Joe H

Best meal I ever ate:

El Raco de Can Fabes on a night when Santimaria wanted to impress the visiting two Michelin starred chef from San Sebastian-we were served the same. My post about it: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/459094

My current drink of choice:

The finest red I have ever tasted was a '97 Dal Forno Amarone both from the barrel and several years later from the bottle. Last year we opened another bottle to fully experience how it had evolved. An extraordinary wine as is the '90 Avignonesi Vin Santo which along with Dal Forno's incredible '03 Recioto are the two finest sweet wines I have ever tasted.

I really wish I could:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/262344 is the link to a post of mine from several years ago about one of the most extraordinary, perhaps most unique restaurants that I have ever been. La Fornace di Barbiblu is a Michelin starred, literally two thousand year old Roman era restaurant carved out of a founddry that supplied much of the stone for the coliseum in Rome. Along the Mediterranean coast about 125 km northwest of Genoa this was an adventure to find and a fantasy to experience. I only wish more who are reading this could experience what we did on our only visit. One day we will return.

My "Go-to" dinner party dish:

Galatoire's shrimp remoulade

My favorite comfort food:

Double double animal style; my post about "The 5,000 Mile Hamburger:" http://www.chowhound.com/topics/292192

My top 5 favorite restaurants:

Le Calandre in suburban Padua is currently Italy's best restaurant-four visits has produced extraordinary dinners unavailable on this side of the Atlantic; the complete opposite extreme of this is the Italian American, Chef Vola's in Atlantic City which is a truly unique experience in and of itself. My post about it: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/473826 Certainly Schwarzwaldstube in the idllyic "Village of the Grape," Baiersbronn in the Black Forest is one of the world's finest experiences as is the cooking of Roberto Donna and Fabio Trabocchi when they have the opportunity (as they once did in Washington) to show their best. In its own way Sally's Apizza in New Haven and Johnny's Beef in Elmwood Park are every bit as good. The most romantic restaurant on earth is Osteria La Fontinina in Verona which is a candlelit temple to wine: worth crossing the river, worth crossing an ocean to experience.

My most tattered cookbooks:

Roberto Donna's "Cooking in Piedmont" and Emeril's "New New Orleans Cooking" which was his first and still best cookbook. By far.

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