sorry I got on here to late to help. I live in Lubbock now. the County Line is still there. the prettiest place in Lubbock. but for the best bbq -- J&M on 34th. a little place in an old pizza hut bldg. killer q!!
you're right about the chains. we have more restaurants here than churches, and let me tell ya, do we have churches!!
however, a few local places are great. Gilbert's on Aberdeen is a must. steaks and seafood and such during the week. but on Saturday nite, he serves a family style Chinese dinner. you make your reservations as he only cooks for X amount of people. then walk in, sit down, and they just start bringing you platters of wonderful food. fantastic. as a matter of fact, a group of us from another board I post on here in Lubbock are meeting up there on the 30th. Plus, the Great Wall is still there. across from Tech.
we still have the 50 yard line for good steaks. even after a recent fire in the kitchen. and Cagle's serves the best steaks around, but it's out in the middle of nowhere.
as far as Mexican food, unfortunately some of the better ones, like Lala's and Montelongo's aren't open in the evening. but remember Taco Pueblo? the mom died a few years back. and the kids split up. one group kept the building and renamed it Taco Village. the other group opened Durango's. same recipes, but Durango's can pass a health inspection where Taco Village can't. best chili rellanos going from both places.
on yet another board I post on, out of Amarillo, the owner was in Lubbock for about 4 weeks in a row. he loves Mexican food, so a bunch of us from the local board took him on a mexi-tour in Lubbock. the tour included Durango's, Mi Tio's, Mexican Border Cafe, and Gilbert's. (though Gilbert's doesn't do mexican -- just good food.)
but don't discount El Chico's entirely. I too had avoided it for years. but another poster recommended I go back and try it. it was surprisingly better than I expected. something about those little carrots. LOL
and there is Moose Magoo's. out University past 82nd. pretty good food. there's about 10 of us from the Lubbock board that meet there every Saturday for trivia. if you ever see the name Moose Magoo's in the nation's top 20 on trivia on Saturday afternoon, that's our group!
I've also seen a lot of posts about philly cheesesteaks on this forum. for me, the best ones are at Cricket's on Broadway. but the yankees in our group seem to prefer the ones at Magoo's. but hey, I'm a Texan so what do I know cheesesteak wise!
in the downtown area, there is Hub City Brewery. award winning beers, plus some really good food. they serve a sandwich with sausage made locally that is first soaked in one of their beers. the sell out of those often.
