The Best Thing I Ever Ate - Potatoes Edition

The potato. It' such a simple, humble food that every person has eaten in some form or another. Whether it is a russet, sweet, yukon gold, new, red skin or white variety, me loves me a good tater! Growing up, we didn't eat a lot of potatoes. We ate rice. Like every night. Every night. Plain white rice, cooked in my parents rice cooker they got for their WEDDING IN 1968, topped with kikkoman soy sauce. It was my job to scrub the rice pot every night. And it was a bitch to clean. Yes I said bitch. It's the only word that is appropriate. This job made me bitter toward rice. When I first married Mike, he was a boy raised on potatoes. Then, he went on a mission to a Pacific Island so for two years guess what? He had eaten rice prepared in the exact method that I had grown up with. And he LOVED IT. He wanted his rice. Every damn day. I wanted to branch out and explore the potato. He was sick of potatoes. Oh, the conflicts of the first year of marriage! If they all could be that simple!

In time, I wore him down. I made rice often enough because it was easy and heaven knows both of us could make it perfectly. But I began to experiment with potatoes as well. I found out that there are good potato dishes and bad ones. We still don't eat potatoes that often in our house. However, when I stumble across a great potato dish, it might be the best that food can get. I picked two potato dishes that are very different in their taste and preparation. But if I am anywhere near the places that carry these two dishes, we must stop and I must order them. That's how you know they've left their mark. They've left it on my soul and on my ass. Potatoes are not for the skinny. That's probably something you should know going in. My doctor said you should eat a baked potato as often as you eat a piece of birthday cake. Because at the end of the day, they are about equally as bad for you.

Basil Redskin Mashed Potatoes - Mike's American Grill, Springfield, Virginia. Mike's is our favorite joint just outside of DC. Oh the hours I have clocked in a booth at Mike's. We have spent many a birthday, anniversary, Friday night, Tuesday night etc. at Mike's. We once waited 3 1/2 hours for a table. And the actual restaurant is HUGE. It's part of a chain local to DC. Each restaurant has a different name (Sweetwater, Arties, Mikes, etc) and a different menu. Mike's is the best. Their blackened prime rib is crazy good and their dinner rolls called Aussie rolls are basically a doughnut which is just awesome. But these potatoes are life changing. I begged and pleaded for the recipe at about midnight one Saturday night and the chef came out, sat at our table and walked me through them. I've made them about a million times since and people can't believe them. They must be made with the browned butter sauce. If you are looking for mashed potatoes that will outshine your meat, you've just found them.

Recipe:
10 lbs red skinned potatoes
3 sticks butter
1 pint half and half (more if needed)
2 TB garlic powder
2 TB kosher salt (more if needed)
1 TB black pepper
1/4 cup diced fresh basil leaves
Browned Butter Sauce:
2 sticks butter
4 TB veal stock or beef stock (use more if you need to thin out sauce)
2 TB flour
1/4 Cup Heavy Cream

Brown 1 1/2 stick of butter in a skillet. Set aside. In another skillet, melt 1/2 stick butter and flour and make a roux. Add stock, browned butter and cream. Bring barely to a simmer then pour on top of potatoes.

Cajun Fries, 5 Guys, Various Locations
You know a place is serious about their fries when on the specials board at the front of the restaurant, they list where the farm is located that today's potatoes come from. I think 5 guys does fries so well because they take them seriously. You can order them two ways, plain and cajun. (At least it used to be this way back when we lived in DC and 5 guys wasn't corporate) I remember in the summer slipping from the grease residue on the floor in Old Town Alexandria. That's a sign of a good burger joint. We are supposed to get a 5 Guys here in Elk Grove sometime soon. I am excited but skeptical after what happened when Krispy Kreme tried to go global. Krispy Kreme used to have good grease too. Then they went all corporate on us and the grease was never the same thus the doughnuts sucked. I am hoping 5 Guys is able to retain their simple, dive like, feeling. I saw that Barack Obama treated Brian Williams to 5 Guys when he interviewed him at the White House so I'm hoping things have remained the same. The burgers don't suck either by the way. 5 Guys makes In & Out seem irrelevant and plastic.

The Best Thing I Ever ate

The Food Network has been broadcasting a show at night called The Best Thing I Ever Ate and it is a funny show but I'll call it what it truly is ...and that is food porn. It's such a greet show where all the good network celebrities talk about their favorite foods and then they do a feature on that restaurant making that dish. So you find out where you can go in America and get the best burger according to Bobby Flay. It is Wonderful!!!!
So here on Cook With Amy, I am going to pretend you care and share with you my best things I've ever eaten and where you can go to get it. And comments are encouraged to add to our list of great places. Just follow this format.
1 category (best Chinese, best steak, best romantic ambiance, best guilty pleasure, best dessert, etc. Then list the name of the dish , then list the name and city where you can get it. Don't leave out price.

My first essay on my favorite food, The Best Thing I Ever Ate, potatoes, will be up tomorrow. Fun huh?