2014 is here, but my 2013 may have been the best year of eating in the history of the world, so it’s time for another Unvegan Best of. The past year included a honeymoon, an epic month-long road trip and a move from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh, so my list has broadened beyond LA and narrowing down the awesome was quite the process. Nonetheless, I encourage you all to go back through my Reviews section to see what didn’t quite make the cut. Remember that the list only includes places new to The Unvegan and bear in mind that Honorable Nods this year would probably be winners any other year. Without further ado:

Best Burger

Plan Check (Los Angeles)

Double cheese, double bacon and an egg and patty cooked to perfection made the Chefs Favorite burger a winner in a very tightly contested category.

Honorable Nods to Edgewood Corner Tavern (Atlanta) and Matt’s Bar (Minneapolis)

Best BBQ

The Smoke Joint (Brooklyn)

Don’t waste time thinking about what to order. Just order everything. And the Beef Ribs.

Honorable Nod to YinzBurgh BBQ (Pittsburgh)

Best Steak

Delmonico Steakhouse (Las Vegas)

The Bone-in Ribeye here is like butter, which may be because it is cooked in butter, but I don’t care.

Honorable Nod to Taylor’s Steak House (Los Angeles)

Best Wings

Buffalo Blues (Pittsburgh)

I admit that these wings earn extra points because of their Buffalo Blue Fries, but the wings are still quite delicious.

Honorable Nod to Hot’s Kitchen (Los Angeles)

Best Hot Dog

Franktuary (Pittsburgh)

Grass-fed, snappy and with all sorts of good toppings, as long as you go with hot dogs, you can’t go wrong here.

Best Sandwich

Joey Broadway (Vancouver)

Somehow, Joey Broadway made an adult grilled cheese without ruining all the joy that comes with that most comforting of foods.

Honorable Nods to Primanti Brothers (Pittsburgh) and Philippe’s (Los Angeles)

Best Pizza

Mercato di Vetro (Los Angeles)

Blackberries and bacon on pizza. What could go wrong? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Honorable Nod to Lucifer’s Pizza (Los Angeles)

Best Breakfast/Brunch

Zingerman’s Roadhouse (Ann Arbor)

Grits and bacon in a waffle. If anyone still thinks Zingerman’s is just about sandwiches, it’s time to get to the Roadhouse.

Honorable Nod to Pamela’s (Pittsburgh)

Best ‘Merican (Formerly Gastropub)

North End Caffe (Los Angeles)

Everything this place churns out is gold (including their spelling of Caffe) and the staff there know it and love it even more than the customers do.

Honorable Nod to Buckhead Diner (Atlanta)

Best Mexican

Mexicali (Los Angeles)

Somehow Mexicali found a way to innovate Mexican food to a level Taco Bell still hasn’t thought of.

Honorable Nod to Leo’s Taco Truck (Los Angeles)

Best Random Ethnic (by region)

Africa

Arnold’s (Cape Town)

Best warthog ribs ever.

Asia

Night + Market (Los Angeles)

The Thai you’d eat if you were Thai.

Europe

Point Brugge (Pittsburgh)

Belgian Fries FTW!

Middle Eastern

Cafe Turko (Seattle)

The touch, the feel of Turkey. In Seattle.

South/Central American

Peru Chix (Los Angeles)

Who knew Torrance was a hotbed of Peruvian delights?

For 2013 Only:

Best Place to Stop on a Coastal Drive

We have a tie!

Splash Cafe (Pacific Coast Highway)

The best damn chowder.

And:

Chapman’s Peak Hotel (Chapman’s Peak Drive)

The best damn calamari.

And that’s a wrap. Meanwhile, you can also check out 2012 and 2011 for more listage.

Chinatowns are an interesting phenomenon. And not so much in the fact that a group of people from a country showed up to a new country and settled in one area, but in the way that they no longer really seem to be representative of China. Case in point: while in Vancouver, I knew there was good Chinese to be found, and rather than point me to Chinatown, my hotel pointed me to Richmond, which he called real Chinatown. By real, he meant that the Chinatown on the map was simply no longer authentic, if it ever was. By recommendation, we went to a place called Rainflower to devour dim sum before undertaking the long drive to Jasper.

As opposed to the dim sum I have grown used to, Rainflower took more of a dumpling house tactic of letting the customers mark off their desired dishes on a checklist. This was a nice change from the often-overwhelming carts being pushed around by people who seem disappointed every time I pass on an option.

Despite this difference, Rainflower’s food wasn’t really any different from any dim sum I have had before. Tasty shrimp, flavorful pork, custard tarts and rice noodles all rang true, plus I was pleased to see xiaolongbao included in the offerings. Being one of my favorite Chinese dishes, it seemed that Rainflower knew how to make me happy. It wasn’t my favorite xiaolongbao, but it sure was a nice addition.

Now, I must say that as happy as I was with the typical dim sum I had at Rainflower, I couldn’t help but think Vancouver could offer me something better. It had satisfied my hunger, but with such a great Chinese population and easy access to Asia and the oceans, I had some lofty expectations and while Rainflower met the lowest of expectations, I would like to wager that something better is out there.

Contrary to my belief based on visits to Canada from Detroit when I was a wee boy, the Great White North is not a cheap place. Gone are the days that an American dollar could be exchanged for a toonie. Instead, the US is now the place Canada looks to for cheap stuff, making it difficult for an incoming grad student on a road trip budget to eat. Yet, somehow we found our way to Joey Broadway in South Granview, a modern Canadian restaurant with a great-looking menu and Goldilocks-esque just-right pricing. Not to mention a killer patio.

And speaking of killer, they also had a great deal on Whistler Whiskey Jack Pale Ale, a beer from nearby Whistler, for $2.99, so for just about the only time on the our trip I indulged. I also indulged with my meal, a Lobster Grilled Cheese to end all lobster grilled cheeses. Stuffed with Atlantic lobster, brie and cheddar, this was a grilled cheese I have to admit I probably couldn’t have made in my toaster. It was also served with cocktail sauce and let me tell you it was nothing short of amazing. And I’m not even a big brie guy, but each bite I took only made me sadder that I would have one fewer bite to eat in the end. The bread was perfectly crispy, the cheese to lobster ratio was perfect and, well, wow.

It seems that there is a good reason Joey restaurants are popping up all over Canada. Joey has hit on something good and something to remember.

Oh and did I mention it came with fries? Yeah, those were good too.

Although traditionally a French-Canadian specialty, no trip to Canada can be complete without a trip to some sort of local poutinerie. Yes, a poutinerie is a place the dishes out poutine, that ingenious gravy, fry cheese curd concoction that was most likely devised as a way to survive the winter in the Great White North. And despite the beautiful weather, I made my way to Fritz European Fry House in downtown Vancouver to get poutine in me.

As an afternoon snack, I only ordered the medium and then asked the grumpy woman behind the counter if I should add anything else to the mix of fries, gravy and cheese curds. She begrudgingly told me Real Bacon (as opposed to bacon bits) was popular so I begrudgingly asked for some in my order. The result was some pretty fantastic poutine. The fries held their own against the onslaught of gravy and the cheese melted just enough to keep me happy, but not so much as to turn the whole dish into a sludge. I appreciated the bacon, but also didn’t feel that it was entirely necessary. Bacon never hurts, but in this case it didn’t necessarily help either. Poutine, however, always helps. And coming from Fritz it helps even more, even if the customer service could use a little work.

After Portland we made our way into the Great White North, although surprisingly Canada wasn’t quite covered in white in the middle of the summer. We began in Vancouver, and I found myself a Japadog stand to satisfy my hunger. In case you are unable to read between the lines, Japadog is simply a Japanese hot dog stand, serving up typical Japanese-style hot dogs and other interesting hot dogs with Japanese toppings on them. It’s been around since 2005 and is pretty well-regarded in the street food scene. At least it was regarded enough that I can say that I had heard of them at some point in my life.

After much deliberation, I decided to get their Three Cheese Smoky, a classic kurobuta pork hot dog with Swiss, Havarti and cheddar blended into it. In true Japanese style, a series of gashes were cut into the hot dog for a reason unknown to me, but it did feel authentic at least. I also ordered some shichimi (Japanese chili seasoning) and garlic fries to accompany my Japadog experience. I took a blurry picture of the dog, squeezed some ketchup out and then went on with devouring.

My initial reaction was that this was certainly a step up from the typical hot dog vendors in big cities. This wasn’t some boiled and soggy-bunned hot dog from a cart. This had taken planning and thought. Yet, it wasn’t so amazing that I felt the need to tell the world about Japadog. Surely, this could have something to do with the relatively boring order I made, but had the other hot dog options not been so laden with veggies things may have been different. Nonetheless, a Japanese hot dog cart is a cool thing and something I’m glad to have at least tried.

Okay, so the Winter Olympics aren’t the most interesting sporting event in the world. I understand that, but let’s be honest: has anyone not watched any of the Olympics this year? If you haven’t, you are truly missing out. When else can you watch snowboarding, curling, and bobsledding? All these sports typically bore me, but once every four years, I enjoy their existence. Which brings me to Shaun White.

Hopefully by now he is more famous than Carrot Top, because some of the stunts he pulled to win the gold medal in the Men’s Half-pipe were truly incredible. And the only thing cooler than his tricks is knowing he names them after steak. That’s right, Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White loves his meat. According to Drovers, “The Double Eagle refers to a steak he enjoyed in New York City, and the Tomahawk for a 30 oz. T-bone from a restaurant in Aspen.”

So for loving your steak and incorporating meat into an impressive array of gold medal-winning tricks, Shaun White, you are a true Unvegan Hero!

(via Drovers)

(via Times Colonist)

Just recently, they tried to exploit the death of abortion doctor George Tiller as an excuse to promote going vegetarian. They planned on putting up billboards catering to both pro-choice and pro-life people asking them to become vegetarians. The murder was a tragedy and showed that PETA obviously has no regard for the loss of human life.

On top of that, they have now turned the Olympics into a protest event. I had

enough of the protesting from the Beijing Olympics and hoped that the upcoming Vancouver ones would be more about sports than unrelated controversy.  Apparently I was wrong. Even the fun-loving Canadians can’t catch a break from PETA. They have reworked the Vancouver logo to show Canadians as evil seal-killers. Now I don’t promote the killing of endangered animals (although the thought of a tiger steak does sound mighty nice), but these seals aren’t even close to endangered. They are, however, very cute. I don’t think PETA or anyone else in the world would care so much if they weren’t so darned cute.

But I digress. The real point is that the Olympics are about sports. Shame on PETA for trying to make them something different.

(via Kansas.com and Canada.com)