What’s The Best Meal You Ever Had?

Nine years ago, I was in Berlin with two friends and we wanted to try Berlin’s best Döner. So we asked everybody we spoke to where wo should go, and most people directed us to the same place. It *actually* was amazing. After I finished mine, I was super sad that I wasn’t hungry anymore, because I wanted to eat another one straight away.

A couple memorable ones are…

Lunch of poutine and delicious draft IPA at a local pub on Canada’s Sunshine Coast, BC, watching the seaplanes coming in to the harbor…

Scallop sandwiches or chicken croquettes at The Highland in Pittsfield, Mass, which has been open nearly 100 years…

Anything on the breakfast menu at Sunnypoint Cafe in Asheville, NC…

A $3 bahn mi eaten standing up outside a tiny no name Vietnamese sandwich shop in San Francisco as the rain fell…

Thanks for the walk down memory lane :)

I have a few!
Highbrow/fancy: Blue Hill at Stone Barns. After our son was born, my partner and I decided to splurge after getting our tax return. Spring is such a great time to visit because they’ll just be coming out of root vegetable season. Since we’d been there before, they did a little something extra and led us to the kitchen to serve some courses there. We got to watch all the chefs in action. My favorite dish was DIY scallop tacos using a giant shaved rutabega as the “tortilla.” Every dish is so thoughtfully created and presented. Some may find it pretentious, but I just love going there to see the farm and visit the animals before sitting down to eat.

Lowbrow/unfancy: Every weekend dim sum trip. We have been going to the same place for almost 10 years now. They have seen us go from newly dating to pregnant, and then have watched our son grow up in their high chairs and booster seats. They closed at the start of the pandemic and we are hoping that we will see them come back after all this. Growing up in California, I had the same experience, going to the same dim sum place my whole life. I left the state when I was 13 and returned after graduating college to visit. My uncle took me to the dim sum restaurant and the same maitre’d recognized me and said “My, you’ve grown up!” It’s always like a homecoming for me, wherever I am.

Homecooked:
I visited Paris about 12 years ago and we stayed with a local woman. She cooked cassoulet for us and served it with crusty bread and a side salad of endives, tomatoes, and mushrooms.
Also any time my grandma makes her DIY fresh vegetarian lumpia. The filling is made with carrots, green beans, and tofu. The add-ons include shredded scrambled eggs, seaweed, ground peanuts with sugar, and a garlic vinegar sauce.
And lastly, the oxtail ragu my partner makes. It gets cooked low and slow in the oven, then he picks the meat off the tail pieces and gives me the bones to gnaw on. He serves it over cheesy polenta – it’s really filling and perfect for a cold night.

Close to 15 years ago now I was with my second family (my parents lived in OR and I went to college in PA, but thankfully my best friend from high school also moved to PA about the year before, so I spent a lot of time at their house) and after my bestie’s performance we went out to eat at an Italian restaurant. I had linguini with clams and goat cheese and holy moly, I can still taste how perfect it was this many years later. It was a perfect bowl of food.

I’m so late to this but I love these comments! I have a few, all related to travel. I think there’s just something so magical about travel food memories, and reading these comments was like a virtual vacation. I may have gone a little crazy here but….

1. The most incredible, tender, fresh from the ocean octopus sauteed and served in a huge cast iron skillet bubbling with olive oil, garlic, and sliced onions. Recommended by the chef at a tiny cafe down a sidestreet in Porto, Portugal. Midway through the meal it started pouring rain, but our little outdoor umbrella kept us dry as we enjoyed our rich, heavenly meal
2. Beef tartare in Paris. Enough said.
3. Literally melt in your mouth steak in Medellin, Colombia
4. Chicken doesn’t usually do much for me, but I had wood-fired chicken at a restaurant in Bogota, Colombia that blew my mind. It was fall off the bone tender, juicy, and infused with the deepest smoky flavor complemented by a savory sauce and a crisp local beer
5. I was leading a college study abroad in Greece, on the island of Crete I snuck away from the students to have dinner alone, at a tiny empty outdoor taverna with checkered tablecloths. I sat in the sun and ate Dakos–a traditional Crete food of dried crusty bread topped with the most sumptuous, juicy chopped tomatoes, fresh feta cheese, local olive oil, and oregano with a giant side of thick, creamy tzaziki eaten with warm pita bread.
6. Ceviche in Lima, Peru–the freshest, barely cooked fish imaginable in a tart, salty lime sauce with local sweet potato and friend Incan corn with spicy sliced red onions
7. Ethiopian food served at a hole in the wall sitting on cushions in Cape town, South Africa. The spices in that food omg!
8. Crispy, savory vegetable spring rolls fried fresh in our homestay in Sapa, Vietnam after a long day of hiking
9. Thick, fluffy skillet-cooked bread served with a hefty pat of butter, eaten outside by the fire at our safari lodge in Sabi Sands South Africa after a game drive
10. The creamiest, most savory, complex butter chicken served (of all places) at a random hotel I was staying at in Muscat, Oman. Ate the whole bowl of it in my room till I was stuffed to the brim and ordered a second
11. Drinks: Giant Roja beer at a tiny off the road brewery outside of Cusco, Peru. The first sweet, tart, straight to your head sip of a pisco sour in Santiago Chile after finishing a 5 day hike on the W trail. Stumbling hungover to lunch and being given a free glass of champagne at a steakhouse in Buenos Aires, those crisp bubbles really brought me life. A sip of whiskey given to us from our bike tour guide in Vinales, Cuba. The local beer in any country, probably just as bad as bud light but always tastes amazing when you’re on vacation. And finally, my favorite sweet, spicy, smoky cocktail at Tres Gatos in my current hometown of Boston, MA.

A few domestic shout-outs:
1. Duck fat fries at Annabelle Lee Tavern in Baltimore (SO bad for you but so delicious omg)
2. Not food, but the latte in my hometown of Athens, Ohio with an extra shot of espresso and milk from the local creamery
3. ENORMOUS portions of Peruvian chicken, plantains, and yucca fries served with the most incredible spicy, creamy green sauce at Cabanitas (now sadly closed) in Baltimore
4. Chocolate and almond croissants at this place (can’t remember the name) in the Richmond in SF. I swear they were better than Paris!

I clearly get a lot of joy from good food…

This story about my most epic meal is going to start out really gross and sad but I promise it will get better towards the end.

When I was pregnant with my second child I had horrendous, all-day nausea and vomiting that usually had me faint with hunger and dehydration. My husband and I had planned a trip to Mexico City with our toddler before we had gotten pregnant, and despite my pregnancy symptoms I was DETERMINED to go and have a good time.

My most epic meal ever took place on one of my most miserable days of pregnancy. I had planned a day packed with activities — a museum, an outdoor market, an old church, and the Palace of Fine Arts at the city center. I hustled my husband and daughter to each of these destinations and also discreetly threw up at each place we visited. By the time it was early afternoon I could barely see, but I VERY MUCH wanted to go to the Palace of Fine Arts. I chugged some water, hoped for the best, and called us an Uber to the city center.

There was something happening inside the Palace of Fine Arts that required us to wait at the entrance for a bit before entering. The day was sweltering, I was quite dizzy, and the guard had caught me leaning against the building entrance as we waited in line and shook his finger at me, gesturing for me to stand without touching the wall. I stood for what seemed like an eternity, nauseous, hungry, thirsty, and in a cold sweat.

When we were finally admitted I saw, like a beautiful mirage in the distance, a museum cafe. There were white tablecloths, flowers in vases, glasses of cold water, and blasts of cool air from the AC. For some reason, feeling the kind of hunch I’ve learned in two pregnancies to roll with, I had the sense that if I ate a plain steak I would be able to keep it down and cure my dizziness and nausea. I sat down in the cafe and sent my husband to look at the murals. My toddler passed out beside me in her stroller. I ordered myself a steak. I sat in the cafe, in the quiet, sweat evaporating off my skin, water pouring down my throat, and the sensation of a zillion calories shooting through my body as I wolfed down that steak and discovered that it was the first meal in two days I could eat.

I’ve had so many good meals with friends and family in so many times and places, but I remember that steak I ate in Mexico City in the midst of a truly arduous pregnancy with special fondness.

Probably 10 years ago My husband ( who was then my boyfriend)’s mom came out to Oregon to visit for the first time since we had moved there from Massachusetts. We had such a great time showing her Portland, wine tasting in the Willamette valley, eating really delicious breakfasts at home. One night we went to Toro Bravo, which was pretty new at the time and had the most fun, delicious meal that I’ll remember forever. When my mother in law died last Spring and we were cleaning out her house I found the paper menu from that night tucked in a book.

I just went down memory lane! My best meal: I was with my mom, my aunt and my cousin. We were on a boat tour of the Amalfi coast, when the boat stopped for lunch at this little place. I don’t even know the name of it, but it was the best local Italian I have ever had, fresh fish, fresh pasta…my mouth waters just thinking about it! The company was fantastic, the views amazing, and the food was perfect.

Mmmmmm, great topic! I have enjoyed everyone’s sharing of both food and companionship. My most favorite:
On my 12th birthday, my parents took me to a white table cloth restaurant and told me I could order anything. I got the whole lobster with Newberg in the center. They were skeptical; I was certain. Much to my mother’s disappointment, I ate it ALL (‘cos she was hoping for leftovers, LOL).
Giant burger with blue cheese, grilled onion and pickles from Acorn on Oak in Chicago. Alas sadly long gone, but still my standard for a burger.
1979 California: first sushi, first oreo ice cream (probably first ever).
Louisiana: bar be cue shrimp (oh, the butter), crawfish, shrimp, crabs, gumbo, yeah, no sacrifice for Lent here.
Love you all, stay safe, many thanks for the essential workers.

Through some flattering fandom, my husband, in-laws and I got placed at the chef’s table at Ka’ana Kitchen in Maui. We had the most amazing meal of made to order dishes (octopus that literally melts in your mouth!) and wine pairings while overlooking the Wailea sunset. It will always be on my list of most memorable meals.

My best friend and I play this game all the time! My favorite meals have been that perfect, magical combination of experience, time/place/company, and of course the meal…

1. Dinner at the only tiny bistro in French hamlet Le Puy de Notre Dame with two girlfriends-amazing, rustic French food, copious amounts of wine, and deep conversations with friends=perfection

2. Dinner at a restaurant in Seattle which unfortunately no longer exists-Elemental…they had two seatings a night, they just brought you food with wine pairings. This is the restaurant that got me into food/wine. The owner gave me a bottle of the wine I was raving about on the house. I’ll never experience better service and hospitality.

3. Dinner at Talulas Table in Kennet Square outside of Philadelphia. They only serve one table a night, and reservations are hard to come by/coveted…therefore when a big snow storm was coming the night of ours we knew we had to make it work. Amazing meal and then abandoning our now snowed in cars to walk a mile in a blizzard to the nearest hotel, warm from wine and food and friends will always be a favorite memory of my life.

4. Cooking class in Hoi An, Vietnam at the Red Bridge cooking school. Amazing, fresh dishes, but even better company and fun meeting new people and creating the food together.

5. Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid. There are probably less touristy spots…but I love the covered market and wandering from stall to stall with a glass of wine in hand to eat all the things…I have dreams about the freshly made burratta…

I happened to be in Scotland for my 20th birthday. On the big day, I summited Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles, with a couple of vastly more physically fit friends. After the hike (which nearly killed me — they didn’t let me stop for a rest or water the whole way up!), we drove to Loch Ness and ate fish and chips out of traditional newspaper cones on the lakeshore, while watching the sun set. Magical.

This is one of my favorite “reader comment” posts, thank you! I’ve been thinking hard on this ever since I started listening to the “Off Menu” podcast.

Lobster roll and and raspberry scone overlooking Casco Bay at Salt Cod Cafe, Orr’s Island Maine.

this post brought up such lovely memories.

the little roadside cafe in greece where i ate souvlaki with my dad with a view of the parthenon and my teenage mind was blown.

the lovely sushi dinner in seattle that my uncle took me and my partner, making him feel so welcome in my family.

the quail at the vietnamese restaurant in sydney – i was 8, so you can’t trust my memories, but i thought it was the greatest thing i had ever put in my mouth.

so many more memories – first pork bun, soup dumplings, new orleans beignet, fresh lobster in maine, tagine from our homestay family in morocco, tapas in spain, and more. but those stand out to me

When I was 20 I was in Israel visiting friends I knew from an international program. I spent my last night with one of the adult leaders as she was taking me to the airport in the morning. I was SO hungover and her husband made me butternut squash pasta. Hands down the best thing I’ve ever eaten!

In the early 60’s I was visiting my aunt who lived in Berlin, Md
For dinner she made fried chicken in a cast iron pan, corn on the cob and fried green tomatoes. Dessert was a homemade orange cake. I remember it like it was yesterday

The Rum Pineapple Doberge topped with bitter cherry ice cream from the Palace Cafe in New Orleans. Literally the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted.

I’m detoxing, so I don’t eat my kids weight in chocolate, and I read ALL the comments ???

The Inn at Little Washington for my husband’s 50th birthday dinner. Everything was beyond our imaginations. It ended with “apparently, a pear” which looks exactly like a pear but is really pear cheesecake with port poached pear center and almond financier with amaretto sabayon. The whole thing was mind blowing.

The best meal I’ve ever had was the simplest. But this is where I had it:

On the porch of my then-boyfriend’s mother’s house. Her house was an hour north of Boone, NC, beautifully situated on 150 acres of pristine woods (She had her own fish pond so visiting her for any length of time was basically a spa vacation).
Our dinner was a bottle of Biltmore Estates red (I don’t remember the type, just know it was good), ribeyes from the local butcher that we threw on her gas grill, new potatoes with herbs, and a lettuce, tomato and mushroom salad with oil and vinegar. What made the meal memorable: All of the veggies came directly from her garden and were, literally, SECONDS old! There is no greater bliss, I think, than biting into a sun-warmed tomato slice that has been doused with olive oil and vinegar, or a new potato, lightly steamed (when it’s this fresh you don’t want to do too much) and flaked with salt, pepper, parsley AND THAT’S IT.
Did I mention that we ate on her porch as we watched the sun set? And did I also mention that we listened to Celtic trad as we ate the best meal ever?
Dessert was vanilla ice cream. That’s all you need for the perfect dining experience, good friends, beautiful scenery and fresh, amazing food.

Agedashi tofu at a small family Japanese restaurant in Seattle called Kiriba. It’s comfort food In a bowl. I’ve had it elsewhere and no comparison to Kiribas. Unfortunately, they are one of many restaurants closed right now. It just may be my first go-to meal after things get back to “normal”. Be safe, stay well, everyone

I love this thread, and I’m glad I’m glad I’m eating while reading it, otherwise I’d be SALIVATING haha. My top 3:

1) The omelettes at my dining hall freshman year of college. I straight up hated eggs before that, but Chef Pat made me fall in love with them!

2) The meat/cheese and cheese/herb biscuits at A Baked Joint in DC. I swear I think about these biscuits multiple times a week and often wanna hop on a 4-hour bus down there just to get some…am honestly casually looking at jobs in DC just to be near these biscuits lol.

3) Chicken and waffles, fried green tomato/bacon/egg biscuit sandwiches, and a-genius-half-serving-of-peach-cobbler-French-toast-because-we-wouldn’t-be-able-to-manage-a-full-plate at Atlanta Breakfast Club in Georgia. I was on a trip with one of my best friends and we were actually in a cab to another place when we stopped at a red light and saw this place next to us. It had a small crowd waiting so we figured it must be good, and in a split-second asked our driver to drop us off there instead. BEST SPONTANEOUS DECISION EVER!

It was a nice trip down memory lane and a great way to remember what I have been thankful for over the years. Good food and memories with the people I love.
1. Homemade anniversary dinner last October. My partner grilled lamb chops, I’ve never been able to make them well myself but he did an amazing job. The whole setup was extremely romantic.

2. My best friend and I went to Nobu Downtown in NY. The brussel sprouts were the best thing ever.
3. Peter Luger my partner went for our one year anniversary in last December. It was the best because I was with him. The portions were all enormous.
4. Cinnamon’s in Honolulu at the flanked ribs with mac salad. I still think about this meal. Everyone was so nice and they had amazing drinks.
5. Duke’s Waikiki there buffet breakfast was amazing. All the fruit tasted so amazing. I had three plates of food and lived to tell the tale.

My two daughters and I were in Taormina, Sicily last September and the photo brought back so many fond memories! Bellisimo!
Ellen

Halfway down the comments I burst into tears. The only meal I want is Campbell’s tomato soup and grilled cheese with my grandma. I went over to her house every Saturday growing up, and we’d always make this for lunch. She died almost two years ago, and I just got really sad that we won’t get to eat this meal together again. She loved telling people about our lunch tradition, even years after I moved away and we stopped having our Saturday lunches. I miss her, and I guess now I love telling people about our tradition too.

I’ll join the fun! Foreign Cinema in the Mission District of San Francisco. We’d gone to see the Stein Family Art collection and dined out every meal of the week.

A salad starter of fresh baby greens, sea bass with a fava bean purée as the entree. Accompanied by a delightful white Tempranillo.

My husband had been recounting his extensive bicycling experiences in Texas, Colombia, and Japan with our young waiter in the densely populated restaurant.

It was difficult to hear and the waiter stopped by for one last visit and quipped, “Do you have any more arcane biking knowledge?”

Well sated from the fresh food and the crispy wine his retort came from both his lack of hearing and his Minnesota roots, “Only that the Kensington Ruin Stones antiquated Columbus’s discovery of America by 130 years!”

I howled with laughter as the astonished waiter looked quizzically at me. I said, “ Biking! Not Viking! Besides, have you ever mentioned the Kensington Ruin Stones to anyone, that was a hoax!”

He chortled and said, “No one ever asked me that before!”

1. Ava Gene’s in Portland (note: I’ve been there since and it was good, but not as good as the first time we went, which was so insanely good…every bite).
2. Rich Table in SF – we live in SF and it’s consistently my favorite restaurant in the city. They make really special food.
3. Tartine in NYC – I dream about the spicy chicken and fries and there is nothing I love more than BYOB red wine, chicken, and fries date night with my husband at Tartine whenever we’re in NYC.
4. Dishoom in London – it’s not overhyped. It really is that good…and so consistently good.
5. Captaine in Paris – amazing restaurant in Paris.
6. AOC in LA – it’s so cozy at night (brick arches, fireplaces, vines), delicious, and you sometimes spot a celeb there (we sat next to Lily Tomlin)

Okay, sorry had to include 6. :)