QOTD: Best meal ever was with my fiance about two months ago celebrating my acceptance of a job offer. It was at Vin Rouge, a French bistro in Durham. Pork rilletes and mussels for apps and hanger steak frites and mustard crusted salmon with lentils for entrees. Delicious! Close runners-up were our meals at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon in Yountville and Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen in St. Helena this summer after a day of tasting great wine.

Thanks for the great show.
Best meal was a Colorado lamb chop at Del Frisco’s in Ft. Worth, TX.

I’ve never had a greatest meal, a good recent meal with an Italian wine was a 98 Bertani Amarone with Steak, Mashed and Creamed Spinach followed by a Vieux Telepraph CDP and a bottle of 99 Dolce Late Harvest.

GREAT SHOW AS USUAL GARY!!
QOTD:This is a hard choice but I’m going to have to say my mothers potato soup is the best tasting “meal” I’ve ever had in the WORLD!

I agree with you gary — family is VERY important to me and you should cherish every moment you have with them. Family > EVERYTHING.

Theres nothing better than getting together and having a great meal amongst the family. I’m actually trying to incorporate wine into the family meals for the adults. Maybe someday we can all sit down and watch WLTV!!

QOTD: I can think of several memorable dinners – Babbo for our anniversary with tripe and a wonderful Langhe, a campfire supper with beer along the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, a hanger steak at a bistro in Paris with a wonderful Burgundy, but the greatest meal I’ve ever had was on a canal boat (French Country Waterways) along the Burgundy Canal in France several summers ago – 3 courses with each topping the last, with each course accompanied by two bottles of some of the finest white and red Burgundy I’ve ever tasted.

Gary! You always bring it every show. Well done. The best meal I ever had was on Thanksgiving Day in Assisi, Italy some twenty years ago. As I was making my way through the vineyards, I decided to visit the place of one of my favorite saints. A small out of the way cafe made me two small chicken sandwiches, to help me celebrate the day back in the States. Twenty years on and that moment always reminds me, it’s the people more than the food makes a meal special. Joel M

QOTD – Octoberfest Brats and Beer cheese soup, every fall!

An excellent dinner at McCormick & Schmick’s in Columbus, Ohio starting with Puget Sound oysters on the half shell followed by grilled scallops. All with an excellent Pinot Grigio.
Good eats!

My best dinner occurred this past summer for our wedding anniversary dinner (33rd) at Ristorante Bacco in Southfield Michigan. It is one of the best Italian restaurants (and very expensive)in the midwest. My entree was a steak fillet in an Amorone sauce. The wine was from the Morellino di Scansano from Tuscany.
Lou Testa

The best meal I’ve ever had was a roast suckling pig at El Botin in Madrid

qotd: A brunch buffet at a great interior Mexican restaurant in Austin, TX. The next 10 meals on my list probably involved wine but this one did not.

Please don’t pull my name. I don’t want people to hate me when I win the NY trip too.

Hey Gary
Fun episode – $24 bigidee bones for a 95GV wine. I know ratings mean nothing – but on paper thats a wiener. 🙂

QOTD: Best meal ever – 5 course Vegetarian Tasting Menu at Fleur de Lys in Las Vegas, WOW!! Food was fabulous and inventive, service kicked ass, just AWESOME. Second – anything on the menu at Millennium in San Fran

J DUB

Best meal? It definitely was not one I made myself… The best meal I ever had occurred at the end of a 5 day hiking / camping adventure on Catalina Island in 1985. Although this meal was not extravagant by any means, it was priceless and forever memorable. I was 25 yoa, single and no other cares. The trip started off in San Pedro, CA on an hour and a half boat ride to Catalina Island. The first stop was the Isthmus. I had plenty of dried food for an army. After three days of fishing, hiking, and seeing the sights I started having dreams about Hand-burgers and Milk. I would wake up perplexed, “what strange dreams”. Then as the days went I would see Buffalo and wild Boar and I would think “Man, I bet they would taste good BBQ’d. Finally on the 7th day I gave in to desires and nearly jagged for 10 miles to Avalon. In Avalon on the Pier was a chicken stand (Lick-A-Chick). Well one chicken on a stick was OK but I needed the real thing… Oh yes, a big juicy burger and a cold glass of whole milk was in my future and nothing was going to stop me. In town was another small whole in the wall burger joint (no idea of the name, it did not matter). “Double cheeseburger with everything and your largest glass of milk!” was all they were to get out of me. I was in Heaven, nothing else in the world made any difference. I was a love affair, me and my milk & burger…

Needles to say I learned my lesson, no more dried food and next time I’m camping at the Holiday Inn.

QOTD: Italy. Roasted boar right off a spit. shaved off shwarma style. FEttucinni pasta. local chianti wine. Farm in the middle of the chianti region. best meal ever.

Listen GV don’t pay attention to what anyone else says.

I am heavy into italian wines and italian food. Go to Il Buco in NoLita and you will be in some kind of gastronomic paradiso. Best meal was a bowl of incredible bread, tomato, and mozzarella soup, followed by a hybrid pork chop with hazlenuts and aged balsamic. Finally, for dessert I had the best panna cotta of all time. Oh….and we had wine–1998 Remo Farina “Corte Conti Cavalli” seek it out. It is amazing!!!

Nice episode, Gary. I appreciate what you do more every day, and it was great to see you Saturday.

QOTD: Scandia, in L.A., which is now closed, unfortunately. I had leg of lamb, en croute, and my wife had holiday goose, with a 1972 Domaine Dujac Eschezaux. Damn that was good. Even though my wife I have since split up, we still talk about that meal.

The best meal I ever had was five years ago at Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Lahaina, Maui. I was with my wife and kids. My 15 year old daughter had just gotten through with Chemotherapy and we were celebrating. Between the food, the ambiance, and the celebration, it was the best. Ever.

QOTD: Poblano cheeseburgers at Hula Hut in Austin – October 2007

The breeze was blowing across the lake, the sun was long past setting, and he was looking into my eyes as he caressed my hand with his thumb. At some point during that meal, we both realized that our friendship had crossed a boundary into something much deeper. The setting was amazingly beautiful, we were surrounded by some of the best offerings of nature: water, sultry breezes with just a promise of fall, singing frogs, and creamy jalapeno dip. Even the waiter seemed part of a greater nature conspiracy!

I have had more expensive meals, white glove wait service, and amazing wines. The magic of that meal, however, is burned forever into my memory – the spiciness of those poblano burgers truly presaged what lay ahead. Was it the setting, the peppers, or something else? I may never know – but every time I think of that meal, I grin.

Wait, was this supposed to be about food? 😉

QOTD: The best meal I ever had was at a restaurant called the Foothills Milling Company near Smokey Mountain National Park. It was what they called French-Southern fusion, and the amuse bouche was something I’ll never forget. It was a shrimp fried in cornmeal and served with a corn relish. It was a delicious start to an awesome meal.

My favorite meal ever was when I took a ferry boat downriver from Dresden,Germany with my girlfriend to visit some waterfalls. The small village near the falls was filled with Doner shops and restaurants packed with pretzels, beer and, schnitzel. We decided to take a risk on the one tiny Chinese restaurant tucked away in a back ally. To this day, the most suckulent duck and meats I have tasted with the most authentic fresh earthy flavors. The unexpected is quite delicious!

QOTD: The best meal is always a crawfish boil down in Louisiana.

QOTD: Wow, tough call. High on the list would be a family sit-down with my half-brother’s family a number of years ago. We were having perfectly cooked beef fillet’s and all the fixin’s with a nice bottle of Beaujolais. It was the end of a great day, it was a great meal, a great bottle of wine and great conversation around the table.

G-V-N-C: Nice show, Gary. Try not to be such a “lurker-hater.” While true that some people may not “care” as much as you’d like, others just have very different personalities than you do. The idea of “getting involved” in such a casual way as the ba-jillion social networking sites allow and encourage is just foreign to some people. That’s even more true when you expect it to occur on a regular basis – as I know that some do. I know you need some occasional encouragement for all the hard work you do and you certainly deserve it. Just try not to beat up too badly on your fan base…we really are changing the wine world, whether they like it or not!

Best meal I ever had was at the Ryland Inn in New Jersey. 28 day aged cote de boeuf, all organic grown food, amazing wine, dessert, and company.

QOTD: The best meal(s) of my life have been my mother’s special birthday meals. Marinated London Broil, blue-cheese garlic twiced baked mashed potatoes, lightly steamed green beans and a chocolate sheet cake for dessert.

QOTD: My favorite meal all time is when my wife makes her families paella and clam soup. It warms the tummy and makes me smile. It’s even better when everyone it home together to share it.

Great show! Keep up the great work!

Josh S