Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I'd been hearing a lot about a new "KFC" (Korean fried chicken) in Federal Way (WA), so I took a trip to Cockatoo’s Chicken Restaurant.

It might seem I was drunk, but really it was a case of brain-lock induced by being lost in the Korean-ness of it all. Having ordered some deep-fried wings (with ultra-spicy sauce that didn’t disappoint) and some stir-fried chicken gizzards, I wanted a healthy side dish, and asked the server about the "Seasoning Pupa." (My "poop-a" mispronunciation, itself unappealing, masked the real meaning.)

"That’s hard, uh, to, um, explain," he said, struggling with his English. My dining companion and I played twenty-one questions, and he told us what it wasn’t: meat, vegetable, fruit, noodle, or grain. But not what it was. Best he could explain, "pupa is popular…a traditional Korean food." When he answered yes to our "Is it healthy?" question, we shrugged our shoulders and decided to try it.

The dish came quickly. At first glance, we thought "pupa" were beans floating in a red hell-sauce. If only. From the body curve and markings, we realized these weren’t beans. "Is this some sort of insect?" we wondered aloud. "Yes, insect!" our server screamed excitedly…and ten minutes too late.

Consider this our Bourdain or Bizarre Foods moment. Pupae ("pyoo-pee"—still sounding like a bathroom function) are silkworms, and have a slight crunch with some air pockets. They taste a bit bitter, slightly nutty, and certainly earthy—like something that’s slithered in the sand or somewhere similar. And certainly not popular, at least on this night, as no one else was eating them.

My last meal would be at a favorite small sushi place in Tokyo. Lots of uni and maguro and other favorites. Afterward, I'd step outside and break out a bar of a favorite chocolate.

Chocolate mousse from Cook's Illustrated.

Chocolate chili pecan pie.

Ina Garten's brownies.

Love the dark... with a mug of hot chocolate!

Dark... preferably around 70%

Dinosaur.

Definitely dark!

Porterhouse, please.

I had one of these at the famous Nanxiang xiao long bao place in Shanghai. The wrapper isn't anything special to eat... it really is about the broth. Given that, I really like the regular xiao long bao better - and those are better in Taipei than in Shanghai, from my experience.

Crispy crisp.