I'm guessing this has been done before, but I couldn't find a thread. What are your top 3 meals or experiences you've had?

Ours are not necessarily in order:
1. Twist (Las Vegas, NV)
- just a great meal and experience

2. Geronimo (Santa Fe, NM)
- the rack of lamb may be the best thing I've ever
eaten; their wine is really marked up though

3. Guy Savoy (Las Vegas, NV)
- for the pure experience of a 3-4 hr culinary
event; I recommend doing this with friends

Honorable Mention:
4. V Supper Club (Fredericksburg, TX)
- shocked at how creative and good this was. We
just weren't expecting this in Fredburg, TX.

1. Petrus (London)
2. Jules Verne (Paris)
3. Bouchon (Napa)

French Laundry (Yountville (Napa), CA)
Momo***u Ko (NYC) - back when there were only 10 seats
Eleven Madison Park (NYC)

Runner up: Guy Savoy (Paris)

1. Topolobampo in Chicago. The mole was the best sauce I've ever had. I could bathe in it.
2. Some French bistro in Bourdeaux, France that I can't remember the name of. The beef bourguignon made of beef cheeks was unreal.
3. French Laundry - First ever 3 star restaurant experience and the gold standard.

Fun humblebrag topic.

I'll go French Laundry, Le Bernardin, and Le Reve (now closed French restaurant in San Antonio).

In no specific order:

Bouchon - Las Vegas, NV
Scarpetta - Las Vegas, NV
Paleys Place - Portland, OR

Joel Robuchon in Vegas.
Cyrus in Healdsburg.
Il Cortile in Paso Robles. The fettuccini with truffles may be the best pasta dish I've ever had.

Flight in Memphis We loved the concept. Better food at other places but still top notch

Lambs Club in NYC Geoffrey Zacharians place

Topolabampo in Chicago.

JCA1 said:

---

Fun humblebrag topic.

I'll go French Laundry, Le Bernardin, and Le Reve (now closed French restaurant in San Antonio).

---

Badly want to eat at Le Bernardin. That's on my list.

la Rev was legit a 6 table restraunt on the river walk

Alinea in Chicago (kinda weird but delicious and most memorable)
L'Atelier Robouchon in Vegas (awesome to watch it being prepared)
French Laundry (my first 3-star as well, so it makes the list)

Wanna hear some ***** Remy on a Disney cruise. I have eaten really great meals in many different cities (not French Laundry), and that experience was the best my wife and I have experienced. Flame away. $300 with my own bottle of Bordeaux they chilled earlier in the day and decanted.

I would put Buck as the clubhouse leader at this point. Nice list.

MookieBlaylock said:

---

la Rev was legit a 6 table restraunt on the river walk

---

It was my first legit tasting menu so that definitely impacts my opinion but it was a really good restaurant, IMO.

Buck Compton said:

---

Alinea in Chicago (kinda weird but delicious and most memorable)
L'Atelier Robouchon in Vegas (awesome to watch it being prepared)
French Laundry (my first 3-star as well, so it makes the list)

---

Jealous of this. For anyone not familiar with Alinea, go watch the Chefs Table (?) episode with their chef on Netflix. Truly incredible looking experience.

Oh man... that's tough. I've not had a tremendous amount of exposure to high end restaurants but here goes:

R'Evolution in New Orleans for service
Minami in Vancouver another for presentation
Tan Tan in Houston for a good ole fashioned huge spread of truly amazing food

Christmas Day brunch buffet at Galvez Hotel in Galveston

Scomas San Francisco

Carmines NYC Times Square

1. el celler de can roca in girona spain

not sure after that so i'll list a few favorites and/or humblebrags
killen's steak in pearland
onyx in budapest
castle terrace in edinburgh
some fancy places in new orleans
le bistro in zagreb
pizzeria da michele in naples (best pizza ever)
fridrik v in reykjavik

Black truffle risotto at bouchon

Hunky dory in houston - food was ok but we did a vertical decade tasting of chateau d'yquem and it was unbelievable......

Not sure on #3.....

htxag09 said:

---

Black truffle risotto at bouchon

Hunky dory in houston - food was ok but we did a vertical decade tasting of chateau d'yquem and it was unbelievable......

Not sure on #3.....

---

What's the story behind the Yquem vertical at Hunky Dory? Never heard about that.

I guess this is more a humble brag thread rather than just memorable or great dinners.
Humble brag meal - minibar
Wife and I were going to DC. I called for reservations as a lark and got some. Awesome experience but not necessarily the best meal ever. Definitely most expensive.

Guy Savoy - Paris
Kong Hans - Copenhagen
Bagatelle - Oslo

Those are the most memorable.

3. Commander's Palace in New Orleans in the 90s. Not sure how it is now.
2. Mark's Restaurant in Houston. Maybe it was just that night, the mood, the company, whatever, but everything was absolutely perfect. I was shocked that it closed.
1. Geronimo's in Santa Fe. My buddy somehow got us in on a special Chef's Tasting Menu there that went on and on forever but never failed to disappoint.

8 Otto e Mezzo Bombana in Hong Kong was my 3 star experience. Pretty incredible. Beef tongue and cheek with an octopus appetizer.

The marina at Portofino, Italy--awesome octopus appetizer with amazing views.

Not a restaurant, but my wife and I were traveling in Germany. We pulled into a small market in a town and bought the local blue cheese, sausages and boxed wine. The best cheese I have ever eaten by far.

Funnest - some low brow version of medieval times outside of Dresden. It seat about 20 people and at one point they grabbed two of us, put helmets on us and had use fight with real (but blunted) swords. Then we got drunk(er)

Most delicious - spending a couple hundred and an afternoon trying a whole bunch of at the oxbow public market in Napa.

Favorite - the green room in Dallas used to have a "wine me / dine me" which was a prix fixe dinner with a wine pairing. It was an cheap enough that I could afford to do it but chicks absolutely loved it and fresh out of school you felt like a baller.

It was a tasting of an '81, '95, and '03. If I'm not mistaken they also had another French dessert wine flight and a couple of vertical Bordeaux flights.

The d'yquem was outstanding. We've purchased a few bottles of our wedding year and are cellaring. Trying to pick up a few more.

Sushi Kaji in Toronto.

Jaleo in Las Vegas

Juniper in Tulsa

Disfrutar in Barcelona
Le Bernardin in NYC
Le Jules Verne in Paris

That is tough

El Celler De Can Roca in Girona Spain (Other than the Pigeon three ways. One of which was heart)
Daniel NYC (Best service I have ever had and the food was out of this world)
Inn at Little Washington (The tuna was amazing and my wife's favorite dish of all time which I have now mastered at home)

Been blessed to have a ton of incredible meals but those stick out to me.

1) Eleven Madison Park - NYC (12/2016) - Incredible food and far and away the best service I've ever experienced. Were greeted by name and congratulated on our engagement when we arrived. Got the reservation via a family member who is very plugged into the food world and got a private course in the kitchen. Ate and drank until we could eat and drink no more.

2) Single Thread Farms (8/2018) - Reservation again through the plugged in family member and met the owners/chefs the night before at a wedding. Great service and attention to detail. The plating and presentation definitely reminded me of EMP. Also had some really incredible wines with the reserve wine pairing.

3) Toss up between two very different Momo***u experiences. I grew up with someone who works for David Chang and went with her and her roommate and my wife to Ssam Bar in NYC and ordered way too much food and wine and had a fantastic time. The other experience was at Momo***u Vegas. They were serving caviar in a promotional wooden boat at the time and I guess we may have been one of the first to order it because it seemed like every waiter in the place came by to see how the presentation was. We had a blast.

jeffdjohnson said:

---

Disfrutar in Barcelona
Le Bernardin in NYC
Le Jules Verne in Paris

---

These are two i'm still dying to try. Same w/ NOMA. Was supposed to go to Disfrutar this summer but cancelled our Barcelona trip.

No order:

• Val Bella in Manhattan
• Maude's Liquor Kitchen
• Sausage vendor at a train station in Germany

Honorable mention: Topolobomba, Mot Hai Ba (Dallas), Willie G's (Houston 2002), and a ton of other spots.