As is the tradition at Eater, our closeout of the year is a survey of friends, industry types, bloggers, and readers. We've already discussed the city's best new restaurants and most reliable stand-bys, and now we wonder: how would you describe the Austin food scene in 2012, in just one word? Readers, please add your thoughts to the comments.
Uchi. [Photo: Raymond Thompson/EATX]
Q: Describe 2012 in one word.
Megan Giller of Let's Eat ATX!: "Growth."
Paula Forbes of Eater National: "I'm going to go ahead and get a little contrived on this one (sorry), but my word is uchiko: the literal meaning of "child of Uchi," not the restaurant. (Although Uchiko certainly did have a big year.) Some of the most exciting restaurants in Austin are being opened by Uchi and Uchiko alums, and hopefully that's a trend we'll continue to see in 2013."
Christian Remde, filmmaker: "RAMEN!!! First Kome started serving it during lunch, then Ramen Tatsu-Ya blew it up at dinner and now ESK Hole in the Wall is making Chicken Tortilla Tom Yum Ramen...it is the year of broth, noodles and toppings."
Layne Lynch, writer for Texas Monthly and CultureMap Austin: "Inventive."
Andrea Grimes, editor, Eater Austin: "Hard-working. That's two words with a hyphen. Oh well. Lots of established restaurants and entrepreneurs stepped up their game this year to expand or open new spots and run some incredible pop-up dinners and supper clubs (Larry McGuire, the Uchi group, the La Condesa folks, the East Side King court, Sonya Coté all come to mind) and newcomers really hit the ground running to bring new flavors to the city—see, of course, Tatsu Aikawa and Takuya 'Tako' Matsumoto of Ramen Tatsu-Ya."
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