Favorite Restaurant and Favorite Dish

[Martha]

Martha,

I'm too busy now, I'll have to get back to you at a later date.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I wish I had time to read this and come up with a snarky comment.

 

[JPatrick]

For Steak: Cattlemans in El Paso
For Japanese: Kobe Steakhouse--Honolulu
For Chicken Fried Steak:: MidTown Grill Lafayette LA.  Name may be wrong, but it is the smallish 50's place across from the hospital.
For Fish:: Halibut at the Ketchikan outdoor fish fry.  Don't think it has a real name.
For Brisket::My backyard.

 

[mickeyd]

For Steak: Cattlemans in El Paso

Is this that place East of EP about an hour or so on I-10? Used to be a ranch (maybe still is)? If so, I do not recall the food, but it is one of the best for authentic atmosphere.

 

[JPatrick]

Is this that place East of EP about an hour or so on I-10? Used to be a ranch (maybe still is)? If so, I do not recall the food, but it is one of the best for authentic  atmosphere.

East, but not that far. Still a ranch.  In the good ol days, they didn't do reservations so you had to plan on 90 minutes or so.  No problemo,  the parking lot was tailgate party central.   Chow was served family style and it was good!  Of course they had one of those "if you can eat it --it's free" steaks.  Never tried it.
My experience is dated, but the locals say the food is still great even if the experience is a bit more dignified.

 

[LRS]

Does beer count as a meal? It's liquid bread, right? Best beer anywhere in the world is made in the Czech Republic. Doesn't matter what brand--every town has its own brewery. A couple of years ago in July we were in Cesky Krumlov, a small and beautifully preserved medieval town. After a delicious dinner of something with noodles and the world's best BEER, we walked to the town square. One of the bars had moved their giant plasma TV outside and we all watched the Czech Republic vs. Denmark in the World Cup finals. A taxi driver drove onto the square, let out his passengers, then sat on the hood of his car to watch the game. It was a beautiful evening, even though the Czechs lost.

[edited for grammer--duh.]

 

[unclemick]

Long ago and far far away:

New Orleans style barbeque shrimp - Pascal Manales on Napolean Street? in the Garden District of New Orleans with the "old Dixie longneck' beer.

Now - ?? What's near Kansas City - either side of the river.

 

[education]

In Corpus Christi, TX the handsdown favorite for quality seafood is Two Georges. They used to only serve family style, but now they have added plate meals. Everything there is fresh and well-seasoned. Ironically, I first heard about the place while I was in San Francisco when I overheard people talking about the food there being as good as on Fisherman's Wharf.

In Chicago, the best pizza, IMHO, can be obtained from Lou Manalti's. Make a pilgammage every time I get to the "windy city". I think their pizza is flat out addictive!!!!!!!!

Professor

 

[ladelfina]

tagliatelle with cinghiale

Funny, but for me this dish is getting to be really dull!! (I was going to say boring.)

Real Italian food is splendid if you're a tourist, but they are so parochial that each zone serves its specialities and nothing else. If you want fish, you have to go to Naples or Sicily, or at least to the seashore; if you want a steak, Tuscany; good tortellini and lasagne, Emilia; sausages, Norcia; roast pork, Ariccia, and so on. It's a lot of driving and the cost of gas will kill you!

There are essentially NO ethnic restaurants outside of big cities, and even then they are few and far between. Just got back from Florence where I desperately tried to find ANYthing but Italian food and had no luck after walking 'til I had blisters. The 2 or 3 we saw were all closed for lunch.

So my favorite restaurant at this point is "any restaurant that doesn't serve Italian food"! I mean, I'm even up for McDonald's at this point, or some scuzzy Tiki Hut 'polynesian' with the gelatinous sweet and sour sauce.

--
What I dream of is grilled bluefish at Legal Seafoods. And real sweet corn, the butter&sugar kind where the little kernels just pop off the cob into your mouth. 2 things that are 100% impossible to find here.

The grass is always greener..!

 

[BUM]

Hi Bob_Smith!

I too am always in serach of the holy grail...the perfect lasagna! An all day love affair. You pm me your receipe and I'll reciprocate.

OTIS...I hope to see you at Nance's sometime...anytime. I've been going there since the 80's. ummmmmmmmmmmmmm steamed oysters, cold beer. Repeat.

 

[REWahoo]

Hi Bob_Smith!

You had me fooled for a minute there.

The Bob_Smith post on this thread was in January of 2005. He hasn't posted since February 17 of last year.

 

[Howard]

Hot August day outside of Cornerbrooke, Newfoundland, bnought live Lobster at side of road for 0.89 a pound, she cooked it right there, we had to tell her how much we owed, she could not do the math.

Bought beer at the Gas Station, headed into the bush so the Royal Newfoundland Constulbary wouldn't find us, all other Restaurants pale against that experiance.

 

[Eagle43]

Long ago and far far away:

New Orleans style barbeque shrimp - Pascal Manales on Napolean Street? in the Garden District of New Orleans with the "old Dixie longneck' beer.

Now - ?? What's near Kansas City - either side of the river.

Aah! Dixie Beer. From the little brewery that would rather be best than biggest.

UM, You ever had a muffelata from the Central Grocery? A little touristy, I know, but t'was good.

 

[unclemick]

Yep

Had muff's from all over the city - Central Grocery is/was still the best - although others had their favorite places.

 

[Dawg52]

I went to a Mexican restaurant the other night and had a plate of shrimp quesadillas and boy were they good. Chased down by a cold beer...........life just don't get any better.  8)

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Of course they had one of those "if you can eat it --it's free" steaks. Never tried it.

I ate one of Callahans Steak Houses "free if you can eat it" porterhouses. I think it was about 4" thick, roughly 60-64 oz.

Almost gave it back to them, also free, but I made it home.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

What I dream of is grilled bluefish at Legal Seafoods.

There, we might not agree on computers, but we agree on restaurants. A lot of people say its overrated and overpriced, but I never got a bad meal and several were memorable . And travelling through Logan became very pleasant once they opened the restaurant and the separate little raw bar there in different terminals. One could show up for ones flight three hours early, enjoy a nice seafood dinner or a Sam Adams and a lobster roll and not feel like they had wasted their afternoon.

I remember when Legals first opened. Picnic tables and ~15 types of fish on a blackboard...you sat next to strangers and could have any of those fish steamed, broiled or fried. Regular or garlic butter. Every waiter/waitress worked every table and tips were pooled.

THAT's definitely changed.

A few years later, when I was a camp counsellor at one of the overprivileged cape cod camps, one of the berkowitz's kids came "under my attention" (in other words, he got in a lot of trouble all the time and his rich restaurant owning parents paid me to clean it up and keep it cool), I even got one of the restaurants real internal "cook books" with most of their recipes. Still have it.

Smoked bluefish pate. A little thinly sliced red onion. Some nice grainy thin bread slices. Maybe a bit of course grained mustard to dot on every now and then. Heaven...

 

[JPatrick]

I ate one of Callahans Steak Houses "free if you can eat it" porterhouses.  I think it was about 4" thick, roughly 60-64 oz.

Almost gave it back to them, also free, but I made it home.

Yup, and based on your avatar, I think I know where that 60-64 oz settled.

 

[ladelfina]

Every waiter/waitress worked every table and tips were pooled.

I get the sense it still works that way.. every time you look up there's a new person.. Not only do I remember the Inman Sq. location, I remember when they "gentrified" they'd give you the wine list that was in a big geeky binder with green & white lined computer printout, the accordion-fold kind with the holes along the edge! Que classe! Anyway, everything was always cooked perfectly, which is not easy to do with fish, and not easy to maintain quality std.s across a now large chain.

I remember from time to time there'd be articles detaling the implosion of the B. family; I don't envy those kids and can see why they might be screwed up.

 

[BUM]

You had me fooled for a minute there.

The Bob_Smith post on this thread was in January of 2005. He hasn't posted since February 17 of last year.

I was trying to pull him out of "post"retirement. Plus I may have been wearing my lasagna blinders.

 

[Spanky]

All of us have traveled, some of us world-wide. Where's your favority restaurant and favorite dish in that particular restaurant? Or, if it's not the menu, what makes the restaurant so special.

Mine is Keo's in Hawaii. It's a Thai Restaurant. Favorite dish is "Evil Jungle Prince." You can get it with chicken or tofu. They also have outstanding Spring Rolls.

One of my favorite was eating on floating seafood restaurant in Hong Kong. They had excellent services. We had fresh abalone simmered with black mushroom in olyster sauce, crispy fried chicken, steam sea bass with ginger and garlic, braised pigeon, seafood soup.

 

[free4now]

Giordano's pizza in Chicago. Probably I just like it because it was the nearest restaurant to where I grew up and so it was imprinted in my formative years. But every time I go back it never fails to satisfy.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Actually one of the more interesting and memorable meals was at a place somewhere in mexico on one of my vacations...might have been cancun or cozumel. Anyhow, you got a clean galvanized bucket, and an "ice bar" of raw seafood...lobster, various whole fishes, clams, scallops, shrimp, etc. You name it, it was laid out. You put everything you wanted to eat in the bucket and brought it to the "register". The guy there, who was also your cook (they had 5-6 guys rotating) dumped out your bucket and separated everything. You told him how you wanted each item cooked and they had a chart of suggested methods, but it was pretty much anything goes within reason. He'd jot down your order, scamper off with your stuff, and after a short period of drinking cocktails on the patio, he'd come out with a huge platter with your selections all prepared as you requested.

Kinda different, definitely pretty cool.

 

[F-One]

Dockside Dave's - Grilled or Blackened Grouper - Mediera Beach, Fl (between Clearwater and St Pete's Beach) - it's a dive but food is great

 

[yakers]

Giordano's pizza in Chicago.  Probably I just like it because it was the nearest restaurant to where I grew up and so it was imprinted in my formative years.  But every time I go back it never fails to satisfy.

Yeah, Gs is my favorite these days. Grew up in Chicago and liked Unos, Dous, Ginos and on the north side Gullivers. But these days it Gioradons when I visit.

Its interesting, I live in Pasadena, CA and in a six sq block area in Old Town there are 99 restaurants, some of them really great. It gets down to deciding what dish I want rather than which restaurant. I have come to the conclusion that cost is not the issue, there is great expensive food and great cheap food. All the little ethnic Mexican, middle eastern, Thai, Chinese and a lot of others keep me searching out good cheap food on Southern California. Hey, sounds like something to do when I retire!