This annual list is an exercise in selective memory: The trick is to remember every impressive snack, sandwich, pastry, main course and cocktail I ate over the past year without ever thinking about how much food it all adds up to.

It is true that the bacalaitos at the Freakin Rican in Astoria, Queens, are not quite as big around as the ones you will see browning in veritable caldrons of oil over wood fires at kiosks scattered along the beach road in Piñones, outside San Juan.