To love a dish is to love the labor that brought it to your table. It’s to sense the presence of the chef, to read a signature written in flour and butter, salt and smoke — what in Korean is called son-mat, the taste imparted by one person’s hands and no other’s. The best dishes — like these my fellow Hungry City critics, Marian Bull and Mahira Rivers, and I enjoyed this year — aren’t necessarily the most complicated, difficult or inventive. But each is a reminder that someone took the time to cook for us, and made sure to get it right.

Makhlama at Iraqi House

Many cultures reserve their most satisfying dishes for breakfast. In Iraq there is makhlama, a folding together of coarsely minced lamb, onions gone translucent and just starting to sweat, and eggs cracked at the last moment, given a moment to set, then pierced so the yolks spill and mingle. LIGAYA MISHAN

7215A Third Avenue (72nd Street), Bay Ridge, Brooklyn; 718-833-3338; no website.