1. It’s no surprise that I saw Iron Chef winner and Chopped Grand Champion Madison Cowan grabbing grub at Mike Minor’s Truck U Barbeque truck. As I stated in another article, Truck U's burnt ends and duck fat fries burrito is one of my favorite things I’ve eaten this year. Minor wowed me this time with his Mexican corn cone, a waffle cone filled with grilled giant Aztec corn, chile lime butter, cotija cheese, cayenne pepper and cilantro. This esquites-style corn is as good as that burrito.

2. Chef Rick Moonen’s lobster roll from RM Seafood was another winner. With the hot sun beating down, the cold lobster salad on the toasted buttery roll was a taste of Back East. It was like LIB was being held in Cape Cod.

3. Speaking of Massachusetts, John Arena and Chris Decker from Metro Pizza and Lulu’s brought me back to my college days. When I attended Boston University, we used to take trips to the North End, which is the Italian neighborhood, and bypass all the expensive restaurants for a hole-in-the-wall pizza joint called Umberto’s. Their Sicilian-style slices were ones you’d crave on a regular basis. The Metro team, doing all Sicilian-style slices for the fest, used a five-day fermented dough that created an amazing crust. A dollop of fresh ricotta cheese took my simple slice to another level.