Top Five Dishes of 2017

Listen to this post in audio format on our podcast!

Hangin' with the gang at Maido 

Hangin' with the gang at Maido 

Scallionpancake Travels: 
In addition to our top five restaurants of 2017, we decided to spice things up and rate our top five dishes of 2017. Sometimes, we really love a particular dish at a certain restaurant, or something smaller at a casual place that is worthy of the title of "best dish," when "best restaurant" doesn't quite make the cut. Without further ado, here are our top five dishes of 2017! 

Jason

IMG_2440.jpg

1. Wasabi Langoustine

Restaurant Tim Raue, Berlin, Germany

This, to me, is the most perfect dish in the world. It's the best thing I've ever eaten, hands down. Enough said. 

IMG_1845.jpg

2. Z-Man Sandwich

Joe's Kansas City BBQ, Kansas City, KS

The Z-man was a revelation--one BBQ sandwich to rule them all. 

IMG_1101.jpg

3. Confit Suckling Pig

Astrid & Gaston, Lima, Peru

This was the outstanding dish of Peru to me. The suckling pig mixed with dark Peruvian chocolate in a  peanut broth just combined perfectly together. I would have never thought that the rich chocolate would have gone together with the suckling pig, but it did, and it was great.

IMG_2235.jpg

4. Sportskage

La Glace, Copenhagen, Denmark 

The single dessert I think about the most from this last year is the sportskage from La Glace in Copenhagen. This is the oldest and most famous bakery in Copenhagen, and their signature cake dates back to 1891 when it was first made for the debut of the play, Sports Man. It consists of crushed nougat, whipped cream, a macaroon bottom, and caramelized choux pastry. It had the consistency of a cream pie, but with almost a health bar taste with the nougat. So good!

IMG_2034.jpg

5. Mac & Cheese with Crispy Chicken Skin

Haberdish, Charlotte, NC

The Mac & Cheese at Haberdish is cheesy perfection. The key to this dish is the hot sauce that adds a slight kick to the chicken skin. I could eat it every day!

Yvonne

IMG_1025.jpg

1. Mussel Dessert

Maido, Lima, Peru

Although Maido didn't make either of our best restaurant lists, we both really loved so many of the dishes there. This dessert had local Peruvian elements, like granadilla, mandarin sorbet, and lucuma ice cream. Also, you can't go wrong with an edible bowl made out of sugar! 

IMG_2621.jpg

2. Doner kebab

Mustafa's Gemüse Kebap, Berlin, Germany

I would gladly wait another hour in line to eat this perfect sandwich again. The meat was juicy and well-seasoned, and the vegetables were fresher than you could ever imagine from a food cart. This kebab was certainly a part of what made our culinary adventures in Berlin special!

IMG_1306.jpg

3. Tomato soup and rolls

Indio Feliz, Aguas Calientes, Peru

Jason wants to kill me for this choice, but after a seven hour hike through the Andes to Machu Picchu, this tomato soup brought me back to life. I loved the little town of Aguas Calientes, which is completely devoted to tourists visiting Machu Picchu--it felt like a mining town in the American west, only Peruvian style. Also, maybe, just maybe, I picked it partly because it gets under his skin. Shhhh, don't tell. 

IMG_1838.jpg

4. Ribs

Joe's Kansas City BBQ, Kansas City, KS

I am usually more of a pulled pork kind gal, but these ribs were everything to me. The flavor was 10/10, and I loved the atmosphere in the gas station at the original Joe's location. 

o.jpg

5. Hummus

Mamoun's, New York, New York

I love when Jason takes me to NYC and shows me all of his old college haunts, like the tiny, counter-seating only Mamoun's location he took me to last March. I wish we had a quick & cheap Lebanese spot like this in Charlotte. Their hummus was tangy, fresh, and had the perfect texture. 

Top Five Restaurants of 2017

Listen to this post in audio format on our awesome blossom podcast

Incan af

Incan af

What a year! Scallionpancake traveled three continents in 2017, and during our travels we visited some of the best restaurants in the world. Like years past, both of us have come up with our top five restaurants for 2017. SPOILER ALERT: Next week we will publish our top five dishes of 2017. Stay tuned!

Jason

IMG_2187.jpg

Copenhagen, Denmark

The most magical food night of the year for me. The atmosphere combined with the excellent food made for an unforgettable experience. My favorite dish was the "make your own" shrimp tacos. Noma also had a delicious almond cake with lime zest that was out of this world.

IMG_0493.jpg

New York, NY

I've said it before, and i'll say it again, I love David Chang. Ko is his signature restaurant, and it did not disappoint. I had been to Ko at their old location about five years ago, so I was excited to to see what had changed at their new location. Ko is meat-focused fine dining, and I like that. They're most famous for their duck, which they age in-house every week.

b%ZuamcmRE2YlHVj4bjTAA.jpg

Modena, Italy

This fall, I took a trip to Italy with my friends Vishnu and Ravi for a ten year reunion of our time studying abroad in Florence. We took a special trip to Modena to go to Franchesetta 58, Massimo Baturo's sister restaurant to his famous Osteria Francescana. It was outstanding and served some of the best Italian inspired dishes I've ever had. My favorite dish was the pumpkin covered in Parmesan sauce with bacon. The sweetness of the pumpkin with the salty, strong flavors of the Parmesan combined with the fattiness of the bacon to make the perfect dish.

IMG_1846.JPG

4. Joe's Kansas City BBQ

Kansas City, KS

Joe's BBQ in Kansas City has a lot of hype, but it lives up to it and then some. The best sandwich of the year goes to the Z-Man: smoked brisket, smoked provolone, two onion rings, and famous Joe's BBQ sauce on a bun. It doesn't get better than this. We enjoyed our meal so much that we went back the next day and ordered two--one for right then and there and one for the plane ride home.

 

IMG_0312.jpg

Los Angeles, CA

We went to LA in January, and the standout restaurant of the trip was Here's Looking at You. The vibe from the beginning was just plain cool--we felt like we were in a place where cool things happened and where cool people hung out. Oh, by the way, the food was really good, too. The standouts for me were this fried whole fish and the bar pie.

Keepin' it classy in Lima

Keepin' it classy in Lima

Yvonne

,

2EC5D21D-27DC-4D8B-A6AC-F08DB47ECDB7.JPG

Copenhagen, Denmark

I couldn't agree more with Jason--the vibe at Noma Under the Bridge was just magical. It was our first night in my favorite city on earth. The temperature was crisp and the sun was setting along the harbor when we settled into the long dining room table with about 75 new friends from all over the world. The night started with champagne and ended with almond cakes in an antique tin, and that's really all anyone could ask for out of a vacation dinner. 

IMG_1439.JPG

Lima, Peru

Jason and I are still sorting out our feelings on Central (more on that on our podcast), but I do know that I absolutely loved the flavors of so many of the dishes we tried, particularly the dessert made with meringue clay and algae, and the potatoes with an alpaca dipping sauce. Central is the restaurant I would most like to experience again, if only to have more time to figure out exactly which obscure plant we were eating. The creativity on the Elevations menu is incomparable, and going on a culinary journey through the ecosystem home to the most diverse climate on earth was a once in a lifetime experience. 

IMG_0499.JPG

New York, New York

Ko was just a downright fun dining experience; I have never had the pleasure of viewing the kitchen directly from my seat in a fine dining restaurant, and I loved every minute of it. We got to chat with the chefs and it was pure entertainment to watch them work throughout our meal. We saw them prepare the duck from the moment we sat down--it went through step after step of marinating and braising, and then finally we got to try it. Super exciting. Another highlight? The bouncy Japanese cheesecake with shaved truffles. I die. 

IMG_2414.JPG

Copenhagen, Denmark

Everything at Geranium was a cut above, from the decor, to the service, to the food. I mean, wheeling out a cart of potted herbs to prepare a hot tea? It was all just next level. The dishes were inventive, like the dill stones and the razor clam dish, and everything had incredible flavor that captured the vegetation-heavy feel of modern classic Danish cuisine. One of my favorite moments here was the final dessert course that included so many little bites of goodness. Also, getting to meet the chef when he was in the back room preparing new recipes was pretty darn cool, too. 

249F61CC-096A-4714-8C5A-8D9F809CF99C.JPG

5. Baest

Copenhagen, Denmark

As you heard on the podcast, Jason is rather rude about my choice of Baest, but gosh darn it, I'm sticking to it. Pizza is a simple meal that ranges from good to omgsogood, and that's what I enjoy about it. With five or six top notch ingredients, a well-made pizza can compete with more complex dishes any day of the week. Also, the cured meats and in-house made mozzarella with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt basically took me to another planet. Oh, and the dessert! Milk gelato with olive oil? I was in hygge heaven while dining at Baest.