once myself (although I certainly didn’t use the Italian word) for the series finale of Lost. My version turned out fine, but self taught chef John LaFemina found a much better recipe.

The pasta was perfectly cooked and that tomato sauce while heavy handed had a sweet tanginess that made extra bread for sopping a necessity. The boar meat was shredded so it felt like pulled pork, but had a gamey earthy flavor that was phenomenal. While I love ground beef and sausage in my lasagna, I didn’t miss it for a minute. This is the lasgana I didn’t realize I was craving.

Throughout the meal, whiffs of cooking herbs made their way to the bar. One minute it was rosemary, ten minutes later basil. They were a most wonderful aromatic accompaniment to a surprisingly special meal in a semi-hidden hot spot. It makes me want lasagna all throughout the year – never mind the weather.

Would Ápizz’s Lasagna Cinghiale make my Top 100 of the year? The wonderful and traditional take on my winter conquest was a huge surprise and because it was perfectly prepared and made for a joyous dinner, it gets a 9 out of 10.

I’m officially finished with my dumpling search (although more reviews will continue to appear from time to time), but as most of you know I was limiting it to Chinese dumplings. Every culture has their own version of dumplings and if I tried all the possibilities all over the city from all over the world, I’d be writing about dumplings for the rest of my life. And I’d probably be a tad bit fatter for it.

But since Time Out listed the quark dumplings at  neighborhood Austrian spot, Cafe Katja, as one of their Top 100 Dishes, I made an exception. I had been to this spot years earlier and enjoyed their German beers, European comfort food, and friendly, quaint ambiance. In fact, I was brought here two years ago because the marinated herring salad was on Time Out’s list in 2008. I guess somebody at Time Out really loves this place.

And they’re not the only one. It’s amazing how crowded Cafe Katja was on a snowy Tuesday night, especially considering most of the other restaurants on the block were practically vacant. It still didn’t take too long to get a table for two and we quickly ordered the herring salad once again, a pretzel, and the emmentaler sausage. The quark dumplings are not listed on the menu as a side order (although Time Out assured us you could request it), but they do come with the sausage. So we asked for them on the side to make sure to get a good close-up photo and as to not let any other flavors get in the way.

The pretzel was a great beginning to the meal and the lightest dish of the night. It was soft and tender with some killer dipping sauces: butter and a spiced paprika-laced cheese spread called liptauer (different from the cholesterol medicine). The herring salad was a little heavier and creamier than I remembered, but featured a generous portion of salty, smoked fish with potatoes for texture and dill for zest.

Emmentaler is a swiss cheese and it was braided throughout the pork sausage. Quark is a soft, German cheese that has a tangy flavor similar to cream cheese. Turns out the sausage dish was as much a cheese dish as a meat one. In addition to the ingredients in the sausage and dumplings, they were bathing in a creamy, cheesy sauce that hit dairy overload.

These dumplings were rather big (there were only three and that was plenty) and were a distant relative to gnocchi. Instead of potato, the quark cheese made them incredibly soft and rich. They felt bready, but in actuality I believe it was just the unique light texture of the cheese. They were heavy in flavor and sauce, but light and airy in texture and bite.

I enjoyed them, but can’t say I left with anything other than a ridiculously full stomach. Why must all dumplings be total gutbombs? And believe me, after my dumpling search, I should know.

Would Cafe Katja’s Quark Dumplings make my Top 100 of the year? They have a very unique flavor and texture that are different than most dumplings and get a 7 out of 10 for that combination alone.