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The Year In Food: Doughnut Tickets, Hand-Pulled Noodles, Beer And More

Everything's A Sequel: Since the recession began restaurateurs have been holding down the fort and expanding their existing brands rather than creating new ones. That trend continued in force this year! Shake Shack opened a Brooklyn outpost, Momofuku Milk Bar and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf added UWS locations, Fatty Cue and Forcella brought their goods to Manhattan, Schnipper's Quality Kitchen expanded to the Flatiron District, The Meatball Shop added balls in Brooklyn and Manhattan, The Smith added a spot in Midtown and East Village Ukrainian standby Veselka added a second spot a few blocks down Second Avenue. Not to mention the suddenly everywhere Luke's Lobster, which even added a truck, or IHOP which not only moved into the East Villageâit also announced plans to open a location inside the old Limelight. — Garth Johnston, photo by Katie Sokoler/ Gothamist

Published Dec 29, 2011

Modified Dec 29, 2011

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Instead of putting out another year-end "Best Chefs" or "Best Restaurants" or "Best Burger" or "Best Handmade Artisanal Hay-Wrapped Compound Butter" list, we've decided to take a look back at a handful of our favorite food stories from 2011, superlative-free. So without further ado, we present the year in noodles, food crime, beer and more.