My 2012 golf travel awards: Eats that are real treats

For the first half of the year, I was on a diet, a deterrent in my 2012 travel awards relating to food. At one point I lost more than 30 pounds, but unfortunately my voracious appetite for fine dining, a hazard of the job, won over and I gained a few back.

I don’t regret it, though. This was one tasty year.

Here are my travel awards for the best meals of 2012. Check out my foodie awards from 2010 and 2011. Click here for my 2012 travel awards for golf and resorts:

• Best Meal: The heaping of appetizers and the braised short ribs at Jean Georges Steakhouse in Aria Resort & Casino Las Vegas.

• Best lunch: Da Conch Shack on Providenciales, Turks & Caicos, will always remain one of my all-time favorite places. Drinking beer, eating tasty conch fritters and conch stew while sitting on a picnic table on a beautiful sandy beach … it was life straight out of a Jimmy Buffett song. Read about it here.

• Best setting for dinner: Eating dinner with my toes in the sand right on the world famous Grace Bay Beach at the Cabana Bar & Grille behind Ocean Club West. Awesome.

• Best Italian: Perio’s Italian Cuisine just off the Las Vegas strip had good family-style servings, a great “Garbage Caesar Salad” and an even better vibe.

• Best resort restaurant: The five-diamond Pitahayas (photo above) at the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar Golf & Spa Resort Los Cabos overlooked the ocean and boasts an intimate wine cellar. A close second would be Salt at the Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island, where the menu tastefully uses dozens of flavors of salt to spice up the night.

• Best Hangout Bar: (tie) The On the Rocks, a Civilized Bar, serves 25 flavors of martinis overlooking the Sea of Cortez at the Westin Resort & Spa Los Cabos. The Hyde Bellagio in Las Vegas had great live music, futuristic cocktails and a view of the launching fountains.

• Best Party Bar: The locals consider Cabo Wabo in Cabo San Lucas a cheesy spot, but the touristy gringos love to dance and drink the night away at Sammy Hagar’s joint.

• Best Hamburger: The Relish Burger Bistro inside the clubhouse of the Phoenician, a five-star resort in Scottsdale.

• Best Dinner Buffet: Caesar’s Palace launched the new Bacchanal Buffet this year to rave reviews, quite a feat in buffet-crazy Vegas.

• Best Lunch Buffet: The grilled lobster and hand-made Caesar salad, and much more, at the Grand Hotel at the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Resort on the Riviera Maya in Mexico.

• Best Sunday Brunch: The choices of select meats, seafoods and crème brulee French toast inside the Wisconsin Room at the American Club.

• Most Unique Dessert: The S’mores served with a blue flame bunsen burner and home-made graham crackers at Blackwolf Run at the American Club in Kohler, Wis.

• Best appetizer: (tie) The Cheese Curds at the Horse & Plow at The American Club and the Cheddar Ale Dip served with soft pretzel twists at the Gem and Keystone Brewpub outside of the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort in Pennsylvania. Sense a theme here?

• Best Clubhouse food: The Wynn Country Club in Las Vegas. Shrimp and grits. Need I say more?

• For those craving more, check out my food reviews for Las Vegas (here), Naples (here), the American Club (here) and Hilton Head Island (here).