There is a TV show on Food Network, The Best Thing I Ever
Ate that always comes with a subtitle such as, Fried Food, Desserts,
Appetizers, etc. It's one of Rainy D's favorite shows. Chefs from the network
take us, virtually, to some restaurant they like, and show us their favorite
food. Sometimes, Rainy D crinkles her nose, but most often not. And she loves
how they always go to some restaurant of haute cuisine that, even if Rainy D
was in the right town, she could never afford to eat from;-)
But the show always makes Rainy Day wonder, what is the best
thing she ever ate, and why. She tries to keep it in the same category as the
show and has discovered she has many wonderful memories of really good things
to eat, but couldn't tell you the name of the restaurant if her life depended
on it.
There's Alligator Bites from a big restaurant just after you
get onto Sanibel Island in Florida. Rainy Day had never eaten alligator before
that trip, so she thought she'd try it. The plate came heaping with chunks of
alligator meat that had been dipped in batter and deep fried. Rainy Day thought
she'd died and gone to Everglade Heaven! Sweet, succulent, and to die for!
There was a little sea food restaurant not too far from
Traveler's Rest in South Carolina where the waitress never let the basket of
hush puppies sit empty on the table. I think the fish was pretty good, but
those hush puppies were better than the ones my Grandma used to make. And hers
were divine!
Toeshi, a local restaurant Rainy D frequents, makes the best
Daeji Bulgogi (a spicy pork bulgogi) this side of Korea. And their kim chees
are not only wonderful, but come with every Korean dish ordered. And one can
get a side to go with the Japanese dishes.
The best Yakisoba she's ever had was from Tanpopo's in
Bellevue. The best dessert from a restaurant in South Seattle, Castle's. She
doesn't remember their name for it, but she called it Death By Chocolate – a 7
layer chocolate cake, and each layer was different.
What makes it difficult to pick a 'best' in any category, at
least for Rainy Day, is that by her definition, any food she doesn't have to
cook, or clean up after, is Excellent! But it's a game she likes to play to
while away an hour now and then.
The best salad she ever had was a seafood chopped salad by a
restaurant that no longer makes them. The best hamburger was a bison burger in
a tavern in Wyoming (or maybe Montana). Her favorite chicken dinner was from a
little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Karlsruhe, Germany. Her favorite lunch?
Kraut and wurst from whatever Gasthause in Germany she was at when lunch time
rolled around. (Every town had their own versions for both the wurst (some
short and fat and others long and skinny) and the kraut (they all used different
spices).
Rainy Day admits it. She likes food. Not necessarily the
haute cuisine of the TV Chefs (which fork do you use?), but the food of the
working people. Simple food, honest food, delicious food that will keep body
and soul together. And you, Gentle Readers? What is the best thing you ever
ate?
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