Favorite Restaurant?

[CURSD BLADE]

Well? I'm hungry so I have this on the brain. My favorite restaurant isn't one that is expensive or fancy. Cracker Barrel is my fav. I live in the north but I love good old southern cooking and they have the best Pecan Pie I have ever eaten. Best corn break as well.

[TCJohnson]

My two favorites are both local to DC

The first is called the Lost Dog Cafe & Pizzaria. The place is nuts. When they first started they did not expect to be so popular so it is really tiny. The decor is pictures of dogs playing poker, dogs herding cows, dogs on a camping trip...But as soon as you come in you can smell the spices. They make the best sandwhiches I have ever tasted. All their special sandwhiches are so flavorful!
http://www.lostdogcafe.com/

The other is call Rabieng. It is a Thai place. Everybody I sent there had told me when they first arrived they thought I was nuts because it looks like a hole in the wall. But the Thai food is so delicious. They make the bese Massaman I have ever tasted (tender, marinated beef and potatoes in a sweet peanut curry). Really good place.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=entertainment/profile&id=794662

And an honorable mention is the Melting Pot. It is a fondue place where you do your own cooking in pots of oil. The antrees are great and the deserts are lethal! Unfortunately it is extremely expensive. I took my girlfriend there for our last anniversary and for the two of us it was $125.

[Jeff Brady]

My favorite restaurant is a nice little Italian place called Thirty One a few blocks from home. Their pizza, cassaroles, sandwiches, pastas, were all utterly delicious.

And it burnt down in a 4 alarm fire a couple months ago, taking a McDonalds, a donut shop, and an optometrists office with it. (Actually, the fire started in McDonalds.)

Oh, how I miss that place.

[PatrickG]

My parents' place. (http://www.delijunction.com)

Beyond that, Waffle House (for all-nighters and bare bones, honest discussion with the strangest assortment of people you'll ever meet at 3AM), Applebee's, Panera Bread (when my parents' place is too far to drive to), Starbucks, Courtyard Coffee and Ice Cream (http://www.courtyardcoffee.net/) (probably the best boss I ever had -- You need to stop by if you get the job, Justin!), Starbucks (when Courtyard is too far away), and Red Lobster (only ate there like three times until it became a way of life after working there).

[Cam63]

My new brother in law Brett's place at the Old Canberra Inn.

He does a mean steak and he swears he doesn't spit or blow his nose in the food.

There's yer free plug, yer bastard. :)

[Oracle_0128]

There's a little Italian place right on the waterfront here in Boston. Awesome food. A kick ass bar. And so romantic!

It's called Venezia's. Definitely worth a check out if anyone is ever in town.

[Nick Kal]

Okay at the moment it is this Vegetarian restaurant on E. 19th st called Zen Palate. What up NY!

[Cam63]

Veg-e-tar-i-an ?

That's not food, dammit !

[Cam63]

My favorite restaurant is a nice little Italian place called Thirty One a few blocks from home. Their pizza, cassaroles, sandwiches, pastas, were all utterly delicious.

And it burnt down in a 4 alarm fire a couple months ago, taking a McDonalds, a donut shop, and an optometrists office with it. (Actually, the fire started in McDonalds.)

Oh, how I miss that place.

At least a McDonalds died.

I'm sorry for the loss of your favourite eating place, Jeff.

[Nick Kal]

I'm not vegetarian but they have really good food there. Tofu and Satan (sp?).. not Satan the devil.. pronounce the last part of Satan as Fouton. And veggies are food!

[Jeff Brady]

Okay at the moment it is this Vegetarian restaurant on E. 19th st called Zen Palate. What up NY!

It's on 16th, not 19th! I love Zen Palate. It may be vegetarian, but it's not good for you. Mmmm, deep fried tofu/tempeh/seitan slathered in sugary sauces...drool. I may go this weekend.

[Nick Kal]

Right!.. Damn I saw a movie on 19th the first time I went there... hehe

[Cam63]

To-fu ?

Now yer jokin' !

[Jeff Brady]

At least a McDonalds died.

I'm sorry for the loss of your favourite eating place, Jeff.

Much appreciated, Cam.

It's funny, the subway stop here is elevated above the street of the restaurants. You get up onto the platform and look down into the charred ruins, and catch whiffs of basil and cheese. Well, right after the fire, anyway. The scent is long gone now.

[Jeff Brady]

To-fu ?

Now yer jokin' !

He ain't joking. I've taken hard-core carnivores to ZP and they left satisfied. Well, except for their craving of blood & murder, but whatever.

[Nick Kal]

To-fu ?

Now yer jokin' !

Well, what food are you eating?

P.S. I eat steak, too. :o

[Cam63]

I eat meat, three veg' and nothin' else, in accordance with Australian law.

You wanna get me killed !?

[Jeff Brady]

If you ever venture to New York City, I'll treat you to some fine cuisine.

[Nick Kal]

Hmmm.. How would he get here? Plane.. He might get LOST!!!

EDIT: Or she...

[Cam63]

" He ", you bastard !

LOL ! :D

[Nick Kal]

Hey.. I was confused by your avatar.

[Cam63]

If you ever venture to New York City, I'll treat you to some fine cuisine.

My sister's hubby is pretty good at the cookin' racket. :)

[Cam63]

Hey.. I was confused by your avatar.

LOL ! ( again ! )

I'm a long time fan ( 30 odd years ) of Black Canary and it's part of my " Get Gail to refer to Dinah as ' Scream Gurl/Girl ' " in a BoP issue campaign.

[Cam63]

I may have to change my avatar piccie somewhat...

[Nick Kal]

Scream Gurl? What's up with that?

[Jeff Brady]

If I recall correctly, "Scream Gurl" is what Typo Lad's 4 year old daughter calls Black Canary. We find that absolutely adorable.

[Cam63]

A regular poster's young daughter refers to Black Canary as " Scream Girl. "

I think it's all too damn cute to waste.

Edit...and Brady just beat me to the punch.

[Nick Kal]

The poster with the pedophile a.k.a. Mr. Rogers avatar? Cool.

[Cam63]

You may wanna change that.

[Nick Kal]

What?

Oh, to stay on topic.. uh... I like Red Lobster.

[Cam63]

What you said about TypoLad's avatar and Mr. Rogers.

[Nick Kal]

Why? He was always inviting kids into his house... to watch him change... creepy!

[Cam63]

Joking about peodophiles aint funny.

I know you're not being serious Nick, btw.

[CURSD BLADE]

Anybody else?

[Converge]

Joking about peodophiles aint funny.

I know you're not being serious Nick, btw.

joking about mr. rogers being a pedophile is almost as funny as joking about batman being a pedophile.

[hellokittykat]

For Chinese I like PF Cheng's
For Mexican I like Don Pablos
Just a general place I like is the Cheesecake Factory (curse you TCJ :p )

[muimi]

I live in an area that's blessed with oodles of good (non-chain) food.

My favorite Viet restaurant is a place called Pho Bang on the corner of Tully & King in San Jose. Awesome pho as well as other noodle soups though their rice plates are only so-so. My favorite is bun rieu, a crab soup, whereas the hubs gets pho, his tried and true.

For Chinese I go to a place called Dynasty Seafood in San Jose on Story. It's got the best gourmet Chinese food anywhere in the South Bay, dim sum every day of the week and dinner specials that include Peking Duck for $8.99 (usually $22) on Thursdays. I'll have my wedding banquet at this place. Mm...

For casual Chinese, I favor Chinese cafes like Sheng Kee or Jujubi, both in Milpitas at Milpitas Square Mall. They offer an interesting fusion food that's more toward the Asian palate than the Western palate. (I think Western-does-Asian fusion is absolute hooey! I haven't had one Western-does-Asian fusion that actually tastes good to me.)

For Italian, I love this place called Frankie, Johnny and Luigi's in Mountain View, CA. Best Italian-American food I've found in the South Bay. For big groups, I like Bucca di Beppo's in San Francisco. (One of these days, I need to go and get the Pope table!)

For Japanese, I can go on and on but my absolute favorite is Ramen Halu in San Jose which is the best ramen anywhere in the Bay Area. They have odd hours but they truly make an artisan bowl of ramen and take pride in their work.

[TheLyle]

I've got access to some amazing restaurants here in the Bay Area. My favorite would be Yank Sing, the premiere dim sum restaurant in a city full of great dim sum restaurants. Yank Sing has long been a pioneer, the restaurant first found success when the founders' children convinced their parents to westernize their recipes to make dim sum more acceptable to local residents. They've continued to adapt to tastes as time went by with the restaurant serving some very atypical dim sum, like curry-stuffed avocado and thai-inspired lettuce cups.

However, at the core, Yank Sing's dim sum is just bloody good. They serve the best har gow (shrimp dumplings) I've ever tasted... and it tastes that good every time. Their seafood dumplings (the lobster, excepted) are a bite sized celebration of the featured ingredient. Each dumpling features a whole piece of the featured ingredient (most har gow I've had featured just enough chopped shrimp to give it the shrimp flavor) perfectly seasoned.

The downside is that Yank Sing is very pricy, but you get your money's worth there. It's that good.

[Dark Galaxy]

In the Portland area, one of my favorite hole-in-the-walls is the Delta Cafe. It's on 40(somethingth..can't remember) and Woodstock, in SE Portland. They only take cash, but they have some finnnne, down home cooking. Chicken-n-Dumplings, Pork Chops, Jambamlaya, Fried Chicken etc. But my favorite is that they serve 40oz. Beer bottles in a champagne bucket on ice. But the food is goooooood stuffs.

[the4thpip]

http://www.emigrante.de/

[Damon]

Heritage Grill in Denville NJ

and then Mister Chu's in East Hanover

[The Beast Of Yucca Flats]

I'll have to second The Cheesecake Factory. I just plain feel damn stuffed with a capital "D" capital "AMN" when I eat there.

[Lester C.]

Nevermind. I had a post about how I heard on a talk show that Mr. Rogers was a marine sniper with many confirmed kills but I just went on google and it is not true. Another rumor bites the dust. I’m having a very bad week in regards to my foot being placed inside my mouth.

[the4thpip]

I'll have to second The Cheesecake Factory. I just plain feel damn stuffed with a capital "D" capital "AMN" when I eat there.
Just stay away from the lasagne. I hate when you can taste the flour in the white sauce.

[sk716]

Oh but my tastes are so varied...

Here in town is the best pizza I've ever had the pleasure of inhaling. Rocky's Corner, heavy on the flavor and cheese, oh yeah!

There used to be a Thai place in my hometown called Chopsticks, my mouth waters just thinking about it. I mourned for months when the place burned and they decided not to reopen. I love Thai food. There is no decent Thai around here, so I often sit around thinking about Chopsticks and wishing I had a time machine...

As for more Southern style, there is a breakfast place downtown called the Pancake Shop. They have incredible buckwheat pancakes and the tenderest most delectable slabs of ham... I am so going for breakfast Saturday morning. The omelets are massive and packed to bursting with ham, cheese, sauteed onions... I'm getting hungry...

I could go on for hours... there's Georgia's Gyros in North Little Rock, Community Bakery in Little Rock (does a bakery count as a resturant?), did I mention the Jackson's Cookie Factory is in Little Rock and around 5:30 every morning Little Rock smells like Vanilla Wafers, I used to love working downtown and going into work early.

Man, now I've got the killer munchies.

[bfrank]

Roscoe's Chicken and Waffels on Pico and LaBrea....

[jwmojo]

My favorite restaurant right now isn't really a specific place (although I can name a couple), it's a kind of place that I found out about earlier this year. I went on a company cruise in Brazil this February, and a couple of times we ate at a place called a churrascaria. Oh my god, are they amazing. If you like meat, if not...not so much.

Sorry, if the rest of you already know about these places, it came as quite a revelation to me so I tend to think of it as this "new" thing. The way it works is, they have this big salad bar with salads (duh) and soups and prosciutto and all kinds of other stuff. Once you've partaken of that, then you flip this little coaster thing over so that the green side shows, and these guys with big skewers of meat come up to you and ask if you'd like some ________, if you say yes they slice off a piece and move on. When your plate is full, you flip the green coaster over to the red side, eat your food, and start over again. The options to fill in the blank include bacon wrapped filet mignon, bacon wrapped chicken, parmesan pork and chicken, lamb, chorizo, and several different styles and flavors of beef sirloin.

It can be a little pricey, but it's soooo good!

The two big chains that I know of are Texas de Brazil and Fogo de Chao, but I know that there are many others, too.

[Gail Simone]

Close by, we have one wonderful restaurant in town, an Italian place called Pamadori's, I believe. It closed for a few months and I almost cried. Brilliant fusion dishes with great layers of flavor.

A bit farther away, we freakishly have one of the best Japanese restaurants I've ever eaten at. Yuzen. GO if you're ever on the Oregon coast.

I also have a great fondness for Morton's in both Hong Kong and Portland.

Gail

[steeler80]

Basically, any Japanese steakhouse rates high. Also, even though it's a chain, Olive Garden makes me go weak at the knees.

[Kyuubi]

I loved The Spaghetti Factory in downtown San Diego. I placed a rose at its grave site when it closed.

[Suzanne]

Local Joints: New Towne Diner and Jilly's

Chains: Perkins (in PA) and TGI Fridays - their Jack Daniels sauce alone is worth the trip.

[CURSD BLADE]

TGI Fridays - their Jack Daniels sauce alone is worth the trip.

LOL! That is true. Its the only thing that makes it unique from Applebees or Ruby Tuesdays or every other bar and grill.

[kipster]

I have a couple.

1) A place in Panama City Beach called "Pompano's". It's mostly seafood, but also has steaks and pasta. We go to PCB once or twice a year, and that is where we eat our "nice" meal.

2)Dothan, Alabama has a little southern buffet that we always stop at. I think it used to be called "3 Sisters Buffet", but changed to "Julia's", or vice versa. Great food and the BEST sweet tea in the world!

3)Close to home, there's a steak and pasta house called "The Tuscany Steak and Pasta House", that is owned by an Italian family. The food is excellent, and they have these chocolate frogs that my kids love for dessert!

[Casali]

Indianapolis is a difficult place to eat really well, as we are one of the most heavily chained bigger cities. It seems like every restaurant in town is a chain.

That said, there are some good, non-chain (or local chain) places around.

Matteo's - Italian restaurant in a northern suburb, Matteo's brother owns an Italian restaurant inthe city, but Matteo's is substantially better. Stuffed red peppers in an outstanding balsamic-based sauce with chicken, sausage, some veggies, and pine nuts for the filling. Out-freaking-standing! And that is just the appetizer. Daily specials that never disappoint, and the best tiramisu I have ever had.

St. Elmo Steak House - Best steaks in town coupled with the best shrimp cocktail anywhere. Seriously, this stuff is special. The sauce is what makes it. It will clear out your sinuses but quick. This is the destination restaurant in Indy.

Bub's Burgers and Ice Cream - best burgers in town, best onion rings I've ever had, and the Big Ugly. The Big Ugly is a one pound (after cooking) burger that is incredibly intimidating, but if you eat it you get your picture on the wall. I'll never do that again, but the burgers are great. And they have elk burgers, too.

[Phoney Bone]

Three local restaurants in Tupelo, Mississippi: Papa Vanelli's (it started out as a local pizza dive in the 70's and grew into a full-fledged Italian/Greek restaurant that makes Olive Garden's food look like Spaghetti-O's), Las Margaritas (Mexican), and Malone's Fish and Steak House.

[sk716]

Indianapolis is a difficult place to eat really well, as we are one of the most heavily chained bigger cities. It seems like every restaurant in town is a chain.


When I was at Ft. Ben Harrison (back in the day when it was an Army Training Post, not a Guard/Reserves Post) we had no trouble at all finding great local places to chow down. Alfredo's To Go pizza and their bucket of spaghetti was our choice for late night Journalism cramming. And yes, it really was a gallon bucket of spaghetti. Don't tell me Alfredo's is gone! Next you'll tell me they've closed Union Station Mall! :eek: