Hill Country Chicken’s Pie Milkshake, One of Our 100 Favorite Dishes

Later this year, we’ll pen our Best of New York issue, our annual love letter to what’s great in this town. When that paper hits the streets, you’ll find our picks for the very best this city has to offer when it comes to dozens of cuisines, restaurants, dishes and drinks. Until then, you can get a taste of our contenders as we count down, in no particular order, our 100 favorite dishes from around the boroughs, a list of laudable eats worth tracking down right now.

No. 79: Pie milkshake from Hill Country Chicken

There was a time not so very long ago when we had to put a moratorium on our intake of the pie milkshake from Hill Country Chicken, a frosty cup of which we were consuming once per day as if it were a detoxifying green juice or immunity-boosting smoothie. Sadly, we don’t think this indulgence has the quite the same health-enhancing effect as its liquid brethren (though given the calorie count the drink must boast, it could stand in for a meal). The restaurant pulverizes a miniature pie cup into a vanilla ice cream base, blending it with milk until it’s of a drinkable consistency. Each sip of the resulting concoction brings the intense flavor of the filling (our favorite for this purpose is the sweet, earthy, and just slightly tart blueberry, by the way) plus bits of the crust, still vaguely crumbly against the soft, rich ice cream. It’s like liquid pie à la mode, except there’s no danger of polishing off your scoop before you can finish your slice.

No. 100: Carnitas from Taqueria Lower East Side
No. 99: Steamed mussels from Tartine
No. 98: Cookie Monster ice cream from Malu
No. 97: Havana salad from Coppelia
No. 96: Clay Pot Catfish from Falansai
No. 95: Khao Soi Kaa Kai from Uncle Boons
No. 94: Salted caramel “impossible” flan from ABC Cocina
No. 93: Peanut noodles from Shu Jiao Fu Zhou Cuisine
No. 92: Country-fried duck and waffles from Distilled
No. 91: Octopus salad from Calliope
No. 90: Diver scallop crudo from Charlie Bird
No. 89: Fig and pepper bread from Silver Moon Bakery
No. 88: Egg, cheese, and sausage on a roll from Stage Restaurant
No. 87: Marbella’s Full Moon from Manzanilla
No. 86: Bia’s Cary Ga
No. 85: La Newyorkina’s pineapple jalapeño paleta
No. 84: Empellón Taqueria’s skirt steak tacos
No. 83: Sugar Sweet Sunshine’s pistachio cupcake
No. 82: El Chivito d’Oro’s skirt steak
No. 81: Saro Bistro’s satarash
No. 80: Oda House’s adjaruli khatchapuri