Your Favorite Local Restaurants

[VTPack919]

Re: Your Favorite Local Restaurants

Never even heard of it. Where is it?

Jackson Street. Out near the parking lot behind Sharkeys. Good food but they have something called Thai Iced Tea which may be the greatest beverage known to man.

Add Kobe with their amazing hokie sauce to your list.

[superjames1992]

Re: Your Favorite Local Restaurants

From back when I lived in West Virginia...

Fazio's! They have the best Italian food I've ever had. Just a great place and the atmosphere is pretty neat.

http://www.fazios.net/

And at my current hometown...

Taste of Thai. Best Thai food I've ever had. Their curry and friend rice are great.

Also, let me add Husson's Pizza for WV and Stamey's and Ghassan's for NC.

[The GIGGAS]

Re: Your Favorite Local Restaurants

Jackson Street. Out near the parking lot behind Sharkeys. Good food but they have something called Thai Iced Tea which may be the greatest beverage known to man.

Add Kobe with their amazing hokie sauce to your list.

Never been to Kobe either. Isn't it right across from Five Guys?

[Stumbleweed]

Re: Your Favorite Local Restaurants

Denver, CO

Japanese -- DOMO... flat,out the best Japanese restaurant I've ever eaten at. Traditional home-style Japanese cooking in an amazing setting with GREAT prices for lunch. Dinner is more in line with what you'd expect for a top-rated restaurant, but lunch is like $10 and under. I love the vegetarian soba, the Shake Donburi w/egg, and all those glorious side dishes and miso soup that come with every entree.

Sushi -- Sushi Sasa... people might talk about Sushi Den when you ask them where to go, and that's a good one too (freshest fish in the midwest basically), but it feels like a damn nightclub, they don't take reservations for parties under 6/8, and it's very expensive. Sushi Sasa is a little cheaper but still has extremely fresh fish... but what sets it apart is Chef Wayne Conwell. His flavor palletes and presentation are just amazing. Also the place is more friendly and nicer to sit in than Sushi Den.. not so damn loud and crazy and full of people just there to be seen instead of eat. The Salmon tartar and Poki Hama rolls are un****witable, as are all of the new-style Sashimi plates. If you wreally wanna be a baller though, get the Omakase tasting menu (available in $60, $80, $100, $120 per person intervals) and have your mind blown.

Mexican -- for Mexico-style food (as opposed to Southwestern/New Mexican), El Taco de Mexico is my favorite. Simple delicious tacos, great menudo, non-New Mexico green chile (different than what I'm used to and extremely tasty).

Italian -- Osteria Marco... absolutely ridiculous paninis, pizzas, salumi, house-made cheeses, and it's reasonably-priced.

Chinese -- Super Star Asian... enough said. Best dim sum in town and a bunch of other ridiculous entrees (written in Chinese on their special "no whiteys" menu board usually). Great prices, always busy so things are fresh. Honorable mention to JJ Chinese, which has some of the most bizarre and declious Hong Kong dishes around.

Vietnamese -- my favorite place that I end up at is Dong Kanh (Saigon Bowl).. very good prices, always tasty, just great simple Vietnamese food. For a slightly higher-end meal, I go to New Saigon.

Thai -- US Thai, easily. Don't get the "Thai Hot" or you'll be in the bathroom screaming for about 6 hours. They usually don't even sell it to non-Thai people haha.. but it's completely delicious if you can handle the spice.

[kehlis]

Re: Your Favorite Local Restaurants

Mexican -- for Mexico-style food (as opposed to Southwestern/New Mexican), El Taco de Mexico is my favorite. Simple delicious tacos, great menudo, non-New Mexico green chile (different than what I'm used to and extremely tasty).

I'm glad you didn't say Casa Bonita!

Since I moved up here from NM I desperately miss some good New Mexican Green Chile. People in the NE don't believe me when I tell them that in Albuquerque if I didn't want Green Chile on a normal cheesburger at McDonalds I would have to make sure to request to not have it on.

[Stumbleweed]

Re: Your Favorite Local Restaurants

Yeah if you end up in Denver, my favorite NM style chili is at Jack-N-Grill. They're from NM and bring chiles up by the truckload and roast them on site for their chile. Very very spicy/full of chile and big chunks of pork.. good stuff.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: Your Favorite Local Restaurants

Haven't had any good Italian Food in a good while. But we don't really have any good "local" Italian Restaurants out here though.

[deaduck]

Re: Your Favorite Local Restaurants

Thai -- US Thai, easily. Don't get the "Thai Hot" or you'll be in the bathroom screaming for about 6 hours. They usually don't even sell it to non-Thai people haha.. but it's completely delicious if you can handle the spice.

Dude, thats so true.

I was on a traveling job outside of Cary N.C. and the guy I was working with took me to a Thai joint and told the waiter "None of that fake U.S. hot stuff, bring us the real stuff."

So after the freakin' SALAD my lungs were burning and I was sweating profusely. By the end of the meal, I had cold shakes and was hallucinating that somebody was behind me. The idiot that had ordered had the shakes so bad he couldn't drive so we had to sit in the parking lot hoping it'd wear off soon. About a hour later I called a cab back to the guest suite and sat in the shower half the night trying to shake it off.

[KENYON06]

Re: Your Favorite Local Restaurants

This is one of my favorite "water cooler" topics. As a chef myself I avoid chians. With the exception of a wednesday night kids night at applebees. I have 3 kids so it makes it easy and cheap. But mostly I frequent all local privately owned establishments. I'm in cetral cali. My top 3.

1. Sante Fe Basque. (Family Style cooking) It's less then a mile from my house and they have one of the best neighborhood bars around. The food is great and the service rocks.

2. Marsol (Southern/Authentic Cajun) The owners Mom and sisters are the cooks. Need I say more? Also less then a mile from my house.

3. Limelight steakhouse/pub. The best 14oz Black and Bleu NY Steak in the valley IMO. Nice cozy atmosphere great place to take my wife on date night.

Those are my top 3 favs. All within 3 miles of my house.

For pizza it's all about Me & Ed's around these parts. 2nd to none.

As a side note I tried applying at Marsol part time when they first opened to learn some secrets and they weren't havin it! I even told them I'd wash dishes for minimum wage.....no luck, that's "uncles job" LOL!

Central Valley huh? Fresno or what?

[gopadres]

Re: Your Favorite Local Restaurants

Me and a few co-workers have been on a quest over the past few months to find the best burger in town and I think we all agree that we finally found it this little dive called Lankford Grocery. I've been in Houston for about 4 and a half years and the place is a local legend, but it's the first time I've had the opportunity to eat there. It was actually on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives last week or the week before.

It was just a big, perfectly cooked, juicy patty. Flavor oozed out in every bite and I left completely satisfied.

The place itself lives up to the "dive" reputation. Nothing matches, they don't take credit card and if you mistakenly forgot cash, they'll tell you to just pay them next time. The building seems like it's barely standing and the floor has a noticable slope to it. I would say the back of the eating area is a good 1.5 to 2 feet lower than the front.

Because every guy wants to eat in his garage! LOL

[Chef Matt]

Re: Your Favorite Local Restaurants

Central Valley huh? Fresno or what?

Yep livin the life in "no" town. LOL

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Your Favorite Local Restaurants

NE Ohio

Willoughby Brewing Company - Downtown Willoughby. It's in an old Train repair station. Awesome food, awesome atmosphere. The best appetizer I've ever had in Buffalo Chicken Eggrolls. Won taste of Cleveland several times.

New Town Grill - Mentor. Great little bar and it's right at the end of my street so it's a quick walk. Great cheap burgers, you can tell the greese has never been changed.

Pickle Bills - Mentor. Best seafood bar none. Has a floating bar in the river, and the bar stools are swings.

The Boulevard Grille - Willoughby. Best wings in the state. Cheap, big, and tons of sauce. Their sweet hot sauce is to die for.

[JohnnytheSkin]

Re: Your Favorite Local Restaurants

New Town Grill - Mentor. Great little bar and it's right at the end of my street so it's a quick walk. Great cheap burgers, you can tell the grease has never been changed.

That's the sign for a good place. Greasy, nasty, horrible for the heart burgers and fries but DAMN do they taste fantastic.

I was at my favorite "dive", The Wienery, again today, having ordered a Philly and fries. My son and I just watched the sheer amount of stuff tossed on the grill & the flat top...mixed, mashed, fried, sauteed, etc. and were in awe. And yet, the food was top notch and better than every other burger joint in the Cities.

[TarHeelMan]

Re: Your Favorite Local Restaurants

Here in Raleigh, NC.

Budget Range:

Fuji Express in Apex (freshly made sushi, hibachi, teriyaki, etc)

Cook-Out (a growing NC chain of fast food with dirt cheap milkshakes offering over 30 different kinds)

Carolina Ale House (full menu until 2am - from 5pm-10pm they have a 4 star chef that cooks specials for the day).

Bojangles (Breakfast biscuits all day, cajun style chicken)

Co-sign all of these, especially Cook-out; ... I didn't know that Fuji Express was a chain; I think there's one in the Pleasant Valley Promenade off of Glenwood Avenue.

[carterjt47]

Re: Your Favorite Local Restaurants

Brooklyn,NY
Garden Cafe: Good meals, serve Beer, Wine, malta, fine dining, good parking and takeout
Peter Luger Stakehouse: serve dinner & lunch, some of the best stakehouse in the city, wth BBQ