2009 in review

I go out to eat a lot. Usually for dinner, since I bring breakfast (greek yogurt with fruit) and lunch (some variety of homemade soup) with me to work almost every day. In fact, I just reviewed my planner, and think I ate nearly 215 meals at a restaurant in 2009.

So, since I didn't review most of those places, I decided to create a list of the best and worst new places I tried in 2009. I am only including restaurants that I tried for the first time in 2009 and that I didn't review independently.

Great finds (in no particular order):

Taboon - wonderful Middle Eastern/Mediterranean place in Hell's Kitchen with fantastic home made bread.

Vai - part small Italian restaurant, part cozy wine bar on the Upper West Side.

Keens - a charming and pipe-strewn old steakhouse near the Empire State Building which is frequently touted as the best steakhouse in the city by my fellow Chowhounds. I'm not sure I'd go that far, but it did not disappoint.

Tanoreen - excellent and inexpensive Middle Eastern food in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Roc - simultaneously casual and refined Italian in TriBeCa with the best rosemary-speckled grissini I've ever had.

Chinese Mirch - Chinese food as interpreted by Indian chefs in Curry Hill. I love their almost-too-spicy-to-eat chili garlic noodles and milder singapore noodles.

John Horse Tavern - despite the tavern feel, they offer a very sophisticated new American menu in Brooklyn Heights.

Nathan's Hot Dogs - I'd never actually eaten a hot dog at this Coney Island landmark until this year. And they were so delicious that I had two (and could have had five). I do NOT recommend you ride the Cyclone afterward unless you want to taint your memories of those tasty frankfurters with terror.

Le Petit Bistro - Judd and I had a surprisingly wonderful dinner at this unassuming French restaurant in Rhinebeck, New York, where I ate chanterelle mushrooms for the first time and fell in love.

The Grill Room at Bobby Van's - they serve a wonderful and enormous cheeseburger with french fries AND onion rings for only $15 at the Wall Street location.

Misses:

Cafe Frieda - the food at this Upper West Side Mexican place was not terrible, but the service was atrocious. Any place that charges for chips and salsa should be ashamed of themselves. Especially chips and bad salsa.

Gabriella's - another Upper West Side Mexican place that is unjustifiably popular.

Bar Artisanal - I was so excited to try this TriBeCa outpost of Artisanal. But the menu was all over the place (charcuterie, pizzas, cheese tempura, burgers AND traditional brasserie offerings!?) and overall, very disappointing.

Evergreen Cafe - Judd and I had the yuckiest Chinese food I'd had in a long while at this place near the Hospital for Special Surgery after I had a doctor's appointment there (PS - I'm fine, just some cartilage erosion in my knee).

La Vineria - sad but true, the Italian restaurant that replaced beloved La Locanda in Hell's Kitchen is underwhelming and all-around forgettable.

La Pizza Fresca - one of the many new artisanal pizza places that popped up this year, this one in the Flatiron district, that is not worth a visit.

Co./Company - After Sam Sifton, the new Times' food critic, listed their meatball pizza as one of the eleven best dishes of 2009, I had to try it. But this Chelsea pizza purveyor had a lot of problems: 1) it was crowded; 2) the service was shockingly slow; 3) everyone has to sit at long communal tables; 4) it looks like a Japanese restaurant inside; and 5) the pizza wasn't that great!

Happy new year!