I've had two recently: when we were in Jersey visiting family a few weeks back, went to a great South Indian place on the outskirts of Parsippany called Udipi Cafe. Just incredible. The all-vegetarian buffet was huge and diverse, with a lot of great smaller items and pickles/condiments. Wonderful dosas delivered hot and fresh to the table. Believe it or not, the dal alone was worth the price of admission- so complex and delightful.

Last weekend, I visited a buddy in Portland, ME. He took us out to a restaurant called Fore Street which, according to him, annually goes head-to-head with another joint in SF for the title of best seafood restaurant in the nation.

Anyway, fan-freakin'-tastic eats, and we sat right across from the fully-open kitchen, which was a cool spectacle. I had mussels in garlic-almond butter, al dente parsnips with a golden beet vinaigrette, and roasted quail.

Once again, tho, it was the simplest component of my meal which blew my mind- the citrus-beet sorbet I had for dessert. INSANELY delicious- pitch-perfect sweetness and totally harmonious, refreshing flavor.

And you?

Sonic Drive-in finally opened a location in PA

as always, Burger King Italian Chicken

the best experience I've had recently was about two months ago.
We went to Hamersley's Bistro here in Boston, and the food was brilliant.

The restaurant is somewhat of a mainstay here in Boston, and people had raved about it to me for years. Finally having an occasion to celebrate brought us there.

I'm not much of a foodie, but my boyfriend is and he started with some type of trout salad. For my entree I had their specialty which is their roasted chicken with garlic, lemon and parsley (it's traditional French food btw) It sounds really simple, but the flavor was unlike any other chicken I have had before. It was so tender it fell off the bone and the root vegetables that came with it were also fantastic.
For his entree, he had their cassoulet which was made up of a homemade sausage and duck confit...and had I not had the chicken this would have been my next choice.

For those visiting the Boston area, another place to try is Union Bar and Grill. Their brunch on Sundays is fantastic, and if you like fancy brunch for decent money this is a great spot. I haven't been there for dinner, but friends have said it's excellent.

nice thread btw...it's nice to hear about other experiences folks are having. The place in Portland sounds great..but I'm allergic to seafood so it's best to stay away.

Oh and ungawa...where in VT are you? We're headed to waterbury for memorial day weekend and I was wondering if there are any places you guys love up that way!

you guys have sonic now?

I'm jealous...

Ya know, I can't get into Sonic as much as I thought I would've. Moving from Chicago to Atlanta, I was really excited for some new fatty fast food, and Sonic just didn't knock me down, but their drink options are super cool.

I wish we had Jack in the box out here...they have breakfast all day

Jack in the Box rules!

I want to apologize right now if this thread becomes all fast food talk instead of honestly good restaurant reviews. that wasn't my intention. I was just being honest.

we have 1-2 Sonic's. the closest one is about 40-50 miles away, but missy and I will make the drive on a weekend if we get a craving. it's a fun little adventure that gets us out of the city for a while.

their food is honestly better quality than most FF places, or at least I think so. and tater tots. and limeade. and coconut cream pie milkshakes. mmmmmmm.

Hey, great food is great food!
We're toy collectors, for cryin' out loud- as ever, fuck the highbrow/lowbrow divide!

atease, I'm in Plainfield (home of River Run and Positive Pie; the latter saved my life, pizza-wise, when they opened in the late nineties...I was without good, real pizza for waaay too long when I first moved up from NJ), about 30 min. from Waterbury.

I haven't eaten in Waterbury in some time, but the last time was at a relatively new brewpub called the Alchemist, and it was really good.

If you should make it up to Burlington, I'd recommend Asiana House or Smokejacks....tho I don't care for the new owners, Nectar's now has undeniably great, smoked-on-site wings...and you have to go to Penny Cluse for breakfast (go early or be prepared for a 30-50 minute wait).

Have fun!

well the cool thing is we're staying at a B&B that is really small and the guys that own it are making a big breakfast every morning, but if the Penny Cluse place is open all day we might get to check it out.

I know we'll definitely be in the Waterbury area most of the weekend though..the wedding is in the Mad River Glen area and it's spread out over a few days.

30 minutes away for pizza doesn't sound bad though...i'll have to look into it a bit more...thanks for the tips!

Maybe we should start a seperate thread "Fast Food Addiction"

I've honestly been thinking of a few good joints. One thing, I don't think a lot of people realize, is that Atlanta has a HUGE Asian population, well at least just outside the city, and there's nearly every type of Asian food available, and it's all nearly amazing. Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean just to name the main ones. I recently went to a big Dim Sum joint the Oriental Pearl and it put ANY place in Chicago I've been to shame, and I loved those places in Chicago. It had a great selection of the regulars (pot stickers, fried rice) and more exotic items (eggplant stuffed with squid, fried taro with ginger dressing) and was super cheap too. It was totally the best dining experience I've had since moving down her....with the exception of all the greasy spoons that offer biscuits and gravy with fried chicken.

who here like indian food?

LOVE IT!

The House in North Beach, San Francisco.

Rib Eye Steak is amazing. Very consistent

Just noticed this...color me very interested... ...no Sonics within miles and miles, tho....

Here here! I been to India a bunch so I have a GREAT love for it. Nothing beats home made tho. My wife often makes excellent kicheree and 10 different kind of dals.

Udipi Village is a chain of restaurants out here in nyc/nj area they are really good... Madras Mahal is my favorite veg. South Indian Place in Manhattan (its in Little India), awesome dosas and they're the only place that has samosas that aren't greasy. They're slow and expensive but its worth it. The chole batura is also an excellent option.

Theres a Indian wrap place called Roomali right around the corner that has kick ass chicken tikka wraps. They have a real Indian name but I forget what it is.

Lastly a sit down place called Vatan is on 3rd & 29th street its like 25-30 bucks for all you can eat and its fucking delicious. Good for shit like birthday parties, but not so hot for dates with all the onions etc.

Vatan rocks!!
Awesome Gujurati food....very fun, semi-kitschy atmosphere: high-ceilinged, it's like a large open courtyard, with a giant artificial banyan tree on one side, and some of the booths are like little huts. I've read a few horror stories online of very rude/rushed service there, but I've been 4 or 5 times and never had that problem.

Thanks for the other tips, alj!
Indian's my fave cuisine above all!

Ya know, I love fancy five-star restaurants as much as the next food-lover, but sometimes I think that ostensibly "lowbrow" dining is every bit as fine and fulfulling ... just without all the fancy service, prep, and surroundings. So on that note, two great lowbrow San Francisco experiences:

Joe's Cable Car - Decor-wise, this place is a hoot. As you step inside, half of you will feel like you just stepped into the early 1960s, and the other half will become disoriented by the crazy, wonderfully tacky way it's decorated ... year-round Christmas lights, weird toys hanging from the ceiling, etc. However, this place serves what are possibly the best hamburgers in Northern California. They receive high quality beef sides at the restaurant, and butcher and grind the meat on site. The burgers are HUGE and taste real, the fries are great, the milkshakes made from real ice cream. This sort of authentic working class joint is almost non-existant in San Francisco at this point. I love that everything about Joe's is non-ironic, non-postmodern. It's not trying to be a "classic diner," it just is.

Hard Knox Café - A "best kept secret" in the Dogpatch part of town, adjacent to Potrero Hill. Southern-style meals at top dollar value. My buddy and I have hit this joint for dinner for the past three weekends ... can't get enough. You'll get a HUGE meal for ... get this ... ten dollars. Delicious corn muffins, great fried chicken, cajun meatloaf, collard greens. The walls are covered with corrugated steel and old signs, the music is always pitch-perfect (e.g. blues and Janis) and the crowd is mixed in a very San Francisco sort of way. African American families from the neighborhood, the occaisional strangely-overdressed "escort" and her john, and generally unpretentious SF hipsters chowin' down on dang good grub. Best value I know of at the moment. I hope it lasts for awhile. It probably will due to its "remote" location.

$10? AHAHAHA I aint Richy Rich (I'm just bustin balls) there's a place like 10 min from where I live, in the boons of GA called Gwinnett Diner, and it is every stereotypical greasy spoon hole in the wall ever. Grill cook is right there in front of you, sleevless shirt, grim reaper tat and 300 lbs. The waitress' (all smoking) are like in their 70's, sweet as sugar and call you "Hon'" and you get a giant burger, fries and a drink for $3.50, and it rocks!

Oh yeah, you're right. I realized when I wrote that ... it might sound strange to people in other places. But this is San Francisco, where a huge delicious meal for ten dollars isn't as common as it once was.

I instantly love a woman who calls me "hon." Somethin' about it.

I know, I've been. Chicago was going that way too more and more, so you could understand my surpirse when I hit this joint and freaked that I could pay for a meal and my wife with tip for under $10.

Took my dad out to breakfast about a month ago and was blown away by this new joint in my neighborhood. I had THE BEST omelette I've ever had in my life! But what really blew my mind was the french toast my dad had. I'm not really a fan of french toast, but next time I go back I'll probably have to order it. It was practically like custard on the inside, and had a whiskey reduction syrup.
I love breakfast food...mainly eggs, bacon, hashbrowns. But that french toast was incredible.

i know i'm on the wrong side of the country for most of you but if you are ever in MA go here:
http://pintusrestaurant.com/
you will NEVER have better indian food EVER. in my personal experiences it beats london, nyc and cally hands down.

Breakfast is the best meal of the day...
SF used to have tons of great places, Deltas Depression Dough, Spaghetti Western, that old timey diner across from Safeway on Church Street mebbe?

Sorry for all my dated SF references but I havent lived there in 15 years.
I still refuse to eat NYC Mexican food tho. The "Mission Style Burritos" are vomitrocious...

Don't apologize man, them's some good memories! It's also a "theme" of mine lately ... there are never enough breakfast places in SF. Delta's ... wasn't that the place that used butcher paper for tablecloth and encouraged the customers to draw on them with crayons? That was a great cheap breakfast, but it doesn't exist any more. Spaghetti Western is long gone. The most popular of those sorts of places that I know if now is Boogaloo's in the Mission. The worst is the Squat'n'Gobble chain ... bad food, hostile staff LOL. I think that old diner on Market near Church is still there, although the food was very plain and boring last time I went.

Sorry to hear about the taqueria food in NYC. I'm kinda surprised, since I'm told the Mexican population there has grown exponentially in the past decade ... but then ... as a generalization, the Mexican restaurant staff in NYC are cooking at the high end French-based places.

I'm sure we could do an entire thread on Mission taquerias. I live in the barrio and have very strong opinions about what the best taquerias are. Fun stuff.

Funny ... when I was staying in central Mexico a few years back. I asked about burritos and was told "those are in San Francisco" LOL.