In Provincetown, Mass., we ate lobster rolls nearly ever day for dinner. After
coming out of a tea dance we?d be starved and ready for the street food at the oyster shucker?s window, where we?d devour Wellfleet oysters and paper cups full of creamy clam chowder.
Jennifer Biesty, contestant on Bravo?s Top Chef
It was 15 degrees out in Denver and we had grilled buffalo sausages stuffed with cream cheese and topped with onions caramelized in Coke.
Chef and TV personality Susan Feniger, Border Grill, Santa Monica, Calif.
Saut?ed vegetables with chicken for lunch at Fred Segal in Los Angeles.
Bruce Bozzi Jr., restaurateur, the Palm Restaurant Group
The best dinner in New York is Nova sliced fresh by seasoned countermen at Zabar?s. Get that with Zabar?s scallion cream cheese and then go next door to get a sesame seed bagel at H&H Bagels and put it all together.
Raphael Kadushin, food journalist, Madison, Wisc.
Mexicana Mama in NYC. I can still see and taste the exquisite chiles en nogada. None that I have had since then even comes close -- even here in Mexico!
Chef David Sterling, founder of Los Dos Cooking School, M?rida, Mexico
My most memorable dinner was my last night working at the Windows on the World in NYC?s World Trade Center. We started with the roasted foie gras, glazed in sauternes, and accompanied by a galette of pears and potatoes. The veal shank ?tres Migueles? came sealed in parchment with cumin, garlic, and other Mexican aromatics, then roasted in its own juices. I had no idea then that I would be saying goodbye that night to many of my colleagues for the very last time.
Andrew Freeman, restaurateur and restaurant consultant, San Francisco
Mario Batali?s Otto in NYC. We started with a white bean, rosemary, and olive oil bruschetta that was so simple -- mounds of creamy perfectly cooked white beans seasoned beautifully atop a thick slice of toasted baguette. A small, thin, crisp-crusted pizza came next loaded with a variety of roasted wild mushrooms -- heavenly! The pasta, a very al-dente Bolognese, was rich but light. Our next serving was the seafood board. A variety of cold and hot seafood samplings served in small white ramekins (seven in all), everything from fried crispy tidbits to chilled squid salad. Next came the cheese and charcuterie boards. The server came to the table carrying a large jar of amber colored honey speckled with what looked like tiny black flakes. It was black truffle honey! He then proceeded to spoon some of the liquid gold onto the charcuterie board. I?d never tasted anything quite like it before. It had the flavor of an earthy, almost musty tasting molasses, great with the cheese. The evening ended with olive oil gelato sprinkled with sea salt and drizzled with pure olive oil.
Reggie Southerland, contestant on The Next Food Network Star
and chef at Say Cheese gourmet shop and caf?, Los Angeles
Istanbul?s Seyhmuz Kebap Salonu behind the Grand Bazaar has the best kebabs served with salad and hot flatbreads baked to order. In nearby Lebanon, sit on the front terrace in the sun overlooking the old Roman ruins of the Byblos Port with fattoush salad and fried baby squid at Bab El Mina restaurant.
Chef Christine Manfield, East @ West, London
Israeli cherry tomatoes from Israel. They grow in warm houses in the south of Israel in such abundance that they are always in season and always dirt-cheap.
Gil Hovav, Israeli TV food personality
The Makroud cookies and fig liquor, called boukha, in Hammamet, Tunisia.
Chef Jamie Lauren, Absinthe, San Francisco
An unusual dish in Cura?ao, Netherlands Antilles, was rabbit in tomato and apricot mash -- very spicy yet sweet.
Chef Rudy Kerremans, Caf? Des Artistes, Ubud, Indonesia
I love the smorgasbord at Ulriksdals Wardshus, an endless buffet of the kind of food you actually want to eat, starting with a cold seafood table featuring 11 different Baltic herrings in various marinades. The setting is also gorgeous -- a country inn just outside Stockholm sitting in the park of an 18th-century palace.
Raphael Kadushin, food journalist, Madison, Wisc.
There is a little shop in Paris right off the Rue de Rivoli in the Marais that has the best damn chocolate ?clair I?ve ever tasted.
Chef Larkin Mackey, Larkin?s, Los Angeles
In Spain?s Basque country at Mugaritz, crushed potatoes, broken eggs, and a ?vegetable coal? -- or a dish of sweet scallops, acorns, and root vegetables -- are interrupted only by the faint bitterness of olive oil.
Chef and food personality Tony Tan, Melbourne
On a beach on Koh Samui, Thailand, tables were set in the sand just above the waterline. The catch of the day really was caught that day -- we picked out our fish, it disappeared into a hut and returned perfectly cooked. That was the night I decided to open a seafood restaurant.
Chef Christine Keff, Flying Fish, Seattle
