Top 10 New Foods We Ate in 2010

With another year gone it’s time to look back and reflect on all the deliciousness that was. Here are the top ten new dishes the Endless Simmer team was lucky enough to stuff in our mouths over the past 12 months.

10. Fried Peanut Butter, Banana and Bourbon Sandwich

Breakfast atThe Breslinin New York is about as ridiculously delectable as it gets. In their modern update on The Elvis sandwich, peanut butter,banana,bourbon and vanilla are all goo-ily encased in a fried-til-crispy puffed skin.(Photo:gsz)

9. Sustainable Sushi

Sushi is the modern foodie’s last major guilt trip— a dish that just can’t be done locally, sustainably, or ethically. Or is it? AtMiya’s Sushi in New Haven, Connecticutchef Bun Lai is turning the sushi CW on its head, proving it can be just as tasty and exciting when overfished species like unagi and bluefin are replaced with sustainable, North American fish. If there’s one new food idea that turns into a 2011 trend, we hope it’s this.

8. Burrata Everywhere

This revelatory cheese wasn’t invented in 2010 (try 1920) but this was the year we saw the Italian delicacy pop up on menus all across America. Fresh curds of buffalo milk mozzarella are stirred into salted cream and kneaded and pulled until they take on a gloriously goopy texture that makes all other mozz look like lifeless balls of nothing. Burrata is such a perfect cheese that only a sliver of bread and a touch of olive oil are needed to make it a meal. The quality varies place to place, but we sampled particularly tasty versions atRoman’sin Brooklyn andThe Lake Chaletin Oakland. You?(Photo:Kyoto Song)

7. The Mighty Cone

TheAustin, Texas food truck sceneis one of the most heralded in the nation, and this local ready-to-eat-on-the-street treat is the one we’re most hoping to see go national. At this year-old trailer, a tortilla cone is filled with cornflake-almond-chili-crusted chicken tenders, fried avocado, mango-jalapeno slaw and ancho sauce. The ice cream cone is dead. Long live the chicken cone.
(Photo:The Mighty Cone)

6. Malaysian BBQ

Usually by the time a budding chef-lebrity opens their third restaurant, they’re churning out a watered down, assembly line version of what made them famous. Not so for Zak Pelaccio, who branched out this year withFatty Cue, a Brooklyn restaurant that ingeniously fuses traditional southeast Asian flavors into classic BBQ dishes. The never gimmicky menu ranges from heritage pork ribs in smoked fish-palm syrup and Indonesian long pepper to Manila claims swimming in bone broth with barbecued bacon and chili.(Photo: Fatty Cue)

5. Naan Gone Gourmet

We’ve always thought this buttery, flakyIndian breadputs the rest of the world’s bakers to shame. But why does it have to be relegated to a crude curry-grabbing tool or a plain app topped with garlic? This year we saw chefs finally getting creative with naan. At D.C.’sMasala Artnaan smothered in rock salt and fresh cilantro is a meal unto itself. At Chicago’sGaztro-Wagonnaan-wiches are stuffed with lemongrass pork cheeks, sweet potato, bacon and fennel. Even at the posh newAzokin Mumbai, the house-baked naan is layered in blue cheese and coriander chutney.(Photo:Fortes)

4. The Pie Shake

One slice pie. One scoop ice cream. All genius. Yes, it’sthe pie shake.

3. KFC Double Down

Yes, it’s over-the-top and ridiculous. Yes, it’s beenbloggedtodeath. But come on. We all know that when future civilizations open their space textbooks to the chapter on“America,” they will  undoubtedly view the moment that sandwich buns were replaced with slabs of fried chicken as our culture’s most notorious achievement.

2. Smoked Meat Poutine

This was the yearNew York restaurants became obsessed with poutine, Montreal’s signature comfort food mash-up of french fries, cheese curds and gravy. No one did it better thanMile End, where savory bits of Montreal-style smoked meat brisket are added to a flawless concoction of fresh Maine curds, chicken-mushroom gravy, and perfectly crisp fries.NYC Tour De Poutine.

1. Fried Beer

America does it again. And by America, clearly we mean Texas.Fried beer is top new food at 2010 state fairs.

Feed Us Back! What’s the best new thing you ate in 2o10?

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