Gil’s Best of the Best for 2021
You might think that my annual “best of the best” compilation would be replete with lavishly extravagant dishes proffered by swanky fine-dining establishments. Instead, the list of dishes I enjoyed most across the Land of Enchantment in 2021 are almost exclusively of the “cheap eats” (or reasonably priced) variety, selected not for complex culinary preparations and exorbitant price points, but for the simple preparation of dishes that taste as if they were prepared by a chorus of angels in a celestial kitchen. These are the dishes most indelibly imprinted on my memory engrams…the first dishes that come to mind when I close my eyes and reflect on the past year in eating. As with previous yearly compilations, every item on this list was heretofore unknown to my palate before 2021. Every dish was a delicious discovery from within New Mexico’s sacred borders. In chronological order, my “best of the best” are: If ever diners diners needed to turn to their favorite comfort foods for some sense of normalcy and solace, it was 2021. According to Nation’s Restaurant News, the classic American comfort dish most giving us that sense of normalcy and solace is fried chicken. No restaurant prepares fried chicken as well…