Please post the name and location of your favorite restaurant…and maybe details of your most recent trip.
Multiple entries are fine (you may want to put them in seperate messages).
I’ve had such spectacular meals in all sorts of restaurants, and thought it would be fun to share gustatorial delights.
To start it off…the reason I began this thread was to share details about one of my favorite restaurants in CT, a place called O’Rourke’s Diner in Middletown CT. Its a true ‘greasy spoon’ sort of diner with a bit of a twist, the guy who owns it and is the chef is on par with any gourmet chef I’ve met. His name is Brian (may be spelled Bryan), and he slings the most incredible chow I’ve ever had the pleasure to eat.
When you sit down the waiter gives you a couple of slices of poppyseed cake, maybe a bit of a marzipan pound cake or a muffin. All baked on the premises, I might add.
Yesterday Tyghre had Irish stew ($7.95 for a bowl with brown bread), and I had the Vegetarian January breakfast: scrambled eggs with broccoli rabe, sweet potato fries, grilled tofu, barley with walnuts and a corn muffin ($11.95)
When I leave O’Rourke’s I have a smile of utter contentment.
well -
In Cincinnati, one of our more “famous” restaurants is Montgomery Inn. Ribs. Great ribs. So good - that when Bob Hope was alive, he would have them flown in for his parties.
Another favorite restaurant is the Houston Inn - between Mason and Lebanon, OH. It has a fantastic salad bar with everything and anything you could think of. And great prime rib. And frog legs.
Another favorite hasn’t opened back up yet, I don’t think. The Acme Oyster Bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Love sitting there eating plates of raw oysters.
Well, I guess I’ll have to boost Garry’s Grill, which is the best (and only) place for a decent breakfast out in my town (Severna Park.)
They serve a pretty good lunch and dinner as well, in a narrow but deep shopping center space, where the kitchen runs along the left side, and booths line the right.
The Breakfast Special (2 eggs, fried potatoes, a couple slabs of toast,) will hold a typical person through lunch.
Sunbreak Cafe in Auburn, WA, USA. Wonderful breakfasts, but be sure to get the half-order; the full-sized order is enough for three people.
Whistle Stop Ale House in Renton, WA, USA. Great food, and lots of regional microbrews and imports on tap.
Golden Dynasty Chinese Restaurant in Kent, WA, USA. It’s not big on looks/atmosphere, but the food and service is wonderful. We’ve been regulars for nearly 10 years.
Both in Woodinville, WA
Golden Goat
Herb Farm
Millenium, in San Francisco. Some of the most wonderful meals I’ve ever had (and I’ve eaten in a lot of wonderful places):
http://www.millenniumrestaurant.com/
Don’t let the fact that it’s vegetarian put you off. This is gourmet dining at its very best.
Redwolf
I don’t eat in restaurants, but if I did, I think I would like Redwolf’s.
Yes, very good food. Lovely place.
The Peking Duck House in Palo Alto, CA.
It has a weird location on a corner - across the street from a Jack in the Box and a Kentucky Fried Chicken. And the building itself looks like it started life as house or small shop. Not the most promising location for a destination restaurant.
But it’s got some of the best Peking Duck and hand-pulled noodles I’ve ever tasted (our family concensus is that there’s a place in Shenzen, China that’s a little better for the duck, but it was a close call), at ridiculously low prices for the quality and quantity of food. Their dry-fried beans are so good that my wife (who does a mean dry-fried bean herself) always insists on ordering them. Everything else we’ve tried on the menu was of comparable quality.
Our family of four Chinese food fanatics can have a fantastic meal (with some leftovers) for under $70. Highly recommended.
My job takes me on the road 50 weeks a year. And since I’m on expenses, I could eat at some pretty fine places all the time on someone else’s dime. But I much prefer the places that have good, honest yeoman’s fare. I’d rather have a good chicken fried steak or scotch egg than Fogo de Chão.
I am currenty working in Houston, so here’s some places there.
McGonigel’s Mucky Duck – Best Scotch eggs I’ve ever had. The rarebit is also tasty. I hope to be dining there tomorrow. (And there’s tunes on Wednesday, too.)
Hickory Hollow – I haven’t been there in a while because chicken fried steak and mashed taters have had to come off my diet, but they used to have first rate chicken fried steak in several sizes, the largest of which they compare to a saddle blanket. Even the small ones are served on pizza pans instead of plates.
Magnolia Bar and Grill – A little more high end, but not over-priced like a Landry’s. The eggplant royal (eggplant stuffed with shrimp and crab) is ecxellent, as is the lump crab au gratin. Can’t decide? Have the Magnolia Dinner, which includes both. Lost of good stuff under $16 a plate.
Katz’s Deli – Reuben sandwiches the size of your head.
La Griglia – OK, sometimes I like to go high end. It is, after all, someone else’s money. The Veal alla Toscana is to die for. And they have Pimm’s cups.
Has anyone flown through Provdence, RI, lately? There used to be an excellent restaurant called, I believe, The Federal Tavern in the airport. It had great stuffed quahog. I haven’t been through there in 4 years, but for airport food, it was top notch. I was just wondering if it’s still there.
And when in Ohio – Skyline Chili, which features the best chili dogs in all Christendom.
And the Classic 3-Way . . .
And for those of you who are watching your carbs, there’s the Lo-Carb Coney Bowl: Skyline’s original secret recipe chili, three skyline hot dogs and a mound of mild cheddar cheese. Only 3 net carbohydrates per serving! (Sorry, no picture available, but you can imagine three dogs stuck in a bowl of chili with cheese stacked on top.)
Approved by the American Heart Association it ain’t, but damn this stuff’s good.
I’ve eaten at all of these places but La Griglia…Kim Son (I think there are 3 in Houston now) used to be a pretty good bet there too. There’s one across from Fogo De Chao on Westheimer near the Galleria area (or at least there was..it’s my understanding that the economy wiped out a number of restaurants in that area)
Shame I don’t live in Houston any more..would love to meet at the Duck and say hi…bah
In Dallas, Japango is one of the best sushi places I’ve been at. It looks like it’s in a run-down Casa Ole’ building, with the adobe tyles on the roof and a bricked up drive-through window. Really ramshackle looking. If a co-worker wasn’t taking me, I swear I’d have never gone in the place. Inside was a whole different story, and the sushi was phenomenal.
Second up is The Sweet Basil Thai Bistro. It’s an upscale and authentic thai restaurant in Denton. The food is fabulous…no Americanizing of tastes here! The “egg rolls” are authentic Po-Pia Thot with tree-ear fungus and sweet chili sauce for dipping. The Tom Kha Gai soup is chicken in a chili-coconut milk broth with just a hint of lime and fish sauce . The sweet basil chicken is sublime, with lime, basil, fresh ginger, and three different kinds of asians mushrooms! yum!
Master Grill near my work is a Fogo de Chao type churasscaria, but not nearly as good as Fogo.
When we drive through Minneapolis we always go to this restaurant:
Da Afghan Restaurant
929 West 80th Street
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55420-1028
The last time we went I had a lamb shank which had been cooked a long time with other things around it. It was divine. Another time we had some sort of pumpkin dish that was really good and unusual to us. Everything we’ve ever had there has just seemed so good. The place itself is nice and comfortable but casual. It is in what seems to be a sort of off the beaten track—I don’t mean dangerous, just sort of hidden away—area. But that may just be because we don’t live there.
Let me put in a plug for Wheaton, MD. It’s Bethesda without the class or the high prices. Among the better places: Sabang, an Indonesian place that isn’t cheap by my standards, but has food that can’t be beat. Then there’s Dusit, a Thai place where a couple can eat for $25-30 including drinks and tip. They have the best beef with basil on the planet, although when I can get good holy basil, mine is pretty close.
Wheaton also has Malaysian, a few Vietnamese, just about every variety of Latin American, and even good ol’ American food.
I was working in Denton in 2002 - 2004 at the university. That shopping center the Sweet Basil Thai Bistro is in was just starting to open up when I left, so I don’t recall seeing it. We used to go to Siam House for Thai food. It’s in a little shopping area on avenue C across from UNT. Not as upscale as Sweet Basil, but the homemade coconut icecream will restore the dead. Good stuff.
Have you been up to Ponder to the Ranchman’s Cafe, also known as the Ponder Steakhouse? It just does not get any better than a Ponder Steakhouse steak, some mountain oysters, and a piece of buttermilk pie. I’m pretty sure Bonny and Clyde ate there.
The Duck is great. I managed to finagle a hotel at Kirby and US 59 just for it’s promity to the Duck.
Brilliant!! Also, the Greens in SF is wonderful. I never miss either when I’m out there.
Mark