We all have places we want to go, things we want to do, and experiences we want to have in our lives. It's only natural, I suppose. Some of us want to attend the Super Bowl, others the Rose Parade, or a Papal audience. Maybe your dream is to visit the top of the Eiffel Tower or the bottom of the Grand Canyon, Antarctica, or the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. You get my point. Maybe you want to meet a Kardashian or hug Matt Damon. Sorry, not me. I don't want to be on Survivor or The Family Feud. I've no desire to fly into space or attend an inauguration ball. Those are on someone else's bucket list.
I submit that there are culinary bucket lists, too. And I don't mean just try the dish. I mean go to the place that made the dish famous and eat it there. Here is a sample bucket list of culinary delights.
- Loco Moco – Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii. This is a simple bowl of rice, a slice or two of fried SPAM, a fried egg, and brown gravy. It's the Hawaiian national snack.
- Paella di Valencia – Los Caracoles, Barcelona, Spain. Paella is a Spanish tradition, but this paella is the standard by which I measure all paella. Six of us sat around a 24" paella pan using huge spoons to scoop out shrimp, mussels, rabbit, rice, and vegetables.
- Reuben Sandwich – Katz' deli, New York City, NY. All other Reubens are measured against this gigantic masterpiece. I'll get there some day.
- Beignets – Café Dumond – New Orleans, LA. This powdered-sugar-coated donut ball needs to be enjoyed sitting in the French Quarter at a wrought iron table with a cup of strong New Orleans coffee, and we've done that.
- Steamed Lobster – on the coast of Maine. I don't know if it's the salt air or that the lobster is within sight of its home when it dives into the steamer, but lobster tastes better when wearing a plastic bib, seated at a beat-up wooden table with an oil-cloth tablecloth, and cracked with a worn-out nutcracker. Been there. Done that, too.
- Pizza Napolitano – There is a restaurant at the base of the high castle above Naples, at the top of the Via Pedimente, that may be the birthplace of this delight. The dough has a resilient chew, the Mozzarella di Bufalo is a mere 70 miles from its source in Formia, and the olive oil comes from the nearby slopes of Vesuvius. This is like no pizza you've ever eaten, whether from a box or a brand name delivered. And, I have eaten there.
- She-crab Soup – St. Michaels, Eastern Shore of Maryland. The crab is so fresh that it's still wet with the salt water from which it was plucked, when It's submerged in the boiling pot.
Now, aside from convincing you that I'm a food snob, (to which I plead guilty), I have one final bucket list item to name; one which Linda and I checked off on our recent cruise down the St. Lawrence Seaway. And that is Poutine Quebecois, eaten in the old city of Quebec, and at a restaurant frequented by the locals. Poutine is, perhaps, the simplest of comfort foods. Yet, it is the experience that enhances the flavor. It is nothing more than a plate of French-fried potatoes and a handful of white cheddar cheese curds, drenched in a simple beef gravy. That's it. No French names. No proteins. No pretensions. It's fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy.
But it's the go-to experience for tourists to the Province of Quebec. If a restaurant doesn't have a Poutine on the menu, they're not trying. Check the menu, though. There are any number of variations and prices that can be astronomical … remember, French fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy. We were told to get a block off the beaten path and look for a line. Our tour guide answered our question with. "Go down the steps to the end of the street." She was right.
I did a quick-and-dirty price analysis, based on ingredients available at Target and Walmart. Remember, this is French fries, cheese curds and brown gravy, folks, not fois gras. The per serving cost is $1.09. If you do the Robert Irvine analysis, the sale price must be greater than $3.27. We paid $12.00 CD or $8.67 in USD. Someone made $5.40 in pure profit. More power to them. It was worth every penny.
Search out the best food America has to offer. Eat it where the locals eat it. You never know what you'll find. But chances are, it's going to be good.