Welcome to my annual list of most memorable bites and dishes of the year, the ones that I still dream about and can’t wait to enjoy again.

I hope they’ll inspire you to try some new places or to revisit ones you haven’t been to in a long time.

Here, in no particular order, are my Top 10:

1. Fried soft shell crab at Boulevard in San Francisco. Summer’s soft shell crabs received the star treatment at this iconic restaurant, which built a special four-course prix fixe menu around it for more than a month that changed weekly. The evening I was there, the entree was soft shell crab dipped in buttermilk, dredged, then deep-fried to a glorious crunch. It was served over a bed of chilled somen noodles with nutty black sesame hollandaise. It’s a dish that really makes you appreciate this fleeting crab, caught during its molting stage, that can be consumed in its entirety. What made the meal more memorable was how the restaurant really leaned into the theme, including using pewter crab trinkets to hold lemon slices on a plate and offering mignardises of “crab” candies that were actually peanut and chocolate. If Boulevard hosts a similar soft shell crab promotion in 2025, don’t miss it.

2. Fried squab at Four Kings in San Francisco. This modern-day hole-in-the-wall in Chinatown has already grown into the darling of the food world only months after opening. Eater SF named it “Restaurant of the Year,” Esquire called it the “Restaurant of the Year,” the New York Times put it on its annual list of 50 best restaurants, and Bon Appetit named it one of the 20 best new restaurants of the year. But then again, its big splash shouldn’t come as a surprise when there are impressive credentials behind it. It was started by four friends: chefs Michael Long and Franky Ho, former sous chef and chef de cuisine, respectively, of Michelin-starred Mister Jiu’s a block away; Millie Boonkokua, general manager of Liholiho Yacht Club in San Francisco; and Long’s wife, Lucy Li, an accountant. It is classic Cantonese food updated with better ingredients and techniques while keeping its soulfulness. Case in point: the magnificent fried squab. I grew up eating this dish at Chinese banquet meals, but none came close to the pronounced flavor, juiciness, and crispy skin of this one. At Four Kings, these tiny birds get quite the treatment. They are marinated in five spice and other seasonings, blanched to tighten their skin, then brushed with malt sugar and hung for days to dry age. Fried to order, these are a popular dish evidenced by the sound of ferocious oil bubbling from the kitchen. Because they’re so laborious to prepare, only 15 squabs are available each night. So, it pays to make a reservation on the early side to ensure you get your hands on one.

3. Liberty Farm duck soup at The Third Floor in the Jay Hotel in San Francisco. Restaurants off the lobby of hotels don’t always command respect, what with many of them offering only the most perfunctory of food. Not so at The Third Floor, which — yes — is located on the third floor of the Jay Hotel near the Embarcadero. It’s the first hotel restaurant by the Omakase Group, the force behind such celebrated establishments as Niku Steakhouse, Omakase, and Dumpling Time. In fact, I would make a special trip here again just to have the superlative Asian-style duck soup again. It is a nourishing and utterly delectable bowl bountiful with handmade egg noodles, rosy duck breast slices, duck leg meat-filled won tons, shiitakes, and bok choy, all in a heady broth with a dab of chili oil and fragrant with star anise. It’s what you crave on a foggy night. It even makes you wish for a stormy evening if only to enjoy it with the proper frame of mind.

4. Uni bucatini at Violetto in the Alila Napa Valley resort. Chef Thomas Lents was formerly the chef de cuisine at Michelin three-starred Quince in San Francisco, so you know this is a man who knows his way around house-made pastas. The uni bucatini was so superlative that I sorely did not want to share any of it with my husband (though, I half-reluctantly did in the end). Who can blame me when confronted with supple pasta strands, each coated in velvety seaweed butter, and crowned with fresh, sweet uni? Quite a few restaurants offer uni pasta. But few — very, very few — are able to craft a version as dreamy as this one.

5. Foie gras rice bowl at Pidgin in Vancouver, Canada. Since California banned the sale of foie gras by restaurants, I haven’t seriously craved the fatty duck (or goose) liver necessarily. However, when I was able to indulge in it in Canada, where it is still legal and very available, it made me remember what a singular ingredient it is. Though I’ve most often enjoyed it in the past at fancy, fine-dining restaurants, my eyes were opened to its greater possibilities when I dined at the Michelin-recommended Pidgin on the edge of Gastown. Who would think to make a comforting unagi rice bowl, but swap out the eel for seared foe gras instead? This restaurant would with aplomb. The rice bowl is topped with two slabs of foie gras glazed with that thick, sweet soy unagi sauce, as well as chestnuts and dashi-simmered daikon. It’s high-brow, low-brow, and plain mind-blowing. No wonder it never leaves the menu.

6. Duck confit gnocchi at Ofena in San Francisco. When Chef Tim Humphrey tells you that the duck confit gnocchi is one of his favorite dishes on the menu, that’s not just a chef blowing smoke. One bite, and you understand the veracity of those words. Some chefs might stop with presenting tender potato gnocchi in a creamy carbonara-like sauce with Pecorino. But Humphry takes it further with a grating of “bottarga” cured egg yolk for greater richness. He doesn’t stop there, either. He tops the gnocchi with shards of rich duck confit, along with crispy bits of duck skin. It is lusty and decadent, and you will fall head over heels for it.

7. Duck leg confit at Routier in San Francisco. Okay, admittedly, I have a soft spot for duck confit. So, I couldn’t have been happier that even though it was part of a three-course prix fixe that night, the restaurant allowed diners the option to order the entree as an a la carte item, too. If you see it on the menu in any way, shape or form in the future, take the opportunity to enjoy it for yourself. After all, this French bistro was founded by Chef John Paul Carmona, former chef de cuisine of the former Michelin powerhouse Manresa in Los Gatos; Pastry Chef Belinda Leong, who also owns B. Patisserie a few steps away and B. On The Go, the kitty-corner sandwich shop; and Michel Suas, co-owner of B. Patisserie and founder of the San Francisco Baking Institute. In other words, this is a kitchen that performs at an exceedingly high level despite the casual vibe of the restaurant. We’re talking a generous plate full of duck leg with the crispiest skin and most succulent, indulgent flesh, as well as chunks of carrots, sunchokes, and the surprise of strawberries for a bright sweet-tangy note that makes the entire dish soar.

8. “Breaking Bread” at Dalida in San Francisco. Nope, not “Breaking Bad,” but “Breaking Magnificent.” Order this dish of “chubby pita” with dips and pickles, and that’s what you’ll be doing. You’ll also be shocked that it’ll be set down at your table mere seconds later with the bread that’s warm, thick, fluffy, toasting tasting, and thoroughly irresistible. Order a second pita — and trust me, you will — and it, too, will arrive before you can barely blink. Husband-and-wife chefs Laura Ozyilmaz and Sayat Ozilmaz (you’ll remember her as a competitor from this season’s “Top Chef”) always want the bread available immediately. And attentive servers are ever at the ready to grab another warm round in a flash. That makes this bread dangerously tempting to consume. But worth abandoning any carb-free diet at the door. Do exercise a little restraint to save a little bread for the entrees, because it’s so perfect for scooping up any scrumptious sauces lingering on plates.

9. Chicken ramen at Kagari Ramen in the Ginza district of Tokyo, Japan. When I was researching places to eat on my trip to Japan this fall, I somehow stumbled upon a recommendation for this tiny ramen restaurant, and I couldn’t be happier that I did. What makes this place unique is that it specializes in ramen served in a chicken — rather than pork — broth, which is a rarity. It is known as “tori paitan soba” (the Japanese sometimes use the word “soba” to denote “noodles” in general rather than just the specific type of noodles made with buckwheat). And what broth it is — somehow almost a little creamy in consistency and tasting as if the essence of 30 chickens had been distilled into the one brothy bowl in front of you. Lines are frequent here. You order and pay at the vending machine inside, then take your place in line. By the time you snag a coveted seat at the small u-shaped counter that barely fits inside, your bowl is set down in front of you only a couple minutes later. You are expected to slurp and chew without lingering, and to skeedaddle once you’re done so the next patrons can take your seats. With a tangle of chewy noodles and moist slices of chicken submerged underneath all that intensely poultry-tasting, golden broth, you’ll be so caught up in the moment of pure deliciousness and joy that you’ll have no trouble concentrating only on finishing every last drop.

10. Hokkaido soft serve at Okoppe Milk Stand at Hanshin Umeda department store in Osaka, Japan. People in the know talk about Hokkaido milk in almost mythical and mystical terms for its richness and almost vanilla-like flavor. So, trying Hokkaido soft serve was near the top — if not the very top — of my list of specialties to try in Japan. I nearly wept at the first spoonful. It was soft serve with such body that tasted like the world’s best milk, naturally sweet and full bodied, like nothing I’d ever had in the States. I was fortunate to satisfy my craving for a few times at different soft serve places on this trip. But you never forget your first, right? It was at the Okoppe stand on the bottom floor of this department store. The stand is named for the town of Okoppe in northeastern Hokkaido, where North Plain Farm is located. It is from this farm that the milk is sourced for this incredible soft serve. I jokingly say that a cup of the plain swirled was my first meal out in Osaka. Seriously, though, it remains one of my most memorable tastes from a trip that had many amazing meals. That says it all, doesn’t it?