The best part of my job may well be all of the eating, drinking and traveling that I get to do while working with our clients across the country. It gets tougher every year to narrow down all of the great stuff I'm lucky enough to partake in - it used to be a top 10 list; last year it was a top 20; this year it's 30. Here they are in chronological order:
Poole's Diner - Raleigh, North Carolina
Beef tartare
Rodney Scott Cooking At Blackberry Farm - Walland, Tennessee
Whole hog
A Bunch Of Pork Sandwiches Throughout The Carolinas
On a drive through North and South Carolina, I managed to stop for four BBQ sandwiches one day - The Pit, Durham, NC; Hursey's, Burlington, NC; Jimmy's, Lexington, NC; and Southern BBQ, Spartanburg, SC.
Serpico - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Raw fluke
The Ravenous Pig - Orlando, Florida
Foie gras torchon
Row 34 - Boston, Massachusetts
Fried clams
The Ordinary - Charleston, South Carolina
Smoked oysters with saltines & hot sauce
I ate these with our friend John T Edge - he wrote about them much better than I ever could -
check it out here.
High West Distillery - Park City, Utah
Barrel-aged Manhattan
Chuck's Bar-B-Que, Opelika, Alabama
'Chipped' sandwich, 'chopped' sandwich, and 'chipped on the block' sandwich
Bank & Bourbon - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The 'Secret Knock'
House aged whiskey, green tea, lemon, clarified milk
Louie Mueller Barbecue - Taylor, Texas
Beef short rib
Qui - Austin, Texas
72-hour beef
The Spotted Pig - New York, New York
Burger
Coppa - Boston, Massachusetts
Pizza with ramps, mushrooms, burrata and farm egg
Alden & Harlow - Boston, Massachusetts
'The Rabano'
Bourbon, salted radish, falernum, lemon and chili oil
Memphis In May - Memphis, Tennessee
One of the team meals for the Peg Leg Porker BBQ team - a huge pile of crawfish
The Clam - New York, New York
A fried clam and lobster roll mash-up
Fox Bros BBQ Cooking At The James Beard House - New York, New York
Frito pie croquettes
The Boundry - Nashville, Tennessee
Smoked antelope
In-N-Out Burger - Las Vegas, Nevada
We acquired a 1974 VW bus as our newest mascot this summer - we found it in Las Vegas. Immediately after buying it, I made a beeline to In-N-Out to have the inaugural meal in the van's 'kitchen.'
Minibar - Washington, DC
Mind-blowing cocktalis
Doi Moi - Washington, DC
The design team ordered way too much stuff to mention
Some Nondescript Mexican Restaurant - San Antonio, Texas
Queso Flameado
Katz's Deli - New York, New York
Pastrami sandwich
Pannie George's Kitchen - Auburn, Alabama
Fried chicken, squash casserole, rice and gravy
Purple Pig - Chicago, Illinois
Pig ears, bone marrow
Greenpoint Fish & Lobster Co. - Brooklyn, New York
Live sea urchin
Chris Shepherd Of Underbelly Cooking At The Southern Foodways Symposium - Oxford, Mississippi
Fried bologna steamed buns
The Greenhouse Tavern - Cleveland, Ohio
Foie gras steamed clams
Wurstkuche - Los Angeles, California
Rabbit and pheasant sausages
Alder - New York, New York
Every cocktail we order here. Kevin Denton is our favorite barkeep in all of New York.
The Varsity - Atlanta, Georgia
We fulfilled one of our dreams this year - having the Varsity cater our office holiday party - all you can eat chili dogs!
