a Lunch and Dessert List for 2009

Every year there some meals and desserts that just bring ridiculous grins to our faces. Not necessarily the fanciest or most expensive, but somehow just incredibly satisfying. By no means exhaustive, some of the more memorable lunches and desserts from 2009:

Most Satisfying Lunches
Peruvian rotisserie chicken with secret green sauce at Pio Pio
rice cakes, shredded pork and preserved cabbage at Shanghai Cafe
pizza from Motorino in East Williamsburg
restaurant week lunch at Eleven Madison
more recent platter of roast pork from La Neuva Conquista
every meal we've ever had at the Stage
pork belly sandwiches from Num Pang
the first banh mi we had at An Choi
hoagies at the Redding Terminal Market in Philadelphia

Most Memorable Desserts
Momofuku banana cake
Sugar Sweet Sunshine red velvet cake
Xie Xie 1000-yr old ice cream sandwich
Oro Bakery brown sugar pecan bun
Cafe Select fruit tarts
Tate's Bake shop chipless wonders
Rheon Cafe cherry turnover
Petrossian fruit tart

And we could not let the year pass without paying homage to some delicious meals that no longer exist.
Meals which will be Most Missed
fish, scallions and ginger lunch special at Dragon's Gate
congee at Fu Kee
elbow pasta and ground beef from Cafe Select