What is the single greatest meal of your life?

no kidding. way overpriced too...they just can't get it right. so bomb diggy.

 

2004. Had a college buddy 4-day weekend in Lincoln City, and we stayed in two neighboring houses on Devil's Lake. A group of us went crabbing one day, brought back a few coolers full of them, and had a crab boil with butter and garlic, among some sides that I don't remember.

Fresh caught Dungeness, and a TON of beers that night, but it was fantastic.

A close second was at my brother's bachelor party in Vegas. Went to Batista's Hole in the Wall, and we rented out the back room and got hammered along with great company and some tasty veal parmesan.

For 'best restauarant' meal, it's hard for me to not love Giordano's in Chicago by Grant Park, but again, it's more about the location and the people, probably, than the food.

 

Our wedding rehearsal dinner. Grandparents made the best homemade Mexican feast imaginable!

 

we have insane catering at events all the time (kobe beef, lobster everything, truffle oil, whatever) but the best meal i ever had was the first burrito i had after getting into california driving cross country, in a gas station, the place was called el delicioso and it fucking was

 

There's a schwarma place by my new house... I'll have to give it a try.

 

Schwarma in Damascus is just insane... not quite like Doner Kebab, because that shit is Turkish (I think?) But the Syrians do it right especially since each one cost roughly 25 cents.

 

So a burrito in Syria is the best meal ever, and it costs .25?

We Americans are idiots. Here I was wanting more flavors than sea salt, spices, and pepper.

I did really love schrimp scampi for Gionvanni's on NS Oahu, though. Yeah, it was fun. We were travelling and had just got down surfing. Delish!!

 

Always my next one.

 

Tough question. Is it the food? Overall experience? Level of fun?

I once shared bad food with someone I was in the process of falling wildly in love with (mutually). It was certainly memorable but not for the food.

I do remember a friend going fishing and we ate salmon just caught, so good. And some really good Thanksgiving dinners - one reason I like Thanksgiving is that turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberries and pies are all among my favorite things. Also remember the first time I ate various things (had quail for the first time on my sabbatical, also duck liver flan which sounds disgusting but was really good).

I simply cannot say what was my best food meal ever. But on my recent sabbatical I went to 28 different restaurants (not counting things like a cup of tea from Starbucks on I-5) and my best meal was at the Slanted Door in the San Francisco Ferry Building. It's billed as Vietnamese/Asian fusion. I started with duck confit salad. I'm very fond of duck and rarely cook it since it's such a pain in the butt to fix. Duck was perfect, very fresh greens, good dressing, really enough for two but I ate it all. Then I had (after much deliberation) pork noodles (clearly don't keep kosher!). A bed of rice noodles, a bed of very fresh and crisp bean sprouts and pork three ways; loin braised in a soy-sauce base, fried pork belly, very crisp, and minced in spring rolls, also came with some greens and dipping sauce. Everything was perfectly cooked and all the flavors went well together. They even had a special blend of tea. (next time I go there I'm trying one of their special cocktails). Dessert was entirely Western, two freshly baked snickerdoodles made an ice cream sandwich with super premium vanilla ice cream. The cookies were still warm from the oven so the ice cream was just beginning to melt around the edges. It took a few napkins to eat that. In my 28 restaurant California tour I learned that too many places don't do dessert well, including high end places, this one was really simple and so good.

 

I think this rule is true 90% of the time. But if it's something you've cooked and it is truly amazing, it's alright. But don't go bragging about it.

 

I rarely get dessert at restaurants, but I have heard this often.

 

I've skipped meals for 36 hours on fasts. Scrambled eggs for breakfast afterwards with some instant coffee tastes like a goddamned orgasm.

Overall, I'd say that now that I mostly live on low-carb food, whenever I go off it I'm just amazed at how fucking delicious food is. A simple burger and fries tastes utterly astounding. But it goes away. I find that when I eat too much sugar over a period of weeks things just don't taste that remarkable anymore.

I think there are three elements to a truly great meal: Great environment, great food and a metabolic state that's really open to the experience. We focus on the first two because it's more convenient/easy (which is probably one reason we're so fat.) But hike 10 miles on a hot August day, and that Coors Light sitting in the cooler under the truck will taste better than the finest Crystal. Go 30 days with 20 carbs or less/day, and a Chips Ahoy cookie will kick the ass of anything a French pastry chef can whip up. Try a 24 hour fast and whatever you have in your fridge will be a damned buffet of goodness.

I used to hate the idea of eating healthy just because I'm a foodie and I didn't want to miss out. Now that I've switched, I realize how much I was missing out before. I used to eat a lot more and enjoy it a lot less. Good eating is as much about what you bring to the food as what the food brings to you.

 

I still take pictures of my cakes.

 

I take pictures of everything. I want to recall what I ate and what I do.

I look back years and years in my archives, see a picture and it jogs back a previously forgotten memory. It can be something as simple as a popsicle, and I'll remember the context, what I was doing, etc.

:MARIS61:

 

But do you post it all on facebook to brag?

 

This would be so cute in a nice little lifestyles blog. You can post pictures of the cleansing snack you had after an amazing yoga class.

:MARIS61:

 

a few here and there. the only thing I regularly post on fb are random basketball thoughts.

I have 42k photos on flickr over the last decade or so...which is what I mainly use...but mainly as an archive. I think with having better camera phones, going to get more.

do more instagram: http://instagram.com/partyonbro

 

soulcycle, yo.

 

I just didn't "get" the shrimp trucks. not my cup of tea..they were ok i guess..but people raved on and on about them. I did like Giovanni's better than the Kahuku truck, but thought they were both overrated.

Lou Malnati's has my favorite deep dish in chicago.