I’m a foodie. Seems like I’ve been one forever so maybe I came out of the chute that way. I know I bugged my working single mom to teach me to cook and soon I was making home cooked meals at age 11 or 12. I never stopped cooking. My love of food continued and grew.
So it’s no surprise to anyone who knows me that any vacation is going to include great food, preferably 
gourmet food. Luckily my husband loves food too. He’d have to love food or I wouldn’t have married him. I stopped dating a guy because he didn’t eat onions!
Over 20 years ago we discovered Pacific Grove and we spent many a holiday there. On one trip we found a restaurant called Fandango. They were open on Thanksgiving and Christmas offering a set menu with a limited choice of entrees.
We are not fast food or Denny type eaters! No way! I checked with Google and found Fandango was still there! I remembered our wonderful experiences there. Would it still be the same? Only one way to find out. When our plans were finalized, I called Fandango and made reservations.
Lovely Flowers adds to the ambiance
It’s still a delightful place with many small rooms, warm inviting atmosphere and decorated with charm, flowers, and Thankskgiving decorations. We arrived early and decided to enjoy a drink before dinner. The bar isn’t terribly comfortable and the owner acknowledged that and said he’d gladly get us a table sooner if we liked. We liked.
Dinner was great. It’s Mediterranean and European style cuisine. Sauces are always delicious. We started with wonderful duckling pate with hot crusty rolls and kalamata olives for an appetizer, a wonderful spinach salad with candied pecans and blue cheese crumbles with a vinaigrette dressing followed. Ron chose the turkey with sage stuffing, I took the New York strip steaks. Both came with mashed potatoes, gravy and wonderfully delicious green beans.
New York Strips dinner
We enjoyed a lovely bottle of Irony Pinot Noir, perfect with both our meals. We chose to have the profiteroles filled with cappuccino ice cream for dessert. Service was great and our memory of this charming place was intact!
What has been your experience when you’ve revisited a place you enjoyed many many years ago? Did it live up to your memories of it? Do you have a favorite food place in a vacation spot you love to revisit?
Oh, you remind me that I need to a blog about our dinner at Chez Pennise. It was our first time there but not our last. A world famous restaurant and worth it’s fame. The other world famous restaurant we ate at was the French Laundry. I’ve never spent $600 for a meal before and probably never will again but man, was it worth it! It’s fun to have a special spot that brings back special memories. Love your pictures – they really add to the story.
Susan Berland
A Picture’s Worth
http://susan-berland.com
I hear you. I don’t think our food was that world class. But it was delicious, not that costly. I think we spent more on our drinks and wine! But we have had meals like your are talking about and I didn’t begrudge the money spent on it. One meal was at Le Cirque in the Bellagio in Las Vegas! The rack of lamb was the best I have ever eaten anywhere. Of course, the wine list story is hysterical! I’m not sure I could write it up and do it justice!
omg, what a great description, Julieanne. Made me want to look in the refrigerator with SAD results. Where’s the pate and HOT CRUSTY rolls? Cheese crumbles? etc? HUNGRY. There are so many great restaurants in the Bay Area but I tend to go the the same places I love for consistent pleasure. My mom is a foodie and I tend to follow her lead when I want to try something new.
I have those moments too, @VickiDelloJoio:disqus ! It’s such a great pleasure for us to go out and get great food. We can cook our own great food too. I’m still wanting more of the pate and we finished ours that night! I just love it when a restaurant pays attention to all the details.
My parents used to live in Pacific Grove and we went to Fandango one time for dinner with them and loved it! That was many years ago, too, but maybe I can talk my husband into driving down there some day soon and going back there. I remember that it was a very special meal for us. We don’t go out to eat all that often any more, but there are a couple of places that hold a sweet place in my memory bank, one of them is an Italian restaurant in Los Altos, and the other is a terrific Vietnamese place in Palo Alto. I will have to make a point of going back to at least one of these restaurants in the near future to see if they deserve the memories I have of them!
I understand. We used to go out a whole lot more but don’t do it all that often. A vacation seems to give us a great excuse to enjoy really good restaurants and we love finding new ones. I actually did find two new ones. Those could be blogs too!
Your description of the food makes me feel like I’m there! And descriptions are about as close as I get, as my dining options are limited by my health needs and personal choices regarding food. But you also describe a beautiful environment, and that is wonderful no matter what I do or don’t eat.
One of the places I revisited was Amsterdam, where I had had rijsttafel (rice table), which is a dinner comprised of many, many small dishes of different tastes and composition. Many years ago I returned and went back for another rijsttafel and absolutely loved it. I am glad to have these memories, as I would not have that meal now. I do sometimes envy people who can travel and enjoy food freely, but I am also grateful for the health I have as a result of choices I make.
Judy Stone-Goldman
The Reflective Writer
http://www.thereflectivewriter.com
Personal-Professional Balance Through Writing
Oh, I don’t know what I’d do if I had not been able to partake of these meals. I chose not to each much of the potatoes. I do limit my carbs but desserts are my little treat at times. The green beans were utterly delicious and there were two nice slices of the beef that were very good. The pate and the salad were really outstanding. I know you eat a lot of vegetables. Are you raw, vegan, vegetarian? I do like some raw dishes and I love veggies and salads. I guess we tend to Mediterranean cuisine at home with some Chinese or French thrown in here or there.
Nothing like salivating while reading a blog. Sounds delicious, Julieanne! I’m glad you and your husband got to enjoy such a great Thanksgiving meal. My husband and I became engaged in 1995 while on a trip to London. While there we enjoyed several excellent meals at a restaurant in Kensington called ffiona’s. We especially loved the apple crumble dessert. We returned to London about five years ago and ffiona’s was still there serving the same great food and desserts. Fond memories. Thanks, Julieanne!
Thanks, @twitter-138423299:disqus . I’m so glad that you got the flavor and feel of the blog. Sometimes I wonder if just thinking about those items as you write infuses the writing with the sensations that somehow communicate all you want to be communicated! Or maybe it’s just the wonderful imaginations of the readers!
Yummm yummm! Fun to go back to a place and have it not disappoint! That is the same for me at the Post Hotel up in Lake Louise, Canada (http://www.posthotel.com/posthotel/amenities/dining.html). I’ve gone back 3 or 4 times, and each time I’ve gone in wondering if it is as good as the last time. And happily, not only has it been as good, but has surpassed itself each time!! 3 hours to leisurely go through a dinner and have a different wine with every course. Ohhhh- your descriptions have made me want to go back again!! Thanks for the chance to revisit fond memories.
Candace Davenport
http://www.ourlittlebooks.com ~ Little Books with a Big Message
Sounds like I need to put that place on my list of places to partake! Lake Louise is so beautiful. We stopped there on our way to Banff on our honeymoon 30 years ago. We took the train from Vancouver to Banff. What an exquisite journey that was.
I’m not a foodie, but my friends and I would always go to Ellis Island when we went to Vegas. It’s a total dive that a local friend told me about. $4.95 steak special with potato, soup/salad, and to-die-for garlic green beans. You will have to tolerate the horrible karaoke from the bar as well as smoke because, well, it is Vegas. I have noticed in recent trips that the green beans haven’t been as good, but the steak is always great. Now if we’re going to talk dessert… I would love to head back to Homer, AK and have the lavender cheesecake at Fat Olives. Unfortunately, their dessert menu changes nightly so I’m no likely to ever get it again 🙁 Oh, and the fish and chips at Barb’s in Victoria, BC. It’s a little houseboat that comes in for the summer season. So good.
I’m happy you had fun reminiscing. I find that it makes you smile and feel good too! I read your smile through the memories you shared.
Sounds absolutely wonderful – and your descriptions have me salivating! I’m from England and every summer we go back and spend time with family and friends. And every year we always go to the Mediterranean Restaurant in Sheffield for tapas. They’ve been around for over 20 years now, but fortunately the food is still great. They keep the old favorites that you long for, but also refresh the menu with seasonal and new items. Now I’m even more hungry… and I’ve just had dinner!
It’s so wonderful you have a place to return to and not only does it not disappoint but surprises you! What a delight that is.
I’m drooling and hungry now! Chaz and I went to Venice a few years ago and took a trip to the Island of Burano. We were hungry so got off the boat at a fairly isolated stop with a cute little restaurant and had one of the best meals I have ever had in my life, it was a non touristy place and very old style Italian. If we ever go back we shall find it again and hope it’s still a family owned little Taverna.
Louise Edington
Breaking through Frontiers
http://louiseedington.com
Now I’m getting wanderlust to try all these foodie places you and others have shared with me! Ahh, for now, I’ll either have to cook or find some treasures close by and there are some, too!
Thanks for your story, Julieanne. I’m intrigued to hear a foodie’s perspective, because I’m not one, although I enjoy the taste of good food prepared well. But what impresses me more about a memorable meal is the atmosphere that makes it delicious.
One meal I remember vividly occurred about 25 years ago. My wife and I were driving aimlessly through Georgia, just to see what we could discover. We stumbled into the small seacoast town of Thunderbolt, on the day of the “Blessing of the Fleet” festivities. One highlight was the parade of boats. Another was a fantastic “shrimp boil” luncheon, served on newspaper at community tables. I really can’t say it was “gourmet cuisine”, but the upbeat mood in the room I remember to this day.
We’ve never tried to return. Probably fearing the re-visit would fall short of the first time.
Robbie
Well, Robbie, being a foodie, I’ve never really understood people who weren’t foodies but I do accept they exist! I just believe that they are missing out on a something wonderful! For you, the ambiance and music are more important!
I was already hungry for lunch and now my mouth is watering! I can’t say that I am a foodie, but I do love a good meal at a great restaurant. We seek out local restaurants when we travel (primarily using Yelp vs. guidebooks), and have discovered some our favorite meals there. We have used this same idea in our hometown – and now have a weekly restaurant trip where we know the owners and staff…and always have a great meal!
You sound like you are close to a foodie! You responded as a foodie would! LOL! I too have used Yelp but I realized that unless I know the tastes of the reviewer, I can be led to the wrong place and have. So I check a few different reviews or check a restaurant I like and see who reviewed it, then check their other choices. Or word of mouth! And sometimes I just have a sixth sense of things! Glad you a special place for a great meal!
Julieanne, I do not want to look forward to my kids getting older too much, but fine dining is going to be one of the small compensations when they do eventually grow up – if it isn’t costing us so much to pay for their dorm food that we have to eat dorm food ourselves! For now I am metaphorically gazing through the windows of such great places.
At times, I have to satisfy myself by reading about a great place. We don’t eat out as often as we used to. And there is the problem with not knowing the source of the food being served too. We are eating more organic, free range foods these days. But now and then, we get to splurge so I love it to be special!
You have a gift of describing food! When my children were young, we traveled to Kauai and stayed at the Kiahuna Plantation. It was wonderful experience. Over the years we have been able to revisit our favorite eating spots there. My favorite place is on the the grounds of the Kiahuna Plantation. The food has been consistently fresh and delicious over the years! It is a great plus that they have an herb garden on site!
Thank you! I think I get to re-experience the food again when I talk or write about it. It’s fun to have a place you can return to and the memory stays intact or gets better! Love that!
Can you be a “foodie” if you just like to eat quality food…but not that interested in making it? If yes, count me in! I have visited restaurants from long ago and yes, it was fabulous. Recently I had this experience with Dona Tomas in Oakland – the best carnitas and sweet potatoes around – yum!
Brandy 🙂
Can you be a “foodie” if you just like to eat quality food…but not that interested in making it? If yes, count me in! I have visited restaurants from long ago and yes, it was fabulous. Recently I had this experience with Dona Tomas in Oakland – the best carnitas and sweet potatoes around – yum!
Brandy 🙂
I think foodies can definitely be people who don’t cook. It just costs you more! For me, food is one of those great pleasures in life that can make you feel better in so many ways. It feeds the body, the senses and the soul. It can be a very sensual experience and I’m realizing that I have always been sensual. I get accused of putting sensual parts in some of my paintings and I don’t even see them until someone points it out.
While my friends would not call me a “foodie” by any stretch of the imagination. I tend to have a more simple palette and limited veggies on my list. However I can’t help but enjoy some of the local favorites whenever I’m in Hawaii. I could eat Kahlua Pig every day along with fresh pineapple and never get sick of it. Sometimes I have to remind myself to have something else while I’m there. But on second thought, it’s just too darn good and that’s what vacation is for right?
Yes, indeed, that is what a vacation is for if that is what is important to you! I had an amazing piece of white fish on the big island that I will never forget. Opah, it almost had the texture of chicken yet was mild and delicious. If I don’t remember visiting a restaurant, you can bet the food was mediocre!
You and I could easily be best friends. Food is my LOVE. Didn’t really understand how much so until my metabolism went down but my appetite didn’t! Oh why couldn’t it have been ‘the more you eat, the more you lose’?
We all need to stop punishing ourselves for living and enjoying what we love to enjoy in life. And maybe do a tad more walking or dancing in life if we want to fit into our clothes. If our health is great, then enjoy the food. I’ve been told that it’s our belief system and we can eat what we want and not gain an ounce! I’m working on it!