Best of 2013: Restaurants

Without a doubt, 2013 was a hot year for new restaurants in D.C. So much so, that, given my focus on cooking over restaurants, I really couldn't even begin to keep up. New D.C. restaurants I would have loved to visit this year, but didn't get to include Rose's Luxury, Doi Moi, Etto, Ghibeilina and Thally. There's always next year! That said, we did enjoy a number of great meals this year in new and established D.C. restaurants. We also ate well during sojourns to New York City, Portland, Oregon and Rehoboth Beach, Delware. Here were our most memorable bites:

Best Starter: Corn Bread with Bacon Marmalade, Range (Washington, D.C.). The first morsel I ever tasted at Bryan Voltaggio's sprawling Friendship Heights outpost was one of my all-time favorites. The sweet and smoky bacon marmalade was sinfully delicious and unforgettable. Honorable mentions: Bread Basket, Le Diplomate (Washington, D.C.); Chilled Pea Soup, Blue Hill (New York, N.Y.).

Best Salad: Beans Salad with Sugar Snap, Green and Yellow Beans, Toasted Hazelnuts, Eataly (New York, N.Y.). On a sweltering hot summer day, a recharge lunch in Manhattan Italian food mart Eataly turned into a surprisingly delightful lunch, the highlight of which was this salad of contrasting textures. Honorable mentions: Misticanza, Casa Luca (Washington, D.C.); Salad of mixed greens with idiazábal cheese, Jaleo (Washington, D.C.).

Best Pasta: Smoked Potato Gnocchi with Duck Ragu, Casa Luca (Washington, D.C.). After having been wowed by last year's visit to Fiola, we were just as impressed with Chef Fabio Trabocchi's new casual downtown restaurant, where Chris had this incredible gnocchi. Honorable mention: Tagliolini with Porchetta and Smoked Mozzarella, Osteria Elisir (Washington, D.C.).

Best Meat Dish: Pork Chop for Two with Stuffing, Ma Peche (New York, N.Y.). Chris teased me for a long time about my interest in Momofuku. Then I took him to one of David Chang's restaurants. He doesn't tease me anymore. We were both smitten with Ma Peche and especially this amazing pork dish, which was the inspiration for what I served us on Christmas this year. Honorable mentions: Pork and Foie Gras Canelones, Jaleo (Washington, D.C.); House-Made Bratwurst, Grüner (Portland, Ore.).

Best Seafood Dish: Lobster with Heirloom Tomatoes and Eggplant Puree, a(MUSE) (Rehoboth Beach, Del.). There was a lot to love about the tasting menu we enjoyed last summer at a(MUSE), but I chose this lobster dish because I loved its artful presentation and the honey-paprika sauce that accompanied it. Honorable mention: Arctic Char with Summer Squash, Table (Washington, D.C.).

Best Pizza: Salsiccia Dolce, Posto (New York, N.Y.). We've enjoyed the pizza at Posto for years, but I didn't write about it until this summer. We've tried several pies there, but we always come back to this sausage, caramelized onion and basil pizza, which is our favorite pizza anywhere these days. Honorable mention:  Luigi (ramp pizza), Graffiato (Washington, D.C.).

Best Roast Chicken: Roasted Barbecue Chicken, Blue Duck Tavern (Washington, D.C.). Although roasted indoors, this juicy bird had all the flavor of outdoor barbecue thanks to its brine. It inspired my own experiment with Smoke-Brined Oven BBQ Chicken. Honorable mention: Peruvian Roast Chicken, Del Campo.

Best Dessert: Dark Chocolate Napoleon, Le Diplomate (Washington, D.C.). The beginning bread basket and closing dessert were the highlights of our meal at Le Diplomate. I loved this architectural wonder of a dessert, a chocoholic's dream. Le Diplomate still has this on their menu, although their pastry chef, Naomi Gallego, is now cooking at Blue Duck Tavern. Honorable mention: Coffee Mousse with Hazelnut Dacquoise, Del Campo (Washington, D.C.).

Best Cocktail: Vegetal Gin & Tonic, Jaleo (Washington, D.C.). Spanish-style gin & tonics have become very popular this year. One of the best places to enjoy them in D.C. is at the Jaleo bar, where you can watch the bartenders craft them with assorted aromatic touches. Honorable mentions: Agave Stinger, Commerce (New York, N.Y.); Playground Meltdown,  Range (Washington, D.C.); Martinez, Graffiato (Washington, D.C.).

Best Service: Del Campo (Washington, D.C.). I ate at Del Campo several times, and during each visit I was impressed with the friendly, knowledgable service from a staff that was clearly interested in what was coming out of the kitchen and made me feel right at home. Honorable mentions: Blue Hill (New York, N.Y.), Graffiato (Washington, D.C.).

Best Overall Restaurant Experience: Range (Washington, D.C.). In theory, Range shouldn't succeed. It's a giant restaurant in a shopping mall with a menu that covers every base from Italian to seafood to steak (it even has a cigar lounge). But both diners we ate at Range were remarkably good, proving the restaurant's name could aptly apply to how well it pulls off such varied dishes.  Honorable mentions: Del Campo (Washington, D.C.).a(MUSE) (Rehoboth Beach, Del.).

Best of 2013: Desserts

It might be hard to believe if you visit around the holidays, but normally, we don't eat dessert often at our house. Certainly, it's not with every meal or even every week. But every now and then, it's nice to have a really good sweet treat. Not some "light" diet-oriented dessert. Uh-uh. I'm talking something satisfying and decadent. I'd rather have dessert only every now and then and have it be incredible than have low-cal desserts all the time.

Cakes and Pies

I loved this unique Coffee Cake with Coffee Frosting from a recipe by The Pioneer Woman was the perfect winter treat, while Melissa Clarks' recipe for Strawberry Shortcake with Lemon-Pepper Syrup was just as good for summer. Another unusual but tasty cake was the Gin & Tonic Cake, inspired by my favorite cocktail. For out-and-out decadence, nothing tops this Chocolate Truffle Cake, from a recipe by Chef Naomi Pomeroy.

For Thanksgiving, I was blown away by Fine Cooking's recipe for Bourbon-Caramel Pumpkin Tart. And my Apple Custard Pie with Gingersnap Cookie Crust was my effort to combine the best of apple pie and pumpkin pie into one holiday treat.

Ice Cream

I didn't make as much ice cream this year, but when I did, I went for interesting, seasonal flavors. Last winter, I created the By the Fire Sundae with maple-bacon ice cream, a brown butter blondie, caramel and smoky whipped cream. In the spring, taking advantage of my favorite herb, I made Mint-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. And in the summer, I discovered that sweet corn is just as great for dessert as a dinner side in Sweet Corn Ice Cream with Blackberry Sauce.

For lovers of ice cream pie, there's also this wonderfully festive Cereal Milk Ice Cream Pie with Compost Cookie Crust, an ode to the creative ideas of Momofuku Milk Bar Chef Christina Tosi (whose cookbook I got for Christmas--so look for more Momofuku treats next year).

Cookies

As usual, December featured lots of cookie recipes. My favorite were the Molasses Sandwich Cookies with lemon filling (we paired it with Almond Lace Cookies in this year's Dallas Desserts Holiday Bakeoff with Dallas Decoder). I also shared a recipe for Chocolate Saltine Bark, a longtime simple holiday favorite.

Another first this year: I attempted to create several original cookie recipes. My favorite were the Peanut Butter, Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip Cookies, which were like three great cookies rolled into one.

Best of 2013: Main Dishes

Experiments with brined roast chicken, an amazing beef stew and a host of broiled salmon entrees were among my favorite main dishes this year.

Beef and Pork

What makes Jacques Pepin's Beef Stew in Red Wine Sauce so good? Perhaps it's the combination of pearl onions, baby carrots and mushrooms with no potatoes. Or the touch of pancetta (or bacon, which I used). Or maybe that the wine cooks slowly in the oven with a whole bottle of wine. Regardless, it was my favorite beef dish this year. Truly exquisite. Other good beef dishes included the Beef Wellington with Gorgonzola, a perennial Christmas tradition in our house, and this Traditional Beef Stroganoff, which I adapted from several recipes seeking an "authentic" recipe for old-school Beef Stroganoff.

My favorite pork dish was these Sweet and Sticky Baby Back Ribs that appeared in The Washington Post, a wonderful indoor way to make flavorful summer ribs. I also enjoyed Le Pigeon (Portland) Chef Gabriel Rucker's recipe for Pan-Seared Pork Chops with Thyme and Bacon and my simple weeknight dinner recipe for Orange Pork Stir Fry with Ginger and Chard.

Chicken and Turkey

I got experimental with chicken this year. Seeking to replicate one of my favorite restaurant dishes, the roast chicken at Palena, I made Spice-Brined Roast Chicken, which turned out fairly close to what you get at the restaurant. Wanting to bring the smoky flavors of outdoor barbecue into the kitchen, another brining experiment yielded this tasty Smoked-Brined Oven BBQ Chicken. Lastly, taking advantage of seasonal sweet corn, I came up with these Roasted Corn and Chicken Enchiladas.

Apart from Thanksgiving, I didn't do much with turkey this year, although we did enjoy the Thanksgiving Leftovers Tacos I invented to use of all those great Thanksgiving dishes.

Fish

Broiled salmon is something I turn to again and again, since it's so easy to prepare quickly during the week and lends itself well to a variety of flavors. This year, I experimented more with Asian flavors, like the umami-rich Dashi-Poached Salmon, Garlic-Ginger Broiled Salmon with Miso-Braised Mustard Greens and Mustard Broiled Salmon with Miso and Honey-Braised Greens. Another salmon dish I liked served with greens was Broiled Salmon with White Bean, Kale and Bacon Ragoût. And if tacos are your thing, Salmon Tacos offered a nice variety to my usual broiled fillet.

Vegetables

Most of the pasta and grains best dishes I featured Friday are vegetarian, but there are a couple other great dishes I wanted to include here: The Vegetable Napoleons with Red Wine Sauce, which is a great dish if you want a dramatic presentation, and Yogurt Kuku, a sort of Middle Eastern frittata, that I served alongside a selection of favorite mezze dishes.

Best of 2013: Pasta and Grains

Top L to R: Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce, Sweet Corn Agnolotti with Mushrooms, Parsley Pesto Spaghetti. Middle L to R: Modernist Mac & Cheese with Bacon and Roasted Cauliflower, Roasted Tomato Risotto, Bolognese-Style Lasagna. Bottom L to R: Farro Bowl with Sugar Snap Peas and Kielbasa, Sausage-Zucchini Pasta, Multi-Grain Risotto with Broccolini and Brussels Sprouts.

My lists of the year's best cocktails and salads, soups, starters and sides were pretty lengthy. For my favorite pasta and grain recipes, I decided to limit myself to my 10 favorites, which are a great mix of styles, original and adapted recipes and ingredients from all the seasons.

1. Modernist Mac & Cheese with Bacon and Roasted Cauliflower. I adapted this recipe from Modernist Cuisine at Home by Nathan Myhrvold. Their technique for the cheese sauce is so simple and works very well: just water and sodium citrate (the sodium salt of citric acid, available from Amazon). The sauce is amazingly smooth and comes together much faster than the traditional roux-to-béchamel-to-mornay version.

2. Butternut Squash, Goat Cheese and Sausage Lasagna. This alternative to tomato-based lasagna is one of my absolute favorites. It's perfect for fall when squash are in season, which go so well with goat cheese, sage and sausage.

3. Roasted Tomato Risotto. What makes this risotto special is the homemade roasted tomato and fennel broth I made first and used instead of store-bought chicken or vegetable broth for cooking the risotto, which includes additional roasted tomatoes.

4. Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce. During the late summer, when tomatoes are in season, we eat massive quantities of them. One of my favorite ways to do so is a simple, quick pasta sauce with fresh basil.

5. Lasagna, Bolognese Style. This was the first dish I ever made from a recipe by lauded Italian cookbook writer Marcella Hazan, who, sadly, passed away this year. If you're used to the tomato-ricotta version of lasagna, this version, made with bolognese and béchamel is a nice change of pace. (After Hazan's death, I also made her Pasta all'Amatriciana, which is also amazing.)

6. Sweet Corn Agnolotti with Mushrooms. Admittedly, recreating Mike Isabella's very popular Graffiato pasta dish is a lot of work. So, if you're in the mood for an intensive cooking project, feel free to tackle this. Despite the effort, the result is a very rewarding dish with amazing sweet corn flavor.

7. Multi-Grain Risotto with Broccolini and Brussels Sprouts. Who says risotto has to be rice? This multi-grain version, adapted from a recipe that appeared in The Washington Post, uses farro, wheat berries and barley.

8. Farro Bowl with Sugar Snap Peas and Kielbasa. Speaking of farro, the quick-cooking whole grain is the perfect base in this summery dish with sugar snap peas, turkey kielbasa and mint.

9. Parsley Pesto Spaghetti. This Bon Appétit recipe is as basic as pasta recipes get, although isn't that often when they're best? The magazine selected my photo among their "Cook the Cover" submissions (mine is #2).

10. Sausage-Zucchini Pasta. Vegan sausage? Normally, I wouldn't be interested. But at a friend's urging, I gave the Field Roast brand a try in this pasta dish and was pleasantly surprised at how well it stood up to the other ingredients in this dish.

Honorable mention: Okay, I just can't limit this to 10. And since the Pasta all'Amatriciana snuck in up there at #5 anyway, I'm not going to flinch in also sharing this Mushroom-Bacon Risotto, a perfect late winter dish to warm yourself on a cold night.

Best of 2013: Salads, Soups, Starters and Sides

What inspires your cooking? For me, inspiration comes from a number of sources, from the more expected places like memorable restaurant meals and classic recipes that can use an update, to the more unusual, like a chapter in a novel where a character makes lentil stew. This year's best salads, soups, starters and sides drew from a mix of inspirations, chasing the seasons as a way to showcase fresh and interesting ingredients.

Salads: Simple, Seasonal and Restaurant-Inspired

Proving the old adage that simple is best, my favorite salad this year was a Celery and Peanut Salad inspired by the age-old snack of celery with peanut butter. The recipe was a hit with readers (especially my mother) and even got in a mention in the (now sadly discontinued) New York Times Diner's Journal. Another simple but delicious salad: Sliced Fresh Tomato Salad, dressed lightly with olive oil, lemon and lemon basil.

I frequently drew inspiration from restaurants to create interesting seasonal salads. The fresh takes on Caesar salads from Palena and Graffiato were the inspiration for this Caesar Salad Update. The Mustard Greens Salad with Roasted Cauliflower, Almonds, Grapes and Chicken was inspired by starter from The NoMad. Agave-Mezcal Chicken and Curry Roasted Cauliflower Salad was inspired by one of the monthly seasonal salads at Sweetgreen. And Buck's Fishing and Camping's wonderful homemade cottage cheese and beet starter was behind this Roasted Beet and Cottage Cheese Salad. Broiled Peach Salad with Watercress, Sugar Snap Peas and Toasted Hazelnuts was inspired by a rejuvenating lunch we enjoyed at Eataly as a respite from the oppressive summer heat.

Several classic restaurant salads became quick favorites this year. Early in the year, I discovered the Canlis Salad made zesty lemon dressing and copious fresh mint contrasting with the rich, and the Nostrana Salad with bitter radicchio; both also feature buttery herb croutons. In March, a project to update a series of classic dishes yielded three great salad recipes: A Cobb Salad  with fresher ingredients, a healthier take on Wilted Spinach and Bacon Salad and a Smoky Waldorf Salad.

In the winter, kale, still the most popular of the hearty greens, is great for salads. I gave it the crispy treatment in this Crispy Kale and Roasted Chickpea Salad. For hummus lovers, I deconstructed (or rather "reconstructed") popular ways of serving the dip into a salad, Reconstructed Hummus Salad. Once summer comes, we're all about the tomato panzanella, and I loved this Roasted Tomato Panzanella adapted from a recipe by Little Ferraro Kitchen.

Soups: Hearty Beans, Legumes and Chili

The most incredible soup I had this year, in fact one of the best things I ate period this year, was Smoky Pinto Bean, Red Wine and Bacon Soup, a recipe from New York Times writer Melissa Clark. I'm looking forward to making it again this winter.

Beans or legumes showed up in several other great soups. Sadly, the food world lost Italian cook Marcella Hazan this year, who will be remembered for her wonderfully flavorful recipes, like Pasta e Fagioli (Pasta and Bean) Soup. This Basic Black Bean Soup was inspired by the classic Silver Palate recipe. And the novel Life Among Giants was the inspiration for this Lentil Stew. Parsnip-Carrot Soup with Tahini and Roasted Chickpeas adapted from a Smitten Kitchen recipe. Cold Chickpea-Tahini Soup from a Mark Bittman recipe.

I also turned out a whole week of chili recipes, including our favorite BBQ Turkey-Bean Chili Stew and this Thai-inspired Chili. Earlier in the year, I made this Moroccan(ish) Spring Stew, which is sort of like an African riff on my turkey chili.

Trend-watchers may enjoy my Chicken Miso Ramen inspired by the current ramen craze. And of course there's kale: Sausage, Kale and White Bean Soup. Warm or cold, Sweet Corn and Carrot Soup is great for late summer. But when it is cold, Smoky Butternut Squash and Apple Soup hits the spot.

Appetizers: Elegant Crostini and Party Favorites

Caramelized Celery Crostini was my favorite appetizer this year. After caramelizing so many onions, I decided to try a similar technique with celery, which seemed perfect for a summer crostini. Later, I offered another crostini for Thanksgiving, Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Crostini with Crispy Shallots.

Dips are a great way to feed a crowd. A mix of pickled and fresh jalapeños and roasted pistachios added extra fire and crunch respectively to Spicy Pistachio Guacamole, inspired by the dip we enjoyed a Chef Alex Suptak's Empellon Cocina. And if you love hummus, this Smoky Smooth Hummus, is a must.

Buffalo chicken wings reimagined as mini-burgers was the inspiration for Buffalo Chicken Sliders, which are great for sporting events.

Sides: Perfect Rice, Seasonal Produce and Thanksgiving

The side dish that most enchanted me this year was Bon Appetit's recipe for Perfect White Rice, which will allow me to say "goodbye" to soggy white rice for good.

Side dishes are a great way to highlight seasonal produce. In the spring, I enjoyed these simple and refreshing dishes of Fava Beans with Shallots, Mint and Pecorino and Smokey-Sweet Braised Dandelion Greens. Come summer, Sauteed Summer Squash and Sugar Snap Pea Medley made great use of two farmers market summer staples. For the fall, I transformed applesauce from baby-food puree into something more fitting for grown-ups, Applesauce with Bacon, Caramelized Onion, Maple and Walnuts. I also enjoyed this Stuffed Acorn Squash.

Thanksgiving is the year's best occasion for side dishes, like Cheesy Scallion-Corn Biscuits with Homemade Compound Butter, this Bon Appétit recipe for Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Bourbon-Maple Glaze and Smoked Almonds and my Fresh Take on Green Bean Casserole.

Lastly, a vegetarian Middle Eastern dinner was the occasion to make both Baba Ghanoush and Quinoa Tabbouleh. Delicious classic sides.

Best of 2013: Cocktails

Looking back on 2013, there are several key themes that emerged in my cooking: working with the seasons, learning the classics and experimenting creatively, all of which played out in the cocktails I featured on Cook In / Dine Out this year. Here were the highlights:

The Spring in a Glass cocktail was marked by herbal freshness appropriate to the season.

'Tis the Season

In the winter, I turned to dark spirits like whiskey and bold flavors from Italian amari, nut liqueurs and grapefruit. The Rye in January is an elegant rye drink with the herbal-cinnamon Czech liqueur Becherovka, grapefruit and Italian Cynar. Enchanted by the idea of a winter forest, The Woodsman combines smoked whiskey with walnut liqueur, sweet vermouth and a homemade rosemary-brown sugar syrup. I featured a pair of classic Drambuie cocktails perfect for winter: a '70s-era Prince Edward and locally sourced Tabard cocktail (named after D.C.'s Tabard Inn). For a guilty indulgence, I made The Siberian, a vodka and Kahlua milkshake.

As the weather warms in spring, I was inspired by brighter flavors like herbs and citrus, even vegetables. Spring in Glass combined mint, cucumber and fennel, the latter coming from D.C.-based Don Ciccio & Figli's Finocchietto, a fennel liqueur.  For Cinco de Mayo, I came up with the Margarita on Fire, a spicy/smoky concoction of mezcal, tequila and habanero shrub.

I kicked off summer with a whole week of cocktails. It included the Teagroni, a tea-based Negroni from Kevin Liu's Craft Cocktails at Home; a Summer Cosmopolitan with gin and fresh ingredients; and two smoky Mezcal cocktails that originated in New York's Mayahuel Mexican cocktail lounge. An experiment with cocktail foams resulted in the herbal Garden Martini. The flavors of Thai cooking were the inspiration for the Bangkok Breeze, featuring basil, rum, ginger and coconut. For my friends' wedding, I created a refreshing summer punch, The Lady Lawyer, with gin, mint and lemon.

Fall finds drinks inspired by the harvest as well as the coming chill of winter. Roasted tomato simple syrup was the key ingredient in my Smokin' Hot Tomato, featuring mezcal, Grand Marnier and habanero shrub, and Tomato at Night, which included (legal) moonshine, Aperol and lemon. For Thanksgiving, I came up with the (Wild) Turkey and Cranberry, a potent and festive (aren't they the same, when you're talking cocktails?) mix of whiskey, Aperol and cranberry bitters. A trio of cocktails made good use of apple brandy, including Jeffrey Morgenthaler's Norwegian Wood and Washington Post cocktails columnist Carrie Allan's modernized Scotchem.

The Heisenberg, honoring the series finale of Breaking Bad

The Show Must Go On

Entertainment continued to be a rich source of inspiration for original drinks. Following last year's ever-popular Happy Endings-themed Whore's Bath, I created another cocktail for a departing show: The Heisenberg, consisting of whiskey, Becherovka, maple, lime and habanero. Dallas Decoder and I teamed up for another series of Dallas-themed drinks, including The Drew, a sophisticated mix of mezcal, Grand Marnier, Cynar, habanero and flamed orange peel, and The Judith, a rightfully bitter mix of gin, Chartreuse, grapefruit shrub and angostura bitters.

The cocktail highlight of the year were my Oscar cocktails: a series of 10 drinks honoring the year's 9 Best Picture nominees plus a bonus drink for Skyfall, a twist on the classic James Bond martini that nods to elements of the film. My favorite were the Life of Pi, which illustrates beautifully the bold visual style of the film, the Django Unchained, a fiery, irreverent take on Mint Julep, and The Argo, which represented the Best Picture winner with Canadian whiskey and Middle Eastern-inspired spiced syrup.

The Last Word: a classic prohibition cocktail revived by a Seattle bartender.

Classics 101

Early in the year, D.C. bartender Derek Brown wrote a piece for Table Matters arguing for bartenders to spend more time with classic drinks. "For every cocktail you create, try learning nine classic cocktails first," he said. Although I didn't quite achieve that balance, I did make an effort to learn classic drinks, including their history.

Take the Last Word, a gin and chartreuse cocktail from the prohibition era that made a comeback recently due to Seattle bartender Murray Stenson. Former Washington Post spirits columnist Jason Wilson honored D.C.'s signature cocktail, the Rickey, with his Nice Rickey. The Singapore Sling, an oft maligned cocktail, is actually rather good when made with quality, fresh ingredients. I also had fun making The Vesper, the classic James Bond vodka and gin martini.

A few other classics everyone should try: Mojito, Mint Julep and Gin & Tonic, the latter of which gave me a chance to taste a number of American small-batch gins (plus drink a lot of G&Ts, my favorite cocktail).