Fantastic Dining Experiences

Mmm. Sounds like you ate at "Parker's BBQ."

Delicious.

I was living in Okinawa and one of my friends caught a huge tuna when he was on a fishing trip. He took it to a nice little seafood restaurant in our neighborhood and gave it to the chef. That night, he called up some of his friends and we went over to the bar together. We ate tuna every way you could imagine. The best was the "dessert." The chef had taken the tuna's huge head and put it in his freezer. Then, he used a little scoop to dig the meat out from behind the skull and make it into tiny balls--about the size of melon balls in a fruit salad. Frozen, flaky tuna. He stacked them in bowls and served them with a soy/wasabe/citrus dressing. It was like tuna sorbet. Absolutely amazing. The cost? A big bottle of sake that I brought with me.

Sammy--the BBQ sounds great. Where did you go?

Place: Grand Ballroom, Hotel del Coronado, San Diego.

Occasion: Wife's winning first case.

When I called to make the reservation, they asked what the occasion was. When we got there, everyone from the maitre d' to the busboy greeted my wife by name and congratulated her.

The entrees were a selection of New Year's Eve banquet entrees from the history of the hotel. I chose something from 1938, and it was out of this world.

From ambiance to service to quality of food, the Hotel Del created a night to remember.

Collies supper rooms in Bristol. I've done it a couple of times for friends birthdays and every time its been top notch.

You pay about £30 but for that you get 7 courses, a waiter brings an example of each of the choices for each course out to you so you can decide. The whole meal lasts about 3 hours and it really feels like Decandance sat in the edwardian style decoration eating wonderfull food.

Southern Style BBQ is just so much better than the shit people make up here. These ketsup-based BBQ sauces are just so terrible.

If you're ever in Texas I urge you to take a chance at a non-franchise Tex-Mex restaurant, especially in smaller towns outside of Houston or Austin. I have had great experiences with a lot of mom-n-pop's with tons of great tasting food, cheap (!) beer, and very inexpensive. This one place in Victoria, M & M's Black Bean, just brought fajitas out by the cartload and I only ended up paying $8.

Your meal sound pretty damn incredible, Sammy. I'm living vicariously through you at the moment.

I've been to The Salt Lick (yeah, that's the name) a couple of times. It's a BBQ place just outside of Austin and it never lets me down. If you're ever in the area. . .

The first time I had pho was in a small place in NY's Chinatown and it was spectacular. Still have memories about the good feelings that meal induced.

Last year while we were feeling blue after Katrina and some personal disasters my best friend came over and grilled up some catfish and made poboys. Between those and some good wine and Northern Californian mead, it was one of the best home cooked dinners I can remember.

And I'll second Nordling's advice. Mom-n-pop Mexican restaurants on the outskirts of Houston, Austin, and San Antonio are not to be missed. Cheap and great. My fave (and I don't know if it's still around) is Mi Tierra's in Pearsall outside of San Antonio. There's a joint in Austin called Nuevo Leon that comes close. (It makes up for the rest with their great margaritas.)

If you like friend chicken with your BBQ, you should check out Bullocks over in Durham. Prices are reasonable, and there are literally endless quantities of food. Everything is good, although--not a native of NC--I could live without the Brunswick Stew.

You fuckers are making me hungry.

I've had some amazing meals all over the States and in my (very limited) travels abroad, but some of the best meals I ever had were while working in a couple of different restaurants in NYC. Just little things the chef or line cook would throw together for you, usually not even on the menu. A cook from Thailand once made me the best steak au poivre I've ever had in my life, and I think it took him all of three minutes.

Hit up Dantes in Buckhead, GA. Pricey, but I loved the atmosphere of jazz, whine and fondue.

Went to a jewish wedding, so you know there was money spent, and they had the best deserts ever.

One of the best best meals I've ever had was at Commander's Palace at the Aladdin. Every single item was the best I ever had: the steak and eggs had the best strip steak, eggs, and hash browns I'd ever had, the shrimp creole was the best shrimp dish I had ever had, and the gumbo was the best gumbo I had ever had.

Plus, as it was the Sunday brunch there was a live band roaming the restaurant and a champagne cocktail sampler menu was available.

I'd probably rank it in the top three dining experiences of all time. I've come to the conclusion that Vegas may be the new dining capital of the U.S.

I've had a lot of great meals in a lot of great places (Morton's of Chicago in Chicago, Smith & Wolanski's in New York, etc.) but my all time favorite experience was from a take out rib shack located in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. I was there on business (it's a tough job I have sometimes) and after a long day of anaylzing some island communication systems, I was too tired to go out to eat. There was this little food stand across the street from my Hotel, so I said what the hell. I got take out of the "extra hot" ribs, and never in my life have I ever had anything that good. Some bizarre kind of jerk/cajun/(ganja?) seasonings, and the meat shook right off the bones.

I became addicted, and ate there every night for the rest of my week there. I returned a few years later, and said rib shack was gone. I was then forced to drown my sorrows in St. Cruzan 151 rum.

You may not be far wrong, Overlord. I read an article a few months ago about how Vegas has become a major magnet for cooking talent.

It's been a good 15 years since I've eaten there, so I can't comment on the quality today. Morton's of Chicago is still aces though...

My great dining experiences are always with smaller places, too. There's an authentic, family-run Mexican restaurant around the corner from where I live now that makes the best quesadillas I've ever had. In fact, their carnitas (roast pork) quesadilla is untouchable. They make their own chips and salsa there as well, and they have perhaps the best calibrated/carbonated Diet Coke I've ever experienced.

Plus, their desserts are badass including my favorite, tres leches cake topped with a seasonal fresh fruit medley. And all of that will set you back $15, maybe. Not only is the food great, but they know me and my wife and they take care of us every single time we're there.

Fancy, high-priced restaurants like Morton's (actually, especially Morton's) frequently disappoint me when I try them. You're almost always better off with a smaller, more intimate place.

I went to a steakhouse is Tampa called Bern's. The cheapest plate was around $50 (I believe, I may be wrong on that). Anyways, it wasn't very good. They age their meat which dries it out too much for my taste. Sure, the meat is tender, but it's just not as flavorful. Not nearly worth it (but it was for work, so it didn't matter to me).

Suprisingly, though, I had a great meal at Emeril's in Miami. I expected it to be overpriced crap, but it was instead overpriced greatness.

My last two meals at Morton's in Costa Mesa, and my last meal at Morton's Chicago, were among the ten most disappointing meals of my life. Morton's used to be my favorite, but it's gone downhill. Ruth Chris has supplanted it as my "work meeting" restaurant of choice.

I'm often in Las Vegas for work. Which rules.

DS, I enjoyed Cruzan a year or two before it showed up here in the U.S,. I greatly enjoyed/abused the rum options that had more alcohol by volume than the 80 proof we see here. When I saw Cruzan here (in RumJungle, Mandalay Bay, of all places) I was pretty darn excited until I found out that the 151 and 100 proof versions of the flavored rums had been excised entirely from the U.S. catalogue.

**I found Emeril's in Miami to be overpriced crap.

It was mediocre here in Atlanta, and when I tried Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill in New York, it was much the same.

I think some of these celebrity chefs become too conservative when they get famous. That, and they're too far removed from the day to day of their operations. At least Batali stays in NYC so he's never too far from one of this places.

I used to love the Riverwalk, but not so much anymore. I have been to Rio Rio and it is quite good. But it's so damn busy down there.

Damn, I'm sorry to hear this, Gutte. I pimp Bern's whenever I can as I've had nothing but amazing experiences there.

I think it's a nice place to go, though. I'd recommend the experience, if nothing else for the creepy pride which the resaurant takes in the fact that it's adorned with priceless art which was stolen by the founder during WWII. And the little rooms that you go into for desert are pretty cool.

Yea, the dessert level is insane. I loved the tour of the whole place...tons of people in the back working their asses off. They grow just about all of their own stuff, along with farm raising their meat (and that wine collection...ridiculous). My wife got a little freaked out when she saw the fish tanks with that night's "special" in them.

That can never be underappreciated, Micah. There's a rib place here that has the combination down right. Fortunately, the food is also good. But sometimes I get a craving specifically for a Diet Coke from that place.

Herbert's cajon food stand in College Station, Texas has great cheap cajun food. Of course, it's a little shack in a parking lot, so you get to create your own ambience at home.

I agree with the aforementioned small Tex-Mex places.

Smith & Wolenski's was great the last time I was there, but it's been a few years.

I also really like the Gristmill in Gruene, Texas. Consistently above average (not exceptional) food, but a lovely friendly atmosphere.

As a New Orleans native we are gradually getting some of our best restaurants back. One of them is Galatoire's. For the best dining experience, appetizer is a plate of shrimp Remoulade, Oysters En Brochette, and lump crabmeat. Entree is Filet Oscar: a Filet Mignon on a bed of creamed spinach with bearnaise sauce on top and crabmeat on top of that. For dessert you get bananas foster bread pudding. The cocktails there are also very strong and it's a fun place. Not intimate and quiet, usually pretty loud, but the best experience in the city.

Makes me wish i lived in Texas or adjacent areas. But then again i'm not fat and don't plan on it, Texas would make me fat though (I live in Michigan, we have few excuses for our fatness, lots of subpar eateries).

Can't remember the name of the place (but there's only like 3 in the whole township anyway, so you know, easy to find), but I think the best breakfast I've ever had was al fresco poached eggs on inch-thick toast at Fox Glacier in New Zealand's South Island. Perfection. My younger brother had this exquisite looking bagel smothered with cream cheese and raspberry jam - you just wanted to frame it, it looked so wonderful. Gorgeous setting, crystal clear morning, outstanding food and super friendly service.

For dessert, I can't top a fresh made chocolate cake with a dark choc hot chocolate at the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place, Sydney. Divine.

I've had some incredible meals, especially living in Chicago but the best meal I ever had was at home during Thanksgiving last year. My-fuckng-god. My entire life we would go eat at my cousin's house with the rest of the family, and it was always decent enough. Last year was different though, as my father decided to have it at home with just our immediate family (and my brother-in-law's immediate family).

We had brown bag cooked turkey from Chinatown (best turkey I've ever had), Chateaubriand with homemade bernaise and horseraddish sauce, a broccoli and cheddar souffle that I watched being made and included 4 full sticks of butter, stuffing, macaroni and cheese with a layer of bacon at the top, and then for dessert cake (which I paid no mind to) and a chocolate fountain (only $15) with marshmallows, strawberries, banana and cake.

I passed the fuck out half-way through the Falcons game.

The food in Vegas is the only thing I like about living in this town. All of my friends from Los Angeles want to go to shitty buffets, but I try to convince them that there are many places to get great meals.

My favorite Italian food joint is called The Bootlegger. It has been in Vegas for 50 years, and all of their ingrediants are imported from Italy. I would call it the exact opposite of the Olive Garden. The atmosphere is real nice, there are pictures of the Rat Pack up and in the evenings they have live music. Prices aren't exactly cheap, but it is well worth it.

I'm not a huge fan of quesadillas but that does sound good!

My faves are: The Nirala Indian restaraunt in Tewkesbury, England. Great onion bhajis to start & an excellent chicken phal (you have to ask for it.) That may be simply because I miss that stuff!

La Hacienda Ranch in Colleyville, TX. Without a doubt the best steak I've ever had. Mesquite-grilled & served with skillet potatoes (that's my choice.) Great stuff, free chips & the best home-made salsa around. Although a few months back I finally figured out how to make their salsa & for some strange reason we just don't go there as often as we used to!

Hell, I'm hungry now!

I had a fantastic chicken marasala at Olive Garden. And the breadsticks JUST KEPT COMING! How do they do it? I don't know!

Obviously, they have a lot of breadsticks. Seriously though, if you want a good chicken marsala try Carabba's. While the Olive Garden one is pretty good it's got nothing on theirs.

Just discovered a very nice Italian place in Denver -- the best Italian I've had except for in New York -- Nona's Italian Bistro at Leetsdale & Monaco. I had their Chicken Marsala. My dining partner had the Eggplant, and it was terrific, too.

You fucking bastard. I hope you get heartburn and shit brown soup for a year. Franchise bitch!

You're dead to me. You and your non-discriminating taste buds.

Bastard. I came in here to post this. I was shocked it took this long for someone to mention Olive Garden in the thread to piss people off.

My 21st bithday. Lunch at the Quiet Man pub in Dover, NJ.
Shot of Rumple Minz (sp?), pint of Guinness and the best damn hamburger I've ever tasted.

I also dig Arthur's Steakhouse in Morristown, NJ... 24 oz of heaven and potatoes on the side. They don't f**k around with other crap like salad, rice, veggies.

Best hotdogs in the world... Jimmy's on 25th St. in Easton, PA. Used to be across the bridge in Phillipsburg, NJ for years. Been around since before the flood of '55 and when my mom was a wee kid. They cook the dogs in peanut oil. They're so addictive. 2 Greek guys: a short one with the scariest comb-over ever witnessed, and a tall mustached guy who's so old he's hunched over to the height of the short guy. They've been working there for over 50 years (12 hours a day easy) and the "taller" guy has a permanently stained yellow thumb from the mustard. Gotta get a Jimmy with everything (mustard, onions, pickle) and a chocolate milk. Makes my mouth water. My in-laws (God bless em) visited my wife and I with a cooler of Jimmy's when they came to Orlando.

Best milkshakes & perogies... Richard's Drive-In (Greasy Dick's) in Easton as well.

For kickass cheese-steaks, gotta go closer to Philly.

I live in Orlando now, and I'm fiending for this stuff.

Here's a new one. Maybe not the best I've ever had but an unusual experience for me.

They're just opening a BJ's Brewhouse in Arlington & my friend was given an invitation through the law firm he works for. It was a training night for the staff before the place opens on Tuesday. So the 4 of us went last night, really nice looking place with it's own range of beers. We tried several of those!!

As for the food, we were only given a limited menu that they requested we each order something different from. 3 of us went for pizza & my wife chose the sesame chicken salad. I'm really not a big fan of pizza but it was pretty good, about 8 inches wide & easily 2 inches deep. Mine was BBQ chicken & on the whole very tasty, just way too filling for me. I managed less than half of it before I was stuffed! We did see other people getting stuff that wasn't offered to us & it had me drooling.

On the whole, a fun night out & very cheap as the food was free! We did have to pay for the beer but the cost of that was donated to charity. I think there's a good possibility we'll be going back there again.

A few years ago several friends and I all got together and rented a house in the south of France for a week. It was right on the Med, about 35 miles west of Cannes, but it was surprisingly affordable since it was the off season. There was a little village about 1 KM down the road that we drove by every day. On the last night we decided to find a place there to have dinner. We found one place that didn’t look like much from the outside, but the smells coming from it were great. The place was called Le Sud. We went in only to find what would be considered a 4 star restaurant. Before I was able to look at the menu everyone was inside being led to a big round table right by the kitchen. There was a huge window and we had a clear view of what the chef’s were doing. None of us spoke much French and none of the staff spoke much English. There was one guy who knew a little, but he wasn’t always around. They didn’t give us a hard time about the language barrier and we all had a good laugh over it. We figured out that it was going to be a 7 course extravaganza. It has been a couple of years, so I don’t remember exactly what we had with each course. I do remember the we had an amazing seafood bisque (I think) early on in the game as well as some perfect rolls. The bisque came out in these little serving bowls which gave you just enough to spark your appetite, and just too little that you wish you had more. When it came time to order the main course the English speaking guy was no where to be found. We all tried to figure out what the waiter was saying and we each ended up being suppressed by what we had ordered. By the time we got through it we were all laughing, including the waiter. I ended up with the most perfect lamb chop that I think the world has ever seen. The flavor was fantastic. I don’t normally like lamb, but this was just so good.

After the main course they brought out a cheese tray. I swear it was easily 3 foot x 4 foot and it was loaded. Before we each chose a cheese the waiter let us know that we should go easy since the next course was desert. We each picked out a couple that we wanted to try, but the waiter gave each of us one that he thought we should try first. By all accounts, his choice perfectly set off each of our main course choices; they just blended just right with the residual flavors in your mouth. The cheese we chose were all good, but his picks were right on the money.

Next came desert. We had all thought that the waiter had said we would get a choice of 7 items. We misunderstood. We each got 7 items. They brought it out in this huge pyramid type tray. Nothing was too big, but they all went together very well and there were items for every kind of taste. There were cakes, tarts, fruits, chocolates, ice creams, hard candies and a few other things. We were all in heaven. We just started laughing when we saw it. It was enough that the head chef came out to check up on us. He came out with a bit of a concerned look on his face, but when he saw our delight he just lit up. After that they brought out the brandy. As with everything else, it just fit so well.

I’m not sure if it was just the right place at the right time, but that was probably the best meal that I ever had. The food was great, the atmosphere was great, I was there with friends and it was an adventure. The perfect combo. It ended up being 110 euros per person and it was worth every bit of it.

If any of you guys ever get out to Stuttgart, germany there's this great italian place right in the heart of the city. I spent a day out there touring the Mercedes Benz museum, got to hear the Rolling Stones do a soundcheck. and shot some awesome photos of the city. Best part about the whole trip was the dinner before getting back on the train. Not too expensive and the food was great.

If you're in Philly and have money to burn, Morimoto's is just as good as you'd expect.