I procrastinate. This annoying habit of mine, combined with a rigorous work schedule, often leads me to finish things by the time they're largely irrelevant. Say for example, my three year backlog on editing travel photos. Or the fact that it took me fourteen months to start this blog from the time the domain was purchased. Yes, Distanthire.com is finally up and running, just in time for me to return to Los Angeles as a local hire (more on that soon).
So it's not at all surprising that I find myself writing this post about my Top 10 Meals of 2013 in May of 2014. And truth be told, I wouldn't even have bothered with one at this point, if not for how good my meals were last year. 2013 was by far the best eating year of my life. We ate at multiple 3 Michelin starred restaurants in Spain, New York and California, not to mention 4 of the top 10 restaurants in the World according to Restaurant Magazine (for whatever that's worth).
Narrowing our memorable experiences down to just ten was supremely challenging. Several restaurants who might have topped my list in a previous year missed the cut this time. There were the two superlative meals we had at Jungsik, the first of which was on my list until the final week of 2013. The always dependable birthday lunch at Per Se. A special dinner at Eleven Madison Park (it was our friend Adam's going away service). And then there were the collaborative chef dinners and pop-up meals - like the Grant Achatz Push Project at Empellon Cocina, or the Wolvesmouth NYC dinner party that I hope to repeat on Thornton's home turf.
Yes, this was a great year for eating.
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