Taiwan. Beach. Fire charred squid on a stick.
A few years ago I went tuna fishing and we went directly back to the house, filleted the fish and pan seared it outside under the tiki hut. We ate it ocean to plate within the hour and it was positively amazing.
Pizza from Montreal. Most locations were all delicious. I don’t recall any location being much better than all the rest. They were all wonderful.
I love pizza and have tried it in a great many cities. Many people say there is no better pizza than New York pizza. But I found that Montreal pizza was much more delicious.
A close 2nd and 3rd was deep dish pizza in Chicago and pizza from a Vancouver restaurant called Simpaticos (maybe Sympaticos?). It was on 4th Ave in Kitsalano.
Pizza in most other cities - especially in English speaking Canadian cities - usually does not taste as good as the box in which it was delivered. Los Angeles pizza was pretty close to the bottom of the list as well.
Any other pizza aficionados here?
"Best thing I ever ate, made it myself " category winner has to be the BBQ moose ribs I did one year for my cousin’s promotion party. He’d just made CW3, so a party for the unit was in order. People at Ft. Richardson are still talking about the amazing moose ribs the long-haired hippie-type made that day. 
Bit late to this thread, but . . .
In the 1980’s, when I finally had finished most of my training (and so had a bit of money and a bit more time), my fiance and I holidayed in Destin, Florida one March.
While there, we discovered a restaurant called Les Saisons. To this day, the memory of their cream peppercorn steak makes my mouth water. Nothing like it before or since.
It seems the restaurant is no longer around but an internet search reveals that the chef has gone on to do other impressive things.
nm
silenus: You’re not getting off that easy: how do moose ribs taste compared to beef/pork? How long prep time? Where do you find moose ribs (onna moose)? Cost compare? What gauge shot-gun did you use :eek: ? What did Rocky say (“And now, here’s something we hope you’ll really like”)?
The Hot Potato/Cold Potato soup. It really is spectacular. I had it there in 08, & it’s definitely at the top of my list, too. I remember a couple of years ago on that show “Best Thing I Ever Ate”, Ted Whatshisname from “Chopped” named that as his favorite.
I’ve been fortunate to enjoy a lot of delicious foods. I always remember Huevos Rancheros prepared by an abuelita at a Sante Fe bed & breakfast–I’ve had it countless times, but that version was unforgettable.
And a restaurant in Mississippi where they kept the catfish in tanks–pulled them out, cleaned them, & fried them to order. Damn those were good! I went to that place when they first opened, & went whenever I could until they closed 20 years later.
That moose was back in 1980, so the memory might be a little fuzzy. Moose ribs taste a little gamier than beef…more like a cross between bison and venison. Not a lot of fat, so you have to be careful cooking them. IIRC, I used my standard rub (brown sugar, paprika, salt, pepper, garlic and cumin) and let them set overnight, then put them in my barrel smoker for 3 hours. Ran hotter than I would for other meats because of the lack of fat. Served them with a simple BBQ sauce. The Counter-Intelligence unit loved them.
Cost was impossible to compare, because the moose was had for the price of a tag. My cousin took it with a Remington 700, I think. We split the beast with his hunting buddy. The ribs went for the party, and the rest went for chili and roasts. Made killer chili, too!
^ That drooling sound you hear is me, drooling! Thanks for the update, silenus. I’ve got a hankering for some Bullwinkle, now. I’ll bet even after 30+ years, once in a while you still get a little burp…ahh Yeah, I remember that moose.
Chilled cucumber soup, on Carnival Sensation, 1996.
I was this close to asking the waiter to take me back to the kitchen so I could just eat the whole pot of it there on the spot.
I’ve tried (and failed) to re-create the recipe - even going as far as asking for (and receiving) the very recipe from the Carnival Corporation itself.
Runners-up:
Illinois sweet corn, picked in late July and purchased from the back of the farmer’s truck, soaked in ice water and grilled, with butter (NOT margarine).
Duck fat fries from Hot Doug’s in Chicago. I shed a tear when I read that he’s closing; I was only fortunate enough to be able to go there once.
My mother’s homemade pierogies, made from my grandmother’s recipe. Mrs. T’s are an abomination.
I don’t think you’re supposed to eat the box.
Most recently, shrimp and grits in southern restaurant in Milwaukee, WI. First time I ever ordered grits of any kind. Just wonderful.
Have you ever eaten the box? How would you know the box wasn’t delicious? Best box I ever ate was from a Thai bistro down L.A. way. I got the pad thai ratcheted up to 8 and that box was out of this world.
Best steak I’ve ever had was the ribeye at Fleming’s
Best meal I’ve ever had was the 10+ course seafood meal at a friend’s wedding. The individual dishes were great, but the volume and the company just multiplied it
Hot Doug’s is closing?! 
Coconut chicken curry at Planet Thailand in Brooklyn. That was in the late nineties, so it may not be as good now.
When I was a kid/teen, Sunday was barbecue day. My dad would barbecue steaks (I think they were sirloins or porterhouses–they were big!), and we’d have them with peas drenched in butter and buttered French bread.
None of this was particularly “special” or interestingly prepared, but the combination of the flavors (and the fact that my dad was kind enough to cook my steak the way I liked it–rare) made it wonderful. I think that’s the dining experience I miss the most.
And yeah, I know, it was probably a heart attack on a plate. But my mom and dad both made it to their 80s with no heart trouble, so there ya go.
**The anniversary celebration at the Second Avenue Deli in NYC: **
Matzo ball soup
Pastrami on rye with mustard
Potato pancakes
Rugalach and black and white cookies
And my husband’s smile at the other end of the table.
**Runners up: **
The hand stirred risotto at the Naples airport.
The buffet at the hospital the day I gave birth to my first daughter
The clam bake on the beach during our last vacation to Cape Cod
Bread, cheese, tomatoes and chocolate eaten outside at a little deli on Burano
My husband’s sweet granny’s Christmas meal: shrimp, a lovely roast, Irish potatoes and chocolate – and a warm welcome from my favorite relative of his. I adored her enough to hand my second daughter the middle name of Winifred in her honor. I miss her still.
The Shabbos dinner at my friend Miriam’s house. I do not keep kosher and I disliked Hebrew school intensely. But for once I understood why people did. The food was delicious – homemade soup, challah, stuffed onions, brisket and babka. But it was the warm, the true feelings of spirituality and the intensity of devotion to ritual in a way that was neither mindless nor unkind that lingered in my head long afterwards. It was one of the very times I have understood my own ancestry.