Andrew Zimmern’s Best Balls of Food

I can be a traditionalist when it comes to meatball subs, but Paul Kahan’s meatballs with green sauce served on a house-made baguette are hard to beat. All of the meat and charcuterie at Publican Quality Meats are top-notch, and these beefy meatballs smothered in a Fontina–pine nut pesto are no exception. publicanqualitymeats.com

When I filmed Bizarre Foods on the Gulf Coast, I accompanied chef Donald Link back to his family farm in the heart of Cajun Country, cultural home to the infamous boudin, a pork-and-rice sausage that I enjoy on a weekly basis. Now, no one makes boudin the same way, although it’s a basic fresh pork sausage with only a couple of ingredients…everyone has a secret recipe. Link claims his cousin Bubba Frey makes the best; I agree. Donald’s own version at Cochon, based on Bubba’s, is pretty damn good: For dine-in customers he takes the house-made boudin out of the casing, balls it up and fries it, and serves it with pickled peppers. A stroke of genius.cochonrestaurant.com

Scotch eggs can be found on gastropub menus across the country these days, but the brilliant Alex Stupak takes this traditional British snack for a joy ride through Latin America at his acclaimed Empellon in NYC: think eggs stuffed with chicken chorizo and coated in perfectly light and crispy masa tempura. empellon.com

When cooked correctly, sweetbreads are just divine. Jamie Bissonnette has created a killer version at Toro, a Barcelona-style tapas joint in Boston’s South End. The meatball-shaped sweetbreads are poached, then fried and served with blood orange, peanuts and fermented black beans. toro-restaurant.com

Publican Quality Meats’ head butcher, Cosmo Goss, makes “chubbies,” or spheres of Korean blood sausage seasoned with chile powder and gochujang that are so flavorful. The bite-size sausages are then stuffed into a steamed bun at Yusho, chef Matthias Merges’s yakitori-inspired restaurant in the Logan Square neighborhood. Now, that’s great teamwork. yusho-chicago.com

Paul Qui makes some insanely craveable Asian street food at his East Side King empire in Austin. I love the ever-popular Poor Qui’s Buns, with roasted pork belly and cucumber kimchi. But these days, those buns aren’t the only balls getting attention: chef Yoshi Okai has made curry balls, curry-cheese balls, egg roll balls and chicken meatballs (tsukune). The deep-fried curry and white cheddar balls are out of this world, my idea of a perfect snack. eskaustin.com

When it comes to balls of food, you’ll find some of the tastiest bites by sitting down to a meal of dim sum. Last fall I was filming in Hawaii, and found dim sum heaven in Honolulu’s Chinatown. This is reportedly the oldest Chinatown in the United States, and one of the best, due to the concentration of people of Asian descent on the island state. This small, divey restaurant serves dim sum for lunch and dinner; it’s cheap (think $2 a pop), fresh and as authentic as it gets in this country. You’ll find all sorts of balls on the menu, though the shrimp balls, chive balls and steamed pork bao buns are my pick. facebook.com

The food truck culture in Austin is truly singular. Clusters of trucks and trailers hawking delicious eats set up “food courts” near bars or in vacant lots, and people flock to them like crazy. One of my favorites is Love Balls, a bus serving takoyaki, classic Japanese street food. Savory pancake balls are stuffed with octopus, pickled ginger and green onions, and topped with takoyaki sauce, Kewpie mayo and bonito flakes (or choose from not-so-traditional accoutrement such as ponzu-marinated bean sprouts, Caprese salad or kimchi). Served piping hot off the griddle, these are some delicious balls. www.loveballsbus.com

At one of the Lower East Side’s hottest little restaurants, the meatball and ice cream sandwich menu is made for a build-your-own experience: You choose the type of ball (classic beef, spicy pork, chicken, etc.), then sauce (Parmesan cream, tomato, pesto or spicy meat sauce), and whatever sides you’re in the mood for. It’s a simple concept executed perfectly. Michael Chernow and Daniel Holzman make some of the best meatballs around. www.themeatballshop.com

Michelle Gayer makes the world’s best macaroons at Salty Tart. Macaroons are front and center at several Jewish holidays, and they’re my favorite cookie, so I know a thing or two about this coconut treat. Michelle, a James Beard Award nominee many times over, mixes coconut with tapioca, vanilla, cream cheese and egg whites, then hand-rolls these heavenly bites and bakes them until golden brown. The result is a macaroon with a toasty, crisp outside and a soft, coconuty interior that, I have to say, might actually be better than my mom’s. saltytart.com

The Mile High City is known for Rocky Mountain oysters (a.k.a. bulls’ balls). You can find them everywhere, at the ballpark, at your favorite dive bar, as a high-end appetizer… Bruce’s Bar north of Denver even has an annual Nut Run, where they serve around a ton (in weight) of bulls’ testicles in one afternoon to a motorcycle- and ball-lovin’ crowd. All those balls are frozen and breaded and taste like crap. But at Euclid Hall, a gastropub on Larimer Square, chef Jennifer Jasinski brines fresh young beef testicles for 24 hours before poaching them, dredging them with flour and frying. These perfectly cooked nuggets are served as a special with a stunning jerk seasoning over banana chutney. These are the kind of oysters I can get in to. euclidhall.com

Headed by the James Beard Rising Star award-winner Christina Tosi, Momofuku Milk Bar has become a cult favorite among New Yorkers for its unbeatable sweets. I can’t resist anything that Tosi makes, including the ever so fresh sugarcoated doughnuts and pineapple upside-down cake truffles. milkbarstore.com

My meal at Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas’s Next Restaurant last year was one of the most memorable meals I’ve had in a long time. For those unfamiliar with the concept, the restaurant changes themes every few months, transporting diners to another country, era or even alternate state of mind (think childhood). I was lucky enough to get a behind-the-scenes look at the experimental process that chef Dave Beran goes through to create new dishes, and got to sample dishes from four previous menus before devouring all of “Sicily” on a second visit. They served me perfect arancini, fried balls of saffron risotto stuffed with lamb tongue and topped with tomato jam. It’s Italian comfort food at it’s finest. nextrestaurant.com

Gavin Kaysen and his staff at Café Boulud are a game-changing culinary team operating at the top end of the food spectrum. The atmosphere is comfortable and pristine and the food is fantastic. His pastry chef created one of the best springtime desserts I’ve had in a while, a rhubarb sphere with sheep milk yogurt, honeycomb and bee pollen. Sweet perfection. cafeboulud.com