Memorable meal of all time!

[FireMan]

Lost in China ‘s last post triggered a memory of mine. The most memorable meal that left an impact on me. The first one that comes to mind was a lunch in Copper Harbor, MI in my beloved U.P. I was 23/24 we had each ordered a Rueben Sandwich. The corned beef & kraut were piled so high it was a meal for 2 to 3, each sandwich. It was the tastiest sandwich I have ever had. To top it off, it was precluded by my first experience with French Onion soup. This meal pops in my mind forever.
A second meal that was memorable was on my honeymoon in Montreal. We had a meal in what was considered one of the top restaurants in the city. It was our honeymoon & came recommended by a relative "who got around". I had ordered Filet de Sol. I got into an argument with the matre’d over the bones in my filet. He brought me a second filet, it to had bones in it. I remember his arrogance with an accent. Left him a nickel tip, American nickel of course.
What meal leaves you with an indelible impression?

[Huskee]

I've had a few "close you eyes and stop chewing" meals. The most recent memory I have for one of those moments that I still vividly remember was morel bisque. Of all things. A fancy mushroom soup. This was at a place in Traverse City MI where my wife & I go every year for our anniversary getaway. This place is quite fancy, white tablecloth, candles on the tables kinda place, and they use only locally sourced seasonal foods as possible. This morel bisque was Seinfeld soup nazi good, ya had to sit down.

[FireMan]

There is something about those Northern Michigan eateries!

[Jfrosty27]

I have been fortunate in that my former career and the extensive travel that came with it allowed me to experience many memorable meals from all over the US and many other parts of the world. Hard to pick just one.

However, one that that I remember often was in Munich, Germany at the Lowenbrau Hoffebrau House. Mid 90’s. It was a business trip with about 20 people in attendance. Big family style tables on which huge platters of every type of roast pork and sausage you could imagine were placed. Various sides of course. And full liter mugs of the authentic Lowenbrau beer to wash it all down. Busty waitresses in those costumes, live German festival style music, and a huge hall full of people. Great food, beer, and fun. What a blast.

[Panhead John]

These busty waitresses, can you expand on that a little?

[Uncle Bob]

When Panhead John says "...can you expand on that...." it brings to mind that his significant other is an inflatable doll....................................just sayin'

[Bkhuna]

I ❤️ Dirndls!

[CaptainMike]

There was a restaurant in the little Mendocino County seaside hamlet of Albion, CA whose chef was named Antoine. His signature dish was Antoine's Cassoulet and it was the absolute best thing that has ever passed over my tongue. I've thought about trying to make my own, and Troutman Steve's recent offering looks tempting, but I'm afraid I might tarnish that most excellent memory.

Edit: Holy Crap, I just googled Antoine's Cassoulet and his very recipe came up!!! I'm so doing this!!!

https://www.crockettpottery.com/chef-antoines-cassoulet-recipe

[Panhead John]

Cap’n, well that’s all good n everything, but you should see the plaster of Paris ash tray I made Mom in the 3rd grade.

[SheilaAnn]

CaptainMike does she sell online? If not, I’m crossing my fingers you are paired with my for next year’s Secret Santa 🤣👏🏼🎄

[CaptainMike]

No, it's her therapy hobby and she's just now getting into local craft fairs. That said, once she settles on a design I'm sure we can work something out.

[WillTravelForFood]

We travel for food (obviously), and have had a number of fantastic dishes. Believe we've previously mentioned the porchetta sandwich at the San Francisco ferry building as being one of those.

Note: sometimes, the dish is "meh" and it's the company you're with that makes it memorable. We can't remember at all what we had for dinner in Venice, Italy that night -- but we'll always remember the all-evening-long conversation we struck with the strangers at the next table.

[CaptainMike]

Now why did I just hear Bogey say "We'll always have Paris"?

[ecowper]

As a guy that travels a lot for business (not as much recently LOL), I've had some really good food at really top notch places. And over the years they have all sort of blended together, with a few exceptions. Here's a couple that really stand out

Chez Robert et Louise in Paris - very old school French steakhouse, they cook over open fire at the back of the restaurant. The owner (Robert's son) sits at the bar and welcomes every guest at the door, talks to them a bit, and makes sure everything goes right for them. Best Escargots I've ever had.







The Palm in NYC .... the original one, which is now closed. It dates back to the 1920's and started as an Italian place. But people would ask for a steak for dinner and the owner would send a busboy to the butcher shop to get a steak! Got to take my family there for dinner while it was still open. Amazing steak, and awesome atmosphere, and so much fun with my wife and kids.







And finally, not a meal, but memorable anyhow. My wife and I went to Rome for her 45th birthday. During the day, after an incredible tour of the Vatican, we went to Castel Sant'Angelo and walked around it a bit. on the top, we found a bar and had a beer and snack while looking back at the Vatican! On her actual birthday!

[FireMan]

Great!!! I never expected pics. Very cool!

[ecowper]

FireMan I'm a very visual person. Pictures help me understand so much more. So, I share them with others, thinking it will help them too :-)

[Jim White]

A few years back, my wife had a scientific conference in Modena, Italy. We started the trip with a couple of days in Bologna and got a preview of the food to come when a simple sidewalk cafe we walked up to served us the best mushroom risotto ever.

In Modena, every single meal was memorable. I had tried to make reservations at Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana (which had been rated the number one restaurant in the world a couple of years before that), but I botched getting up early on the date several months before the trip when reservations for the time we would be there opened up (and I couldn't navigate their reservation website in Italian). Once there, we were able to get to his other site in Modena, Franceschetta 58, for a lunch. The braised short ribs I had there were other-worldly. Appetizers in Modena were amazing with the local parmigianno regianno topped with local balsamic (yes, we toured the balsamic museum). And then those appetizers got even better when I discoverd gnocco fritto. That stuff was just unreal. And yes, we did tour the Ferrari museum while there.

Probably my most memorable meal in the US was in San Francisco at Mourad. Moroccan food served family style was an evening to savor.

[Jim White]

ecowper The gnocco fritto, (which is a fried dough that is pillowy-light) is a perfect vehicle for the melons, ham and cheese.

Richard Chrz I keep trying to figure out when I can get there again. And I'm already torn on whether to try to go back just to Modena or branch out to other regions.

[Richard Chrz]

Jim White that would be tough. I would likely have to try different regions, just for comparison of traditions.

[FireMan]

Wonderful meal AND Ferrari? Bravissimo!

[Old Glory]

My Dad was a pediatrician. The father of one of his patients owned a Chinese restaurant in Boston. He invited us to a 25 course Chinese Banquet. Some Japanese businessmen were in town and wanted an authentic Chinese feast...money is no object type of meal. He closed the restaurant for them. He put us in a separate room. We were brought everything they ordered. I don't remember half of what we had but there was duck, lobster, clams, beef, chicken, vegetables, all kinds of things I didn't recognize. It kept coming and coming. Each dish out doing the previous one. It was amazing.

The reason we were invited was because my Dad had made a quick diagnosis and saved the kid's life getting him into Boston for the correct treatment.

[FireMan]

Something one only reads about,

[efincoop]

Super cool memory/experience.

[Tax Man]

Place called Ralph & Kacoo's in the French Quarter many years ago. Blackened tuna steak smothered in crawfish etouffee. Simply the best prepared, best tasting meal I have ever had.

[Murdy]

Was there with myMominthemid 80s, very good.

[Tax Man]

I was there in the mid nineties-can't remember exactly.

[Draznnl]

For my birthday about five years ago, my wife took me to Arun, Chicago's best Thai food restaurant. We had a ten(?) course tasting menu that was to die for. Each course was better than the one before. I love Thai food and have had numerous great meals at rustic, mom and pop, Thai restaurants. But nothing compared to this fine dining experience of Thai dishes prepared not only with love, but with impeccable skill.

[Texas Larry]

So many, but the one that pops right now was 20 years ago at a Naga tribal family wedding feast in northeast India. Tables laden with fresh vegetables, crisp salads, lots of rice, and mounds of fresh butchered pork seasoned With fermented bamboo shoots and toasted in big bamboo tubes over an open fire. Everything also seasoned with very hot chilies. Maybe 100 in attendance, lots of laughter, wonderful people many still friends.

[JCBBQ]

When I turned 21 my parents took me out to a fancy restaurant. I don’t remember the food but it was the first time I drank a white Burgundy. Words cannot describe that experience. ♥️♥️♥️

[smokin fool]

The Depot in Craiglieth, one of the top two meals I've ever had anywhere. Great little place where you could bring your own libations and boy did we.
Second best steak ever was at my buddies place in Bala. His septic bed was almost done and he was quoted astronomical amounts to replace it so called a boys weekend and we dug it out, did the re and re. Also highly illegal....
He treated us to 1inch porterhouses from a gas station up the road in Glen Williams. This place had a meat locker and the owner dry aged beef for the cottage crowd.
My buddy had a knack for BBQing streaks and he didn't let us down....I've still got the stretch marks from that meal to prove it.
The there was the afore mentioned Lambton Tavern with its kitchenette....that guy did so much with so little....

[texastweeter]

I remember taking my mother to Bob's steak and chop. She complained to the waiter that there were no prices on the menu, and then asked for chicken fried steak...now we usually go to cotton patch, her choice.

I also remember the first time I took my wife and kids to ohannahs in WDW, we had a blast. Kids played broom and coconut racing around the restaurant.

Me and my wife used to have an Italian spot that we frequented. Food was stupid cheap, scratch made and insane delicious. Owners were straight from Sicily. Son worked the door and bar, father the kitchen staff. Was never anyone in there though. We noticed cameras all over the place, and then one night pretty sure we saw a large exchange of money from a gentleman at the bar to the father. For some reason they locked the doors when that happened and it was just us, that guy, and the staff there. It is now closed, so I did some investigating. Property was seized, and the owner and son are now back in Sicily. Apparently there are some folks looking for them that they owe a lot of money to. At least that is the story I got from the former chef who now runs the restaurant at a local country club...smells like a front lol.

lots of other memories. It usually isn't fancy restaurants as those are a dime a dozen, but the people that were with me znd the interaction that made it memorable.

[FireMan]

But the cookin was "insane" you say. 👍

[Skip]

On a trip to the Eastern States in the USA a few years ago there was a stop at Plymouth MA. We were told we could have a choice of a few places to eat. However a small place was pointed out that was to have the Best Clam Chowder in the state. We went there and had the best Clam Chowder I ever tasted! I also remember the first Tri Tip I ever grilled and that was the first time I'd ever had Tri Tip. It was a wonderful beefy flavor all it's own and the experience has given me something to strive to improve on!

[FireMan]

Ahh, memories!