I have always loved gourmet food. My mother was a heck of a cook while I was growing up. She would cook every night, and almost always make something different. I don't know where she got so many different recipes from. All of them seemed perfected, and yet she very rarely repeated any of them. The only ones that she would cook more than once were the ones that we really liked. If people asked for them, she would cook them again. There is nothing quite like her cooking. The only thing that even comes close is going to a gourmet restaurant.
I live in Portland, which is an excellent city for gourmet restaurants. Portland has more restaurants per capita than almost any other city I know of. There is just too much food for any one person to ever try. Nonetheless, I give it a shot. I particularly like the gourmet Pizza restaurants. The East Coast is usually the place to get pizza. The West Coast is not known for its pizza places. Nevertheless, if you really look for them you can find some really good pizza places. I've had some thin crust, deep dish, and other kinds of pizzas here that are surprisingly good.
There are also some great gourmet vegetarian restaurants. Although I am not a vegetarian myself, I really respect gourmet restaurants that can cook vegetarian food. Meat automatically adds so much flavor to any dish that learning to cook without it is quite a challenge. The people who can do it really win my admiration. Sometimes, I'll go to a gourmet vegetarian restaurant even if I don't have any vegetarians with me. Some of the gourmet restaurants here are that good!
Of course, my very favorite gourmet restaurants are steakhouses. There's nothing quite like a gourmet steak. I'll have to admit that I'm not all that imaginative in my tastes. Filet mignon is my favorite – I suppose it is almost everyone's favorite. It is so tender, juicy, and rich. If I had the money, I would probably eat a fillet every night. After all, why not eat only the best if you can afford it? Still, every once in a while it is nice to get fish. There are some great gourmet fish restaurants here. The other day, I was eating downtown and had some tuna that was out of this world. It was seared on the sides, but raw in the middle – sort of a flame kissed sushi. It was to die for!
