Friday Five

Five of My Very Favorite Restaurant Meals Ever.

5. The Child's Enchilada Plate, Gilbert's El Charro, Tyler, TX: I get this every time I go to El Charro. It's chili con carne smothered comfort food. I've had enchiladas many places, but nothing quite compares to El Charro Tex-Mex quality.

4. Some duck, some restaurant, Philadelphia, PA: during my college search, my parents and I found ourselves in Philadelphia late at night and very hungry. We went to some restaurant that I think might have been a tapas bar and included the word "spoon" in the name. I don't remember. What I do remember is the dish I ordered. It was duck breast in a cherry glaze. It was goooood, it was my first duck, and it is responsible for my lasting duck obsession.

3. Pancakes, Lighthouse Diner (I think), Sausalito, CA: my grandparents took me to San Francisco for my 13th birthday, and one of our mornings was spent on the island of Sausalito. These pancakes were probably 2 times bigger than my face. I know we had much fancier and probably even much better food (Julius Castle, Mama's french toast!), but for some reason those huge pancakes define that trip for me.

2. Pancakes, Esperanza's Bakery, Fort Worth, TX: it's sort of weird for me to put pancakes on here twice, but these were some good pancakes. We went to Esperanza's on a family trip to the Stockyards - as in, whole family. Aunts, uncles, cousins, the whole shebang. So in addition to being delicious and having syrup cooked into the batter, these pancakes remind me of doing fun stuff with my family.

1. Fried Green Tomato Po'boy, Crabby Jacks, New Orleans, LA: ohmygoodness I got this sandwich with the tomatoes coming straight out of the fryer. It was unbelievably tasty. I ate here with my work site on a youth mission trip, so more good memories associated with the food.

Ok, I have way more favorite restaurant meals because I am an eater. These are just the first ones to pop into my head at the moment. Isn't it neat how meals carry so many memories?