Unexpectedly best (maybe free) dinner you ever had?
I've had some excellent dinners at restaurants, but I usually paid for the privilege, and expected (hoped) they'd live up to their promises. Some exceeded, many fell short.
However, the unexpectedly best dinner I ever had was in college. I was helping a friend through his required computer courses (I helped him a LOT), and to thank me he invited me to dinner at his frat house. It was the holiday season, near xmas I think. This was in Oneonta, NY.
I do not normally get actually personally invited to frat houses, although lord knows I've been to many parties. And I saw Animal House, so let's just say my expectations were close to zero. My friend insisted it'd be good, and so I went.
The frat had an in-house cook. He was German, probably early 70's. I hung out in the kitchen with a small group while he prepared the meal. He was a really nice guy. And, apparently, he used to be the head chef at the Waldorf Astoria, but had retired to Oneonta and still loved to cook for people, just didn't want to hassle with running a restaurant. And the frat had been advertising for a cook. And so...
Dinner was prime rib and onion soup. I never really had a good onion soup before and thought I didn't like it, but wow. I have been an onion soup connosuier ever since. The prime rib was to die for.
At the time I was in the kitchen with him, he was making the croutons for the soup - french bread with cheese on top, broiled (I believe).
Best. Frickin. Free. Meal. EVER. I was never into the frat system, but I would have joined that one in an instant.
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