August 02, 2004

• Footscray, Melbourne Australia - the Dancing Dog Cafe. Very good coffee and the best hot chocolates; they serve the chocolate and frothed milk separately, you mix to taste. I'll have more soon
• An excellent Indian restaurant within a half hour's drive of me serves hot (no kidding) curry. O I could live there in ecstasy, but for the expense.
• I live in the Twin Cities (MN). Little Tijuana for Mexican. Black Sea for Greek/Turkish. Jewel of India for Indian. Evergreen Taiwanese Restaurant for Taiwanese.
• A Sri Lankan restaurant in Toronto's Parkdale - King St West near Dufferin - called Tasty Restaurant. Definitely not a place to go on a date - it's dirty and the clientele can be a bit scary - but the vegetable biriyani is huge and very very good. You get a selection of 4 or 5 different dishes with rice on a big platter for $6 CAD. Get it to go if you don't like the atmosphere.
• Madison, Wisconsin - Maharaja Buffet. All you can eat, $8.00. Gainesville, Florida - La Fiesta. Best restaurant EVER.
• in d.c., julia's empanadas... yummmmy
• Also Los Angeles: On the westside: The Counter - Super tasty and inexpensive burgers. You get a little sheet w/ four sections and construct the burger to your specifications. Think Mongolian BBQ w/ burgers. They even have a full pound superburger, but I am not man enough to try it. Sandbag's - Chain of super delish lunch sandwiches and salads. Plus you get a free cookie with every sandwich. On the eastside: Zankou Chicked - Tastiest Shawerma in the world. Garlic sauce to kill for. Fred 62 - Super good Diner+ menu that is wallet friendly and happy. Plus they have fried Macaroni & Cheese balls which are quite odd, but kind of addictive. All over the place: In-N-Out Burger - An obvious choice, but still a good one. Taco Trucks - Can always be relied upon for solid unhealty late night eating.
• I'll second Zankou. Also, Farmer's market on Fairfax and 3rd has all kinds of cool food stands. The new taco place there is authentic and decently priced. There is also a new Singaporian street food stall there where I've had some good meals.
• Not that anyone will ever be in Ann Arbor, but if you do come to Ann Arbor, go to a little place called The Fleetwood on the corner of Liberty and Ashley. Go there specifically for breakfast, where you can taste the wonder that is Hippie Hash.
• I live in the bay area, and we are incredibly spoiled here by the vast array of delicious, inexpensive food options we have... some highlights: in the mission, sf: almost any taqueria is good, particularly Pancho Villa (16th & Valencia), Taqueria Cancun (Mission & 24th ish)... also in the mission the only good ny style pizza in nocal (I am a pizza snob): Arinell's (16th @ Valencia) Tu Lan (6th @ Market) the cheapest, most amazingest Vietnamese food... in Oakland, Koryo Sushi (the late night sushi place) at Telegraph & 41st.
• Esau's in Santa Barbara for breakfast. Some will try to say there's a better breakfast to be had elsewhere but they are wrong. If you're in Ventura or Santa Barbara Counties, do not miss the opportunity to eat at the Habit. You'll never go back to In N Out. Fish tacos from The Minnow (at the harbor, just behind the Chandlery), and fish & chips from Brophy Bros (upstairs facing the docks). You really can't go wrong when your fish comes fresh each day from a boat docked 20 feet away from the kitchen. Taco Loco/Taco Roco has already had its own FPP, but I'd like to restate that they have the best carnitas north of Tijuana. The Oriental Market in Goleta has a tiny lunch counter next door that serves a delicious pho, they're only open for breakfast and lunch so get there early.
• Nashville, Tennessee has a bar called Broadway Brewhouse. Nothing fancy - basically an enclosed patio. But this place has the best wings. They're not fried, but roasted. The meat practically falls off the bones, and they can make them sizzling spicy hot. Combine this with your choice of about 50 beers on tap, and it's a good time.
• Mickey, you forgot the Pancake Motherfucking Pantry. Change-your-underwear good pancakes. Little Rock, Arkansas, as follows: Burgers: The Purple Cow: Best burgers and shakes in town -- they'll even put booze in your shake for you. A close second is the Arkansas Burger Company. Damgoode Pies: IMO, best pizza in town (roughly 8 billion varieties, with three or four sauce choices), but this is one serious pizza town. Also of note are US Pizza and Pizza D' Action. Grampa's Catfish: Best catfish in town, fantastic place. Peanut shells all over the floor, over a thousand ballcaps used for decor, best catfish and hushpuppies in town.
• they'll even put booze in your shake for you *runs screaming from desk, hops plane to purple cow*
• Memphis, Tennessee here: Downtown - Gus' Fried Chicken & Interstate BBQ Midtown - Saigon Lee for pho, mussels, and spring rolls East - You 'R' What 'U' Eat. Stupid name, great jerk chicken.
• I'm with SideDish. I've been in the US for ~3 years now and look at my alcohol choices - South Carolina and then Montgomery County, Maryland. Damn, next time I am really doing my homework. Having said that, I can recommend Tandoori Nights in Kentlands for Indian (go Friday or Saturday night which is when their best drinks mixer is on), Old Siam in Ye Olde Towne Gaithersburg(e) for Thai. Nowhere seriously cool though. Oh, and if anyone finds themselves in Anderson, SC any time, go to 1109 (name of restaurant, also street address). A little pricey but some of the best food (and wine) I've eaten at any restaurant, anywhere.
• Medusa, I'll have to try Arinell's soon. I'm going back to New York for a visit this weekend, and my to-do list is 85% food related...
• A vegetarian in Buffalo doesn't have too many options: the city is famous for beef on weck, souvlaki, Polish sausage, chicken wings, fish fry on Fridays, pizza, and lots of restaurants with '50s-style food - I usually end up with an iceburg-lettuce salad wherever we go, and if I'm lucky, something from the appetizer list. =P Nevertheless - The Family Tree is *the* spot to get souvlaki, at least according to my grandmother. Frosty A/C, lots of old people. Cheap. Love the spanakopita. Greek food (duh). I like Kosta's for breakfast. Breakfasts are cheap, the rest isn't quite as cheap but still good. Atmosphere morphed a few years ago from, uh, "homey" (dark and dingyish, glassed-in-smoking-room) to sort of upscale. Also Greek. Amy's Place on Main St. does Lebanese/Middle Eastern, large portions. They bring a plastic pitcherful to your table when you order iced tea. Incredibly vegetarian friendly, greasy-spoon diner atmosphere, except for the *very* alternative staff. A great find, except it isn't open late. Curry's, on Kenmore: not much I can eat there, but they do a sandwich called the Dibble, which is a toasted sub roll crammed with stuffed banana peppers and melted cheese. Mmmmmm. Louie's on Elmwood is a burger joint hole-in-the-wall but they do a portobella mushroom sandwich that is greasy and yummy. Order two, one isn't enough. I feel like I should recommend a pizza joint, but I can't since La Nova's quality has gone way down in the past three or four years, and that was always my favorite. And then there's Mighty Taco. Funky paper placements on your tray. The food is like crack, I swear. Mmmm, hot sauce and jalapeno poppers. My husband insists we get some every time we go back to visit. Open past midnight. Some spots even have drive-thru.
• Pizza Paradiso, 35 Store Street, London. Fantastic, reasonably priced Italian restaurant. The Marx brothers dined there on their only visit to England (check out the signed photos on the wall for more celebrity patrons). My Dad goes there obsessively and I try to go every time I'm in London, and nearly always have the Panna Cotta for dessert. *salivates and checks diary for date of next trip to London*
• To the Nashvegans already weighing in... you also forgot Fat Moe's for burgers and Loveless Cafe for home cooking. In the Tri-Cities area of TN there's Ridgewood in Elizabethton for Carolina style pulled pork barbeque, and the Purple Cow in Kingsport for deep fried pickles. In my current hood, Washington Heights, Manhattan, there's El Malecon, a local dominican joint with amazing broiled chicken, plantains, beens and rice for $5.
• New York City: Corner Bistro: 331 W. 4th St. (West Village) at Jane St. Best cheap burgers in the city. Firehouse: 522 Columbus Ave (Upper West Side) Between 85th and 86th. Great buffalo wings, decent nachos, Awesome fries. Bay Area: Cactus Taqueria: 1881 Solano Ave (Berkeley) Great tacos, really good agua frescas. Ryowa Ramen House: 2068 University Ave (Berkeley) Good ramen, gyoza and excellent kara age. All fairly cheap and all in a nice little place with a decent selection of Manga for you to read while you eat. Osaka: Kinryu Ramen House: 1-7-13 Namba, Chuo-ku. Possibly the best ramen in the world. 'Nuff said. O-Tako: 1-5-10 Dotombori, Chuo-ku. Basically nothing but takoyaki. Basically pancake dough, filled with octopus, shredded cabbage and vegetables. Tokyo: Ginza Seryna: Ginza Tiffany Bldg. B1,2-7-17,Ginza,Chuo-ku. Expensive as hell, but some of the best shabu-shabu in Tokyo. Nobu Tokyo: 6-10-17 Minamiaoyama, Minato-ku. Again, expensive, but spectacular sushi. (Can you tell I'm usually on an expense account when I'm in Tokyo?) I could go on, but I don't wanna give away all my favorite hangs. =)
• Oh, and if anyone finds themselves in Anderson, SC Funny old world -- that's where my wife got her first journalism gig. She used to interview Deputy Sheriff Sheriff (who she hopes is now Sheriff Sheriff). Melinika, my buddy Josh is a veggie in Buffalo. I'll have to send this to him.
• This isn't my hometown, but when I am in Santa Barbara, I like La Super Rica on Milpas (I think). Really good authentic Mexican regional cooking.
• Fort Myers Fl. It's 20 miles up the road to Punta Gorda. But well worth it if you like the real deal when it comes to Irish pub food. I only make the trip about once a month. About as long as I can go without my fish & chips. More than once we were the only non-green carders in the place. It's as authentic as you can get this side of the big pond. It's the Celtic Ray.
• Austin -> I have no idea; a lot of the places I've tried are WAY overrated or just pedestrian. I tend to like the barbecue southeast of the city in Lockhart, but lately it just hasn't been the same since the breakup of Kreuz Market.
• Time for a Mainer to weigh in!!! As far as Southern Maine goes....anywhere in OLd Orchard Beach for Pier Fries.....pizza is without a doubt Bill's Pizza in Portland. Best burgers is oddly enough Pool Lobster Co. in Biddeford Pool. And Gritty McDuffs in either Freeport or Portland for good pub food.
• Portland Oregon - Vietnamese restaurant on Sandy and 56th-ish? called Thien Hong! They server the most amazing deep fried pepper salted squid! And at 8 bucks a plate, (and i mean a HUGE plate), its a bargain! *is it obvious that i spend half my paycheck at that place?
• Shotsy, thanks for the heads up on The Counter. I IM'd a buddy of mine who works nearby and he went there for lunch. Said the burgers were delish'.
• Genesee Idaho has the Pastime. $5 gets you a pound of beef with cheese, bacon, ham, and all the fixins. The burgers have simmered in grease since before most of us were born. If the gods ever get tired of ambrosia, these burgers are what they'd switch to.
• Way out here in the middle of no where, the Mark Twain Lake area in Missouri, I prefer The Junction. Its just outside of Perry Missouri, on Hwy 19. They have decent steaks, catfish, burgers etc. Well lit, pleasant atmosphere, with friendly help. Weekends, the bar usually has live music. The bar is on one side of the building, the restaurant on the other.
• Denver's got this Middle Eastern place called Jerusalem's. It's fantastic! They have the best baba ganoush and combo plates of all sorts of tender meats spit roasted.
• I ate a steak at the bowling club in Armidale, NSW, that I've never forgotten. *almost drools, even though it's breakfast time* Worst steak -- anywhere in France.
• squidranch: I've been there once and I think that it's the kind of place that gets better the more you go. The burger I arranged had a few odd flavor mashups, which I think is kind of innevitable as all of the different possibilities can be a bit overwhelming. But next time it will be perfect! FWIW, I think Arty Nelson of CityBeat is the best restaurant critic in LA. He turned me onto The Counter, Doughboys Bakery (Amazing Red Velvet cake and awesome French Dip) and lots of others.
• Best grill: the Ostrich Grill in Santa Cruz/Capitola. Don't order your ostrich steak well-done or they'll laugh at you. Also the best chocolate cosmopolitan I've ever had (since I've only had one). Best non-Italy Italian: Steps of Rome, North Beach San Francisco. Salmon and pasta in a vodka sauce. And lots of NSFW art on the walls. And cute waitresses if you're into that sort of thing. And Italian beer. Best fake Mexican: Pronto Nacho right here in Christchurch. A real hole in the wall, right by the tram tracks, with liquid cheese on tap but the best shredded-beef burrito in the world. The owner is Greek, I think. Oh, and actual best Mexican is El Palomar in Santa Cruz. Their guacamole burrito is divine. And I'm so there on the In N' Out.
• I'll also vouch for In N' Out, just make sure you eat the fries first. After five minutes or so, they become teh suq.
• Cafe Brazil in Dallas is the only place I ever take visitors. As for myself, there's a Taco Bell down the street...
• In Oakland you gotta try the Vietnamese Sandwiches at Cam Haung in Oakland chinatown. I forget exactly where it is, I want to say Webster and 8th, but I remember it as that green awning just across the street from the mall area (south of it I think). @ dollars for tasty goodness. Second the Cactus Burrito recommendation as well, but the better (and older) Cactus is right under the Rockridge bart station. Or if you want to die go to El Farolito in the Mission or East Oakland and order the quesedilla suiza. Instant heart attack. (Yeah I agree, the burritos are mediocre, but that grease bomb of a quesedilla gets to me now and then.) Medusa: Arinell's can also be found at Shattuck and Addison in Berkeley, although I liked it better when it was a whole it the wall one store down. And I never understood why everyone likes Tu Lan, it always seemed pretty average both in quality and price. I mean it isn't like you can't spit without hitting a Vietnamese place around here. If you want really good Vietnamese try the place in the Ranch 99 market shopping area right off the Center exit in El Cerrito (can you tell I'm an east bay boy?). And talking pizza, although it is pretty well known, the Cheeseboard Pizza place on Shattuck and near Vine is awesome California style white pizza. Always veggie, always odd, always good. Although some of the feta and olive pizzas are too salty for my tastes.
• Chapel Hill / Carrboro, NC: Elmo's Diner. Lordy, but I miss that place, especially on Sunday mornings when I can't have their biscuits'n'gravy anymore. And I'd swear that their pies and milkshakes have neutronium as one of the ingredients. Also Allen and Son's BBQ, but, really, I prefer the A&M Grill in nearby Mebane for my pig.
• the Cheeseboard Pizza place Ah yes, the people's republic of cheeseboard. Hit or mis, but when it's good, it's damn good.
• Excellent, middleclasstool. Glad to hear my little essay might benefit someone. =) Vegetarians in Buffalo are quite a rare breed. Oh, and it's not a greasy spoon, but neither is it expensive: Kuni's Sushi Bar is a teeny-tiny place on Elmwood Ave. that does pretty much the best Japanese I've ever had. Incredible. You can pass that on too!
• I'm from, um.. Cleveland, but there's a great little Vietnamese restaurant (in Parma, a notoriously uncool suburb) in a strip mall that is simply. the. best. food. I've. ever. eaten. Named Tay-Do, and also serves awful Americanized Chinese, but we'll forgive them for that.
• Mfpb, I've been to Cafe Brazil in Dallas and it rocks for breakfast. The never ending coffee had me vibrating in my boots.
• damn. i'm so glad i ate before i read this thread.
• apso my husband worships at the shrine of the cheeseboard. we are there almost every weekend getting scones & city bread & coffee from the original peet's I had forgotten there is an arinell in the east bay also, must stop dieting for an afternoon & trek on over... I will second the cactus taq on college vote, its my standard burrito stop, since I usedta live in "lower rockridge"... this is making me hungry!
• Oh, and since we're talking about eateries on Shattuck, a little further back toward University is Oscar's. Love their burgers.
• I could probably do an entire thread about divey places in NYC. Here goes some of the favorites: Village Mingala - 7th street in the East Village. Ever have Burmese food? Oh, is it good! Crif Dogs - St Marks & Ave A. Bacon-wrapped hot dogs. PBR in a can. Need I say more? I definitely second whoever said Corner Bistro. There's a reason for the line outside that place. Also, down in Arlington, VA, don't miss the steak & cheese at Mario's in Clarendon. Finally, if you're ever in Ithaca, NY, be sure to hit up the Hot Truck late nights by Cornell's West Campus parking lot. It's not the same now that Bob retired, but it still hits the spot after a late night drinking.
• Adelaide, South Australia - Hawkers Corner is a very cheap restaurant with great food (at least for vegetarians, I dunno about the meat dishes) from four different cuisines - Indian, Thai, Chinese and Malaysian. My local Thai restaurant (just around the corner), the Rose Garden is also very reasonably priced and serves tasty meals. It is almost always full on Friday and Saturday nights.
• squidranch - YES!