2011: A Year in Eating

December is always a time for year end lists. Best albums. Best songs. Best concerts. Best new restaurants. Best desserts. Best new bars. It seems like there's a list for everything.  

This got me reflecting on the best things I ate in 2011. But, how to rank? How to compare an appetizer or one simple ingredient to a full entree or ten course prix fix? So in no particular order, the best things I ate in 2011: 

Fresh Brazilian starfruit
plucked right from the tree. 

• The delice de bourgogne cheese plate at Maude's Liquor Bar. Absolute decadence. It was the dish that spurred me to launch The Drunken Goat Dispatches in May, and I'm still in love. 
• The deluxe focaccia at Avec, with taleggio cheese, ricotta, truffle oil and fresh herbs is salty, savory and more addicting than a Big Mac.  
• An authentic Brazilian fish feast prepared by the lovely people at Salto das Nuvens, a small, waterfall-side restaurant, bar and resort located in the Matto Grosso state. It was like being on an episode of No Reservations.
• Fresh starfruit picked off a tree (also in Matto Grosso) and eaten. Nature's sweet tart.  
• Mom's stuffing at Thanksgiving. So incredibly simple (bread, onions, celery, stock and pork sausage) yet delicious and flavorful. The memory of Thanksgiving leftovers is still lingering.  
• Served with crisp sourdough bread, sea salt, parsley and red onion jam, the bone marrow at Longman & Eagle is savory and rich.  
• While I love the cheese and charcuterie at The Purple Pig, the olive oil poached tuna with lima beans, fresh herbs, red onion and vinaigrette is still the dish that I keep thinking about. 
• Fetucine a la Pasquale at my family's favorite restaurant, Pasquale's Osteria in Norwalk, Conn. Homemade pasta, shrimp, ham, asparagus, tomatoes, fresh basil in a garlic red sauce with a touch of cream. It's ultimate Italian comfort food made by Pasquale, a former Vatican chef (more on that in a future post).   
• The lobster roll at B&G Oyster in the South End of Boston served just the way I like it: heaping mounds of lobster, slightest touch of homemade mayo, herbs, S+P, on a butter toasted roll. 
• I'm still blissed out from The Lair of the Minotaur burger at Kuma's Corner. The brie, pancetta and bourbon poached pear made the burger worth the wait...and the calories.    
• The cheese cart at Tru. An unpasteurized heaven on wheels.   
• The hen at Graham Elliot: a savory and memorable dish that embodied fall with every bite.

What was your favorite dish or dining experience in 2011? 

Summer's Last Rite

I guess you could say I'm in denial about the end of summer. This became apparent on a recent Labor Day visit to New England where I corralled numerous family members into indulging in ice cream nearly every day of my visit.

Trapped in time: Ridgefield Ice Cream Shop 

There are few things that embody summer quite like an ice cream cone. There's something about digging into the cold, sweet, creamy delight on a sticky summer night with the sound of cicadas chirping in the background. Be it quietly sitting in the car or at a nearby picnic table while everyone quietly digs into their treasured frozen treat, people have been doing this for generations.

The first stop on my tour was "the route 7 place" in Ridgefield, Conn. My parents have lived in the area for more than 20 years, and no one knows the name of this ice cream place. I recently learned that its official name is Ridgefield Ice Cream Shop (although I'll still call it the route 7 place).

What we do know is that making a stop for a chocolate sundae is a summer ritual. The vanilla ice cream is a thick, creamy soft serve custard that on its own is absolutely decadent. Add in rich chocolate sauce and luxurious whip cream and it's memorable treat that's good in any season. We've been known to make visits in the dead of winter.

Goddaughter Isabelle: my partner in crime at Dr. Mike's.
  

The second was Dr. Mike's in Bethel, Conn. I believe that the good doctor of food can cure pretty much any ailment, so the fact that this place is named after a doctor is just perfect. That afternoon, the assortment of flavors made it a difficult decision - pumpkin? vanilla raspberry swirl? Ultimate chocolate? I opted for chocolate lace: rich vanilla ice cream with chocolate covered hard toffee, which added a periodic cold crunch.

Beyond clocking how many spinning classes I was going to need post-trip to burn off all the ice cream I was eating, I realized I was taking comfort in one of the last rites of summer. Before the leaves started crunching under my feet, before it was time to put away the flip flops, before the cool nights took hold, I was grasping for one last taste of summer.

New England Eats - A follow up

Double lobster roll is twice as nice. 

A few weeks ago, I posted about the ultimate New England meal. As it is summer, the lobster roll and fried seafood cravings continue. 


I recently joined my parents for a leisurely late afternoon lunch at The Mooring in Guilford, Connecticut. The highlight - of course - was the double Connecticut-style lobster roll, served warm with drawn butter on the side.

The cold beer, clam chowder, fried scallops, scenic shoreline and coastal breezes also made for lovely additions to an all around pitch-perfect afternoon.

The picture says it all.

The Ultimate New England Meal

Eating clam chowder at Fenway Park is one my favorite
Boston traditions.

While The Drunken Goat Dispatches will largely focus on eating and drinking in Chicago, it will from time to time cover eating perspectives from other cities. Last month I had the opportunity to visit Boston. Having gone to Boston University and lived there for many years, it's always great to go back and play tour-guide for visiting friends and family.

While its food scene isn't as dynamic and ever-evolving as it is here in Chicago, Boston does several things exceptionally well: oysters, lobster rolls and clam chowder. Groundbreaking insight here, right?

Since I've moved to Chicago, I've been on a continual quest to find something - anything - that resembles the New England fare I grew up on. This is especially the case when summer rolls around, and I start craving Harpoon IPA, lobster rolls and oysters night and day.

So, in a city where practically every restaurant is claiming to have "Boston's Best Clam Chowder," here are a few of my must-visit eating stops:

Oysters and rose is a great start to any meal.

• Fenway Park: There's a Legal Sea Foods vendor in Fenway Park, and it's one of my favorite places in Boston to get clam chowder. Legal is a venerable Boston seafood chain. Its flagship restaurants - though solid - aren't that special or interesting of an eating experience. However, I do love their outpost in Fenway, with its classic chowder. There's something particularly exciting about eating it at Fenway Park, ideally on a crisp fall or spring night with a Guinness or Sam Adams (both also available at the park). It's also easier to eat soup at a ballpark than you would think.
   
• Neptune Oyster: Located in Boston's charming North End neighborhood, Neptune Oyster is a quaint, seafood haven in the city's Italian neighborhood. Its oyster selection changes daily based on the day's catch, and it typically includes no less than a dozen different kinds of oysters from Rhode Island, Cape Cod, Maine, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and elsewhere throughout the Atlantic.  Neptune Oyster's two lobster roll options (one served hot with drawn butter, the other served cold with the slightest touch of mayo) will leave you making one of the most complex, difficult decisions of your eating life. It's like choosing between favorite pets or children.  
  



Lobster roll at B&G. No words needed.

• B&G Oysters: Led by the creative inspiration of Barbara Lynch, B&G Oysters in the South End is casual, noisy, fun and delicious. The heart of the restaurant is its small, open kitchen. We sat at the bar overlooking the oyster shucking station. I could have watched it for hours. On a busy Sunday afternoon, we went for B&G's Boston-food trifecta: oysters (some briny, some sweet; all New England), chowder (smoky and rich thanks to the welcomed addition of pancetta) and lobster roll (pitch perfect served with house-cured pickles and hand-cut fries). It was easily one of my most favorite meals in recent memory.          

This is just a brief sampling of some of my Beantown favorites. Until my next visit, my quest for lobster rolls and oysters in Chicago presses on...


Where is your must-visit Boston drinking and eating destinations? What about your favorite seafood spots in Chicago? Leave a comment and let me know.