Rubee

Best meal I ever ate:

Thankful for lots of special times and fantastic meals. Travel-wise: The first time I had fresh lamb at a friend's home in Auckland NZ; poisson cru and crepes from the roulottes in Tahiti; kokoda and kava (hic) at a traditional local wedding in Fiji; Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas; Alain Ducasse in NYC (closed, but still dream about the sweetbreads and ravioli de foie gras); Ambrosia on Santorini, Greece; Moreton Bay "bugs" with garlic butter in Australia; too much mead with roast pork shank and colcannon at a B&B in Galway, Ireland; Gordon Ramsay in London; Guy Savoy in Paris. So far, best meal in 2009 - Binkley's in Cave Creek, AZ..

My current drink of choice:

Depends on my mood. Depends on the season. Sazerac. Aviation. Negroni. Rye Manhattan. Sidecar. Vesper. Basil-Hayden or Blanton's bourbon neat. Locally in Phoenix - Yellow Jacket at J&G, Segway at Digestif, Corpse Reviver at Metro, Amante Picante at Prado

I really wish I could:

afford to travel as often as I wanted to.

My "Go-to" dinner party dish:

One? I love to cook, so it depends on the theme, the crowd, the occasion, the featured cocktail.....

My favorite comfort food:

Mom's banh cuon and Auntie's chao gio. Pizza, meatloaf, roast chicken and potatoes,sour cream and Lipton onion dip with Cape Cod chips.

My top 5 favorite restaurants:

PHOENIX: Binkley's, FnB, Noca, Heirloom, Quiessence, Prado. NW Valley neighborhood faves: Mi Cocina, Mi Pais, Arrowhead Grill, Tutti Santi, Hope Kee. Sabor. Restaurants to try in 2010: Christopher's, Da Vang, Cafe Monarch, Gallo Blanco, Little Rangoon, The Mission, PastaBar, Tarbell's, Roka Akor, Lon's, Posh, Kai, Vincent's, Coup des Tartes, Sophie's Bistro, T. Cooks, Los Dos Molinos, and have fry bread, a combo plate at Chino Bandido, and a Nogales hot dog. BOSTON: No 9 Park, Prezza, Uni/Clio, Troquet, Craigie on Main. Casual faves: Eastern Standard, Angela's Cafe, Marliave, Taiwan Cafe, Taranta, Neptune.

My most tattered cookbooks:

Dunlop's "Land of Plenty", Hazan's "Essentials of Italian Cooking", Roden's "Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon", Goin's "Sunday Suppers at Lucques", Rodgers "Zuni Cafe".