Your most memorable meal.

[malthaussen]

What was it, where was it, when was it, and why is it memorable?

For me: dinner at Le Gavroche in London in 1990, featuring the incomparable souffle suissesse. The House's signature dish. Memorable because of that and everything else, that sort of dining experience is amazing for a poor boy like me. Well, it was also memorable for lightening my purse by about 200 quid, three-star restaurants aren't cheap. But I knew that going in. It was a deliberate extravagance never to be repeated

-- Mal

[Chainfire]

1. I am not well traveled. My most memorable meal, was a breakfast served at a villa in

Acapulco in the early 80s. This house was between the houses owned by Sylvester Stallone on one side an the Shah of Iran on the other on a mountain side overlooking Acapulco Bay. (I was batting way out of my league. )

I had won a ten day trip in a drawing...

[sinkingfeeling]

2. The best sea scallops in the world. Fundy Bay, Nova Scotia in Sept. 9, 2006.

[CrispyQ]

3. Some dive-y little Mexican food restaurant in Colorado

where I was first introduced to sour cream on Mexican food. I think I was eight. My family had never put sour cream on burritos or enchiladas, but we did after that!

[Siwsan]

4. The first time I had a 'Full English' breakfast. I was 19 and few to London to meet up with friends

We stayed at the Bedford Guest House on Gunterstone, in West Kensington. They served the traditional 'Full English' for breakfast. I was amazed. Overwhelmed. Fully satiated. Sometimes we'd ask for the eggs to be hard boiled and take them, the toast, the bacon and eat them for lunch. With the landlord's full approval. Cold cereal was included in the breakfast so we'd have that, sausages, tomato, beans and mushrooms for our breakfast.

This trip was also the first time I ever tasted Curry and I LOVED it. And learned about the joy of eating a Rum Baba. Scones with Clotted Cream. Bangers and Mash. Yorkshire pudding. Trifle. REAL fish and chips with malt vinegar. It honestly changed the way I cook/eat.

[markie]

5. ah, memories

worked with my husband traveling and living in hotels for 15 years... after years of eating out... you know the ones remembered were very special

in New Orleans when "R'evolution" first opened, the food was good, the drinks divine and they treated us like we were really special!

spring rolls/salmon near Venice Beach (also the Bloody Marys!)

driving east we were on a back road and stopped in rural Mississippi at a small shack (w/food sign) we ate copious amounts of excellent southern cooking on a cheap folding table ladled from crock pots and served by an old, beautiful, sweet, heaven of a woman

vegan carrot cake in Portland Oregon

fried avocado in Yonkers

Indian restaurant attached to a rural gas station near Salida, CO

a few others but don't want to be boring... sometimes the memories are good food, sometimes who was with us, sometimes the server/owner, sometimes just because I loved my husband and we were together having a meal!!

[usonian]

6. Mozart Restaurant in San Francisco.

There's also my wedding reception. My bride's family don't drink, so a buddy of mine and I had to take care of all the Champagne. All memories stopped then, though I have a vague recollection of signing a large check.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

20. I am surprised that people's wedding reception wasn't their first answer on this thread

well, for the married people at least

That one's definitely way up there for me, and I'm divorced.

[usonian]

22. Me, too.

Maybe only the divorced people remember their wedding reception?
Just kidding. It was the drunkest I’ve been in my life.
Cheers

[LakeArenal]

7. Meals... We lived in Rhode Island.

We would go clam digging at low tide. We would build a fire and one-pot the clams potatoes and corn. She always had fresh bread that we used basically as napkins.
We would pack up as sun went down.

[applegrove]

8. Fraser's a month ago. Shrimp and lobster pasta. The plate was covered

in fresh flowers, which I ate. The best pasta dish ever. Even better than my lasagna.

[jmowreader]

9. T-ration hamburgers

T-rats are served by the Army in the field. They're not especially good, but that's beside the point.

This terrible meal was served in 1982 on my unit's last day in Florida after over a month of Hurricane Andrew relief. A few hours later we got on an airplane and flew back to Fort Drum. We flew on an L1011 owned by Rich International Airways...one of the few airlines to have ever been founded by a woman.

[Polly Hennessey]

10. In Japan. Among many yummy things the Kobe beef and pumpkin

soup stand out.

[Lunabell]

11. Grouper piccata at Mom and Dad's Italian restaurant.

Tallahassee, FL. I didn't order it, my wife did and she graciously shared. We were newly together and dining out a lot. I'd never had any picatta before and we were just blown away at how delicious it was and have tried unsuccessfully to recreate it at home.

Mom and Dad's is a local favorite and open since 1963. I don't know if it's still as good as it was or even if it has the same owners. I think we should go again.

[cachukis]

12. Lunch with Princess Grace.

Spent 6 weeks of the summer of '68 traveling around Europe as a 16 year old tied to a school managed vacation.
One of my teachers, a Christian Brother from New York, had his best friend, as a Christian Brother in Monaco, arrange a luncheon visit for me and 3 of my buds at the Palace.
We had a tour and were invited into the garden for lunch. The Princess came to visit, sat down, and chatted for 20 minutes or so. She asked each of us a little of ourselves. I asked her if palace living was as it was cracked up to be. She smiled that it was fairy tale with responsibilities or something close.
She was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on.
Don't recall lunch at all, but the memories have lingered well.

[malthaussen]

15. I had a friend who lived "next door" to the Kellys in Ocean City...

... actually across the street, but still close. Before Grace became a Princess.

-- Mal

[First Speaker]

13. Dinner at a restaurant called the Publick House in Bennington, Vermont...

...a lovely spot, up on a hill with a gorgeous view of the valley, the hills and the Bennington Battle Monument. Appetizers and bread that were by themselves better than most restaurant meals I've had. A salad buffet from heaven. A main course with steak and baked potatoes I can still taste. I've never had a real expensive meal in a real fancy place, as far as I can recall...but I don't need one. That dinner still stays with me, 8 years later...

[ucralum]

14. Ahh, Le Gavroche--we ate there circa 2015..

...and it was amazing, especially the soufflé suissesse. Michel Roux came to our table and I was so starstruck I didn't ask if we could take a picture. Thanks for bringing back such a lovely memory.

[malthaussen]

16. Michelin, in their wisdom, have downgraded it to two stars.

Their criteria changed when traditional Continental style went out of fashion. The great three-star in Philadelphia, Le Bec Fin, was also downgraded because the Michelin people didn't like their style anymore.

I got my menu signed, but Albert and Michel were too busy to come out the night I was there. Last year that Albert still worked the kitchen regularly, IIRC.

-- Mal

[Emile]

17. In early 60's barbecue spare ribs in the backyard of a Miami Cuban .

I never had ribs that tasted so good.

[highplainsdem]

18. I posted about this sort of thing in a thread started by electric_blue68 last

year, so I'll copy those posts:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181685549

When I first moved to NYC (I lived there twice, in my 20s), to Manhattan, I could

not believe how many restaurants/delis/bakeries there were, offering so many different kinds of food. Loved all the variety, from Beef Wellington at L'Etoile to the tiniest ethnic restaurants. Loved one club where you could get a great hamburger and a pitcher of sangria at 3 in the morning. And another place I'd sometimes go to just for dessert because one dessert there was a chocolate crepe that covered a plate.

But then when I flew home for the first time in months, the first thing I did at O'Hare was get good ol' Midwestern BBQ, which tasted like heaven. Hadn't realized how much I'd missed it.

I remember getting incredible moussaka and souvlaki at a Greek restaurant

there. Tried making moussaka myself years later, but mine was inedible.

Had forgotten then to mention a wonderful lunch of fried clam sandwiches and cold beer at a seafood shack on Long Island. Perfect at the shore on a hot summer day.

I'd never had Beef Wellington before dining at L'Etoile. Thought it was good but too much trouble to try making myself, ever. The appetizers had included oysters, Oysters Rockefeller IIRC, something else I'd never had before. No idea what it cost. I wasn't paying, and just took suggestions on what was good, rather than looking at the menu.

I was wondering if I'd remembered that particular appetizer correctly (this was in 1971) and googled to see if those dishes were often served at the same meal. And was amused to find them in a line from Mad Men, a show I'd watched only part of one episode of. Found a clip of that video at the start of a video about making Beef Wellington:

L'Etoile was open for only 6 years but was very trendy while it was open. Cute anecdote about Salvador Dali at L'Etoile with his pet ocelot in this article: https://www.businessinsider.com/dining-with-mad-men-in-the-1960s-was-even-crazier-than-you-think-2012-8 .

[Floyd R. Turbo]

19. The first time I had my MIL's pierogies! 😋

[Hugh_Lebowski]

21. Dinner with my girlfriend Maribelle who I'd met shortly before at Cal Poly

She was Latina, 22, flawless body and skin, adorable face, and a naturally curly black mane flowing to her shoulder blades. I was totally, totally in love with this girl at this time. And she was freaking cool. She was from Pasadena, and good friends with Hope Sandoval from Mazzy Star, just as an example.

She took me to Rosarito Beach, we stayed in a hotel on the water for the weekend, and one night we drove to Puerto Nueva and had an incredible lobster dinner on a patio overlooking the ocean.

It was so, so good, in every way.

And the lobster was CRAZY cheap there, in 1990. Like a giant lobster was $13, served with beans, fresh tortillas, salsa ... all the fixin's basically ... included.

[malthaussen]

23. Some meals are memorable for the food, some for the company...

... the best are both.

-- Mal

[Mr.Bill]

24. We had lunch at a tavern in Philadelphia.

The food was good, but the location was the real treat. This tavern had been there in the 1700s and was close to Independence Hall. The founding fathers actually hung out there. We may have been sitting at a table in the room where parts of the revolution were plotted.

[malthaussen]

25. City Tavern, yeah.

Had dinner there decades ago. They were featuring craft beers made to the recipes of various Founding Fathers.

-- Mal

[Mr.Bill]

26. Thanks, I had forgotten the name of the place.

It was over 20 years ago. we were visiting my brother in New Jersey and he took us on a whirlwind one-day tour of Philly. High point for me was Benjamin Franklin's print shop. I spent about 40 years running printing presses and he was always my favorite founding father.

I do recall the beer there being really good.

[catbyte]

27. August 8, 1974, the only fancy French restaurant in Charlevoix, Michigan.

I was home from college for the summer and I took my mom out for a fancy dinner for her 50th birthday. My dad worked nights, so it was just Mom and me. Charlevoix is a resort town on Lake Michigan, so it was fairly busy with rich tourists (as in, "Jason, if you don't stop misbehaving, I'm going to have Nanny take you back to the yacht!" ) We wondered why so many people brought little portable black and white TVs in with them. We soon found out, lol. Nixon was announcing his resignation. So we watched Tricky Dick as we dined on steak au poivre, pommes Anna, and for dessert chocolate souffle. Someone was as happy as Mom and I were because they bought champagne for everyone. It was an awesome night.