More:
Best Escargot: 15-20 years ago, our family was invited to a catered party at the house of one of my Dad’s peers. No expenses spared- live band, catering done by a chef hired for the evening. Everything was top-notch, but the chef’s handling of escargot was superlative. Instead of serving them traditionally in their shells with a buttery garlic sauce and specialized little forks, he transformed each snail served into an individual, bite-sized tart. The tart itself was a nice, crispy shell. The sauce had been thickened to more of a gel or pudding that was exploding with garlic and butter flavors. I fully admit to making a public spectacle of myself eating them. Every time the server passed with some, I grabbed a couple. At the end of the evening, as we’re all saying our goodbyes in the front hall, the waitstaff placed the remaining tarts on a 4 tier serving platter. I stood next to that table and grabbed another couple every so often as the goodbyes dragged on. I do not know how many I ate; I regret none of my consumption. If I evr encounter that chef again, I’m asking for a lesson.
Best Blue Cheese: Actually, this one’s still a mystery of sorts. We were at a hotel’s Easter brunch, as we often do, and I hit all my faves. Eggs Benedict. Prime rib. Lox. Shrimp. But when I got to the bread & cheese table, I noticed an unusual soft blue cheese. Blues being my fave, I grabbed a couple slices. And with every trip back to the buffet, I grabbed more. I even got a couple more slices instead of dessert. For the next 2 years, I searched the D/FW for that cheese. The closes I came (very close indeed) were cambozola and blue castello. Those remain staples in my fridge to this day.
Best Olive: another 2-fer mystery of sorts. Right now, my go-to are castlevetrano olives. I have 2 jars in my pantry, and one in the fridge right now. But before them, a local liquor store had a small cheese & other stuff section run by an Italian guy and an Irish lady, full of imported goodies from around the world. One of the imports they had were these reddish-purple colored olives that were quite large. Their flavor was a niece and slightly briny olive, and their texture was nearly as creamy as room-temperature butter. Unfortunately, the Italian guy found employment elsewhere, and the Irish lady moved back to Dublin…and nobody else in the store knew where the got the olives from, or even what variety they were. Once they sold out, they were gone forever. I’ve tried hunting for them for years, and not eve people I know with their own olive groves have a clue as to what they were.
Best nonstandard BBQ: that would be the smoked mutton ribs at a short-lived joint in Austin, Tx in the early 2000’s. They were large, meaty, and spoon tender. Yes, I tried a spoon on them, and the meat just parted like the Red Sea did for Moses. But the owner apparently had a spotty record for obeying the law- taxes, wages, etc.- and the local government shut him down.
Best Salsa: a family-owned Tex-Mex place near our house in Irving, Tx called Estela’s. Dad ate there often because it was 3 minutes from his office. It was also a favorite hangout for ZZ Top (we never met them, though). Her entire menu was good, but her salsa was a maddening impossibility because it was- and remains- the hottest salsa I’ve ever enjoyed. I can take a lot of heat, but I don’t seek it out. Usually, once it gets past a certain heat level, the spiciness overwhelms the flavor. Not so with hers. Even on its hottest days, you could taste the distinct flavors of the tomatoes, the cilantro, the onion, etc. The restaurant closed after 13 years, supposedly over infra-family drama.
