Kevin's Watch

Imagine you could re-create the perfect banquet, incorporating your favourite little bits and certain dishes, in (and from) various locations, from meals that you've had in your life.

what where with whom and which courses would you combine for the perfect culinary experience?

Wow, a challenge!

Starter would be the French onion soup I used to get at a restaurant in Huntington, WV, in the '80s. They served it in those stoneware bowls with the handles. Broth, onions and chunks of bread inside, and covering it all was a layer of toasty melted cheese. Mmmm.

Next might be the shrimp pad thai I always order from Thai Lemongrass in Alexandria, VA.

Next might well be the filet mignon we used to occasionally (*very* occasionally! ) get in the dorm cafeteria. I'd never had filet mignon before I went to college.

The filet might be accompanied by "fixed" mashed potatoes from a mashed potato bar -- a culinary fad that was popular for about 15 minutes a few years back.

I'm sure there'd be some veggies accompanying the steak, too, but nothing spectacular comes to mind. Hmm, maybe a vine-ripened tomato I just picked.

Somewhere in there might also be a 1990s (before they downsized 'em ) black bean burrito from Burrito Bros. here in DC. Or Mexican food from the hole-in-the-wall place in Burns Harbor, IN, we used to go to in high school. Or ropa vieja from the Cuban place in International Square.

Dessert -- oh boy, so many from which to choose! But the top choices would be Turkey Hill Philadelphia-style vanilla (or chocolate) ice cream with some of the fresh raspberries that Mom used to grow in our yard...or Mom's Toll House oatmeal cookies, just out of the oven. Or both!

No alcohol, thanks. I'd rather spend the calories on dessert.

Nice, Aliantha!

I've been thinking about this for WEEKS, and keep remembering different bits and pieces - so what i think I'm going to do, is post now and continually edit and re-edit the same post as I remember ....

My starter, without a shadow of a doubt, is Soto Ayam soup as served in Fidelio's restaurant in Amsterdam. I'd eat it on the benches outside Fidelio's, watching the beautiful Dutch girls cycle by. A small loaf of olive bread from Cheeseworks ( a shop in my town) would go down well with it.

After that I'd like to put my feet up for a while on L'avenue Gaudi in Barcelona and cleanse my palate with a large glass of Horchata.

As the sun went down towards evening I'd wander towards La Ramblas and eye up the salads in various cafes - a jug of iced Sangria in a courtyard and lovely though the Barcelona salads are, I'd opt for stepping through a portal to the west coast of Kalymnos in the Greek islands, and have a fresh Greek salad, gazing over to Telendos island.

Now, if I could just remember the name of that place in Budapest with the dilapidated courtyard, to provide the setting for my main course(s)....

I spent a year and some months traveling through Portugal and Spain. I had walked/hiked through the Algarve for about a month by myself. After about a month I had met some really nice people and they invited me out to dinner. I was tired, dirty and very very broke but decided it would do me good to get out of that damn pup tent. We were in a small town called Lagos. It was a beautiful night that I remember very very well. We walked along the narrow cobblestone street to a small restaurant on a street far from all the tourists. There was an amazing fragrance of grill and garlic wafting from the small restaurant. When we went in the little place was packed with old fishermen, men, women and children all laughing and talking across the little place. We sat at a long table, sandwiched between other families and visitors. An older woman immediately put some big tumbler glasses filled with wine in front of each of us. There were no menus, no prices. I allowed my new friends to order for me. And what I ate was the most simple, most amazing meal I have ever eaten. Warm Portuguese bread with tubs of fresh homemade butter, grilled swordfish swimming in garlic butter, boiled potatoes, steamed cabbage. And for desert a dish of fresh strawberries in red wine with crem fresh. It was a wonderful night, by the end of the night there were children sitting on my lap, the warm glow of the wine, the music from the old radio, all made me feel renewed.

At the end of the meal, which lasted about 5 hours, the bill came and digging deep into my shallow pockets I paid $5.00!

I would change nothing - it would be exactly as it was.

You world travelers have me beat!

How could I have forgotten *bread*?? Let's see. There's a place about a block and a half from my apartment that makes an olive loaf that I've bought, um, more than once. And there's a chain called Great Harvest that has a store nearby; I've tried many of their breads, and I can't think of any that I haven't liked.

Altho, speaking of world travel, one of the things I remember most about Spain is that they were offering me bread every time I turned around. "¿Más pan?"

Cheese blintz at Wolfie's on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, mid '70s.

Potato crusted fish (I no longer remember what variety) from Sammy's in The Flats district of Cleveland...about 1994.

My father's marinated and grilled flank steak.

An artichoke served with mayo into which a liberal amount of curry powder has been added. No special technique, therefore no attribution.

A tie for the dessert course: tiramisu or Menolly's key lime pie. Oh, that's right...the pie is all gone. Well, I was warned about that!

Club Feszak? Fzak? Something like that. It's got a great inner courtyard with strange wrought iron and a couple of huge trees, and handily enough a sort of Greek temple thing with a huge statue of a centaur in the corner - so shouldn't be a problem stepping right through from Kalymnos!

Fish next - it would be the Ocda (Ocdam?) we had on Jeju island. Accompanied by gf's sister's homemade kimchee, her mum's pickled baby ferns and acorn jelly. To wash it down some mull-kimchee (non-alcoholic) and some Jeju orange flavoured Magully (rice wine).

After all those strong flavours I'll relax for a while with a pint of Strongbow.

Steak and fat chips next, lifted straight from our favourite restaurant here in Cheltenham, Number Seven. A big fat round sirloin, bloody in the middle. Washed down with a bottle of Domaine de Cherrier Sancerre wine.

(I know where my coffee and brandy are coming from, but I'm struggling with dessert..)

Club Feszek ^

I unfortunately do not have enough worldly experience with restaurants to even begin to say, "I want food from such-and-such place".

Lorin's experience sounds absolutely amazing. I think intimate places that have an emphasis on food made from fresh ingredients simply have the best food. Ambiance really does affect things, too.