When I was 23, I lived in a little village called Lindos on the Greek island of Rhodes for a few months, working in a bar and then later a nightclub. One of the bar owners, a lovely Italian guy called Claudio, had a boat, and one day he took me and some of the other British workers out on it for the day.
We spent all day pootling about the Med, jumping off the boat to swim and sunbathing on tiny, secluded beaches only reachable by boat. On the way home, Claudio hung a fishing line off the back of the boat, and managed to catch an enormous tuna. We went back to his villa, where he cooked that fish, which had been swimming in the sea an hour earlier, in Greek olive oil, with chillis and lemons picked from his garden, and served it with pasta cooked as only an Italian can.
It was pretty much a perfect day, and the food, simply served and absolutely fresh, was the most delicious I’ve ever tasted.
It was July of 1982, we were camping in southern Colorado,and there were about six of us, maybe seven, we were all 20-somethings, the husband and I newlyweds.
The wildflowers were in full bloom; I especially remember the paintbrush.
We were camped near water, I think it was a smaller stream that branched off from the Rio Grande.
In the morning, I got the coffee going on our little camp stove, and my sister in law sliced some homemade bread.
My husband and his buddy caught trout after trout.
We ate scrambled eggs, fresh-caught trout, and bread and butter.
It was the food of the gods.
I’ve had other memorable meals since then, some elaborate, some simple, some in Europe, some in big cities here in the States, some fancy restaurants, some little holes in the wall.
But that campside meal has always stayed with me, in part because I think this was the first time I truly understood the meaning and importance of fresh ingredients. Plus we were young and carefree and in a beautiful place.
sidenote: Last night my brother in law caught a nice sea trout. He had to fly out, so he gave it to us. I seasoned it Creole style and we ate it with mango salsa. Fresh caught really does make a difference.
I’ve had two outstanding restaurant meals. One was in a very expensive steakhouse - filet mignon, a jaw-dropping salad bar, the baked potato, the cheesecake. Awesome! The other was in Florida, and it was fresh broiled fish, onion rings in some divine tempura batter, and real home-made key lime pie. Also Awesome! But the very best meal I ever had was one I made myself. I bought a ton of king crab legs (no doubt scooped up by the Time Bandit!) - a ton of little salt potatoes - a ton of sweet corn. Plus green salad and French bread. Boiled everything up, set it out with nutcrackers to open the shells, a vat of melted butter, sliced lemons…on a scale of 1 to 10, that meal went right off the chart. Soon as sweet corn shows up in the market, I’m gonna do it again.
It was around 1998 in San Francisco. I was there for a conference and there was a Japanese restaurant called “Kiku of Tokyo” in the Hilton Hotel (since kicked out by Hilton; the chef now runs a place called Kappou Gomi). I had not had any real Japanese food, and I noticed that all the diners in the restaurant were Japanese. I decided to try their three-course meal.
It was heaven. Every bite was just perfect. I actually don’t remember exactly what I ate (just the miso soup), but I knew I was in food heaven. I even got an approving comment from the waitress when she noticed I was eating everything with chopsticks.
Second was at Les Deux Ponts in Honfleur in France. It was a busy Saturday night and the restaurant was filled with locals. Had some very delicious seafood – mussels mainly – with the proprietor acting like we were guests in his home, giving us a free glass of calvados at the end of the meal.
About two years ago I made an absolutely perfect batch of chicken stew with dumplings from an old 1950s cookbook. Carmelized onion, real butter and cream, fresh picked veggies, buttermilk dumplings. It took all day, and came out so silky and rich. I’ve made the recipe since, and while it’s always good, I still remember that very first batch with something akin to rapture.
Can’t remember the name of the place, in Orlando - an amazing grilled slab of london broil split with my then boyfriend, classic baked potatoes, real hollandaise and artichokes, and a grande marnier souffle for dessert.
A steak dinner aboard the Holland Oosterdam, in their specialty “upcharge” 5 star restaurant.
Appetizer - lobster flan, and seared duck slices
Soup - a tiny cup of quail consoumme, with a tiny leg of quail on the side, and 2 itty bitty quail eggs
Salad - crisp & crunchy greens with homemade dressing that was something akin to italian, except that it had a tomato base - don’t remember what they called it
Main - a 2" tall filet mignon, perfect medium-rare, full of pink juicy happiness. So tender that it was like cutting a chocolate cake. Some kind of red wine reduction sauce, and a baked potato and crisp, buttery grilled vegetables
Wine & cheese & fruit - unbelievably decadent plate of 4 different cheeses, (brie, camembert, bleu, and some sort of ultra-sharp white cheddar) with different crackers and fruit to eat them with. Also the wine sommelier came by and dropped off samples of a dessert wine.
Dessert - Creme brulee, fixed three different ways - regular, cappucino, and chocolate. Served in a special 3-slotted bowl that allowed you to eat them seperately or mix & match.
Nuts & truffles - Candied walnuts & pecans, plus homemade truffles - fudge, pistachio, chocolate-mint. After paying the check, the maitre’d presented us with a box of the truffles to take with us.
Looking for fast food (McDonald’s) in England and finding fish -n- chips (ocean fresh cod and fresh sliced potato wedges with a pickled onion) instead.
Fried potatoes and onions with Velveeta processed cheese food.
I’ve eaten in very expensive restaurants and had exquisite meals. My Mother is an amazing cook and has amazed the entire family more times than I could count. I have a few dishes I can honestly say I have damn near perfected.
But on a trip to Quetico Provincial Park I had the best meal of my life.
To make a very long story only long, several high school friends and I were on a 10 day survival camp trip. Due to circumstances I won’t go into here we were out of food by day 7. In Quetico no radios are allowed so with no way to call for help were SOL with only one option - a 3 day trek back to base without food. Now 3 days w/o food would be bad enough, but we had to cover quite a bit of ground in those 3 days, normally burning a LOT of calories.
Late on day 9 as we were looking to make camp, we came across a bunch of guys from Canada who took mercy on us and gave the 8 of us a 5 lb. bag of potatoes, a 5 lb. bag of onions and a 2 lb brick of Velveeta.
Never before has food tasted like that. I hope it never does again.
The first was in an historic town called Kanazawa, on the Japan Sea. We wandered into a sushi place, I remember it was near a small bridge over a small river, I think. The owner claimed that the fish was caught fresh that morning by their own boat. I couldn’t say one way or the other, but it was the freshest and most delicious sashimi I have ever eaten. It kind of spoiled me for any “raw” fish that has ever been frozen.
I don’t remember where the second one was, maybe in Tokyo somewhere. But I remember the food! I think it’s called kaiseki-ryori, which originated in the cuisine that temples would serve travelers who were staying the night. It was a lot of very small dishes served in sequence (rather than all at once, I think), each one different, each one exquisite, the flavor of each complementing the flavor of the previous and setting up the next one. It was unbelievably wonderful. I hope someday to try this again. (My memory of this one is not as clear as I would wish, so I hope I’m not mixing up different events.)
Roddy
A Wendy’s bacon-double cheeseburger.
I’d had boat food for 4 months previous, had been through minor surgery, in a dazed state for 2 days afterward the doctor and before the Wendy’s, and…it was the best thing I have EVER had.
And I don’t even EAT fast-food burgers. But that one stands OUT.
I’m sure I’ve had much better food, but honestly, that’s the immediate standout when someone asks that.
South Africa, in the mid-ninties. On safari in Kruger National Park. We were staying in a camp. I use the word “camp” loosely. The camp was a permanent facility, abeit without electricity. Dinner was served each night, on a large stone platform with tables and chairs, and a kitchen area. That night, springbok was served, roasted over an open fire. It was unbelievably good. Also served were endless bottles of really good South African wine.
Dinner was served after dark. On the edges of the platform, the camp owners had put hand-held searchlights, hooked up to car batteries. As the springbok was roasting, animals would approach, attracted, I guess, by the smell of the roasting meat. I remember aiming one of the lights out and seeing the eyes of a huge number of (presumably carnivorous) animals (mostly hyenas, according to the guides) in the darkness around the camp. I then understood why they told us not to leave our huts until morning.
Also, steak at Peter Luger’s, in New York. Any number of times. This is what steak should be. Steak, served rare, creamed spinach, and hash browns. Tomatos and onions before dinner. Cheesecake and whipped cream afterwards. Simple and as good as it gets.
