I’m not gonna pick on anyone in particular… but I do need to say that some of you REALLY need to get out more often, juding from your choices. Sad.
And for me, there are too many… and each one has it’s strangths and weaknesses.
I live in LA, so…
For bread and pastry, It is difficult to imagine anything better than perfect, and that is what Nancy Silverton achieves at Campanile/La Brea Bakery.
For a particular meal, I happen to love a hole-in-wall in the middle of nowhere (Saugus) called… Le Chen. They serve alot of boar, but what I die for is the garlic/tomato/butter stuffed mushroom caps, the bordelaise buttered New York Steak with pureed vegetables, and the white chocolate custard thing with chocolate sauce. Yum.
But my single all-time favorite meal, since age 6, can be had at Olvera street, on the plaza end. Handmade tortillas with crunchy/tender/fatty roast pork and fresh salsa, and perfect spanish rice. I’ve tried it everywhere, including mexico, and this is head and shoulders above 'em all.
The best meal? It’s so hard to define. There’s so many categories:
Most fun meal: Magic Kitchen in Springfield, IL. Hottest and definately best Thai food I ever had. Finish it off with some iced coffee and with the endorphins and caffeine mingling: instant legal high.
Best of the best: What other food has so many variations, so many styles, so many options, so much debate besides pizza. Best pizza - Papa Del’s in Champaign, IL. Chicago style, but definately much most tasty than most. Maybe it’s all the dried herbs they put on it, and a richer sauce.
Most romantic: For me, St. Orres on the north coast of California, between Gualala and Anchor Point (if I remember correctly). Such a romantic part of the country - the ocean on one side, beautiful woods on the other. The place has a beautiful Russian style architecture, and the food is inventive, unusual, and delicious.
Best technical food: Could there be any other than the French Laundry in Yountville, CA (Napa Valley)? It’s already been called the best restuarant in America by many, many publications, and I’d have to agree with that. I had a 5 or 7 course meal - a soup course, a fish course, a meat course, a cheese course, and a dessert course, and maybe a few other courses I’m forgetting about. But each course was it’s own very special taste, and they were all so special, so inventive, so beautifully presented, and most of all so tasty.
In Seattle, the Metropolitan Grill. Had some business associates foot the whole bill, and they reserved a small banquet room for eight people. The food was fantastic and so was the service. And the dessert… rich AND huge. I took two more sittings to finish the thing.
In San Francisco, a dim sum restaurant in the banking district, in the Embarcadero One building. Can’t remember the place’s name. Again, corporate paid the bill, thank God. My boss at the time, who’s Chinese, guided the rest of us through a nearly three-hour lunch.
Hung Far Low in Portland, OR
…no kidding…established in 1924 or something. My family, while in town for my grandmother’s funeral some years back, picked the place out of the phone book, just for laughs. Little did we know that the food (Cantonese) was going to be so awesome.
Haven’t found another restaurant that even comes close (which brings up the eternal question: “where is there good Cantonese food in Orange County, CA?”)
Without doubt, the best Thai restaurant in the US is Arun’s Thai in Chicago. You take a cab which lets you out on a street which resembles the worst of the bombed out neighborhoods in major US cities after the King riots(Martin, not Rodney). You wonder if you will ever get home again. You enter a building, are greeted by the most charming/polite man you have ever met, and enjoy not only foods which are fabulous, but beautiful. And superb service. I was fortunate enough to go there in the 1980’s when a phone call on a Sat afternoon got you a table Sat. night. Easily one of the top ten overall restaurants in the US, IMHO.
Perhaps my best start-to-finish restaurant experience was at the defunct London Chop House in Downtown Detroit in the 1980’s. A friend and I had just finished a difficult convention, and decided to eat at this place which we had heard about. In we walked in casual clothes. The management was very cordial, but very insistant that we put on ties and jackets. The showed us to a coat rack nearby from which we dressed for dinner. The restaurant was almost empty, but we were treated royally. There seemed to be a separate person to seat you, bring your menu, fill your water glass, etc. Everything was a-la-carte and the cheapest entre was about $25. From start to finish we had the finest service bar none that I have ever encountered. Your water glass was refilled but you never saw who did it. All the wait-staff wore tuxedos.
When we had devoured every (expensive but superb) morsel, we decided on an after dinner drink. My friend said to the waiter/person, “Can we order an Armagnac?” “Certainly” was the answer. “What kind would you like?”
My friend, who has eaten in Europe and many more fancy restaurants than I, was taken aback. We were offered a choice of 5 different brands of Armagnac.
I will 2nd that nomination, although my Aquavit is in the IDS building in Minneapolis. Superb seafood - and the venison ain’t bad, either.
My second favorite is a little diner someplace between Austin, MN and St. Cloud - worn wooden floor, and none of the chairs or silverware matched, and it had the best food and friendliest service I’ve EVER seen.
Ohhhhhh, Stoidela you have touched upon one of the truly fine things this planet has to offer with your description:
“Handmade tortillas with crunchy/tender/fatty roast pork and fresh salsa”
This is the elusive Carnitas and it is probably the one meat I would eat for the rest of my (admittedly short) life if I had to choose!
I too had it first as a child on the N side of Chicago at a backyard picnic hosted by some Puerto Rican friends of my mom. I have laboured for years to duplicate it to no avail-I even went so far as to build a brick oven in the back yard in order to get the high heat and then the indirect smoke necessary for such a sublime delicacy.
I also had a plate of carnitas from the back of a vending truck several years ago that sent me to an industrial kitchen in East Pilsen but alas it was for naught:(
Someof the closest I have had was the Kalua pig I had in Hawaii but even that lacked the crunchy bits that the roasting gives it.
Apparently the secret is in cookking it in oil until pink and plump and finishing it on a BBQ.
Another admirable runner up is the German Schweinhaxe, or roast shank of Pork. It usually comes with strips of crunchy chewy Schwarte or chicharrones mmmmmmm good!
This may seem a bit obsessive, but it is truly the single most important factor in my decision to never become either Muslim or vegetarian.
If I could find a restaurant that had consistently good carnitas, I would buy it
I’m young yet, so I hope to have many more wonderful dining experiences is the future, but my favorite restaurant right is C.C. City Broiler in Columbia, MO. Marvelous service, the finest fillet mignon I’ve ever tasted, and a clam chowder that will make you weep for joy. The dessert selection is a thing of beauty. My stomach wanted to take the wild berry flan home and cuddle it all night long. The place is small (seats about 50 if the patio isn’t open) and they don’t take reservations, but I’ll happily wait for however long it takes to get a table.
** Murasaki ** in East Lansing MI - not only terrific sushi, but a wide range of appetizers and menu items, not just Japanese in nature. Always have some evening special that’s out of this world. Haven’t been able to afford to go in recent times
** Bankok House ** Lansing MI, for the best, hot Thai food. I like really spicey stuff and I get their ‘medium’
There was a dinner train in Paw Paw MI (I don’t think it’s around any more), that was excellent as well.
Chicago, top of the Sears Tower (can’t remember the name of the place, but it was excellent!)
This place is heaven! It’s all you can eat. It’s first on my list. Don’t disregard the “salad” bar!! They had blocks of meats and cheeses there! I went to the salad bar and saw a slab of fresh Italian Prosciutto like I’ve never seen before. Fresh Mozzeralla to die for… You know it’s a great restaurant when they have meat that costs $15 per lb at the salad bar!
Where else can you wave of a waiter with Prime Rib, hoping another waiter shows up with something better, like Filet wrapped in bacon.
We’ve been looking for an excuse to have a company meeting in Dallas just for the sake of dining at Fogo de Chao.
SECOND BEST: Pat’s Steaks in South Philly. C’mon! Cheesesteaks on the corner!
Joe T. Garcia’s in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards - serving the best Mexican food in Cowtown since 1935. Their refried beans are hands-down the best I’ve ever had in any Mexican restaurant. And they have a huge and beautiful outdoor dining area, complete with fountains and a swimming pool.
The now-defunct Pizza Tyme restaurant in Marina Del Rey, California. (Marina Del Rey is in the Los Angeles area). They had the best damn thin crust pizza in the universe. I think they put a tiny bit of chili powder in the sauce. The whole place was decked out like the inside of a barn.
Then they sold the place in 1990 or 1991, and the new owners renamed it “Mama’s Pizza Kitchen” and changed the recipe. sigh
…the world’s best pizza! The secret is the crust-thin and chewy, with just a trace of burnt cornmeal. Their specialty is the “white clam” pizza-which is the pizza with fresh-shucked clams, garlic, and olive oil!
The regular pizza is excellent as well.
The only downside-Clinton used to eat there when he was a student at Yale Law School-now they have big photo of him wearing an apron, serving a pizza!
When I go, a sit as far a way from this as possible!
I knew few would understand the meaning of “Carnitas”.
You and I are on the same page. If you ever come to LA, you HAVE to hit Olvera and the restaurant I spoke of. You will know you are in the right one from the sound of hands slapping the totillas back and forth. Not to mention the sight of ancient Mexican ladies doing it.
I recently spoke to the man whose family founded and runs the restaurant. The pork they use is PERFECT, and it seems the secret is salt and a vat of hot oil. They deep fry whole roasts, I believe of shoulder, which is very fatty and tender. And that’s it. It comes out absolutely perfect. The tortillas are dreamy, and the salsa is sublime. Your knees will go weak.
They also make a very tasty chile relleno, which is another sublime Mexican invention. I really feel for folks who have never had good Mexican food.
Morel’s in Dublin. Really, some of the best Italian food I’ve ever had. I had some kind of pasta in a three cheese sauce when I was there for the end-of-the-Joyce School Bash. And Irish Cream Cheesecake. Good god! (My second favourite was Beshoff’s because I’m a chip fiend. Third was some bar I really don’t remember the name of, but the food was good))
Hardel’s in Paris. I don’t remember where it is- have their card somewhere. Escargot in garlic cream sauce on puff pastry. Down to some place called Berthillion (?) for the best ice cream in the word- cassis!
The place on South Street in Philly- It’s got a large mural of Larry (Three Stooges) as he was born there. Fettucini Alfredo is unbelieveable. I could even eat there after the Mutter Museum.
The Confederate (Houston, Tx)- it mostly disappears in a champagne induced haze, but it was wonderful. Very formal. Great atmosphere- think places with all the items on their walls…then make all those items daguerrotypes, lithographs and paintings of Civil War related people/places.
Zenster: Now yer talkin’. I’ve been to some of the places you mentioned, and hope to go to others. I agree with you on all your recommendations on those restaurants we have in common.
It’s hard to choose – I’m a blown-in-the-glass foodie, and eating out is my hobby, but I’ll have to go with Aqua in San Francisco. It’s a French/oriental seafood fusion restaurant, and the food there is impeccable. I had a dish which included seared foie gras and seared rare ahi tuna, sitting in a pool of pinot noir/veal reduction. My husband had a rare wild Atlantic salmon in a white burgundy beurre blanc, I believe. We drank a fruity but velvety French red burgundy that the waiter recommended. ABsoLUTEly FABulous, darling!
Close second: Patina in Los Angeles
Third: Chez Panisse in Berkeley (if I could get in more often, it might be in first or second place)
Fourth: Spago Beverly Hills
Fifth: Roy’s Kahana Grill (?), Maui
I could go on and on, but I would need some alka seltzer . . .
Thank you, I was too nice to say it. pugluvr Aqua is very nice and amazing, personally It think it’s been upstaged in terms of pure elegance by The Fifth Floor. That place is amazing. I went a couple months back, and my god, mmmm.
Although the best restraunt in the world, is Thomas Keller’s French Laundry. Yep, you heard it here first, absolutely best restraunt. The last time I was there, I was joined by a family from Japan, New yorkers, Texans, and others who had made the trip specificly to eat at his restraunt. Reservations must be made three months in advance.
Also for some other good rests in SF, read my food thread, here
At the risk of sounding elitist, the best restraunts will be found in the SF bay area.
Hey quentin, must be hard to taste anything with your head where it is.
Let’s see.
Bay Area: So many choices, but I think I’ll go with Masa’s. Just lovely, especially the fish dishes. I also like Chez Panisse, but the cafe is too noisy and crowded.
Chicago: Charlie Trotter’s. I was pregnant at the time, so I could only taste the wine, but the food was wonderful.
Philadelphia: Le Bec Fin. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth and even I was awed by the dessert cart. The rest of the meal was great, too.
On the less formal side, I would say that my fave’s are either the Khan Toke Thai House or the Golden Turtle (Vietnamese) in SF. Mmmmmmm.
The place is small (seats about 50 if the patio isn’t open) and they don’t take reservations, but I’ll happily wait for however long it takes to get a table.