Ten Meals, 2008

1. Among the best menu items at Kampuchea are the num pang, Cambodian sandwiches that are similar to Vietnamese banh mi. Since I wrote about Kampuchea they've opened a simple sandwich shop near Union Square called...Num Pang.

2. One afternoon in Staten Island I visited four pizzerias, a luncheonette that makes classic egg creams, and a German bar.

3. There are plenty of Greek restaurants in Astoria, and one of the best of them, S'Agapo, is Cretan. And that's no lie.

4. At Ise, a midtown Japanese restaurant, I was culinarily transgendered.

5. In 2008 I discovered Zaytinya, my favorite restaurant in Washington, D.C.

6. Every time I go to Chicago I absolutely must have a hot dog, preferably from Gold Coast.

7. I was thrilled to find a world-class vindaloo at Tadka.

8. The tonkotsu broth for the ramen at Ippudo is so rich I dubbed it "Liquid Pork."

9. Who'd have imagined that the best Cantonese roast pork in the city would be found at a fast food joint on E. 60th St.?

10. Yunnan cuisine is one of the most difficult Chinese cooking styles to find in the U.S., but I ate Yunnan food in Chicago, San Francisco and Brooklyn.