My Superpower: The Menu Memorizer

If there is one thing that my family asks me whenever we go back to a restaurant for the second time, it is to rattle off what everyone had when we ate there the last time.

I'm the menu memorizer.

You know they say that we have a separate stomach for dessert? I like to think of my brain that way. I have a separate compartment for all things food related.

I must have a special place in my brain where I carefully index every meal that I've ever had, who I ate it with, and what everyone ate.

For example, I could tell you that when we went to Lo Scoglio Da Tommaso in Nerano last summer that we all shared appetizers, then me, my brother and my mom had the fresh catch of the day Acqua Pazza style (which means fish in crazy water -- really just a yummy tomato sauce). My aunt and my brothers girlfriend both had the spaghetti with rock lobster, cherry tomatoes and red pepper, and my dad had the spaghetti pomodoro (classic). I could also tell you that, this specific time, they brought us a complimentary lemon sorbet at the end. A perfect palette cleanser.

Lucky for me, my entire family loves food just about as much as I do, so as a result of that, I have been fortunate enough to travel to & eat at some of the most famous restaurants in the world such as Noma & Geranium in Copenhagen, DE, Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, Rossellini's in Ravello, Italy and more.

The tough part about using my menu memorizing superpower at these restaurants is that you're usually served upwards of 10-15 courses. However, that has never stopped me before. Maybe it is because these restaurants are so extravagant and the food is so beautifully presented that you just can't forget it. For example, I will never ever forget eating duck brain out of an actual duck head and cockroach made of dried fruit at Noma, or eating the "Oops, I dropped the lemon tart" for dessert at Osteria Francescana. I like to think that it is due to the love and passion that I have food and its power to bring people together that my brain allows me to create such distinct memories of the meals that I eat.