2006: Best Meals

I’m spending a final evening sitting on the couch back home in Vermont in front of the tree and by the Christmas tree. It’s so peaceful and quiet and wonderful. As the year winds down, I’ve been looking back at what a great year it’s been. In addition to my traditional round-up of the best books I’ve read, I thought I’d add in a list of the best and most memorable meals I’ve had this year, since I’ve had some amazing ones this year and because most of my disposable income seems to go into eating. I initially was going to make a top ten, but I just can’t narrow it down any further than a baker’s dozen.
The meals below are a mix of fantastic food, memorable friends and company, or simply just a perfect marriage of food and place and emotion. Looking back on some of these meals — and thinking about the many other good ones that just didn’t make the cut — it’s incredible that I don’t weigh 400 pounds.
The list (in order):
1) La Cabrera, Argentina — Our first night in Buenos Aires in March, K and I ended up meeting friends of hers who were also passing through town. They recommended this steakhouse in Palermo and after a confusing taxicab ride, we ended up there. Everything about it was a delight — cheap plentiful and fantastic Argentiana Malbec, great trays of antipasto-like meats, amazing mouthwatering steak with mushrooms and sauces (I had the “ojo de bife” or ribeye,” without a doubt the best steak of my life), and then a dessert (for me) of panqueques dulce du leche. The best part? The meal came to only about $40 a person.
2) Abril, Argentina — K and I found this out of the way restaurant in San Telmo in Buenos Aires, where we had a late dinner before heading to a tango show nearby. Down a cobblestoned street, we discovered we were one of the only people in this fun romantic little bistro. The menu ran the culinary gamut and so we had penne carbonara, zucchini soup, chicken satay with peanut sauce and bok choy, robolo with honey reduction, and a trio of cr