• J. Maarten Troost
Author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals, Getting Stoned with Savages, and Lost on Planet China

--Roast chicken in Amritsar, India. I had just spent a week balancing my chakras in an ashram in northern India (think lentils three times a day), and so to suddenly have before me a succulent chicken prepared in the Punjabi manner... well, I dont think I've ever enjoyed eating a sentient creature as much as I did that day in Amritsar.

--Far Western Tavern, Guadelupe, California. Continuing with the meathead theme, I tend to appreciate meals that reflect a sense of place. Now imagine a place where early-20th-century Wyoming seamlessly transitions into modern Mexico, toss in a dash of the surreal (the movie set of Cecil DeMille's epic Ten Commandments is buried in the nearby sand dunes), and what you have is the Far Western Tavern, complete with cow hides, pinquito beans, and epic steaks.

--Emergency Cioppino. Last Christmas, my 84-year-old grandmother graced us with a visit. She is an excellent chef. She is also Czech. For the Christmas Eve meal, I'd decided to showcase my own culinary chops by preparing a goose. My grandmother thought this would make for an

excellent meal. Pleased, I set up doing the prep work as my grandmother offered helpful tips. "I think you're going to like this, "I'd said with a hopeful smile. "Oh, I won't be eating this," she

replied as she measured the carraway seeds. "You know that Czechs only eat fish on Christmas Eve." Long silence, followed by a mad dash to the commercial wharf in Monterey where I vacuumed the contents out of the industrial fridges and fish tanks, rushed back home and made, if I do say so myself, a mighty fine Christmas Eve cioppino. Indeed, it was so yummy that we've decided to make it again this Christmas.

• David Grann
New Yorker staff writer; author of The Lost City of Z and The Devil and Sherlock Holmes

With two young kids in tow I find myself eating at their favorite spots. And one of them is Walters Hot Dog Stand, in Mamaroneck, New York, which justly attracts customers from all over. When I was with my wife in London, we made our ritual trek to Amaya Bar and Grill. It's not cheap, but the Indian food is sensational. And, finally, I've spent a lot of time travelling this year in Central America, which means I get to eat plenty of my favorite food: homemade corn tortillas from the local markets.


• Camille Ford
Star of the Travel Channel's Food Wars and Best Places Ever

Hi... My name is Camille. I'm a food addict.

Pungent cheese, raw fish, exotic fruits, and plates of spiced alchemy are just a sampling of what occupies most of my daily motivation. 2010 has fed my obsession (pun intended).

2010 has been a year of deliciousness and the list topper, the one item that has sent me on four-hour drives to the Italian market in Philidelphia, and sketchy Yonkers fridge raids is Tartufata " ucamorganti": dark chocolate spread infused with white truffle oils. Handmade in Florence, Italy, it has put my day to day eating in a tailspin. Nothing compared this year to the texture, taste, and lingering effects of such a sensual ingredient.


• Ryan Sutton
Restaurant critic for Bloomberg News; twitterer

When I started planning my visit to Las Vegas' CityCenter, Adrienne, one of my closest friends, an avid foodie from Sin City, promised to be my date. That was in the summer of 2009. I arrived in January of 2010, approximately 3 months after Adrienne, in a hospital not too far from the Strip, died from cancer. She was 22. Her mother joined me in her stead for my first meal. (Adrienne was a Mina fan). It was a tough meal. But the food helped. Mina got some flack for flying in Hawaiian ocean water to poach his fish, but hey, is it any different from drinking Fiji in a bottle? The cocktails helped too. They always do. Mina put a legit guy in charge of the beverage program; they even make their own lime cordial (which makes for a solid gimlet). I spent much of my 7-day Vegas trip alone. Vegas wasn't a party that week. It was quieter, stranger, yet very human and very beautiful city. I would often end my night at American Fish, often with a single drink. It certainly wasn't the best Vegas restaurant I visited (that was Guy Savoy), but maybe because of that first meal with Adrienne's mom, it's where I felt most at home.


• Alain Gayot

Editor in Chief of Gayot.com

Blended in the fancy gastronomic experiences it's always interesting to discover a pleasing hole in the wall. Above all, a surprise always wins points. This year, in my journeys I had a fresh and flavorful ceviche at a modern restaurant called Red Crab, located in a posh neighborhood in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Served with large roasted corn kernels and chips of plantain of various kinds.

• David Farley

Food and travel writer; Gadling blogger; author of An Irreverent Curiosity: In Search of the Church's Strangest Relic in Italy's Oddest Town; twitterer

--In January I spent two weeks in Vietnam, first eating my way through Saigon, and then flying up to Hoi An to travel back down the coast until flying back to New York. My first revelatory meal in Saigon was at Pho Quynh, a corner restaurant adhering to the steel table and tile floor variety of decorating. The main dish was pho bo kho, a stewy, opaque version of pho that felt almost like goulash and pho had collided. I first had it for breakfast and I savored every bite. The broth was thick and rich and bobbing with fork-tender chunks of beef and carrots and the occasional tendon. I went back the next morning. Later, in Hoi An, I sat down at an alleyway eater for the city's famed dish, cao lau, a porklicous bowl of rice noodles, chunks of pig, mint, and basil. This time I didn't even wait until the next day to have it again. I ordered seconds right there on the spot.

--In February I was in La Paz, Bolivia. Maybe it was altitude sickness but I was rather underwhelmed by the food prospects there. That is, until I discovered llama meat. Dark and a bit gamey with that slight organ meat taste, llama meat was served two ways in La Paz: grilled and breaded, of which I preferred the former. I liked llama meat so much, I tried (unsuccessfully) finding it in New York.

--In April I went to Oakland to write an article about new and noteworthy restaurants that have opened up in the East Bay city recently. I was totally blown away by Commis. Chef James Syhabout, who has worked at ElBulli and the Fat Duck, is masterful pairing flavors and textures.