This year was an excellent one for Las Vegas restaurants, and for this column. These dishes are ones that have previously appeared in this space, but I couldn't write this piece without mentioning a few that knocked my socks off in restaurants that didn't appear in Taste, such as the potato salad with white truffles and foie gras served at Joel Robuchon at the Mansion, the warm chestnut soup at Alex, and the Mediterranean fish that Chef Paul Bartolotta has flown in five times a week from France and Italy. I'm walking on air.
Here, in no particular order, are 20 of my favorites.
• House special hot sauce
Owner Lianna Ng's fiery red paste is based on ground pork and a number of other things she keeps secret, and she serves it upon request in her comely west-side café. It is sublime on noodles and rice, and she plans to put it on the market. Jade Café, 8465 W. Sahara Ave., 255-1688.
• Yai kee ma-ow
These flat, pan-fried rice noodles tossed around with mint, spicy chili and a choice of meat is flat-out my favorite noodle dish in the city. Try them with chopped chicken or roast pork. Pad Thai never tasted this good. Thai House Restaurant, 9850 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 18, 361-5233.
• Chicken soup
Everyone loves chicken soup and this broth stocked with chicken, potatoes, carrots and zucchini will get your attention. It's a slow-cooked soup that really tastes homemade, and the bowl is a vessel roughly the size of your head. Rainbow Bar and Grill, 4480 Paradise Road, 898-3525.
• Country Club crisp potatoes
David Walzog makes the best hash browns in the world: roasted potatoes that are sliced and baked with cream and garlic and then browned and quickly fried to a powerful crunch. The potatoes are addictive, so be warned. The Country Club, inside Wynn Las Vegas, 770-7000.
• Chicken pot pie
There's lots to love at Triple George Grill, such as clams casino and real cioppino, but the dish I'd come back for again and again is the rich, velvety chicken pot pie, a real stick-to-the-ribs version with a flaky pastry top made by the talented Teresa Borowski. Triple George Grill, 201 N. Third St., 384-2761.
• Avocado and grapefruit salad
You wouldn't expect to find something healthy in a restaurant where the specialty dish is a fried bologna sandwich but this terrific salad—composed of ripe avocado, sweet pink grapefruit sections and butter lettuce dressed with candied pecans and creamy poppy seed dressing—is a real winner. Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill, inside Harrah's, 369-5000.
• The wedge
The wedge is a folded and baked pizza shaped a bit like a calzone. You pick the filling and topping: a choice of spicy tomato, fresh pesto or garlic cream. All three, it happens, are delicious, with nicely crusted, bubbly tops. Balboa Pizza, at the District at Green Valley Ranch, 407-5073.
• Seekh kabab
Owner Divinda Grewall serves London-style Indian cuisine at her little roadside restaurant, and no dish here typifies it better than her seekh kabab: spiced cylinders made from minced lamb, flecked with herbs and spices, and broiled to a sizzle. Koh-I-Noor, 730 E. Flamingo Road, 894-9334.
• Hannah's roll
I'm not big on sushi but I cannot resist Hannah's roll, a long tube of sushi rice that has been rolled in yellowtail, drizzled with sesame oil and stuffed with soft-shell crab. It will make a sushi lover out of anyone. Hannah's Neighborhood Bistro, 1040 S. Rampart Blvd., 932-9399.
• Satay
The skewered meats flavored with coriander, garlic and galangal are Malaysian, not Thai, and come in two varieties, beef and chicken, accompanied by peanut sauce, sweet onion and sliced cucumber. Satay Malaysian Grill, 3755 Spring Mountain Road, 362-2828.
• Boliche mechado
Bring your appetite to eat this pot roast stuffed with sausage and served traditionally with Moros y Christianos, literally "Moors and Christians," a Cuban joke meaning black beans with rice. Havana Grill, 8878 S. Eastern Ave., Henderson, 932-9310.
• Hummus with chopped meat and pine nuts
Nicholas and Jay Sayegh, who prepared delicious Lebanese and Syrian dishes at the short-lived but sorely missed Sidewalk Mediterranean Grill, do the best hummus in the city, and it's especially good when enriched with meat and pine nuts. The Olive Mediterranean Grill, 3850 E. Sunset Road, 541-8805.
• Clam chowder
Uber-seafood Chef Rick Moonen has done wonders for the food scene here, and his chowder, beautifully stocked with clams, celery, bacon and other rich flavors, is easily the best in the West. R-Bar, inside Mandalay Bay, 632-7777.
• Rotisserie chicken
For most of us, rotisserie chicken is the mother of all birds. Sonio's birds are moist, crisp-skinned pullets, liberally seasoned and served piping hot. Owner Yiorgo Aretos serves them at fair trade prices with terrific side dishes. Sonio's Café and Rotisserie, 3900 W. Charleston Blvd., 307-2177.
• Turkey shawarma
At Sababa, an expat Israeli hangout, you will get amazing felafel—and this sandwich, a pita stuffed with rotisserie turkey marinated in paprika, cumin and coriander. The meat is turned out in crisp little hunks, a miracle worthy of Moses. Sababa, 3220 S. Durango Drive, 597-5556.
• Baked clams
Old Vegas lives at Casa di Amore, lined with photos of the Strip, circa 1960. What could be more Old Vegas than baked clams: chopped clams baked in their shells with seasoned bread crumbs. Mmmm! Casa di Amore, 2850 E. Tropicana Ave., 933-4967.
• House margarita
Agave boasts America's only tequilero, tequila master Eduardo Gonzales. The killer house margarita is made with Herradura Silver, a superb tequila, and Cointreau, a wonderful, orange-flavored French liqueur. Agave, 1080 W. Charleston Blvd., 214-3560.
• Prime beef meat loaf
Envy Steakhouse serves prime beef meat loaf at lunch, oval-shaped, crusty around the edges and sauced in port and Crimini mushrooms. It's the best meat loaf I've ever tasted: juicy, rich and delicately textured. Envy Steakhouse, inside Renaissance Las Vegas, 3400 Paradise Road, 733-6533.
• House special banh mi
For $2.33, who can complain about a baguette that uses three cold cuts: a light luncheon meat, a thinly sliced ham, and a third, mortadella-like meat with a red rim around the edge, plus Vietnamese pickled vegetables. Hue Thai's Sandwiches, 5115 Spring Mountain Road, 943-8872.
• Warm quail salad with sautéed artichokes and pine nuts.
I've saved the best for last. Chef Julian Serrano pan-sautés quail and artichokes in grapeseed oil with a touch of fresh garlic, and then adds a sprinkle of pine nuts, and voila! Sheer genius. Picasso, inside Bellagio, 3600 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 693-8105.