Reminiscing...

This Wannabe Foodie has had a bad couple of weeks, and needs to take her mind off some things, including, but not limited to, the bureaucratic weasels that represent the company who employs her. And I mean the organization not the people I work directly with, just in case anyone is reading this.

But I digress.

So, I thought I’d use this time and space to reminisce about some of the great restaurants I have visited and some of the delicious food I have enjoyed since I started this blog almost a year ago. (Can you believe it’s been almost a year and I still don’t have a book deal? Ha, ha, ha…)

 Restaurants

• Grill 23 & Bar on Berkeley Street in Boston. I cannot compose a list of the best dining establishments that I have frequented without including my most favorite place of all. Tops for juicy, flavorful steaks and exceptional bar service. Plus, B and I had our first date here.
• Mesa Grill at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. I will not soon forget that barbecue duck taco. Thank you, Bobby Flay.
• Le Jules Verne on the second level of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. Thank you B for not one, but two unforgettable meals in the most beautiful city in the world.
• L’Table de Joel Rubichon in Paris, France. Thank you again, B, for wearing the jacket that surely got us seated without a reservation even though I was wearing “clam diggers and flip flops.” It was another one of those unforgettable meals and an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.
• Craftsteak at MGM Grand at Foxwoods. Technically, I believe I ate here before the birth of the Confessions of a Wannabe Foodie blog, but it may have been the dining experience that motivated me to get the blog started. Yummy steaks, delicious raw bar, and really great, attentive service a la Tom Colicchio.
• Bar Americain at Mohegan Sun Casino. Before I started this blog, I didn’t even like Bobby Flay. I couldn’t stand seeing his mug every 5 seconds on the Food Network. And here I am, not even a year later, putting not one, but two of his restaurants on this list. Victory is yours, Mr. Flay. You are indeed a super chef. (Try the venison.)
• RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. There was something very special about Rick Moonen’s cioppino. I think it was the pasta that he served with it. I would go back to Vegas for no other reason than to have another taste of this dish.
• Aureole at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Truth be told, I consumed approximately two bottles of champagne (no lie) before dinner at this restaurant, that was in celebration of my sister’s wedding, and I don’t really remember the meal. But it is a family mandate that we include this restaurant on any sort of “best restaurant” list we may compile. Not that my family compiles a lot of these lists, but my mother would kill me if she ever found out.
• Gibbet Hill Grill in Groton, MA. B will probably be shocked to see this on my list. It’s a restaurant he has brought me to a few times, and I think that he thinks it’s a bit too big for its britches. (Something about Boston prices but not Boston caliber food.) But I really love it there. The food is really good, but it’s the atmosphere I enjoy most. It’s such a quaint, rustic space (and I love rustic), and it’s located on a farm. You can literally watch cattle grazing in the distance while you eat your meal. Right now, I’m considering it one of my happy places.

Food

• Since I already called out that duck taco from Mesa Grill, I need to start the list with that. If I remember correctly, and I think I do, it was melt in your mouth delicious.
• Both B and I agreed that the quail at L’Table was the best bite of food either of us ate in Paris. And since he only had one tiny bite of my tasting portion, that says a lot. It was perfectly cooked, seasoned and tender. And I will love it always.
• And as I did with that duck taco, I have to give a nod to Rick Moonen’s cioppino. Maybe it’s just that I’m used to it being served as either a stew with no accompaniment, or that accompaniment being rice (and if it’s not risotto, I don’t like rice), but his was served with this wonderful pasta. I have to admit, I can’t remember if the pasta was nice, wide noodles or thick rings (similar to calamari – I may just be remembering the calamari though), but it was some of the best pasta I’ve ever had.
• And speaking of some of the best pasta I’ve ever had, how about that pipé and Bolognese sauce from Pastapapa in Paris. Hmm hmm good.
• Oysters. Anywhere they serve them. Well, almost anywhere. B and I went to Minado for dinner one night (the Japanese seafood buffet, which in most cases is quite good) and waited about 20 minutes for the oysters. After we wrestled some oyster hog to the ground and grabbed a few for ourselves, we couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. Now I’m telling you, this oyster hog was taking 20 at a time. While it was an all you can eat seafood buffet, and you do want to get your money’s worth, it was clear this man was spending $25 to eat nothing buy oysters. And they were not good. Completely flavorless. No amount of lemon juice or cocktail sauce helped. Flav-or-less. And I will eat oysters all year round (none of this limiting myself to month’s with an R in the name). These were just plain gross. The oyster hog can have them. B and I still can’t stop talking about how bad they were, and how foolish that man was.
• I’ve tried my share of new (to me) foods this past year as well… quail (first had at Craft in NY, which did not make my list), chitterlings, pigeon (good, but ewww), venison, caviar, ox heart and roasted bone marrow. It’s been quite an adventure.
• And what about the foods that I prepared myself? My recent effort at crème brulee was quite a success. That Easter lamb came out good. And we can’t forget the ultimate roast chicken. But my heart belongs to my Wally the Green Monster ice cream, even though it seems like every where I go now I see a mint flavored Oreo cookie ice cream. (And I still swear that I came up with that idea completely independently.)

So now that all the reminiscing is out of the way, what’s next for this Wannabe Foodie? This week marks the first pick up from the community supported agriculture (CSA) program that B and I joined. It’s actually with Gibbet Hill, the restaurant I mentioned as my happy place. For 20 weeks, we will get a supply of farm fresh produce that Gibbet Hill Farm grows for their restaurant, and they have promised a variety of produce that we won’t typically find in a grocery store nor through any other CSA program. I promise to keep you posted as to what we get, and how we put it to good use.