Savoring the Last of Summer

It's hard to believe how quickly the summer has gone by...yet here we are. Football is starting, the sun is setting earlier and families are getting back into the back-to-school groove.

My two passions. What a lovely pair they make.

While I'm normally one of the first to bring out the scarfs and boots and fire up the crock pot, I'm not ready to let go of summer just yet. Not this year. Didn't it just start? Wasn't it just July 4th? What happened? Where has the year gone?

The passage of time is constant, and sometimes a season change has a way of reminding you of that.

But more than that, I guess I'm not ready to let go of rose and oysters on the patio. Or 24/7 flip flops. Or easy summer salads. Or long meandering pointless walks. But especially...oysters and rose.

I am thankful I was able to indulge in some late season patio time at Fig and Olive this week. Complete with grenache rose, oysters, jamon, pinxtos and a warm September setting sun, it warped me to last September in Spain.

And just like that. It's a year later. Another season is upon us.      

Best Dishes of The 2012 Hiatus

Work, travel, dinner, work, deadlines, chores, sleep, life...seasons pass and suddenly it's fall. And so is the highly uninteresting story of the Drunken Goat Hiatus of 2012.

I wish I could say the hiatus was spent in the Basque region of Spain learning new cooking techniques and taking weekend trips to San Sebastian and southern France. Sadly, it was not. It was, however, filled with a lot of delicious meals, many enjoyed with wonderful friends and family. Here are a few of the standout dishes I enjoyed most during the blogging hiatus.

Succulent Sicilian pork shoulder at Next

• Spalla di Maiale Brasato at Next: If you asked anyone who went to Next for the Sicily menu, there was one dish that was unanimously agreed to be the best: the pork shoulder. Sous-vide and braised for six hours, the fork-tender pork melted in your mouth with every bite. I'd like to find a way to recreate this dish one day.  
• Taglionini Nero with Crab and Sea Urchin at Balena: This dish is the dish that made me fall in love with sea urchin. After a not so great sea urchin experience at Nellcote (it was paired with burrata, and the texture didn't work for me), this pasta dish finally made me understand what the sea urchin buzz was all about. 
• Burger at Au Cheval: I don't eat burgers very often, so when I do, my expectations are high. Needless to say, this burger met - and exceeded - my expectations. Top it with a runny egg and Au Cheval's famous thick cut bacon to really put it over the top (but honestly it doesn't need a lot of bells and whistles). 
• Butter Cake at Mastro's: This dessert is so good it has a Facebook page for the people who love it. Served warm with a side of whipped cream, I almost had to pay the waitress to take Mastro's signature dessert away from me. 
• Fried Chicken and Mashed Potatoes at The Lady and Sons. Located in Savannah, Georgia, The Lady and Sons is the cathedral of Paula Deen and all things southern comfort food. So much butter; so much goodness, ya'll. While I had to double up on classes at Flywheel Chicago to work this meal off, it was worth every calorie. 
• Secret Hamachi at Arami: Comprised of yellow tail, mushroom and truffle oil, we had to wait a while for this simple yet incredibly flavorful sashimi dish. It was well worth the wait. Truffle can be overpowering if not weilded correctly, especially with a light and mild fish like yellow tail. The restraint demonstrated in this dish made all the difference. 



Crispy, juicy and positively sinful  

• Tea Smoked Duck Breast at Belly Q: Served with sweet buns and chinese broccoli, this dish was so good my dining companions and I ordered a second helping. 

After meals spent with good company and, let's face it, usually good wine, these were the dishes that had me thinking about them the next morning. 

What meals, dishes and restaurants have caught your attention lately? Leave a comment and let me know. 

By the Numbers: ElBulli

On July 30, 2011, ElBulli, the famed restaurant of Ferran Adria, closed its doors.

ElBulli is located in a national park on Spain's Costa Brava

In the days and weeks leading up to and following the restaurant's closing, bloggers and food writers around the world covered it at nauseam. TIME called its closing festivities "The Night ElBulli Danced," while Slate celebrated the death of the "I Ate at ElBulli" piece penned by so many food writers. Even financial outlets like the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg got in on the act.

This is not a post about molecular gastronomy, haute cuisine or the impact of ElBulli's closing and legacy. I've never eaten at ElBulli and certainly never will.

What I did find amazing as I was reading the coverage was considering ElBulli by the numbers:

• Number of chefs: 42 
• Ratio of reservation applications to places: 250:1 (Note: Nearly two million applications are received each year for 8,000 places) 
• Number of courses: 35
• Average length of dinner: 6 hours 
• Cost: $320 
• Number of times ElBulli has received Restaurant Magazine's "Best Restaurant in the World" honors: 5 (2002, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009; it was #2 in 2010) 

Curious to find out what all the fuss is about?

Anthony Bourdain recently dedicated an entire episode of No Reservation to ElBulli. It was beautiful, poignant and clearly very personal. Read his blog post about the show, A Beginning. An End, for a candid perspective on what ElBulli means to him.

Or you can just watch him make his way through the 30-plus courses here: