MC Slim JB Declares 2012 'Year of The Burger'

A 2012 retrospective by The Phoenix restaurant critic MC Slim JB titled "Restaurant Rewind: a look back at the year in Boston dining" is now online. In it, Slim declares that 2012 "can be summed up easily as the Year of the Burger." But that's not the only food trend that Bostonians went gaga over in the preceding 12 months. There was ramen, notes Slim, and "relatively obscure Asian delicacies made waves this year too." Case in point: the bao bao at DooWee & Rice in Powderhouse Square in Somerville. In terms of neighborhoods, Slim feels the South End and Kendall Square both contributed worthwhile new entries, and "West Roxbury emerged as a fine little dining destination in its own right." And let's not forget the ongoing craft cocktail revival, new coffee nerd-worthy coffeeshops and notable farewells to legends both high and low.

But there's one restaurant that seems to have made a bigger impact on Slim than any other this past year, and that's Strip-T's in Watertown. He writes "If you want to feel the love, to put your finger on the throbbing pulse of Boston's diverse, chaotic, and wonderfully evolving restaurant scene — and maybe feel which way the culinary winds of 2013 are blowing — Strip-T's might just be the place to start."

· Restaurant Rewind: a look back at the year in Boston dining [TP]