GQ's 8 Favorite New Dishes of 2016

As we spent months bouncing from restaurant to restaurant, eating non-stop for our annual Perfect Night Out piece, some things became clear. That we need to work out more. That the burger is rarely the way to go. And that sometimes a restaurant isn't amazing, but there's one thing on the menu that rises above the rest, and leaves you drooling whenever you think back on the first bite. For us, these were those dishes.

“I don't know if it's right to say,” chef Nyesha Arrington tells the woman who just ordered this deep red tart-and-silky crudo, “but that dish is just sexy.” The woman blushes, but Arrington is right. —Brett Martin

Skinny pork chops get their due at Hunky Dory, where they come off the wood fire stacked on a cake pedestal in multiples of two. British-born chef Richard Knight glazes he chops with a honeyed anchovy butter and then plops a blob of chicken-fat butter on top, a typical sly touch at this plush update on an English tavern. —Alison Cook

There are tapas with more technical bravura at Barcelona-born chef Jose Chesa's new restaurant, but few impress like the simple tortilla. Chesa's take on the Spanish omelet is barely browned in a smoky Josper oven, its center fluffier than a soufflé, then capped with a bead of ñora aioli. —Michael Russell

One would have thought the book was closed on perfect bar foods, but fresh spears of peeled celery, dusted with salted kelp, sesame seeds, and red shiso flakes are an instant equal to peanuts and pickled eggs. —Brett Martin

The best of chef Nina Compton's food steers away from the demands of a restaurant near the New Orleans convention center and straight into her St. Lucian roots. To wit: braised chunks of goat served atop pillowy sweet-potato gnocchi with cashews. —Brett Martin

Artisanal rice bowls are the raison d'être of this downtown lunch counter opened by a former chef at Patina, but sliders on sweet pan de sal are worth the trip themselves, none more than the Spam & Egg, a late-breakfast sandwich worth being hungover for. —Brett Martin

Chef Nicholas Stefanelli's mini cannoli stuffed with foie gras mousse—served on a tiny cake stand and capped at each end by a shaved disc of black truffle—are somehow a lot more playful than highfalutin. —Brendan Vaughn

The duck itself is succulent at this gastropub located on a lonely industrial corner along the Chicago River, but you could be forgiven if you concentrate instead on the bed of potatoes and seasonal greens soaked with its juices.