18 Dishes That Even Celeb Chefs Would Travel For

By Anthony Giglio
February 08, 2016
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When we’re back from a trip, it’s only natural we pine for the sights, smells, and flavors that distinguished it. We often wish we could recreate those experiences back home (especially when we designed the trip specifically for the restaurants where we wanted to eat). Lucky for most professional chefs, they can: if they just have the right ingredients.

We asked some of our favorite celebrity toques to tell us the foods that are so special they would book a flight and hop on a plane to hunt them down—and we got some interesting answers. Globally, it’s a feast: rice from Japan; sea urchin from coastal Italy; foie gras from Spain; fried chicken from the streets of Seoul; tequila. We’ve all got a special dish or ingredient (even, in a few cases, drink) that we would gladly travel for, and this group is no different.

For some of them, their must-have nosh is a specific food that helps curate the perfect flavor in a recipe, which is the case for Paul Qui, of Qui Restaurant and East Side King in Austin. For others, like George Mendes of Aldea, it’s a matter of tracking down a type of authentic cuisine that can only be found—or perhaps best enjoyed—at the source.

Sometimes, a familial tie to the dish or ingredient is what makes it worth the trip, like the connection that Zoi Antonitsas of Top Chef has with her family’s classic Greek recipes that come from the island of Skiathos, in the northwest Aegean Sea. When it comes to quality ingredients, these chefs are not messing around, and they know where to source the best of them. Let their travel-worthy choices provide inspiration for your next meal—or maybe even your next big trip.
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Foods Worth Traveling For: Gail Simmons

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What's the one ingredient or dish you'd hop on a plane for?
Sea urchin pasta in Palermo.
—Gail Simmons, "Top Chef," author, Talking With My Mouth Full

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Foods Worth Traveling For: George Mendes

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What's the one ingredient you'd hop on a plane for?
Any kind of shellfish preparation at Rafa's in Roses, Spain, along Costa Brava. In particular, they have these delicious tallerinas, these very unique clams that are only found in that part of the Mediterranean.
—George Mendes, Aldea, New York City

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Jamie Bissonnette

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What's the one ingredient you'd hop on a plane for?
Soup dumplings in Hong Kong. There are a couple of places I go to—there are so many good ones.
—Jamie Bissonnette, Toro, Boston and New York City

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Johnny Iuzzini

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What’s the one ingredient you’d jump on a plane for?
One ingredient I’d jump on a plane for would be fraises des bois—the wild strawberries from France. They can’t be shipped here. They can’t be transported. They can’t be cultivated here.
—Johnny Iuzzini, author, Dessert FourPlay and Sugar Rush

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Katie Button

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What's the one ingredient or dish you'd hop on a plane for?
I would hop on a plane to go back to Mugaritz, in Guipúzcoa, Spain, to eat a dish that was made of shaved ice topped with a chilled reduction of prawn heads. It was cold and refreshing, with this boost of flavor from the sauce made from the heads of prawns.

The texture of the ice was incredible, it was like cotton; they used a Japanese ice shaver with a hand crank to shave the ice. After I saw that dish, I bought a Japanese ice shaver for my restaurant, Nightbell.

—Katie Button, Curate, Asheville, NC

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Ken Oringer

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What is the one ingredient you’d hop on a plane for?
I’d hop on a plane for anything spicy and vibrant, like Southeast Asian foods. Any kind of Thai stir-fried noodles, Vietnamese stir-fried noodles—something like that. I would jump anywhere from Sri Lanka to Chiang Mai, to Bangkok to Phuket, to Vietnam to Laos, to anywhere.
—Ken Oringer, Toro, Boston and New York City

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Kristen Kish

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What's the one ingredient or dish you'd hop on a plane for?
Fried meat—whether it be Korean fried chicken on the streets of Seoul, schnitzel in Austria, Southern fried chicken, fried meat on a stick, tonkatsu, in Japan. And to be clear, I've barely even gone to all of the above. Fried is my weakness.
—Kristen Kish, co-host, 36 Hours

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Marcus Samuelsson

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What is the one ingredient you’d jump on a plane for?It’s not an ingredient, but the perfect sushi bite. The idea of warm rice with the perfect sweetness and saltiness, and then when that fish is sliced, perfect thickness, that silky smooth—yeah, I’d jump on a plane for that.

Is there a place that you would go for that?Here in the States I actually love L.A. for sushi, because it’s not only on the high level, it’s also on the bottom level. And isn’t that when food is at its best when there’s a high and a low? So, definitely Los Angeles for that.
—Marcus Samuelsson, author, Yes, Chef; Red Rooster, New York City

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Michel Nischan

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What is the one ingredient you’d hop on a plane for?
Spanish foie gras. There’s a farmer named Eduardo Sousa that chef Dan Barber has been working with over in Spain, raising his geese in a way that allows the foie gras to recur naturally instead of by force feeding. And it’s pretty sensational stuff. You can’t get it over here—only Dan gets it—so you have to fly there to get it for yourself.
—Michel Nischan, CEO, Wholesome Wave

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Michelle Bernstein

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What's the one ingredient or dish you'd hop on a plane for?
Singapore for chili crab.
—Michelle Bernstein, Michy’s, Miami

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Paul Qui

Eric Morales

What is the one ingredient you’d jump on a plane for?
I did jump on a plane for fish salt in Phú Quốc, Vietnam. It’s what crystallizes in the barrels when they make fish sauce, so it’s whatever’s left. They scrape it off the barrels.
—Paul Qui, Qui Restaurant and East Side King, Austin

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Richard Blaise

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What is the one ingredient you’d hop on a plane for?
You know, I have not been to Tokyo yet, so I would just jump on a plane to go to Tokyo to eat anything.
—Richard Blaise, author, Try This at Home

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Sang Yoon

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What is the one ingredient you’d hop on a plane for?
Genoa ham—Chinese Genoa ham. It’s not available in the United States. They just age it to death, and, ounce for ounce, it’s probably the most potent food ingredient you can find.
—Sang Yoon, Lukshon & Father's Office, California

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Gabrielle Hamilton

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What's the one ingredient or dish you'd hop on a plane for?
Rib-eye steak.
—Gabrielle Hamilton, Prune, New York City; author of Blood, Bones, and Butter

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Tim Love

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What is the one ingredient that you’d hop on a plane for?
No question—Tequila.
—Tim Love, Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Fort Worth

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Zoi Antonitsas

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What's the one ingredient or dish you'd hop on a plane for?
My family’s roasted lamb and homemade dishes on the island of Skiathos, Greece.
—Zoi Antonitsas, Top Chef

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Carla Hall

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What's the one ingredient or dish you'd hop on a plane for?
There is really amazing authentic Japanese rice, and you can only get it in Japan. You have to go there to get it.
—Carla Hall, co-host, ABC's "The Chew," Cooking with Love

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Foods Worth Traveling For: Claudine Pepin

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What's the one ingredient or dish you'd hop on a plane for?
Wine!
—Claudine Pepin, author, Kids Cook French

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