The Best Thing you ever ate.........

[ShallowsNole]

I can't pick just one. But my favorite food in all the world is fried shrimp. And tho' I like the plethora of restaurants we have available here today, it seems that I can't find anyone that replicates the shrimp from my formative years, from Bay Grove Restaurant or Chapman's (way back when the Chapman family from Black Creek still had it)...

Except Nick's. Thank God for Nick's. I'll stick up for Bayou Bill's, et al, because they have "good" shrimp and my son the busser now has a car to finish paying for plus insurance, but Nick's is Da Bomb.

There is also O'Steens in St Augustine Beach, and I'll visit them in about three weeks - but it's a tad far to strike out for them on a whim.

 

[phillycheese]

My namesake! At my father's old restaurant in Philly.

 

[SneakyPete]

Wow! I thought this would be easy...but it's not! I think overall the quality of our food has been elevated to the point where just about every meal I eat could qualify as "the best."

I grew up here before we had a lot of the ingredients we have now -- the ethnic markets and even the supermarkets that offered more than what was grown on our family farm. Our vegetables were slimed with bacon grease, and our meats were cooked until they were DONE DONE DONE! Although like any southern family, our family cooks had their specialities (salmon patties, macaroni and cheese, twelve layer chocolate cake, buttermilk pie, biscuits and buttery greens) I much prefer the current trend toward fresh flavors and recipes that allow quality ingredents to shine. Pizza bar pizza. Sushi at Harbor Docks. Fried shrimp and fish at Dewey Destin (and other places along the harbor). Jambone's eggs benedict with shrimp and the chipotle hollandaise. I tend to value those restaurant experiences that provide food I can't make (or that are too labor intensive for me to make regularly).

I have to say, though, the best thing I ever "ate" was a Diet Coke that I drank the morning after I spent the night in the ER with food poisoning. That lucious, sparkly, syrupy liquid hitting my parched throat. I still get chills. I wish I could recapture that rapturous feeling without the food poisoning!

My husband will tell you his was the day after he woke up in the hospital from surgery for bacterial pneumonia. I brought him some soup made with ham, cabbage and white beans, and homemade bisuits. The look on his face as he ate -- I wish I had taken pictures. Sometimes the situation and the memory IS the food!

 

[DD]

Wow! I thought this would be easy...but it's not! I think overall the quality of our food has been elevated to the point where just about every meal I eat could qualify as "the best."

I grew up here before we had a lot of the ingredients we have now -- the ethnic markets and even the supermarkets that offered more than what was grown on our family farm. Our vegetables were slimed with bacon grease, and our meats were cooked until they were DONE DONE DONE! Although like any southern family, our family cooks had their specialities (salmon patties, macaroni and cheese, twelve layer chocolate cake, buttermilk pie, biscuits and buttery greens) I much prefer the current trend toward fresh flavors and recipes that allow quality ingredents to shine. Pizza bar pizza. Sushi at Harbor Docks. Fried shrimp and fish at Dewey Destin (and other places along the harbor). Jambone's eggs benedict with shrimp and the chipotle hollandaise. I tend to value those restaurant experiences that provide food I can't make (or that are too labor intensive for me to make regularly).

I have to say, though, the best thing I ever "ate" was a Diet Coke that I drank the morning after I spent the night in the ER with food poisoning. That lucious, sparkly, syrupy liquid hitting my parched throat. I still get chills. I wish I could recapture that rapturous feeling without the food poisoning!

My husband will tell you his was the day after he woke up in the hospital from surgery for bacterial pneumonia. I brought him some soup made with ham, cabbage and white beans, and homemade bisuits. The look on his face as he ate -- I wish I had taken pictures. Sometimes the situation and the memory IS the food!

I can relate to that Diet Coke. There's nothing better when you wake up hung over IMHO. It's something about the bubbles I think.
Again, your soup sounds yummy.
And, I love me some Dewey's Destin.

 

[scooterbug44]

I don't know that I can say just one thing - top honors definitely go to:
-a fabulous panna cotta w/ tiny fresh wild strawberries I had at a Roman restaurant
-Ensalada Rica's pear, cured beef, walnut, and cheese salad w/ honey dressing
-Red Bar crab cakes
-Mama Scooterbug's spinach artichoke casserole, white chocolate cheesecake and twice baked potatoes
-Papa Scooterbug's roast beast, elk t-bones, wild rice and mushroom casserole, and venison w/ boursin cheese sauce
-the Vintij salmon w/ cous-cous and mango glaze ties w/ the Prospector's salmon w/ wasabi
-fried walleye w/ cheesy onion hashbrowns and fried eggs
-raspberries right off the vine

 

[SHELLY]

I tend to think it's not so much of "what" the item was (considering it was good in the first place), but it's where it was consumed.

Best hotdog: At old Yankee Stadium
Best sandwich: Under a tree in a park in France
Best beer: Oktoberfest
Best seafood: Plate of mussels at Pike's Place Market, Seattle
Best ice cream: Chocolate Gelato at Piazza Navona, Rome

The list goes on and on.

 

[MaryAnne]

The chicken fajita quesadillas at MiCocina (the Dallas restaurant) or MiCo as the regulars call it. They are always FULL of grilled chicken. And of course a frozen margarita, no salt to wash them down with. We have been going to the Preston Forest location for years.

 

[kathydwells]

My Den Den's (paternal grandmother) pot of Butter beans (White Lima's) with ham hocks, her fried okra, and fried corn, her collard greens, fried pork chops, a big ole piece of her cornbread, her homemade German Chocolate Cake, and Buttermilk Pie, with huge slices of her fresh out of the garden tomatoes, and big a ole slice of Sweet Vidalia Onion, and her sweet tea. It doesn't get any better than that. I sure do miss those meals.....and her.

My Mama Nelson's (maternal grandmother's) homemade buttermilk biscuits that would melt in your mouth, and her fresh peach fried pies....oh man, I hope they let them cook in heaven.

 

[Here4Good]

If they don't let them cook in Heaven, then why would they call it Heaven?

 

[aggieb]

love your post kdw.

my mama's day after thanksgiving turkey sandwiches and her tomato sandwiches.

a beef tenderloin meal that an exboyfriend:roll: cooked for us one night. that was the only good thing about him, he knew how and loved to cook. mr. aggb doesn't know how to boil h2o.