Best you ate in 2008? [General]

2009 Jan 1
What was the best thing you ate in 2008?

And the best thing you cooked, if that's different?

And the worst?

2009 Jan 1
The best this I ate is a toss up between the foie gras burger or foie gras poutine at Au pied de cochon.

The best thing I cooked....... probably smoked pork butt for pulled pork sammies.

The worst, some eggplant curry that ended up turning rather grayish.

2009 Jan 1
Best thing I ate in 2008, which happens to be the best thing I cooked in 2008, chicken breasts stuffed with leek and mozzerella and wrapped with collard greens, then poached in homemade chicken stock and served with a mustard brandy cream sauce.
Worse meal - in Toronto a little place in the theatre district. For one thing it was so dark we needed a flashlight to read the menus, and we could not see our plates (I took pics with my flash and passed the camera around so people could see what was on their plates.) I had the very expensive seared tuna. It was in a stew like concoction. Bad presentation. The tuna was okay, barely. and the noodles were tasteless yet rubbery. I was less then impressed with the whole experience.

2009 Jan 1
the best thing i ate in 2008 was a ricotta and nutella calzone (panzerotti) at a place called Dar Poeta in Rome (the pizza, also amazing. In fact, everything about that place was good).

the best thing i cooked was a pork tenderloin dinner with no recipes at all. the most impressive was my yule log at christmas (thank you martha!)

the worst thing i ate... an incident involving enchilladas with very soggy, gritty corn tortillas (but overall, they weren't too bad).

cheers to 09.

2009 Jan 2
The best thing I ate was a sous-vide pork belly at Thomas Keller's Bouchon at the Venetian in Vegas. 14 hours of cooking, then a quick sear, it was so unbelievable tender and delicious.

The best thing I cooked was a complete 7 course dinner for 8 people for New Years. We started eating at around 7 and finished around 11:30. I prepped everything really well, and just kept rolling out great plates all night. My favourite of the night was a lobster Mac n Cheese.

2009 Jan 2
My fav this year, at least in terms of expectations being far exceeded, was at the Whalesbone, where (as i described in my review) the chefs assembled a sublime vegetarian meal.

Home cooked favs --never my own, lol-- included a friend's Japanese tapas style meal: small plates of marinated shitakes and mountain veggies, sauted lotus root, kimpira salad, and others.

A somewhat different highlight this past year was sipping a beer at the Elmdale and being encouraged (by the pub owner) to grab food from Helen's convenience store (Lebanese-oriented fare). The food was an excellent / cheap complement to the beer, and it felt liberating to openly consume it in a tavern that seems to understand its business model (booze and pool, leave the food to the experts). Were the Elmdale walking distance, it would be my watering hole of choice for just this reason.

the worst, without a doubt, was consumed in a small town along the Acadian coast (NB) in an "Italian" restaurant highly recommended by owner of the motel we were staying at. My request for a veggie version of their "signature" tomato based pasta dish was met first w/ a look of puzzlement, then an inquiry w/ the cook and then confirmation they could accommodate. 15 minutes later two plates were set before me, the first overflowing with visibly overcooked pasta and the other, a small casserole dish of previously frozen peas 'n carrots swimming in butter, no other sauce (tomato or otherwise) to speak of ... just butter. Starving and without other options, i thanked my waitress and began spooning the peas n carrots onto the pasta ... while my SO luxuriated on her freshly caught crab-whatever. The pasta was so terrible (mushy and tasteless) i contemplated a temp. re-framing of my culinary orientation (when in Rome ...).

What about your best / worst, OliversRock?

2009 Jan 2
The best thing I made (in my opinion) - the pork ribs in apple cider I posted here earlier this year. Oh and my doughnuts definitely the doughnuts I made last week.

The best I ate - I eat out so rarely my new years resolution is to try to eat out more! I had fantastic fish and chips at Merivale Fish and Chips.

Most memorable - I had a bloomin onion for the first time when I moved to Ottawa in May. I think it was more the kodak moment - sharing it in the street with my bf in our new city...

Worst - HE likes Denny's cause of the portions...and I am obsessed with cleanliness, since I can see the kitchen and who is making my meal. We go there for breakie once in a blue moon. My mistake was straying from the breakfast menu one day. Philly melt, I think it was. Absolutely smothered in thick processed swiss cheese. It was rank. Really rank. I'll stick with the eggs and bacon from now on.

2009 Jan 3
Best I ate while dining out (in Ottawa): was probably the pork & beans at Murray St. restaurant. Everything about that meal was perfect.

Best I ate while dining out (outside of Ottawa): this is a toss-up between the dirt cheap, super fresh snapper sandwiches in FL, the roadside pit BBQ in the middle of nowhere in FL, mexican food in any of the taquerias in AZ, or my dining experience at Hen of the Wood in Waterbury VT (highly recommended).

Best I cooked: probably the seared flank steak sliced thinly, served on a white truffle barley parmesan risotto with a red wine reduction.

Worst food experience this year: I really don't want to affix a business name to this one, but it was a very unpalatable sushi experience on Merivale Rd. I'll leave it at that. Sushi + fusion = sushi confusion.

2009 Jan 3
Best Dining Out Experience for 2008.

My combo meal at La Cabana. (www.ottawafoodies.com) Simple fair .... but Right-Some-Good !! No money for any upscale dining during 2008. Oh Well .... the Foie Gras and Absinthe will have to wait.

Best I made ?

A toss up between my first attempt at using a smoker to make pulled pork sandwiches for 35 people on Canada Day. ( www.ottawafoodies.com)

.... VS ....

The new pasta dish I invented and subjected my friends and family to ... Linguini with Morels and Pancetta in a Creamy Pinjur Sauce ... Ohh Yah Baby, Ohh Yahhh !!!

The morels were obtained from a fellow Ottawa Foodie. Many thnaks to my 'shroom supplier.

Worst food experience.

Unable to digest the 2 pieces of KFC (Yuckky Fried Chicken) I tossed down my gullet. This was the first taste of Colonel Ernie's I had in about 18 years. It was so good that it brought me to my knees, while I worshipped at the great procelain alter.


2009 Jan 3
Ok- Best dining out experience was the steak tartare at Oui Bistro in Winnipeg.

Best I made: Lobster macaroni and cheese which reminds me Loeb has frozen cooked lobsters on sale $6.99/lb-good for more mac and cheese.

Worst I ate: A toss up between the month's worth of Health Sciences Centre hospital food I had to eat OR the horrible take out sushi from Loblaws on Baseline. The rice to fish ratio is totally wrong and the little fish that there is has NO flavour.

2009 Jan 4
You guys have way better memories than I do - I can barely recall what I ate yesterday, let alone all year!

2009 Jan 4
I think the best I ate was the pied du cochon and duck in a can at picards resturant in montreal.

The best thing I cooked, well thats a tough one....mmmmm My thanks giving turkey ballintine was pretty dam good. Stuffed with locally picked trumpet mushrooms, homemade pancetta and tons of fresh sage.

The worst for I ate had to be the shrimp curry at a certin sri lankin resturant on bank street. The curry itsef was good but the shrimp must have been simmering in there since the morning cause ive never had them so hammered in my entire life!!

2009 Jan 5
I think the best thing I ate in 2008 was the foie gras tart at the Whalesbone last winter. They have it on the menu again:)
Took me while to figure out what was my fav.. Ceasar salad at Chez Lucien was another great find as was my new weekend treat a bacon & egg sandwich from Starbucks but nothing can compare to foie gras...mmmmm foie gras.
Wow, my taste buds really simplified this year, or I spent too much time at the pub instead of a decent restaurant. Note to self.

2009 Jan 6
I'm far too easily pleased to think of just one "best I've eaten," so I'll go for three:

1. Plogue à Champlain at Au Pied du Cochon (pictured): from what I gather, it was a buckwheat pancake, topped with shredded potato, bacon, cheese, foie gras, and covered in maple syrup. It's like breakfast, dinner, and dessert, all rolled up into one. Heavenly.

2. Duck confit at Murray Street.

3. Pickled herring at either of the two smorrebrod joints we went to in Copenhagen (Hustmann's Vinstue, Lurblaersen).

Close 4th place was any time I got takeout pastries from The French Baker (croissant, chocolatine, chausson aux pommes), took them home, and ate them with copious amounts of latté. It's because of the weekend morning atmosphere that comes with it.

Best thing I cooked? I think steak frites. There were a lot of things that made me go "mmmmmmmmm", but nothing quite like a sizzling hot ribeye (cast-iron skillet), crispy fries, and buckets of Bordeaux (or similar).

Worst thing I ate? I had some bad fried scallops in Nova Scotia that made me think I was going to die. I hadn't been sick like that in years.

2009 Jan 6
Some of my highlights included:

Raw seafood platters (during summer) boudin noir, and guinea hen liver mousse at Pied du Cochon in MTL
Blood sausage tart/foie gras torchon at Pinxtos in MTL
The foie gras tart at Whalesbone here in Ottawa
Langoustines and all kinds of charcueterie and cheeses in Corsica

and of course how could I forget...

a Schwartz smoked meat sandwich!


2009 Jan 8
Geez... who can "cook" the list just down to one thing?

Here are a couple Great memories:

BEST Wine Makers / Chef Dinner - Waring House Inn (Maple in the County) www.ottawafoodies.com

BEST Meal Out of Town - King Street Sizzle, Kingston

BEST Meal In Town - La Porto A Casa, I drool just anticipating my next visit.

BEST Lunch - Pepe's Wharf in Provincetown, Mass. (Gazpacho & Lobster Salad)

BEST Dessert - Pecan Pie in Savannah, Georgia

BEST Seafood (Sorry couldn't resist adding this one) - Snow Crab Legs at Duffy's Crabshack in North Myrtle Beach... an unbelievable sized serving of tasty crab for just $ 7.99 it was so fantastic we went 2 out of 3 days for lunch!

BEST Daytime Setting - Eating beside the Ocean anywhere (Mass. or the Keys)

BEST Romantic Setting - Louis' Backyard Restaurant in Key West

BEST Service - Friday's Roast Beef House Friday's Roast Beef House

My BEST Dish and Proudest Moments - (a tie)
The Upside Down Apple Gingerbread Cake with Barley Days Brewery Sugar Shack Ale Caramel Sauce, that I made at the Waring House Cooking School (and NO I have made it at home as of yet)
and
The HUGE New Year's Turkey Feast that I made for "The Man's" family to kick off 2008

And some Awful ones:

The WORST Pizza Ever - Little Caesar's Pizza - My Review is at Little Caesars Pizza

and

The WORST Meal in my Recent Memory - Denny's Titusville, Florida. The restaurant was attached to the Ramada we were staying at (which also stank - literally). I should have known better and stuck with the Breakfast Menu (famous last words by myself and other posters), but after hours of endless driving on the I-95 I opted for a Club Sandwich, it came with a Side Salad. The side salad was iceberg based and I swear 25% of it had brown leaves.... ick. The sandwich wasn't much better. The service was awful, "The Man" didn't even get the right sandwich, he ordered a BLT they brought him a Club also, when he pointed it out to the waitress she said "HE was mistaken"... and she didn't seem to care when he showed her that our two sandwiches were identical. This will probably be the last time I ever eat at a Denny's. We are Ramada Members, so we expected better both from the Hotel and the Restaurant... Ramada sends us surveys about their facilities regularly (including their attached Restaurants)... Boy are they ever going to get an earful.

2009 Jan 10
Best thing I ate in 2008: In Aleppo, Syria BF and I went to a restaurant recommended by our hotel manager called Il Kommeh (which I think in Arabic means 'the summit'). We had an absolutely amazing meal of hummus, baba ganoush, mint lemonade, kebabs in cherry sauce, grilled chicken in garlic sauce, spicy potatoes and arabic coffee. The whole meal was $11.00 CDN.

The best thing I cooked in 2008: I am going to jump on the pulled pork bandwagon. I made a pulled pork taco buffet last March for 20 people. Made the pork in a slow cooker over 13 hours. Or else it was learning how to make scrambled eggs by watching Gordon Ramsay on YouTube. I have never in my life cooked something so oft requested by friends and family. Eggs, whodathunkit?

The worst thing I cooked: Hmm it might have been a very botched attempt at a winter root vegetable soup (pureed). It was partially so bad because I caught my immersion blender on fire (wtf, I know) and otherwise that it was closely resembling the cabbage soup that Charlie has to eat every day in Charlie and the Choocolate Factory (no offense to cabbage, which I love).

The worst meal in recent memory: At the Clocktower Bre Pub. I really tried to like it there, but don't. I had a terrible goat cheese salad which was essentially a very sad looking collection of greens with a tiny nub of goat cheese, two pieces of garlic baguette and a greasy salad dressing.