January 4, 2015

Jeff's Top 30 Meals (And Drinks) Of 2014

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!