Blogs of the Year: Serious Eats

Today's Blog of the Year Pick: Serious Eats.

I love food, but I could never quite put my finger on what was wrong with the food blogs I'd tried to read until Serious Eats came along. As it turns out, I like cooking and I like learning about restaurants, but what it turns out I really love is simple: Eating.

Ed Levine's assembled a team of extraordinarily talented food lovers (which, it should be noted, includes my wife), and they stay true to the site's mantra of being passionate, discerning and inclusive. I feel like an old-timer in the way I look at blogs, because I still think of them as being fairly static affairs consisting largely of text. But Serious Eats features a formidable video section with original programming from Mario Batali, a burgeoning recipe section and a guide to eating out that all complement the site's own editorial blog posts. Wrap it all up in an incredibly well-designed, beautiful aesthetic that combines elegant details with frequent fun illustrations, and it's an unquestionable winner.

Pick of the Posts:

• Talk: This Q&A section is the heart of the Eats, for me. I'm mostly a lurker here, but I never cease to be amazed how often I'm saying, "I wish I'd asked that!"
• Serious Eats Thanksgiving: Sure, the holiday's passed, but if you want a look at how the site does well-trod topics in a unique way, this is it.
• Extended Meatloaf Coverage: From recipes to National Meatloaf Appreciation Day to photos of dozens of loaves, I discovered this staple of mashed meat this year thanks to the site.

If you like this, try: Elise Bauer's Simply Recipes gets me every time -- not because of the recipes, though they're great. It's the photography, which is simply beautiful.