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About a year and a half ago, my friend Katie was throwing a surprise birthday dinner for her husband Doug. Doug apparently has a taste for Himilayan food, whatever that may be, so Katie held the dinner at Annapuna in Cambridge. You can check out the menu here. It is . . . not Alan-friendly. None-the-less, I showed up, hoping to concoct some kind of Alan-friendly substitution-laden plate. I think I ordered some type of fairly generic beef dish. Beef, sauce, maybe some peppers or onions. For sides, the menu gave us the option of either rice of french fries, and not surprisingly, I ordered the fries.
A few minutes later, the waitress came out and said that the menu was old. They no longer had fries, and I was stuck with the rice. Fine. I'll survive (I think). So the meals came out, and I had my beef, as I mixed it in with the rice. And it was acceptable.
And it was also the first time in my life I had rice. A staple for 2 billion people. And I was 29 years old.
If there was a single story to explain why simply trying 6 more foods with my freakishly "discerning" palette qualifies as a new list item, I think that's the one.
Food #1 - Falafel
This is one I'm actually surprised I hadn't tried yet. It's apparently deep fried. It's been shilled for by my man crush Tom Brady.
And there's a place in Central Square called Falafel Palace, that I've drunkenly passed 100 times, that's stolen it's architectural design from my favorite fast food place, White Castle. The laws of drunken food probability state that I should have at least eaten there once by now instead of Hi-Fi Pizza (to be fair, it does have the highest fidelity pizza you can get).
Alas, I haven't had it. So when it was offered to me at lunch post-snowshoeing, I accepted. And
3 Blech's out of 5. Not horrible, but not something I don't need to eat again. Overrated. Most of your opinions are wrong.
#2 - Roast Lamb
I've been to Olga's 100 times, and I've probably gotten the chicken roll-up and burger-like roll-up 98 of those times. Never an Original Olga, and I've never had a gyro. Basically, I don't think I've ever had lamb (again, just tried rice less than 2 years ago). So while in Barcelona, at fancy-pants Casa De Comida, the roast lamb was probably my best option available.
A mere 1 Blech out of 5. Fairly benign. Actually tasted like a burger, just in an odd form and texture. Not clamoring for more, but not against having more. However it does get props for basically being meat on a stick (though as my ole pal Ted says, there really should be more meats in cones).
#3 - Tuna Steak
This is actually one I've been wanting to try for awhile. I've been told it's basically like a regular steak, but since I was never going to risk a $30 meal on something I might immediately spit out like a 2 year old, a tapas restaurant in Barcelona was the perfect chance to give it a try.
1 Blech out of 5, and the only reason for the Blech was that it was fairly dry. It was cooked all the way through, but the rest of the crew said it's better when it's just seared. So I guess this one also gets an Incomplete until I see some pink (yes, I'm still talking about food).
#4 - Foie-gras
Now it's time to get exotic. At the same tapas meal as the tuna steak, I learned that this is duck or goose liver.
AFLAC Duck does not approve
And thus, this was probably the food I've tried to far with the biggest mental hurdle. Not just a new animal, but a new body part (though I guess I should say this is the first time I've tried liver by itself, as I'm sure hot dogs have liver, intestines, lips, anuses etc).
2 Blechs out of 5. I think I may be grading a curve though as the foie-gras was covered in caramelized onions, which ended up being the dominant taste. So that helped . . . along with the fact that we had been drinking sangria and wine along the Mediterranean for the majority of the afternoon.
#5 - Alligator
My buddy Ryan has a Mardis Gras party every year, and every year, he goes balls out. Embracing his Louisiana roots, he flies in some real Cajun food for the extravaganza, and last year that included alligator. It was deep fried, and basically looked like popcorn chicken. But Ryan tried to be cute, and as he went around offering it to everyone, he told me it was indeed popcorn chicken, from southern icon Chick-fil-a. I . . . . was not amused by his ruse. And thus Ryan learned that I have no problem not trying something purely out of spite.
This year, Ryan learned his lesson, and when he made his rounds, he offered up the truth, and I obliged.
And it was pretty darn close to actually tasting like popcorn chicken, though it gets the one Blech because it just had a little . . . funk to it? I don't know. Maybe like popcorn chicken that was left out overnight? Though I did have it without ketchup, which is really a sin in the Book of Alan (hmmm, does deep fried falafel go with ketchup?)
#6 - Thai
Yes, I am getting real specific here and just listing "Thai". I think I may have had it before, but I'm pretty sure it was the aforementioned meat-on-stick, in both chicken and beef varieties (and it done was so out of necessity. My work gets a catered lunch once a month, and one month they lost their minds, and decided to get a thai buffet. So what was I to do - go out and PAY for lunch? Crazy talk).
And while I can't find the menu online for the place Jill, Alycia and I went to, I do know this was probably a little more authentic than meats-on-stick.Some type of ground chicken. Peppers. Onions. Tomatoes. Basil. Maybe even some curry. And to give myself a little more adventure, it was given 2 out of 2 on the menu's spicy pepper rating.
No Blechs! I could have done without the stems on the basil, but now I'm just being anal retentive for the sake of being anal retentive. It was quite delightful, and I handled the spice like a MAN. . . and then walked out wearing purple shirt and scarf.
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