Your greatest culinary experience ever . .

jimdgoulding · « **on:** 14 Apr 2010, 12:19 am »

That could be sayin a lot and if it is, by all means, tell all. Single dish or whatever, in your kitchen or someone else's, at a favorite restaurant or a one time experience (the name would be cool if you got). Maybe it's only a dessert. Whatever your memory tells you. Bon appetit!

markC · « **Reply #1 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 01:49 am »

French onion soup on Christmas Eve. A recipie given to me by a co-worker over 15 years ago. It has wine, conac, butter, garlic and always brings praises of, "this is the best french onion soup I've ever had!"

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #2 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 01:56 am »

Quote from: markC on 14 Apr 2010, 01:49 am

French onion soup on Christmas Eve. A recipie given to me by a co-worker over 15 years ago. It has wine, conac, butter, garlic and always brings praises of, "this is the best french onion soup I've ever had!"

Sounds great. Willing to post the recipe, Mark? I'd like to try it.

maxwalrath · « **Reply #3 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 02:16 am »

The middle three dishes from the "i piatti nella tradizione di Vetri" menu:

http://www.vetriristorante.com/index.php?a=menu

These have basically been perfected and never change, while the rest of the menu is updated periodically or seasonally. The entrée, dessert, and wine were damn good too. If anyone's coming to Philadelphia and is a fan of Italian food, this is one of the more important Italian restaurants in the Northeastern US. Vetri's more affordable Osteria restaurant is also amazing, and I hear good things about his brand new place Amis.

sts9fan · « **Reply #4 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 02:18 am »

Barcelona.

honesthoff · « **Reply #5 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 03:07 am »

Le Bec Fin.

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #6 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 03:17 am »

Quote from: maxwalrath on 14 Apr 2010, 02:16 am

The middle three dishes from the "i piatti nella tradizione di Vetri" menu:

http://www.vetriristorante.com/index.php?a=menu

These have basically been perfected and never change, while the rest of the menu is updated periodically or seasonally. The entrée, dessert, and wine were damn good too. If anyone's coming to Philadelphia and is a fan of Italian food, this is one of the more important Italian restaurants in the Northeastern US. Vetri's more affordable Osteria restaurant is also amazing, and I hear good things about his brand new place Amis.

Right on top of my things to do list in Phily along with Le Bec Fin. Thanks.

BTW, I am a big fan of the crab cakes at Di Nardos's even tho they are not of the tragically hip variety made with lump crab meat which I also like.

some young guy · « **Reply #7 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 03:39 am »

Wow... tough one. I've had some truly amazing food experiences in my life, but if I had to pick just one, it would have to be Bocuse in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, France, just outside of Lyon.

This was a pilgramige for us. The chef I was working for at that time was a Bocuse freak and even made me wear my toque up high like Chef Paul every day. I was over the top excited from the moment I reached someone on the phone to make our reservation. The wait was agony...

This place had it all; food, wine, service and ambiance... all superb! Please note that the style of decore in the restaurant is not really my taste, but it was impecable nontheless. They made us feel completely at home and when the Amuse buche arrived and I was allergic to the main ingredient, they instantly brought a replacement... a beautiful slice of duck terrine with a huge chunk of black truffle in it! We dined for six and a half hours, with the experience winding down into the cheese coarse. Our table was surrounded with small tables, all filled with cheeses specially selected for Bocuse. We were told to pick not one or two, but whatever we wanted. This was repeted with fresh tables for our dessert coarse too. Then came the petitfores.... it was crazy! Plus Chef Paul came out to greet everyone in the dining room. He took photos with some and chatted with others. When he came to our table, we talked for a bit and then my wife asked if we could get a picture with him. He said no... then asked us to take our time and enjoy ourselves. He said that when we were finished with our meal, we should come to the kitchen to take some photos with him there since I was a chef. It was extremely gracious IMHO.

So, while there are others, for many reasons this is my personal greatest culinary experience.

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #8 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 04:22 am »

The ambiance probably has as much to do with it as the food...but Ristorante Chez Black on the beach of Positano, Italy tops my list.

The Pizza Margarita, in the red, white and green of Italy's flag, is to kill for here

Super thin crust, just slightly scored on the bottom, real buffalo mozzarella (and only a bit - not caked on like most of the rest of the world's pizza) and brought in as perfect sized single serve size.

I've been there 2x - both times real highlight for me and the wifey.

Their website translated from Italian:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.chezblack.it/&ei=WkHFS8XrG4-4NaS0jI0O&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpositano%2Bchez%2Bblack%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DIwZ%26sa%3DG%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26channel%3Ds

Check the photogallery out - it's sinfully delicious looking and the surrounding area is idyllic.

John

jermmd · « **Reply #9 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 04:55 am »

Commander's Palace New Orleans was probably the finest restaurant I've ever been to but I've had many home cooked meals that were superior.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #10 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 05:06 am »

Your greatest culinary experience ever . .

There's been a few....here's one...

Mid '70's ....Montreal, Canada....at a place up in the sky (what a view)....Altitude 737...all you can eat lobster...man, I was stuffed and happy.

Plus....the french onion soup and escargot was excellent that night....I'll never forgot it....but, it's not the same place now....but still a good place to go in Montreal....

http://www.altitude737.com/

chadh · « **Reply #11 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 05:06 am »

I like to cook, but I'm not operating at the lofty level of some others frequenting this board. My wife enjoys my cooking, though, and she likes to encourage me to try new things in the kitchen. So one year, she and two neighbors' wives banded together to get the three husbands a private cooking lesson with the chef at an excellent local restaurant.

(The restaurant is named Four Square, and is located in Durham, NC: http://www.foursquarerestaurant.com )

Shane, the chef, went all out for the event, bringing masses of wonderful fresh produce, some of it grown in the restaurant's own garden. He even carted along a mackerel direct from the fish market - it must have been four feet long! Best of all, he brought along Brandon, the restaurant's sommelier, with a couple of bottles carefully selected from the cellar for each of the seven courses we prepared.

I can't remember exactly what we prepared that afternoon. But even today, about seven or eight years later, some of the flavors still dance over my palate. I remember the most exquisite salad, prepared with the juiciest and yummiest beans I've ever tasted (straight from the garden), served with seared foie gras and a simple vinaigrette. I remember lobster (although I can't remember what we did with it) and beef tenderloin. But the absolute best thing we made, and also the most time consuming, was the mackerel dish.

The fish itself was simply salted and baked for a few minutes. But then it was served in a soup - the most magnificent soup I have ever tasted. It was notionally a corn soup, made on a fish stock that we whipped up over the course of the afternoon (employing Shane's industrial strength food processing wand to chew up and spit out offcuts from the other seafood we were preparing, cracked lobster shells and anything else he thought we could leach flavor from). To this, we added a bottle of bourbon. And then we added about ten handfuls of fresh chilies. Everybody was scared to taste this dish: notionally, it should have burnt our tastebuds right out of our mouths. But it didn't at all. Shane explained that by using about 8 different types of chili, (including habanero), the quantity was really adding breadth of flavor, rather than intensifying the heat that any one chili was providing. Whatever the explanation, the dish was just out of this world. And since Shane had brought such a huge fish with him, we all got to take home a hunk of mackerel so we could try the dish in the comfort of our own homes.

So, we had loads of fun, learned a lot, had an absolutely wonderful meal, and nobody had to drive home afterwards - the walk from my neighbor's place took all of 24 seconds. Without a doubt, that was the best gift I've ever received. And probably the most expensive. By the end of the evening, I think the three couples, along with our guest chef and sommelier, had racked up a bill in the neighborhood of $2000. I feel guilty admitting this, but I think it might have been worth it.

Chad

jermmd · « **Reply #12 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 05:57 am »

Nice story and sounds great. Makes me wonder what the most expensive meal I ever had was. My wife and I spent $450 at MOMA in NYC on a wonderful meal with the cheapest bottle of wine on the menu. I've had a couple of meals where the bar bill was really insane but I think MOMA was number one for primarily food.

JackD201 · « **Reply #13 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 01:57 pm »

Our delegation was hosted by the Japanese Senate to a lunch served in a cottage in the middle of a 400 year old garden in the middle of Tokyo. We were feted with a stunning 7 course meal prepared in classic Edo fashion, served by Geisha and capped of with a specially prepared green tee that had the consistency of a milkshake. The experience was simply mind blowing. I've hunted high and low throughout Tokyo for similar offerings but have found no place that served food as lovingly prepared and presented. Never before or after have I ever felt both serenity while feeling excitement before every bite and euphoria after each. A full on Joel Robuchon degustation menu at his Tokyo Chateau location came closest in my personal experience but was still some way off.

Someday I wish I could travel to France sans the budgetary constraints to get to experience the best France has to offer. I'd also like to experience Chinese Imperial cuisine. I will continue to dream

ctviggen · « **Reply #14 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 02:01 pm »

I've never been disappointed by Carole Peck's Good News Cafe:

http://www.good-news-cafe.com/

Everything is great. For instance, I had a "fish and chips" from them where the fish was perfectly cooked -- crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside (and I typically HATE fish).

I've had much more expensive meals, but this restaurant is consistently the best I've been to.

jtwrace · « **Reply #15 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 02:07 pm »

pretty much when I'm eating. I love to eat! Actually, I'm starting to salivate at lunch...there's this hole in the wall place near work that I go to only once every two weeks. Only Chicken Philly but it's sooo darn good.

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #16 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 08:32 pm »

Clerk at the hotel I was staying recommended a cafe nearby on a square very near The Paris Opera House. A Swiss guy at the table next to my wife and I ask if we had ever eaten sweetbreads and if we hadn't that we should try them. We hadn't and I did. In a saffron creme sauce. I've had them a few times afterwards at a French cafe in the city I was living at the time. Absolutely delicious.

My favorite Mexican street food is Tacos Al Pastor. Con cervesa, of course.

sts9fan · « **Reply #17 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 08:50 pm »

Sweet breads is one of my favorites. In a nice brown butter sauce.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #18 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 09:18 pm »

I made a blackened Tilapia the other day. I thought it was good, but the wife said, "That's the BEST meal you've EVER made in your life. PERIOD.
Regardless of how good I thought it was, having a complement like that was simply the "greatest culinary experience ever".

Bob

drphoto · « **Reply #19 on:** 14 Apr 2010, 10:02 pm »

A place called Tapawingo in the middle of absolutely friggin' middle of nowhere northern Michigan, in a town called Ellsworth, which I think has a population of about 500. Ellsworth is about 40 miles north of Bellaire, where we were playing golf at Shabby (sorry I mean Shanty) Creek, which in turn if about 50 miles NE of Traverse City.

A week prior to going to MI, we met a couple on a course in KY and told them we were going to play in Bellaire. Being from N. MI. originally, they said we absolutely HAD to go to this restaurant.

Boy are we glad we did, after two attempts to find it.

It might be the French Laundry of the mid-West. Just spectacular presentation and taste. And while not cheap, very reasonable considering the level. In a beautiful restored farm house. No kidding....it was just first rate.

And the locals say there is an equally (if not better according to some) place called the Rowe Inn in the same town!

Plus, back in Bellaire, we went to a French Bistro that we thought we great. It was true Bistro food. I knew we were in good hands when the biftek avec pomme frites was made with flank steak. Bistro food is supposed to be low hanging fruit for the working man.

If any of you live in MI, I urge you to check out these places. Take your GPS. Really in the middle of a largely rural area.

My home town of Louisville has some great places to eat for a relatively small city, but I've never seen anything like this collection in these tiny town of N. MI.