I think the first dinner I ever ate on an expense account has to be among my most memorable meals. It open up a whole new world of dining for me.

Most memorable meal I've had in the past 5 years was at Morimoto in Philadelphia. My girlfriend and I selected a tasting menu with 7 chef- selected items, all seafood. If you ever watched iron Chef, it was exactly like that. A real luxurious experience.

No question my most memorable meal was my first trip to Chez Panisse. I went with John Olney whose uncle was one of the inspirations for the restaurant. The main course was grilled guinea hen breast. The wine we had was Chave's St. Joseph. I remember John's disappointment that they were sold out of YQuem and we had to settle for a different Sauterne. After dinner Alice Waters sat down with us (she and John are good friends) and talked for a good thirty minutes. John brought me a bottle of Zinfandel that he and Micheal Butler made out of the seconds at Sky Vinyards. How good was it you ask? Well John is now a vice president of Ridge Vinyards. I am sure that I have had better food than this night but it is definitely my most memorable meal.

First trip to the Inn at Little Washington, for my 10th wedding anniversary. Wonderful ambiance, incredible service, and the food wasn't half bad, either...

My wife got a little concerned - she said I was looking at the chocolate dessert the way I usually look at her...

I've got to get to the Inn at Little Washington one of these days. But it's a get dressed up experience isn't it? That's going to take some bartering!

Mine was probably the late great Rudy's. I took the first taste of my tomato crab bisque and knew that I was in heaven. The rest of the meal didn't dissapoint. And Rudy (the maitre d) was as charming as could be. An all together wonderful experience.

Joyce

I miss Rudys'. I never had a meal there that wasn't excellent. The front of the house Rudy made every visit perfect and a match to the dishes that the kitchen Rudy created.

Joyce W - Amazingly, The Inn at Little Washington is casual, at least from a dress code perspective. I took my wife there for her birthday several years ago, and was amazed to see people wearing jeans.

For an overall dining experience, there is nothing like the The Inn at Little Washington, as others have mentioned. However, I think based on food alone the most memorable meal that I ever had was at Citronelle in Georgetown. From the first course of escargots to the chef's verision of a "kit kat" everything was perfect.

Like some of the other comments, I've been to the Inn at Little Washington and Morimotos. They were great meals. Also, I would add Le Champlain at the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec. Most memorable, however, would probably be the ten course meal I had at Julien in Boston's Langham Hotel. The food was outstanding, but unless you are Henry the VIII, how many ten course meals are you going to have in your life?

The rijsttafel I had in Amsterdam had around 20 "courses," albeit small ones. That was memorable in its own way. When I was in Germany a group of us drove to France one Sunday for lunch at a Michelin "One Star" restaurant. Did the whole works, from aperitif to digestif. Good food with good company makes for a memorable meal.

My most memorable meal was in 1988. Three of us girls were vacationing "on the cheap" in Germany and Austria. One girl's brother was military, based not too far from Munich, and he let us use his apartment as our base. Towards the end of our visit, our hosts took us to an armed forces recreation area in Garmisch in Austria for four days, so we could get a taste of that country, too. On our last night, the three of us treated our hosts to dinner at Die Goldener Engel, the fanciest restaurant in town. We ordered two of the game-meat platters: doe, venison, and boar, each with its own potato preparation and sauce. God it was good!

Second most memorable was at The Four Seasons in New York, where I had my first taste of venison and my first bottle of Sterling Merlot.

Third most memorable was at Jean-Louis (Palladin's) in The Watergate. Wow, talk about simple elegance!

One of my most memorable meals was at Commander's Palace in New Orleans around 1982. I can't remember the first course, but it might have been turtle soup. I distinctly remember the entree which was boned (deboned?) quail stuffed with crabmeat and the dessert which was Bananas Foster.

Another memorable food experience is the roasted oysters in the back room at Bowen's Island near Folly Beach, SC.

Too many possible answers!! Head pounding. Brain shutting down. Agghh!

EL asked for most memorable meals, good or bad. I find it interesting that every meal listed here was a positive experience.

Lissa, can't say I've had many "bad" meals or, at lest, I've driven them from my memory. Except, of course, for the Hot Dog Burritos I made some 15 years ago that my DW won't let me forget.

Hot dog burritos. Sounds Korean, RiE.

I've made more than one inedible meal. My mother's most memorable meal would probably be the time her turkey disintegrated on Christmas day.

The Good: slices of unknown quadriped roasted on a spit in the sanowy mountains of Bosnia in January.
The Bad:a sandwich in northern Argentina at a dusty bus stop roadside place made of minute steak, accompanied by a small box of the worst wine ever and a swarm of flies.
The Ugly: runny half-liquid cheese omelette with no cheese in the Belgrade train station the day before the U.S. was to bomb Serbia and that train station in 1999.

RiE - when I was a kid, an aunt of mine used to show up at the home of the sick or infirmed carrying a pot of her "Famous" Hot Dog Stew. (I cringe as I type that)

My mother had surgery when I was 12. My father (this aunt's oldest brother) all but threw her out of the house when he saw the stew.

Most memorable meal for the food - first time I went to Fogo. The bacon-wrapped steak was phenomenal, the company forgettable.

Most memorable meal for the company - first date with my current boyfriend, Chef Geoff's in D.C. I was too nervous to eat something real so I ordered calamari. The calamari was light and crisp, the sauce was spicy (the way I like it) and the date was one of the best I've been on in years.

My most memorable meal (good): Kobe beef (sliced sirloin) at Chamberlain's (sp?) in Dallas.

My most memorable meal (bad): when our server went off-shift after the salads and the next time a server talked to us (maybe 15 minutes later) she asked, "Will there be anything else?"

Apparently, I'm still on the hook for 15% when that happens, according to some things I read.

Not in my book, Bucky. I know the tip debate rages on and I know servers are paid an abysmal amount but sometimes, their behavior really warrents tip punishment. I've only done it once - I almost always tip at least 15% but in light of the server infractions against us, I stiffed her completely and did not lose sleep over it. ducking and taking cover!

I will never know whether or not one of our most memorable meals was at Louisiana. The restaurant had extended restaurant week and we had made reservations for 4 over one week ahead for Saturday night. They advertised valet parking and we arrived for our 8:00 PM reservation. There were four cars in front of us and the valets stated that they had no place to put any more cars. So we sent two of our party in to claim our table. After circling Fells Point for awhile, we returned at 8:20 to see the status. We checked in with our friends who stated that the hostess had not arrived for almost twenty minutes, there were at least 20 people waiting and that some of them had had 7:30 reservations and some were arguing who had arrived first for an 8:00 reservation. We left, called Germano's in Little Italy where restaurant week was also extended. We arrived, had valet parking; their restaurant week menu was straight off of their regular menu and bottles of wine were 50% off. We had a lovely dinner, the branzino was terrific, we chatted with Germano, the wait staff was excellent and had a good sense of humor to boot and we will go back in a heart beat.

Well, Susan, I'm glad you got a chance to tell us good stuff about Germano's. They have supported one of "my" charities, so I did a little cheer.

Bronzino? I wonder what the likelihood is that you got bronzino. I know a chef formerly in LIttle Italy who routinely served "bronzini" which was in fact always rock fish. I ask because you have to fly the bronzino in overnight from Italy. Sounds pricey for RW.

Bronzino? I wonder what the likelihood is that you got bronzino. I know a chef formerly in LIttle Italy who routinely served "bronzini" which was in fact always rock fish. I ask because you have to fly the bronzino in overnight from Italy. Sounds pricey for RW.

Well Branzino is known as the Italian rockfish, but whatever it was, it was baked with herbs and sliced onions, had been almost perfectly filleted, while keep the body and the head intact. So, I wasn't complaining. It was on the regular menu for about $26 or so.

Bronzino is not known as the Italian rock fish. In Baltimore and probably elsewhere in the mid-Atlantic rock fish is fake bronzino. Different fish. Both estuarial bass, but appearance and taste and habitat are different. Most certainly you had farm-raised (yuk) rock fish. Not to get all Linnaean on you but I've met Dicentrarchus labrax and Morone saxatilis, you are no Dicentrarchus labrax. Not just different species, but different genus.

I knew another chef who served a pricey special with blood orange sauce. I was slightly incredulous and asked how he got the owners to spring for such a pricey ingredient like fresh blood oranges. Answer: oh they vetoed that so I used frozen OJ and grenadine. Buyer beware.

If you REALLY want to know the difference between rock fish and bronzino you can tell by the markings on the fish. Wouldn't it be fun to present photographic evidence to the restaurant owner or chef? You go first. I hate being lied to.

Note: in my limited Italian, bronzini is the plural of bronzino.

I know a prominent Little Italy restaurant (in fact, one that has been mentioned on this very blog) that uses pork instead of veal in all its veal dishes -- or at least, it did in 2002 and 2003. I worked there for those two years, and not a single guest ever figured it out. And the owner's wife is Jewish. It gives me chills of horror to remember, but at the time, I didn't know what I could do about it.

My most memorable meal was at the Wine Cellar located in The Twin Towers building in New York. Everyone said it was impossible to get a reservation for the restaurant there and that people made them at least a year in advance. That afternoon we tried and sure enough there was a cancellation. Each course came with it's own accompanying wine. The meal was not a prelude to something else. We could stay as long as we wish and drink as much of that particular wine that we wanted. This was the first time I ever tasted Chateau Y'Quem (don't know if the spelling correct). This was a sweet classy dessert wine. I found the menu recently and couldn't believe that the whole meal only cost us $50 per person. Wow!

AB, you just outed Germano's. Oy vey.