The best thing I ever ate…

Posted: April 18, 2010 | Author: Alyssa | Filed under: Alyssa | 1 Comment »

I’m guessing most of you foodies out there have seen, at least in passing, the show on Food Network entitled “The best thing I ever ate”.  If not, you should definitely check it out because its freaking sweet.  One of the craziest parts about looking for a job recently has been travelling to all these crazy places in order to interview at different schools.  I have been travelling almost every weekend for the past few weeks with a couple of week days in between, so I’ve been eating a lot on the road.  Unfortunately this has mainly consisted of airport food (I have a sick and twisted love for airport chinese food…sadly it will most likely lead to my ultimate demise), but when I’m really lucky I get the opportunity to hang out in whatever city/town I’m in and test out some of the local food.  Two of these recent trips have led to me to two of the best dishes I’ve eaten.  I would call it a tale of two cities, but its really more like a tale of a city and a small town, so bear with me.

1. Boston, Ma-  After I was finished with my meat market-esq job conference (think speed dating for jobs)  I had a few hours to kill until my shuttle came to pick me up for the airport.  After walking around the city for a while, which is a favorite pass time of fine, I decided to find a place to eat and hang out for a while.  I had been to dinner the night before with a friend and we had checked out a little pub on Boyleston St.  The Solas Pub is a true Irish pub with low ceilings, close tables, and dark wood.  I ordered my beer and started to peruse the menu.  They had a cool mix traditional Irish items and some different things that sounded interesting.  I decided on the Roasted Portabella Melt, which turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

The description of the sandwich:

“Open faced, braised red onions, oven roasted tomato, buffalo mozzarella and Basil pesto”.

It was so huge and delicious that I didn’t even eat many of my fries (which were also delicious).  It came with two and a half portabella caps, which gives you some idea as to the size of this beast.  All of the components complimented each other, but what really amazed me was the ability of the creator to avoid the epic portabella problem.  Those of you who have worked with them before know that they are like sponges when they cook, which is why we love them.  They absorb all the flavors around them and fit nicely into most dishes.  Unfortunately, once they are cooked, they tend to release a lot of the liquid they have absorbed and when bread is involved, sogginess ensues…sad.

Somehow, the creator of this dish managed to get all the flavor into the mushroom, but avoid the soggy bread issue that I always dread when I order something like this.  Kudos to that chef, and if anyone reading this knows the secret, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell it to me!

Now, forging onward…and slightly to the left

2. Westford, Ma-  I know, its hard to believe both ended up being in Ma and on completely separate trips, but hey, thats how it goes.  The night before I had an all day interview, all I wanted was to just relax and go to bed early.  Luckily in the hotel was Clark’s Pub.  Never one to turn down a pub, particularly one I don’t have to travel for, I thought I would check it out.  After perusing the menu with my friend Sam Adams, I decided on the chicken panini.  Sounds exotic and intriguing, right?  Turns out, while not exotic, it was freaking delicious.  It was simply grilled chicken, basil, onions and kalamata olives in a basic red sauce with tons of mozzarella cheese on buttered bread and grilled panini style.  Pretty basic, although I have to admit I would have never thought to add the olives to this.  They added a whole different texture and flavor that really brought the whole thing from ‘what a delightful sandwich’ to ‘holy crap, I should write a blog post about this’.

Now, I know some people reading this are probably waiting for me to talk about how I turned these things into a recipe, or how I thought (arrogantly) that I could make them better, but this post is not about my cooking.  When you are as much a foodie as I am, everything you and see other people eating is interesting.  I am sure these two dishes will eventually turn into something interesting in my head and potentially on my plate, but for now I think they will just remain safely in the category of the best things I’ve ever eaten…

Happy Fooding!