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Restaurant August has a vegetarian tasting menu, last I checked. I am sure that they could lean towards the vegan with advance notice. Of course, bring your wallet . . .

The eggplant parm pizza from Stew Leonard's is something that I dream about out here in the Midwest. Maybe that's my project for next weekend . . .

The tomato soup from Bistro Jeanty in Napa is to die for. The restaurant has the recipe on line; it provides for using fresh tomatoes, although I have done it successfully with canned plum or San Marzanos. The puff pastry top on the individual servings is tasty but not necessary.

What time should we all be there?

Do you need suggestions on what to do with the rest of the tomatoes? I got about 15 pounds of them this summer for $7.50 and went on a total tomato binge . . . I canned salsa and barbecue sauce, oven-dried the tomatoes, made a tomato pie, and even dried the skins for tomato salt!!

Oh . . . and I forgot In 'n' Out!! My favorite stop on the way to the airport . . .

Always going to be ribeye for me!!

We love LOS and Raku, but our new off the Strip fave is Hot 'n' Juicy Crawfish -- multiple Chinatown locations to serve you. You can't go wrong!!

On the Strip, but a well-kept secret -- the bar at Guy Savoy. Three courses plus amuse and amazing breads for something like $40. The small courses are a summary of the restaurant's greatest hits at reasonable prices. Impeccable food and service; add on the dessert cart for about $22 and you won't be sorry. Always empty when we go -- and allow time to have a cocktail on the "secret" balcony overlooking the Strip before dining.

Also worth it on the Strip, if they still have it -- the $30 prix fixe lunch at Estatoria Milos in the Cosmopolitan. Easily in my top three meals this year on a QPR basis. Impeccable food, lavish portions, beautiful room. Three star lunch at one star prices. DH and I plan to make it a regular stop on our trips to Vegas.

Tie between lunch from the prix fixe at Estatoria Milos in Vegas, the cocktail tasting with paired 'bites' at The Aviary, lunch at Lotus of Siam in Vegas and a multi-course dinner 'off the menu' at Sidney Street Cafe in St. Louis. Honorable mentions to pancakes from Pamela's and bucatini all'amatriciana at Il Piz in Pittsburgh, late night eating at Raku in Vegas, the Escoffier menu at Next, a tasting at Niche Restaurant in St. Louis, grouper we caught that morning cooked at our hotel in Los Bareilles, Mexico, and the annual serving of Paula Deen's tomato pie, cooked at home by DH.

We had a frittata filed with provolone and the excess ratatouille and oventhe rpasted tomatoes and zucchinithe generated from the ratatouille tarts we brought to a pot luck last night, baked bacon, and tater tots (extra crispy). Tonight will be red curry mussels. All diets start Tuesday at our house!

Second the vote for David Lebovitz's "Perfect Scoop" -- that book is fantastic. His website also is a great resource.

I also am a big fan of Emily Lucchetti's "A Passion for Ice Cream".

Right there with you on ing . . . the food was both terrific and terrifically creative and we had a great time live tweeting with the kitchen.

But where, oh where, is the Aviary on your list? Yes, it primarily is a bar, but an evening at the kitchen table back in May yielded my best bite of the year: the "Chip and Dip" - the best onion dip I ever ate presented in cube form, rolled in salt and vinegar potato chips and deep fried. We had two each, but I could have eaten fifty.

I love the regional burger chain expansion trend, as long as it is confined to the decent chains (e.g. the Five Guys that is only a half mile from my house). In that vein, I have high hopes for the expansion of In 'n' Out to a location fewer than a thousand miles away.

My other food trend hopes:

Ramen
Upscale breakfast
Housemade hotdogs
More pickles (it would make supplies easier for me to get)

One of the rules of holiday dining (at least at my house) is that the meat does not need to be hot if the gravy is (and how are you going to make the gravy or sauce before the meat comes out of the oven with its drippings and roasty onions, any way)?

Also, my method is to use an electronic meat thermometer that stays in the roast the whole time it cooks. Once the meat gets near the oven removal zone, we herd the crowd into the dining room. (I note that I may be off on the temperature we go to, but it is a preset on the thermometer).

And yes, the internal temperature may go up when you "brown" it, but on a roast (as opposed to, say, a braised piece of meat that has been cooked in liquid so that it does not have any crispy parts), "browning" should be unnecessary. Our roasts come out beautifully colored (although the pre-roast spice rub for a day or two, followed by a nice olive oil rub right before oven entry helps). In fact, we usually wrap the frenched ends of the roast in foil while it is in the oven so that they do not scorch (and so that they look pretty in their little gold "pants" when the roast gets served).

@law -- That is sad to hear. I used to go to KC two or three times a year for work and had some memorable meals at the Savoy Grill. I still occasionally dream about the lamb chops and the breakfast pastry basket. Let's hope for a renaissance -- there are not enough places still doing the steakhouse classics and doing them right!

@Adam -- Based on what I've eaten, Justus may be some of the best and most creative dining in the Midwest outside of a major city these days. Worth the drive.