Best Meal Ever

[LordShout]

The restaurant rules thread got me thinking about food and the best meal I've ever had. What's the best meal you've ever had at a restaurant? Was it just amazing food, or great service and atmosphere, did the company make the food stand out or would you have enjoyed it alone in a cold dark box it was so good?

The best meal I've ever had was at a little restaurant in northern Michigan. We, after a long week of camping, roll into town looking for a place to eat. Driving down main street we remember that a family friend had told us to check out Hermann's European Cafe so we pull up and walk in. We've been camping for a week, probably stunk fairly bad, certainly we weren't dressed to the nines. We get immediately seated. Service was good, polite and formal without being obsequious. The decor could be any (at least in my imagination) little restaurant in the old fashion of one chef and a few helpers, no chain, no franchises and just good, solid food.

The food was mind blowing. My dad can cook, I'd grown up eating spectacular food (I mean how many kids come home to venison pate?). Applebee's in comparison. Good, earthy home made bread to start with several different butters followed by a standard salad. Main course shows up, jaeger schnitzel in a morel wine cream sauce with fresh thyme and perfectly steamed vegetables. The schnitzel is like warm butter that somehow has a light beef flavor and wonderful firm but not tight texture in the mouth. I'm only wasting time and space discussing the sauce. Actual morels, and not just the obligatory one or two strewn on top of the schnitzel, but a goodly handful of them lending their perfectly seasoned deep flavor. When I say actual morels I mean morels, not the massive white morels that you can sometimes find in the stores but the much better black morels, in their prime. So you've got this nice morel base backed up with cream and red wine that doesn't overpower the flavor of the schnitzel but supports in and lifts it to a new, and ultimately higher, level.

Of course the owner/chef is trained in the arts of Viennese pastry so dessert is at another level, the best I've ever eaten for sure but I can't even imagine anyone else topping them anywhere. A platter is presented and other than a number of staple pies there are always a few specials that truly are special. This first visit we had flour less chocolate cake, smooth and rich with a moderate texture. I've had, in the years since, many perfect mousse's, a spicy chocolate cake, crispy apple pie and a strawberry romanoff that I still think about sometimes when I'm bored and hungry.

[Allen Evans]

Inn at Little Washington, in Virginia. Outstanding food (I actually started to tear up at one point, the food was so good) a wine list that doesn't stop, and excellant service. Best meal I've ever had.

Most expensive, too.

Second place was the Colvin Run Tavern, also in Virginia, and sadly, no longer in business.

[Gav]

Best meal I ever had? A tin of potatoes and a tine of Baked Beans (with sausages). When I was in Scouts I did my "survival" badge. We'd hiked across 20 miles of moor and bog. It was raining. We were not allowed tents so we'd just built our shelters and got a fire going. We'd not managed to find a rabbit so we fell back on the rations we'd brought. This was all I had. I don't think that I've ever enjoyed food so much. Even as I type this my mouth is watering as I reminisce.

[Superscribe]

Gramercy Tavern, NYC.

I had the skate, and some white wine from alsace. I got into an arguement as to whether or not i wanted to wear a jacket. i did not want to. Someone told me i had to wear a jacket. I'm glad i did. Not to fit in, but because it let me taste that delicious skate.

Date was hot. Company was a lot of fun. We were celebrating a business deal that was saved.

Made for a great time, and great meal.

[migopod]

Porcão in Rio de Janeiro.


I would quit being a vegetarian for that place.

[TBean]

The French Laundry

This is not usually the kind of restaurant experience I gravitate towards, but every penny that was paid for that meal was worth it - I've never had an experience quite like it again. It was unique in all respects.

[jeff]

I've heard that about The French Laundry. I've been kind of off that since I don't like excessively precious meals, but everyone who has been there says it's an extraordinary experience. Some day I'll have to try it, if I can book far enough ahead and don't mind forking over the big bucks.

My own "omigod - wow" meals have been at much less prestigious (and pricey) places. In France I like bistros - unstuffy but professional service with fresh simple ingredients prepared with attention but not being fussy.

My best 'best meal ever' experiences were in Rome: one was lunch at a simple restaurant on the Piazza Navonna - a perfect sunny day, a bottle of red (Europeans have this benefit of being able to drink outstanding wines for criminally low prices), and a fantastic pasta. Simple and great. Another one was dinner in the same neighborhood - I feel a fool for not writing the address. It was just incredible. And the world's best antipasti, in a little family owned place named Hostaria da Nerone just a block away from the Coliseum.

[LordShout]

So jealous about FL, really want a chance to go there and too el bulli but as a poor college kid... Anyone want to paypal me about 10k?

[DavidX]

The restaurant rules thread got me thinking about food and the best dong I've ever had.

David's schnitzel is like warm butter that somehow has a light beef flavor and wonderful firm but not tight texture in the mouth.

I'm only wasting time and space discussing the sauce. .

....xD

[TBean]

Oh, absolutely I don't usually go to restaurants like The French Laundry - ever. I cannot afford them, and usually don't care for an overly precious meal. Most of the time I gravitate to much, much more modest restaurants that still deliver WOW meals with attention to using in-season/local ingredients that are prepared with care. I have enjoyed many excellent meals for a fraction of what the FL cost. However, I got lucky in my invitation to the FL, decided to throw caution to the wind, and didn't think about the price. The meal did not disappoint me in any way - Thomas Keller deserves every praise he receives.

[thereom4]

Best meal ever? The thanksgiving meal I cooked for myself last year. That's how I knew I could cook.

[Lady Quindecim]

When I read the thread title, my addled brain scrambled the letters... I thought I read "Best Male Ever"
Mercy, I was wrong. So... very... wrong.

Meh, as described above, there are too many different reasons to cherish a meal to really name one above others. But I like when we go out to eat after fencing. I just watch and listen to everyone. Much with the goodness.

[I_luv_saber]

A little restaurant called Gödör at Szombathely in Hungary (where the summer Solti camp is...). They make some bomb fried pike-perch or liver with some equally bomb princess potatos.

Service was nothing awe inspiring, but good in my experience. No complaints. And the atmosphere is awesome. By far my favorite place to eat, and I can't wait to eat there again.

EDIT: Here's the site! Just click on English, and check some of the pics in the gallery. (if their site translation is anything like the menu translation, you're in for a chuckle or two)

[BrianH]

The Ark in Nahcotta, Washington on Willapa Bay. My wife, daughter, son and his girlfriend come to meet the parents (now his wife of 13 years and mother of my two grandsons). Excellent service, good conversation, lovely view of water. The only thing I recall about our meals was my almond-crusted halibut. I would request that for my last meal,no question. Then die happy.

[redheaded_sabreuse]

Birthday dinner my husband prepared for my last birthday in October.

First it's the fresh salad of slightly bitter farmer's market field greens and Walla Walla sweet onions, with an improvised Dijon dressing of three different kinds of gourmet mustard and sweet, fresh black vinagriette. Served with a glass of Roederer Estate champagne.

Then, garlic-parsley-buttermilk mashers, French green beans, steamed baby carrots, and a melting rare Chateaubriand with black truffle butter, served with glass of Rosenthal cabernet. That meat was so tender it was really beef fudge.

Dessert is Vosges chili chocolate bread pudding (www.vosgeschocolate.com) served with unsweetened whipped cream, and a glass of Knappogue Irish whiskey.

Yeah. Mr. Redheaded_Sabreuse can cook.

His favorite meal of mine is probably my lemon-Dijon-parsley-white wine coq au vin served over brown basmati rice with a glass of light, green-fruity, unoaked chardonnay.

Best restaurant meal is probably Morels French steakhouse here in L.A.

Or Porterhouse Bistro here in L.A.

Or Cafe Mignon paprika chicken here in L.A.

Or Kabuki Sushi yellowtail belly cuts of sashimi, or Lou on Vine duck breast, La Provence macaroons, or Mastro's filet mignon with lobster-dill mashed potatoes, or a Tam O Shanter prime rib with creamy horseradish...

Yeah. We like food.

[BrianH]

Redhead, you've making me hungry! Stop, please!

[larkascending]

Dessert is Vosges chili chocolate bread pudding (www.vosgeschocolate.com)

Ohmigod, you COOK with Vosges chocolate?! I would never dare do anything to that precious ambrosia.

Whenever I am downtown, I go to their store and eat whatever sample chunks they have in the little bowls.

[Fencergrl]

A few memories... one is similar to Gav's. Camping trip gone wrong... I was a teen & inexperienced. I got stranded while camping on a island. Very nearly went into hypothermia due to the heavy rains and the lack of shelter. Hadn't eaten for a while. Our first meal was homeward bound, after getting dry was most heavenly!

In the same flavour as other posters. Hubby & I prefer to eat in good restaurants occasionally rather than eat in crappy ones often. The very best meal was had at the Salmon House in North Vancouver. The first time was for our anniversary. Hubby is the spender in the family... he gasped at the prices. I already did my research and had came to terms with what they were charging, so I told him to just relax and enjoy the experience. Every dish was a delight, the service impeccable. We both felt like every penny was worth it.

[JacoKierkegaard]

I'd probably say eating at The Chelsea, an upscale restaurant in my hometown. Had a really nice breast of chicken there once that I can't recall being topped anywhere else.

Another one of note was having Pad Thai (my favorite Thai dish) at a place just outside Bangkok that's supposed to be well known for a good Pad Thai. That one was great not just because of the food but the circumstances - I was in Thailand to perform at the World Saxophone Congress this past summer.

[dgrabski]

It's a tie between Rincon Argentino in Mexico City, and Fogo de Chao, the Brazilian steakhouse here in Indianapolis.

Both elevate the presentation of red meat to levels hitherto unseen by mortal men. Rincon Argentino had all of the weights of cuts of meat in grams on the menu - it was probably good that I didn't make the conversion at the time to realize that the average size of a cut of meat was 40 ounces. And lo, was it wonderful.

Fogo de Chao was two and a half hours straight of great meat. It just kept on coming.