Once I asked this question and delighted in your many passionate responses. So here it is again! What was the best thing you ate this weekend? I’d love to know what graced your gullet this Friday-Saturday-Sunday.
98 thoughts on “What Was The Best Thing You Ate This Weekend? (The Sequel)”
Comments are closed.
This weekend’s food experiences were mediocre at best. I think the best thing I tasted were beef kebobs which were made by our neighbor at the lake. It was perfectly seasoned with a hint of lemon. The meat was tender and juicy.. mmm… I wanted to get more, but I didn’t want to seem like a total piggy.
I had a friend over for one of our semi-regular wine and cheese get togethers and I made spiced nuts with some leftover nuts I had from when I made Chicken Korma. It was dry-roasted cashews, almonds with cumin, chili, and creole seasonings plus sugar and they were sooo good.
Staff meal chicken, featured in the NY Times on 10/16/2002 and still one of my favorites. Here’s a link to the article (it’s long)
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E5DA1F3AF935A25753C1A9649C8B63&sec=travel
We brought my folks to one of our fave NYC restaurants, the El Quijote on 23rd Street. We started with steamed clams in salsa verde, grilled chorizo, and of course, sangria. Then we all had steamed Lobsters and the Filet Mignon Quijote (which is wrapped in bacon, smothered in Manchego cheese, and cooked in garlic sauce). It was a food orgy.
I made orzo with a cream of carrot and onion sauce with goat cheese and chives on top. It was good.
Ok, that didn’t work. But it’s SO GOOD that it’s worth a second comment. Here’s the link in two parts
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=
9C05E5DA1F3AF935A25753C1A9649C8B63&sec=travel
We made shrimp and tofu pad thai – YUM!
The stuffed dates and blistered padron peppers at Boqueria…yum!
This weekend I hosted our 5th Annual Pie party in celebration of pi day (3.14) though we had it early this year so we could have it on a weekend. I think the best pies I at were a black bean tart with a tortilla crust and a chocolate pecan pie made from a Rick Bayless recipe. It had Kaluha whipped cream as a garnish. Sooo good.
And the pie party is always fun as it is like pot luck, only with pie. Plus the number fo store bought pies was very low this year so it was an extra delicious year.
I tried Korean barbecue for the first time, and I think I’m in love. Not only do you get to grill the meat at your table, you also wrap it with rice and stuff in lettuce leaves, making a fresh-tasting “taco” full of different textures. It was so delicious!
Mmm. Either a black-and-white cupcake at Amy’s Bread on Ninth Avenue, or the ribs with peppered vinegar at R.U.B. Both fantastic.
Every weekend is the same, homemade chunky guacamole with baked tortilla chips. And evey weekend I can’t get enough of it.
Last night, I made a chocolate-orange cake. It’s so chocolatey-rich but the orange flavor gives it a little something extra.
I made Coconut sherbet (David Lebovitz recipe). yum
I made the baby back ribs from the July/August ’02 Cook’s Illustrated. They were succulent and delicious, even without barbeque sauce (my only beef with this recipe). Totally worth 4 hours of grilling, especially on the first warm weekend in Dallas!
I made penne with rapini and Italian sausage. It was so good I will probably blog about it later this week ;)
We went to the Madonna Inn and had the ribeye steak. They serve beef from their cattle ranch and cook it over oak. They’re not haute cuisine, but it is really good, honest steak.
Made my first-ever prime rib. Rare. Yukon gold mashed potatoes with gravy made from drippings and sauteed mushrooms. Fresh steamed asparagus and a cucumber, avocado and roma tomato salad with homemade vinaigrette and freshly grown shallots. A traditional Sunday dinner for my dad, with whom I live, and three friends. BTW: share a home with my dad because he is handicapped and cannot be alone at night. so much of what I cook is with him in mind.
It’s a tough toss up between:
Lotte, moutarde onctueuse d’Orléans, pomme de terre fumée au bois de hêtre by Alain Passard visiting Manresa and the do-it-yourself powerbars I made from Heidi Swanson’s new book: Super Natural Cooking.
The octopus antipasto and the desserts (chocolate overdose) at you-know-where (let’s try to keep the secret!) in NYC! Soooo good!!!Thanks for the tip AG!!!
Oh, so many possibilities… This was a ridiculously good food weekend for me. Homecooked corned beef (with cabbage, carrots and potatoes) for an early St. Pat’s, plus guinness chocolate cupcakes (http://www.aminglingoftastes.com/2007/02/guinness-cupcakes-radio-show.html) which were absolutely perfect – springy and moist – and then yesterday, beer and bratwurst at Suppenkuche (http://www.suppenkuche.com/).
omg, I had such a good weekend of eating, I can’t pick just one:
– pizza from Totonno’s
– a panini from PaneAntico in Bay Ridge
– homemade bread from my own receipt
– homemade curried cauliflower with mustard/ginger lentils and cardamom rice
any one of those would be enough, but all together, that’s one awesome weekend of eating!
We drove over to Amelia Island for the Concours d’Elegance (car show)and had dinner at 29 South in Fernandina Beach. The most interesting and delicious item we sampled was a “Lobster Corndog”. Basically a lobster tail on a stick fried tempura style and served with a tomato coulis “ketchup”. Yummy!
My dinner last night: egg pasta with fava beans, fresh ricotta and herbs from my garden. Hurray for springtime!
Friday, I made Greek food: marinated chicken with garlic, oregano, olive oil and lemon, roasted potatoes, greek salad and saganaki with a hint of ouzo.
Saturday – out for Vietnamese noodles
Sunday – out for sushi. What did you have?
My boyfriends dad just sent him a nice care package from new mexico. so, for breakfast yesterday I cubed some potatoes and pan fried them. I cooked down some of the fresh chirizo (have you ever read those ingredients, Wow!!), I then added that to the potatoes along with fresh roasted green chilis and cheese. I then added my eggs and let that cook and topped off with green onions and cliantro. It was then served with the best fresh corn tortillias I ever had…great way to start the day!!!
Well, I’m a college student and I was home for Spring Break. I went to my favorite sushi place that is just delicious on Saturday. Friday I had spaghetti and meatballs, made by my culinary-school-grad brother. Really good. And I know that Thursday isn’t the weekend, but I had a great strip steak Thursday.
Good timing! It was an excellent food weekend. I’d have to split it between oysters with three sauces and my dessert (poached apricot on caramel-lavender cream with almond streusel) at Nobu Friday night and the biscuits and gravy at Stone Park Cafe Sunday morning. I made beef stew and coconut panna cotta on Saturday.
Homemade Bratwurst, served with kraut, and sauted swiss chard.
wood grilled pizza from al forno in providence, RI!
mmmm Duck la’orange….it was awesome!
Loin of Lamb with Savory Chocolate Sauce
(Xipolo)
I butterflied and stuffed a boneless loin of pork with Stove Top (I know…but it’s sooo good), then roasted it over red potatoes. Served it up with braised red cabbage, pan-roasted carrots with maple syrup glaze, and steamed broccoli. Yum.
Homemade panzanella salad, yum! Mostly followed Michael Chiarello’s (sp?) recipe, with a few things thrown in here and there. So good for the recent warmer weather, with a glass (okay, two) of Rombauer chardonnay!
I baked my first quiche ever, an onion-bacon-broccoli spur of the moment. It was delicious.
apple pie with vanilla ice cream from a favorite local spot =)
either that, or the loads of naan I ate last night at an Indian restaurant
You go, Melissa! Absolutely impressive breakfast, says this New Mexico native. Melissa mentioned chorizo — it’s a spicy Mexican sausage that cooks up a great orangy looking grease. You prepared a feast for your boyfriend — hope he appreciates your efforts!
My family was in town this weekend so I ate extremely well–Tabla on Thursday night, the Bar at the Modern for lunch on Friday, Eleven Madison Park on Friday eve, and the Dressler in Williamsburg on Sunday night (someone’s house on Sat-nothing extraordinary). I am so glutted on good food that I don’t think I can pick a best one. Back to reality and Lean Cuisine!
Ptrap! Another Rombauer fan! Have you tried their cabernet sauvignon?
As for me, after a year-long mission I finally scored a hanger steak (bloomin’ butchers take ’em home for themselves!) and used the recipe for onglet gascon in Les Halles cookbook. Husb & I, devoted carnivores, found it the beefiest beef we’d had in ages. Served it with sautéed yukon golds and the aforementioned Rombauer. No leftovers.
Actually a jalapeno breadstick at a festival.
It was spicy yet warm and delicious.
My husband improvised an approximation of dal makhani with split green lentils — a rich, creamy, thick mix of lentils, onions, garlic, ginger, (butter), and warm spices. We only had one paratha to share between us and some raw onions with salt and lime, but we both ate huge bowls of the dal as we curled up warm and dry while the ‘pineapple express’ poured rain over Seattle.
I went to a Lebanese restaurant/reception hall type of place with a band and belly dancer… the works. So much food and so freaking good, hummus, baba ganoush, kibbeh, kibbeh nayeh, sambusec, cheese rolls, stuffed wine leaves, raw liver (pretty sure it was beef), taboule, shish taouk, beef loin kebabs…. I am forgetting stuff… man was it freaking insane.
I went to Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal, and had fois gras poutine – easily the best junk food I have had in years.
I had some great bluepoint oysters and an awesome warm duck confit salad with lardons, haricots verts, frisee and poached egg on friday.
Saturday was curried noodle chicken stirfry.
Sunday, pizza!
A steak sandwich from Mille Rose Deli in Williamsburg–it tastes half like deli sandwich and the rest cheesesteak. And then Sunday night… some nibbles of soffritto base :)
Red velvet cake, made from the semi-recent NY Times recipe. DELCIOUS. Also some lamb burgers with goat cheese, made at home but inspired by the ones at Chez Oskar.
I had my carrot and coriander soup which is the best out there, yum! I also tried the new marmite with guinness, (amazing!)with cheddar on a slice of multigrain bread. Oh yeah…
The mackeral sushi at Koi…..so fresh, oily and amazing. Their strawberry cheesecake was pretty damn perfect. Not to sweet, light crust. I know Koi is known as the Scenster Restaurant From Hell, but I must say their food is DIVINE. Now if only Paris Hilton would stop poisoning the place with her presence!
Vietnamese cabbage salad with chicken and cilantro. Yum! It was a perfect spring dish and easy to prepare.
The Full English Breakfast at Chip Shop (Atlantic Ave.) Boy was that good on Sunday morning….
had to be either Friday night’s Cuban burgers (thank you Bobby Flay) or Saturday’s fries and feta from Shipfiffer’s in Atlanta. DELICIOUS!!
On Saturday morning after a night of partying, my friend and I had brunch at her house. Raisin bread french toast with strawberries, peaches, bananas, cottage cheese, maple syrup, and a Russian Nutella knockoff called Nu-crema. (Not all in one bite, of course) It was so good and the conversation made it even better :)
My mushroom and asparagus risotto finally came out perfectly creamy, yet you could taste the grains of rice. I served it with butterflied shrimp scampi marinated in lime, a little garlic and white wine (no butter). A perfect evening.
oatmeal. oh how I love my morning oatmeal. It may sound crazy, but I make the best oatmeal in the world :)
Grilled portobello mushroom, topped with tandoori chicken and served with a large salad of arugula and fetta, dressed with balsamic, brown sugar and olive oil.
Homemade calzones with whole-wheat crust, stuffed with green and red peppers, mushrooms, onions, mozzarella cheese, and Newman’s Own Roasted Garlic pasta sauce.
smoked meat sandwich at schwartz’s deli in montreal. my 8th time there since arriving here 6 mths ago.
my favorite sandwich in the whole world from a place called il tramezzino in beverly hills (sounds fancy but its not!)
grilled panini sandwich filled with fresh grilled chicken, basil pesto, sundried tomatoes and provolone cheese.
for dessert, a panini grilled croissant filled with nutella and bananas.
i may have written the same thing last time you asked. this is because i eat it every weekend and it never gets old. EVER.
braised beef short ribs with mushrooms and cippolini in red wine
Thin crust pizza from Vezzo (31st and Lex)
Fried eggs and whole wheat toast, made for me by my wonderful fiance. He absolutely abhors cooking, so his love for me obviously runs deep. :)
Friday- Scrammbled eggs with bacon and potatoes and onions mixed in
Saturday- N.Y. Strip steak with garlic mashed potatoes, crispy green beans, salad, and a glass of red.
Sunday- Salad with a loaded baked potato (welsh rarebit, sour cream, strips of bacon, broccoli, salt and pepper)
I’d say it was a yummy weekend!
Calves’ liver, bacon, and onion confit, with mashed potatoes in a balsamic reduction from The Kitchen (www.thekitchencafe.com) in Boulder, CO. I don’t think I’d had calves’ liver in 15 years, but this was wonderful.
I ate out sushi twice – love the smoked salmon best. But Sunday afternoon/evening I set out to make Irish pasties from scratch in honor of St. Patrick’s week! A first time for me. They were a heck of a lot of work, but my family thought they were really really tasty. I’m going to post photos about it on my blog tomorrow.
River snails and Maya moonshine were the feast of choice Sunday night.
I also got a great recipe for mole. Check it out at:
http://www.dzurilla.blogspot.com
On Friday, I cooked Bangus (a favorite fish of Filipinos), along with some cherry tomatoes and mangos, in parchment paper. On Saturday, I grilled a couple of cornish game hens. On Sunday, my wife and I finished the weekend by trying out a nearby pizza joint.
Pablano stuffed with goat cheese, chorizo, picadillo, gordita; ranchero sauce… freakin amazing!!!!
Hands down it was the milk fed piglet from L’Atelier where we went for a birthday dinner. Soooo juicy and tender…. I’m drooling again..
Vegan lemon bars, homemade.
A ate the whole plate by myself.
We made our own bagels this weekend! It began as a soft pretzel dough, then we thought, well. our favorite bagels are always the ones that have that crispy exterior, soft interior, and tons of salt, so we modified them. So the best meal I ate this weekend was eggs and pepperjack cheese on a homemade bagel. Now I want one now.
Fresh chocolate chip cookies from Kevin’s Cookies and Deli in Austin, Texas.
Thanks for asking, Adam!
John and I tried a new (to us) restaurant in Somerville, NJ called Chaparro. It was advertised as a Mexican/Costa Rican restaurant, so we decided to see what that was about.
It was obviously family-owned — we were served by teenagers and their mom. The service was excellent and the food was even better.
John had the Costa Rican Arroz con Pollo, and was delighted with the flavor of the shredded chicken and fresh vegetables in the saffron rice.
I enjoyed the Camarones en Rajas con Vegetales y Queso. The jumbo gulf and baby shrimp were deliciously spiced and mixed with rice that resembled John’s dish, but without the chicken and many more peppers. It was significantly cheesy, and probably would have tasty without the cheese as well.
So, if you and the Mr. ever get out of the city and want to try something a bit different, drop me a line. :D
Andouille and beef burgers, with caramelized onions & spicy mayo, topped with blue cheese crumbles and served on toasted english muffins (which I’d never seen). Yummy!
I made some phenomenal chicken meatballs adapted from a Rachel Ray recipe. Bread crumbs and parmesan give baked chicken meatballs a crisp feel and, if you do enough great spices and tastes, you’e never guess they were chicken.
Mozzarella from Russo’s w/fresh basil, balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, Israeli tomatoes and a 2000 Famiglia Anselma Barolo – heavenly!
I was half-way up a 75 foot wall of ice on Saturday afternoon, my hands aching from gripping my ice tools, my legs burning and twitching, the top still about 3 or 4 pitches away and all I could think about was that what I really wanted for breakfast Sunday morning was chocolate cake. On Saturday night I pulled out my butter and sugar encrusted recipe book from my life as a pastry chef, blew the dust off my kitchen scale and lovingly unwrapped the 2 pounds of bittersweet chocolate I had purchased earlier at Lake Champlain Chocolates. Sunday morning came and the reward was great: 4 layers of bittersweet chocolate/hazelnut cake with whipped raspberry/chocolate ganache filling and the most perfect vanilla bean buttercream you’ve ever had in your mouth. Top it off with a pot of coffee, the NY Times, PJs until 4 pm and a tube of BenGay, and you’ve got yourself one bitchin’ Sunday!
My mom’s crock pot brisket recipe. Basically 2 tsps of salt & paprika each & 1 tsp of dry mustard. Something like that. And pepper, says 1/8 tsp, I just grind some. I used a little bit of chipotle as well. My mom usually makes it with a smoked paprika, the chipotle helped add that smoky flavour. It also calls for garlic powder, but I take a couple of cloves & crush them a bit, insert a sharp knife into the meat and stuff the garlic inside.
Rub the spices into the meat & crock pot (excuse me – “slow cook” ;) on low for 8 or so hours. Serve au jus.
SO incredibly good and easy, two of my favorite qualities. :)
My wife,
I made the minimalist’s welsh rarebit from the Times a few months back. Basically spicy grilled cheese made with Guiness — really more of a snack — but fun to make and yummy.
Lobster cassoulet with flageolet beans, boudin boir bread pudding and herbs. It was mouthwatering deliciouso!!
Oh, goodness, it would have to be Sunday brunch at El Chile, which I tried for the first time only recently.. They make an amazing concoction with homemade tostadas and some of the best tomatillo sauce I’ve ever had. Pair that with their amazing “black stuff” salsa, made from tomatoes roasted so long it comes out looking like black beans, and /man/, was that a fabulous way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon. Yummmmmm!
A little out of the way from NYC, but I had an amazing meal all around at Paul Newman’s new restaurant, The Dressing Room in Westport, CT. MY boyfriend and I had 2 appetizer specials, tuna confit wrapped in veal, and a hamachi tartar. For entrees I had the fish special and he had the signature pork plate (the horseradish mashed potatoes were ethereal!) And don’t even think about skipping dessert, we split the banana upside-down cake and the lemon merangue pie. Both came with a quenelle of housemade ice cream and were the perfect size -tiny!
I made the Bucatini All’Amatriciana recipe you posted. I made a double recipe that should have fed 8-12 people, but the four of us ate it all up, so it must be good.
I had never had this before, so I compared recipes. Most do not add the parsley. But I think this really makes the dish. I found it delicious. (Note – I used about half the hot pepper – it was still spicy but not burning)
Thanks for the idea
Banana bread pudding with raspberry sauce
I ate really authentic Mexican food. No one spoke English. It was a dive on Buford Highway in Atlanta called El Cabrito. I took my dad there in honor of his 60th birthday because he wanted Cabrito– roasted young goat. Now that’s love…
Last weekend was not as good as usual for us. Friday we were dead tired, but rather than go out for lame happy hour food, we made roasted broccoli and roasted fries and washed them down with Corona’s – with the lime wedges of course. Saturday we went out for great Mexican at a place near our house called El Danzante, on Broadway in Kingston, NY. This is easily the best Mexican food I’ve had outside of Mexico and so kitsch it makes you feel like you aren’t in the states anymore. Sunday we made pork roast using more or less the Cook’s Illustrated recipe from 1995: you first blast the pork in a 475 oven for 30 minutes, then yank it out and plop it on the counter for 30 minutes, then back in the oven at 325 until the temperature reaches 140, then it gets another rest, about 20 minutes. The roast turns out succulent and just beyond pink. We ate it with roasted sweet potatoes and green beans (sautéed until they have brown spots all over) with carmelized shallots and doused with soy sauce. Today we’ll have the last of the pork on sandwiches (no-kneed bread, chipotle lime mayonnaise, tomato, cilantro).
Thanks for asking. I’ve loved reading what everyone else is up to.
Osso bucco!
I made the best buttermilk biscuits of my life. I had to give them away, that’s how good they were. Otherwise, gluttony would have come knocking.
My girlfriend and I roasted a pork loin we bought at a local farmers’ market after rubbing it with garlic, thyme, rosemary and other spices. It was yummmmy. We also made a warm goat cheese salad — always a winner in my book. LOOK MOM, I’M COOKING!
Cajun Red Beans and Rice. This is a recipe that I found and then altered. Instead of just one meat (cajun sausage) I add smoked Brats and Shrimp. The recipe also says to add either cajun seasoning OR thyme. I add both. This is one of my families favorites. Just enough kick to please all taste buds, without too much heat.
mmm. I made your roasted cherry tomato sauce, but tossed it with ton of ricotta cheese from Whole Foods on 14th St. Honestly, I was really mortified to buy fresh ricott cheese from WF instead of freshly made by an old Italian lady (as Ive been taught, and as they sell it just a few blocks away from my apartment) but WF sells it in single-person edible portions, and thats the only way its affordable. And it tasted just as good (shh.)
Either way, that roasted cherry tomato idea is really good, even in winter, and especially thrown in with a lot of ricotta cheese. You should try it NEXT weekend.
I roasted asparagus wrapped in bacon
with fresh ground pepper and a squeeze of lemon. It was truly a wonderful addition to just a broiled steak and a fresh red pepper roasted
Breakfast both Saturday and Sunday; Saturday was w/a gal pal at Crepeville. We split a “California” (avocado, spinach, onions, sun dried tomato pesto, provolone served w/sour creme) crepe and an Apple and Cheddar cheese crepe studded w/cinnamon and brown sugar. It was a beautiful day outside so I’m sure the company and surroundings had something to do with how good the food tasted. On Sunday, my hubby and I chowed into some monster raisin and pecan cinnamon rolls served alongside homemade lattes. Yummy.
Chicken Scallopini with a lemon, garlic, herb, caper and artichoke sauce. Going to have to write that recipe down when I remember what all I put in it …
All the roasted veggies everyone else made sound fantastic.
An amazing chickpea stew I prepared myself (recipe is at my blog) served over yogurt with garlic.
Even those this isn’t this weeks question…I have to share. I made the BEST fried chicken. Part Alton, part Barefoot Contessa. Soaked in buttermilk overnight, drained in colander, used Alton’s shake (paprika, kosher salt, garlic power, cayenne) to spice the chicken. Then dredged in flour. Fried for 4 minutes in deep fryer til golden brown. Finished in the oven at 350 for 30-40 minutes (that’s the Contessa part). Crunchy, flavorful, moist, wow…the best!
Had the best meal in a longtime at A Voce, those duck meatballs are amazing!!!
If you getcheap rs gold, you can continue this game.