2010 was a biggie for restaurant openings in Seattle. Nosh Pit looks back on the year with a survey of new standout foods we couldn’t stop talking about.

I met a friend, a food lover of the first order, at the new Sitka and Spruce for lunch this fall. We opted to share three or four small plates. Among them: a dish of chickpea puree and carrots.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking: “You silly foodies ordered hummus and carrots—a snack one generally eats standing over the sink before rushing off to spin class—at one of the city’s best restaurant. That’s dumb”

But it wasn’t dumb. The carrots were gently softened and served warm over the airy puree and the dish was pinged-up with just enough harissa, a Tunisian chili sauce, and then cooled with fresh mint. We soaked up the puree with crusty bits of Columbia City bread, savoring—really, truly savoring—every bite of lovingly seasoned, expertly textured veg.

We ate other things that day. I believe there was cake at the end of the meal. And we had a bibb lettuce salad, I recall, with some sort of lovely vinaigrette, and medallions of chicken, each wearing a little tent of crackly skin. On other visits to Sitka I’ve had richer fare—a duck that took an hour to cook, beefy scallops, soupy-headed shrimp. But I dunno, the carrots and hummus dish stayed with me, inspired my own humble cooking while helping me better understand what the heck Matt Dillion is up to over there in the Melrose Building.

Carrots and hummus, he served us. But oh, so much more.