Favorite Restaurant and Favorite Dish

[Eagle43]

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.

 

[JOhn Galt]

I do not have a fav. restaurant now, but for years I did.
It was located near Preston, Ontario (the Canadians
will love the irony)

I believe it was called Bouquet Garni, anyway that is close. It was in a very old stone farm house just off the
main highway to Detroit. The cuisine was French.
They had a bar called "The French Cowboy" I think.
Anyway, every visit was perfect in all aspects.

JG

 

[FunGoals]

During my tour in Vietnam, Kobe steaks were served in the chow hall occasionally. It was like the day after Thanksgiving. People arrived early & the line was long.

 

[Otis]

I'm a sucker for seafood. I don't like a lot of show. Don't need a French waiter, paper towels are just as good as napkins, tablecloths are optional, and I like beer, not wine. So, just give me some hot food overlooking the ocean and I'll be happy.

Two places worth mentioning:

1. Neptune's Net, 5mi south of Pt. Mugu Naval Station (north of Malibu, CA) right on the PCH. It's basically a shack with some picnic tables, but it's 50 feet from the water and the shrimp is always fresh. The surfers come across the street at sundown for some fresh scallops. Lunch is a treat... mixture of hippies, surfers, and guys in uniform from the base, all elbow to elbow getting some chow.

2. Nance's Creekfront Restaurant in Murrell's Inlet, SC. If you're ever spending some time in Myrtle Beach, DO NOT get suckered into eating at the tourist-trap junk along the King's Highway. Go south to Murrell's Inlet. Again, not the best ambiance (unless you have a thing for plain brown paneling) but the wife and I have driven 12hrs one way specifically to eat there (and spending 3d at Myrtle as an added bonus).

 

[Marshac]

Pizza from my old college town- La Fiama in Bellingham, WA. Best wood fired pizza I have ever had.

 

[xprinter]

Ritz Carlton dinning room in San Francisco, Chez TJ in Menlo CA, French Laundry in Napa and Erma's Eldeberry house near Yosemite

 

[Bob_Smith]

LovesLifeRe: Favorite Restaurant and Favorite Dish

Lasagna at the "Brown Bottle" in Waterloo, Iowa. I have been trying for years to duplicate it, and I'm very, very close.

 

[wabmester]

Thin-crust pizza at some hole-in-the-wall in Baja California. Although, I can't be sure if it was really delicious or if I was just really hungry.

 

[SDY888]

Here's my pick:

Fernando's in Macau - licking a used tablecloth there would still be in the top 10 of worldwide culinary delights. Have anything on the menu, it is all fabulous.
Nicholini's in the Conrad Hotel in Hong Kong.
The First Class Dining Car on the Trans-Siberian Railway, just for the atmosphere, the history and the dramatic scenery (and the free vodka).

Simon888

 

[Nords]

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.

You paid top dollar for that meal, Eagle!

Next time you're here you'll have to try Thai Kitchen in Waipahu (no plate over $8). Downtown Waikiki is Singha Thai Cuisine with their royal-trained classical dancers, or try Chai's Island Bistro at Aloha Tower Marketplace (same owner as Singha, wider menu & more aloha entertainment).

After Thai food, our favorite restaurant is La Mariana by Keehi Lagoon. It's decorated with kitschy tropical 50's decor snapped as other restaurants went out of business. The owner has been running the show for nearly 60 years but she still shows up to work the lunch crowd.

Our favorite take-out food is Costco's cheese pizza.

 

[hocus]

Prime Rib at Houston's in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. It's not so much the experience of eating the food that matters to me as the emotional connections to the place that I have because of celebration dinners I have had there over the years. I often pick prime rib for a dinner out because I rarely eat beef at home.

 

[gratefuled]

A scorpion bowl and a big dish of Hawaiian Chicken from Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale, by the light of the Polynesian Fire Show.

http://www.maikai.com

Ed

 

[mickeyd]

Lulu's in San Antonio TX has a chicken fried steak that is the size of your car's hub cap. It hangs over the entire plate. Side order of onion rings will round out the meal. Best in the USA? Don't know, but I doubt that there are any *** that are much bigger.

 

[Bridget]

Anything on the menu at Cafe Poca Cosa in Tucson, AZ - Oaxacan food. Also some of the best salsa I've ever had along with some killer margaritas.

For one of the most interesting, dinner in Alsace, France at the only Michelin four star restaurant in the area. Was very expensive and a very different experience on the tasebuds.

For just plain refreshing, a small Italian restaurant near Courmayer after my 90 km portion of the Tour du Mont Blanc - they didn't speak English, we pointed a lot. The true Pasta e Fagiole soup was outstanding and the homemade pasta was phenomenal. The polenta at the hole in the wall during the hike was great, too.

Bridget aka Deserat

 

[dex]

Here's my pick:

Fernando's in Macau - licking a used tablecloth there would still be in the top 10 of worldwide culinary delights. Have anything on the menu, it is all fabulous.
Nicholini's in the Conrad Hotel in Hong Kong.
Simon888

Small world - I've been to both & I liked Fernando's best

 

[SDY888]

dex, small world indeed.

We get to Macau maybe twice a year, three if we are lucky, and always make a trip to Fernando's.

 

[Hyperborea]

I'm not sure that I have a favourite restaurant. Some of my more recently enjoyed memorable restaurants were in Italy.

I had two great meals at this little "hole in the wall" place in Florence just off the Santo Spirito piazza. On one night I had the tagliatelle with cinghiale sauce (a flat pasta noodle with wild boar sauce) - the flavours were intense. The second night my wife and I shared a florentine steak (500grams - the smallest they sold). Absolutely incredible. Both nights we had the antipasti to start. With desert on one night and a cheese course on the other plus wine (good wine) each night I think I paid $40 for the two of us.

One night in Rome we went over the Tiber to the Trastavere district (the old Jewish neighbourhoods which have become the hip happening place to go). We just wandered and picked a place that looked good and populated by locals. For about $10 we had two Roman pizzas and two mugs of beer. That pizza was incredible - maybe two feet around and thin and crispy. Mine was a simple four cheese topping and my wife had seafood. Heavenly.

On another night in Rome we went to this out of the way family run place that served only one set meal every night. You got whatever mama was making. For about $55 for the two of us we were absolutely stuffed in about 6 courses (antipasti, soup, pasta, meat, cheese, dessert) along with a lot of wine. It was all topped off with this homemade tangerine liqueur.

Hmmm, I wonder if this enough evidence to "prove" that the Italians have some sort of genetic propensity to good food? And if so what effect will it have on Social Security?

 

[Gonzo]

Mr. G's Italian Restaurant in old downtown Branson, MO... Italian sausage and pepperoni pizza... GREAT.

 

[azanon]

Hickory Grilled Redfish at Ralph Brennan's Redfish Grill on Bourbon Street, French Quarter, New Orleans.  

Its their signature dish and wow is it outstanding.

 

[unclemick]

French fries/gravy Po-boy (on classic New Orleans bread) at one of several truck stops surrounding the city.

To pick a favorite resturant in NOLA would be like a parent chosing his favorite kid.

I had the same problem with Mexican food in Denver - and Chinese/oriental in Seattle.

Next on the list - Vietnamese - one of the highly rated resturants twenty miles down the road. By myself though - nobody else wants to experiment.

Does anybody else try to recreate their favorite at home or is it just me?

 

[charlie]

The tortilla soup at Dos Rios in Dallas is absolutely
fantastico. I have tried to duplicate it but fell short.

We get our "fix" todas las semanas.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

[Eagle43]

French fries/gravy Po-boy (on classic New Orleans bread) at one of several truck stops surrounding the city.

To pick a favorite restaurant in NOLA would be like a parent chosing his favorite kid.

quote]

Unclemick2
I grew up in New Orleans on West Bank. Used to go drinking/dancing at the 509 down by the ferry. When they closed for the evening we'd go to Luke's just down the street where he made the best roast beef po-boy ever. Luke has been dead for years and I dunno if anybody replaced him. When I get to the Big Easy, I always make sure I get shrimp po-boys. Now I go to Salvo's on the Belle Chase Hwy, about 1/2 mile thru the tunnel.

I can taste it now.

 

[mickeyd]

unclemick2

Does anybody else try to recreate their favorite at home or is it just me?

The main reason for going out to a joint is that you get something that you wouldn't eat at home, no matter how good it was.  I would rather it be a big mystery as to how my favorite dish is prepared.  I guess it is all part of "the experience" of eating at a specific greasy spoon.

P.S. Sorry for the delay over a year later, I guess I got a bit behind in my stuff.

 

[Martha]

Mikeyd, are you going to go through a year of posts? Man oh man, are you tough.

 

[mickeyd]

Martha,

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