What was the greatest dish you've ever eaten in your life?
Mine was at Les Etoiles in Rome. It was a simple fettucini with truffles in a cream sauce. The restaurant itself? I hated it. It was my only experience in Rome where I was treated like a stupid, annoying, American tourist. I really wanted to walk out. My friend practically had to twist my arm to stay. But when that dish came? Oh my God, it wasn't just food. It was a revelation on just how spectacular food could be (and believe me, I'd had quite a healthy respect for it to begin with). The waiters continued to be jerks, but I no longer cared.
So, what was that one dish that just blew you away? That you could not believe was so ridiculously delicious?
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29 Comments:
I'm not sure about overall, but the best breakfast dish I've ever had was a Lumberjack Skillet, made with prime rib. There's a photo here.
LunaPierCook at 4:47AM on 02/08/08
It's not a dish, exactly. It's a thing. The very first time I ate real strawberries. I'd only ever had the supermarket kind, but while on vacation many years ago, I picked up a pint at a farmer's market. I couldn't believe the difference. These days, I refuse to eat any other kind. I'm cool with that meaning I can only have them a few weeks a year. Those weeks make up for any number of those tasteless, pointless strawberry shaped things we commonly call strawberries.
rockykay at 5:53AM on 02/08/08
Two very different culinary experiences remain in my mind:
One is an early childhood food memory, the apricot dumplings (marrilen knudel) that my austrian mother used to make for me, coated in crunchy caramelized sugar, with that sweet stewed apricot in the center...I can still taste them 30 years later as if it were yesterday. Heaven.
The best restaurant dish I ever tasted was the "ribbons of tuna with ginger marinade " at Jean Georges in New York. The tuna was the freshest I have ever tasted outside of Japan and the blend of ginger, chile, radish and avocado was....unforgettable.
monicalups at 6:29AM on 02/08/08
The French Laundry...Pearls and Oysters
Bosmer at 10:13AM on 02/08/08
The steaks my grandfather used to cook outside on the charcoal grill back in the 70's....I don't know what cut he used.....I just remember they were large, thick, and the beefiest tasting steaks I have ever eaten. Ever since, steak has always been and always will be my favorite food.
mepolo at 10:20AM on 02/08/08
Bosmer, I'm with you. Oysters and Pearls at Per Se...no question. And 'm not sure why that dish stands out from all the other magnificent dishes that followed. It was perfection. Hard to believe Thomas never even tasted this dish as it was being created. The Gods surely smile on the man.
The other would have to be the foie gras terrine with brioche at Bouchon. Absolute silken splendor. And I felt guilty not one bit.
frederika at 10:36AM on 02/08/08
Hard to pick, but what stands out most recently are some venison ravioli encased in chestnut-flour pasta, with a scant tomato sauce (on the menu, it came with a blue cabbage sauce, but me+cabbage=environmental hazard, and I don't like it much, anyway). I had these at 'Al Duomo', in Bolzano. We just stopped to grab some lunch, and since I love both chestnut-flour anything and venison, I ordered these. Unbelievable.
mongoose at 10:36AM on 02/08/08
my first trip to europe was to visit a friend who was going to graduate school in paris. on the day after i arrived, we went for a walk on the seine near the notre dame, and she ducked into a bar to get us some ham sandwiches to eat on the embankment. i was stupefied -- i'd never tasted bread like that, the ham was so flavorful, the butter was so sweet, the cornichons were so piquant. i've eaten many beautiful things in my life in many countries but the pleasure and surprise the simplicity and perfection of that sandwich gave me stays with me the most.
cybercita at 11:20AM on 02/08/08
The best meal I ever ate was a plate of osso bucco and risotto at an italian restaurant near the Uptown Theatre in Washington DC. Unfortunately the cafe no longer exists. And I suspect the truth of it was that the food was probably merely adequate, but was made a million times better by the company I was sharing the meal with.
DaveFaris at 11:57AM on 02/08/08
My favorite was from Emeril's in Universal Orlando. Wild mushroom appetizer and Andouille encrusted Texas redfish! Wow!
1stmakearoux at 12:02PM on 02/08/08
Many years ago, at a Russian (?) restaurant in Los Angeles I can't remember the name of, (it was located uphill off Sunset, and looked down at the Playboy Club), I had a great rack of lamb, but the simple bowl of borscht that preceeded it is the greatest dish I can recall.
srhcb at 1:31PM on 02/08/08
I have two that are memorable.
First, lobster with drawn butter, prepared by a restaurant that specializes in sea food. (I've been to several that were spectacular.)
Second, Macaroni Grill's Chicken Marsala. Excellent!
Lavendergirl at 2:34PM on 02/08/08
A Morroccan Hotpot at Culina Cafe-www.culinacafe.ca; the freshest tomatoes, chickpeas soft but slightly chewy, and the most fragram spices-saffron, turmeric, cinnamon, and cumin, all in a light drizzling of honey.
michichan at 2:52PM on 02/08/08
Hmmm...
- pho at To Chau each year I visit Hawaii. No onions, cilantro, beef slices raw on the side. They make their soup stock exactly the way I like it, more floral vs cinnamon. Pho is one of my favorite dishes in general (eat it 3-4 times per week), and I haven't had better.
- dinner at a minshuku I stayed at in Hida-Takayama 13 years ago. It consisted of a few fresh raw beef slices with a thicker shoyu-based sauce for dipping, fresh mountain vegetables, fresh mushrooms (maitake, matsutake, enoki) grilled in butter/Kewpie mayo, matsutake soup, and a bowl of rice at the end of the meal. I don't recall what kind of tsukemono was served. And yes, everything I ate was fresh, fresh, fresh!
Cassaendra at 2:54PM on 02/08/08
spaghetti alla vongole in Naples
Lilla at 3:32PM on 02/08/08
Let's see: I loved the Grill Octopus tentacle with chorizo at Craft Bar in NYC. It was so tender, it had a nice charred taste and the chorizo complemented the octopus. I had a wonderful meal at Craftsteak in Las Vegas with friends (I think we had about 16 different dishes...so many, I can barely recall what all we ordered.) My favorite down home cooked meal is my mom's chicken fried steak with cream gravy and rice. Yum!
Tasty Morsel at 3:50PM on 02/08/08
Porterhouse for two, Peter Luger, twenty five years ago. Spoiled me for any other steak house for the rest of my life.
bessfour at 4:04PM on 02/08/08
My mother's Lobster stuffed with Crabmeat (which I attempt to reproduce each year on Christmas Eve).
The Individual Beef Wellington at One If By Land Two If By Sea.
The Eggs Benedict at a restaurant (unfortunately closed) in Park Slope called Charley's.
I beat myself about the head trying to pick one and thought I'd list all three.
chiff0nade at 7:58PM on 02/08/08
Galette de crabe from Le Bec-Fin in Philadelphia. The single best dish that I will ever have in my lifetime, I'm convinced that nothing could ever top it, period.
jonfoxx at 8:28PM on 02/08/08
The corn soup at Craftsteak in Vegas is the one that stands out most clearly for me. Simplest thing ever, tasted like fresh corn, only better. And a restaurant corn soup with no pork in it is a rare beast.
I have also been near tears over most things I've eaten at Blue Ginger (Ming Tsai).
wellred at 9:05PM on 02/08/08
I observe that most (not all) commented on dishes from restaurants. My most memorable dish was actually a meal, made for me by my then boyfriend (and now husband ... hmmm ... related perhaps :-). It was a trio of lamb (a loin medallion, lamb sausage and a chop), with haricote verte, potato Anna. He would have a made a sauce from the scraps. And for dessert, a frozen torte of white chocolate ice cream, layered with raspberry sorbet and hazelnut meringue. I am sure there was a fine bottle of wine in there too. I have had exquisite lamb dishes made by better chefs but none as memorable as that one!
kjgibson at 10:12PM on 02/08/08
I was 26 years old, just married a year and we had moved to Paris. We had dinner at a small one-star restaurant on the left bank and I ordered some type of white fish which came with a beurre blanc sauce. I will never forget that sauce. It was a whole new experience of flavour for me. Needless to say, I have gone on to eat at a great many amazing restaurants and had some amazing meals cooked by friends since then. But nothing will ever beat the romance, atmosphere, beauty and flavour of that sauce for me!
smallblondemom at 10:45PM on 02/08/08
New Orleans. Pascal's Manale. Barbequed shrimp.
No, not BBQ sauce. Butter. Lemon. Cayenne. The freshest shrimp, cooked in the shells and heads still on for the best flavor you can imagine. Did I mention butter? And lots of crusty French bread for dipping in that savory buttery sauce.
Yum!
Editmom at 10:55PM on 02/08/08
I haven't perfected it yet, but I'm workin' on it!
PerkyMac at 11:04PM on 02/08/08
Absolutely the simple, multi-course Italian lunch I ate in Sicily when I was studying abroad - buffalo mozarella and tomato salad, perfect pasta, unbelievably sweet oranges, and a white wine whose equal I've never tasted - really amazing, all home-cooked by the parents of our school's director (it was very small)...and we ate outdoors in the sunshine.
producestories at 1:04AM on 02/09/08
It is a toss up between two -- blue crabs, freshly caught steamed with lots of old bay and cider vinegar to dip the sweet crab in. Oh yum. Blue crab is a lot of work, but I don't think any other crab compares to its sweetness.
My other top pick was Creme brulee served in a little french cafe off Dupont Circle in DC. It was about 17 years ago. It was the first time I ever tasted creme brulee. it was scooped out of a large kitchen baking pan served in a little bowl with a demitasse spoon. I loved it. I had never eaten anything so creamy. I of course have had creme brulee many times since. I have even made it, but nothing compared what I experienced at that little cafe. I doubt it is even still there.
lakeloverhh at 1:30PM on 02/11/08
I've been pondering this question for days and must conclude that it's virtually impossible to answer. I can list of number of phenomenal and memorable dishes that stand out in my mind. I've been incredibly blessed (spoiled) with a man who happily takes me all over the world on culinary adventures. Fresh wild strawberries in France, truffled mac'n'cheese here in the OC, fresh wild salmon in Vancouver, dry-aged prime filet mignon, borscht and caviar-scrambled eggs in Russia, potatoes in Finland (yes, potatoes, beyond good), bubur ayam in Bali... so many standouts!
But the vast majority of the very best meals I've ever eaten had less to do with the actual food than the setting, company and circumstances under which they were consumed!
LoCo at 2:33PM on 02/11/08
reading these entries... i remembered in a trip to Cincinnati, of all places, where I ate the most wonderful tomatoes I have eaten so far. I am sure people in my group thought I was a bit disturbed, because at every meal I would not stop talking about how wonderful and tasty those tomatoes were... just as the story about "strawberries" above, what we get here in PR as tomatoes are just a poor imitation...
and when I made for the first time this baked pasta with 4 cheeses recipe, I just could not believe my taste buds that I had made this and tasted sooooooo wonderful. Immediately this dish has become my go-to dish if I want to impress someone with my culinary talents... it's just awesome.
Madelyn
KarmaFree Cooking
MadelynRodriguez at 2:46PM on 02/11/08
truffle risotto a few years ago at Tony's in St. Louis. Oh. My. God.
rllevy at 4:01PM on 02/16/08