The two places that best represent your town

Hi,
I thought I woudl put in my 2 cents:
I live in a small suburb of Fort Worth, Texas
#1) Cattleman's Restaurant in the FW stockyards. It has a statue of a steer on the roof that is something of a landmark.It's synonymous with FW being "where the west begins".
#2) Ol' South Pancake House- a 24 hour restaurant very popular with college kids and just insomniacs of all stripes

boy, i had to give this a lot of thought;
1- sadies for new mexican food... huge portions and hot HOT chiles
2- pueblo harvest cafe for an american indian food experience.
and the frontier, mary & tito's, the owl cafe..

Anybody have anything to add?

For New Brunswick, NJ...
The grease trucks at Rutgers University. They are mobile food trucks located near the student center that sell fat cats, (hamburger patties, french fries, lettuce, tomatoes, mayo all on one sub sandwich.) Very popular drunk food for the frat boys.
Makeda..a high-end Ethiopian restaurant located right off of George Street. Decent place. Nice ambiance, decent food. However, Mesob in Montclair, NJ is a MUCH better Ethiopian restaurant in terms of the food quality.

In Gulf Breeze FL:

Cancun's. Best Tex-Mex outside the great state of Tejas. Great food, very reasonable prices and pleasant wait staff, all whom are most efficent and appropriately Hispanic.

Agean Breeze. Excellent menu from the gigantic sandwiches to great steaks and seafood. Stavos is the finest Chef we have in all of the Pensacola area. Greece's loss is our gain.

Oh did I mention, we only have two resturants in our little village of 6000. But they are both great and are frequented by many in our area....

I'd have to say Teddy's Restaurant on Black River Blvd in Rome, NY and the Home Bakery (burned down about 10 years ago). Both places are/were locally owned, are not chains, and have amazing food. The best part is that they are run by regular people who put in a lot of hours to make great food and create a comfortable atmosphere that never feels forced. I loved going to the Home Bakery for breakfast in the morning and seeing all the local "old-timers" hanging out having coffee and talking about the previous day's events. My family used to get pies from them for Thanksgiving and they were exceptional! Teddy's is still going strong and always has its regulars so its like a little reunion when I go back to visit.

quote:

Originally posted by Lamkid

City: Salem, Oregon
Two Places: McDonalds & Taco Bell

I kid you not! This town has terrible taste in food.

I agree with you for the most part, but the Burger Basket is pretty great!

Albany, Oregon: 1) Hasty Freez. It's a basic drive in - take out only, employs only teenaged girls. Basic burgers, corn dogs, "fishwiches", BBQ beef. The food's OK - not nearly as good as the Burger Basket! 2) Novak's. Hungarian food - I have no idea how authentic it is, but I like it. It's very, very popular with the locals. It's in sort of a strip mall location - near grocery and big box stores and chain restaurants. Not great atmosphere, but tasty.

These two places are, to me, pure Albany.

Welcome, Motherrobyn. Novak's is a great place and my family plans our drives to Eugene and Ashland so we can eat there. The bakery has outstanding treats and I love the food. It is a great place to eat.

The two places that best represent where I live are this place...

http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=3201

As I wrote in the review, it is down the street from a small beach. At one time people would drive out to this area and spend the day at these kinds of places, and then eat at the local snack shack. Most of these little places are long gone, but this one fortunately remains.

...and this place...http://www.bluepointbrewing.com/

Once again, it is a throwback to a time when there were many small breweries and you could go down with your gallon and get it refilled. This place still does that, and they produce some top quality brews!

De La Paz Mexican Restaurant Great food and prices.

MoMo's is an upscale sit down joint Very good food but a little pricey

quote:

Originally posted by mr chips

Welcome, Motherrobyn. Novak's is a great place and my family plans our drives to Eugene and Ashland so we can eat there. The bakery has outstanding treats and I love the food. It is a great place to eat.

Thanks for the welcome, mr chips! I had no idea that Novak's was well known outside of Albany.

quote:

porkchopexpress Posted - 01/31/2007 : 16:58:26
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De La Paz Mexican Restaurant Great food and prices.

MoMo's is an upscale sit down joint Very good food but a little pricey

Porkchoexpress........I think you , I and perhaps BT know you're talking about San Francisco............... the rest of the folks here not....................

Just one comes to mind at the moment.Pierce's Pitt BBQ in Williamsburg, Virginia.It's the best.

quote:

Originally posted by BuddyRoadhouseThe two places I've got in mind, if they'd had the same advertising and marketing budget, would have crushed McDonald's a long time ago.

I bet they had that when the museum was an operating McDonald's. One of the biggest thrills I ever had was eating at the McDonald's in Downey, CA, which remains the oldest continuously operating McD's anywhere. It was started by Maurice and Richard, who, not to displease any Montreal Canadiens fans, were better known as Dick and Mac, McDonald thier own selves. Ah, the kitsch that's a necessary element of any great road trip.

quote:

Originally posted by EliseT
Los Angeles!

The first one is obvious...Phillipe's French Dip, which is one of the few foods we can lay claim to having invented here.

It's too hard to narrow down the second...I have to cheat too...after all, it's a megalopolis!!! I can pick a few places where the community gathers, and a guidebook would say "locals" frequent:

Cuban...Versailles
Soul Food...M & M's
The Original Tommy's chiliburger

No Barney's Beanery or Pink's Hot Dogs?

quote:

Originally posted by paoconnell
Buffets are representative of LV as well; some are excellent, some are grim. The best buffet for the money in LV is the Aladdin. The food's prpared in small batches, so doesn't get stale. Broad selection of stations--seafood, Italian, Asian, American, Middle Eastern, salad, and dessert(!). Skip the Southwestern section. The Aladdin will soon be renamed to Planet Hollywood, but supposedly PH plans to leave the buffet alone.

I haven't been to Vegas since 1985, but I believe that buffets are best represented in Vegas by the 1/2 pound hot dog at Slots~O~Fun, which is a casino that's far too small for a real buffet, but it's still an all-you-can-eat for cheap sort of thing. I'd sit for hours dumping jingle and probably losing a jackpot or two because I was watching all the Picassos put condiments on their dogs, which they often shared with significant others who had different tastes for condiments.

One thing that happened in Las Vegas that I wish wouldn't stay in Las Vegas.

quote:

Originally posted by Extreme Glow

Would that be the two that I would wish represent or that do actually represent?

For actually representing St. Louis, I would have to say Steak And Shake, with 34 locations, does represent the city. Number two would be any of several Italian places on The Hill.

How about Ted Drewe's, with TWO locations? St Louis is one place I do get to once a year or so, and I'd rather walk to Ted Drewe's than be chauffeured to Steak And Shake, which is my favorite chain by half.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick F.No, it's not. Our Super WalMart has a Nathan's inside a Subway, and the hotdogs have no "snap." Also, the only dressings available are those from Subway, and with the exception of the spicy mustard, Subway doesn't have anything that sounds good on a hot dog.

Pickles, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers. You're a glow in the dark green relish and French's shmear (sorry, all my fellow bagel freaks) away from Chicago Style, which was the pushcart vendor's way of giving his customer a balanced meal for a nickle during the Great Depression. I bet slaw dogs in the South, and Chili dogs on the West Coast have the same etymology. Notice that all of the above are still popular?

Gotta love Chicago. Any place that defines "style" by anything other than who's labels are on your butt cheeks or the like is okay in my book. Except, of course, on Packer~Bear weekends.

quote:

Originally posted by fpczyz Question kmacree ?? .....are you under town arrest? or perhaps tied to the town's only traffic light? or maybe your a suspect in some hank-panky with the mayor's daughter and you cant leave town' till the baby is born?................. Move ! please, don't let the world pass you by. You can always come back at Thanksgiving and tell all the folks about how hard it is to find a parking space in your new CITY!!!

Now you're making me concerned. I was born in Milwaukee, WI, which is the best kept secret in the Midwest due to it's proximity to Chicago, where the people swarm for obvious reasons. Both Milwaukee and Chicago are frequented by yours truly regularly and I NEVER have trouble finding a parking place. I flatly refuse to pay $5 to park in Milwaukee, and often $11 an HOUR in Chicago. What do I do instead? Hop on the mass transit system. When visiting Chicago, I use Metra. Total transportation costs for a WEEKEND: $5 for a weekend pass on Metra, $1 a day to park my heap, and perhaps $3 for a gallon or so of gas to get to the station and back.

My lists:

Chicago: There are probably a thousand places in Chicago I need to eat at, so you locals feel free to enlighten me, but the question was, "the two best places that represent your town", I vote for Pizzeria Uno and one of the aforementioned hot dog pushcarts that gave us the phrase "Chicago Style".

Milwaukee, WI: George Webb's. You can get better food, but you can't beat the people watching at George Webb's, especially at bar time. The other is either Kopp's or Leon's, both of which are custard stands. Kopp's is better, but Leon's is cheaper and more neon decorated, and Emma Kopp got her first custard maker from Leon Schneider, as did most of the other custard stands in the shadow of them and Gille's or Oscar's. Any one of these will make you swear off Culver's butter burgers and inferior, but still pretty good, custard when you're in town.

Trevor, WI, where I now live: Pizza Time, go west from either I-94 or US 45 on County Road C in Kenosha County (beware, Racine County has one, too. If you take it, let me know what you find). Good but not great food. The big thing is the decor. It's in the old town firehouse, and you'll know it when you go in. When we got married, by wife and I hosted a dinner there, which was enjoyed by all who attended. I won't recommend Kelly's Bar and Grill to my worst enemy, so the other is whatever church is hosting a dinner, or maybe the roadside corn, squash and tomato stands when they're open.

quote:

Originally posted by stricken_detective
We used to have a Jalisco's & they were more Roadfood, but they got a bad reputation after a jilted former employee spread the word around town that they served dog or cat meat.

I don't know how often you get to Milwaukee, but on sixteenth street (from the Evil I-94, get off on Cesar Chavez Way and cross the viaduct), there's a Taqueria Jalisco that's a must do. It's just a walkup and wait while they make your order. There's also El Rey's, a Mexican grocery with a killer lunch counter. I ordered orange juice, and my jaw must have dropped about 5 1/2 feet when I saw my waitress take half a dozen oranges out of a case and put them in a machine that squeezed the juice out. I also had a beef tongue meat burrito that was incredible. They also introduced me to chorizo before Klement's and the Boo Hoo Brewers.

quote:

Originally posted by annpeeples
Karl Ratsch's for excellent German food(Milwaukee was once a hugely German town)and Speed Queen bbq for the best ribs around.

How about the African Hut? The Rooster (which is pretty far north on Fond Du Lac Ave, but worth the trip)? Aladdin's for Middle Eastern? The Crocus for Polish, or Polonez? Lake Park Bistro, the best place to take a chick you're trying to score with?

For the Boston area, seafood is obviously a regional favorite. The two best seafood restaurants, in my opinion, are Legal Sea Foods and The Daily Catch. The former is a chain that has kept its quality intact, serving seafood that is clearly more fresh than most of its competitors. Lobster and clam chowder are highly recommended! The latter is a phone booth sized restaurant in Boston's North End that serves equally fresh seafood, and wonderful pasta-seafood combinations with the right mix of garlic.

Eric

"The two places that best represent your town"

Updated answer from a while back:

Walmart & Subway...

This is one of my favorite threads. I would love to hear from some of the"newbies" on this topic.

Pho Vahn, Portland, Oregon's best Vietnamese restaurant, would be one of the places where i would take visitors now.

OK, well, we have one restaurant that has been here the entire 35 years we have, had the same name, and about 30 different owners. Right now they have 2 fair to middling cooks who, when they are not in jail, make a mean steak.

We have another one, opened 5 years, but the lady's first place was open about 15 years "The Hamburger Barn". It's ok if you are starving.

Lol
Judge Jean

Graceland and Walgreens

In Chattanooga:

Rib and Loin bbq--the meat is very finely pulled and perhaps kind of average, but the sauce is absolutely exceptional, as is the sweet tea. The pork-stuffed potato is my favorite.

Nikki's 'Drive In'--no longer an actual drive, it still maintains the old fashioned interior of jukes at the table, metal-trimmed tables, and a counter. Wonderful cheeseburgers, onion rings, and tea, but their specialty, kind of a splurge, is their half a dozen fried shrimp dinner (very large shrimps) with puppies, rolls, etc.

Legal Lady-
Does how good of a cook these two men are have any bearing on how long their sentences are?

In East Haven, CT. (right next to New Haven) the two places that I would pick to best represent it would actually be three.

Twin Pines Diner: Not particularly for the food (typical dine fare)but it has been there forever and it is the place to go especially on the weekends after the bars close.

Apizza: I realize this is a category not a place, but, Depalma's, Tollis', John and Maria's, Annniellos's...et al.

Sandpiper: Little seafood resturant right across from the town beach, years ago was a little snack shack that has been completely redone with indoor dining and a takeout entrance, great whole bellies, shrimp, scallops, onion rings..

Here in Gainesville Florida the two places in my opinion would be
Satchels Pizza here is thier philosophy

People always say that a restaurant is "location, location, location," but I never
believed that. Besides, it begs the question, "What's wrong with this location?"
If you make good food and serve it in a comfortable setting, people will come.
Our success is based on this philosophy. Another lesson that restaurant work has
taught me is that there is more to success than making money. I want my place
to provide a living wage for the employees. I want them to know that their work
is valued. Everyone gets as good a wage as I can pay and we pool tips.
The employees make it happen every day.
And then there's the art of making pizzas. I like to say, "Every pizza is
a work of art." The pizza makers here are expected to share this philosophy.
One of the employees, Dale Rimkunas says, "The secret ingredient is love."
You'd think he was just kidding but he really takes his work seriously.
Tim Taylor, our resident comedian says: "Satchel's Pizza... Where you're sorta
like family." Our pizza man, Bill Clower says, "You can buy perfection but you
can't rush it." Our pizza is not fast food. If you're in a hurry you may just want a
slice. Enjoy some music, relax, and we'll make it worth the wait. Thanks, Satchel

They have amazing pizzas, huge calzones, thier salads are too die for.
http://www.satchelspizza.com/index.html
Thier decor is really eclectic, funky, you always have to wait for awhile for a seat, but they have a store also that sells all things kitchy and local artists stuff.
they hae an old beat up VW bus to sit in!







The Other place is El Indio, its a bright orange shack basically in the middle of downtown. Hardly anyone speaks english, i always get the Fish Tacos which have just the right ratio of cabbage and spicy sauce and fried fish. They also have the best salsa in town

quote:

Originally posted by Sandy Thruthegarden

For Northern Kentucky, I'd nominate Pompillio's, a classic "red sauce" Italian restaurant that has been around for ages. Lots of Italian immigrants settled in Newport, Kentucky and this place represents them well. Pompillio's is featured in the "spilled matchsticks scene" of the movie "Rain Man" starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise.

I'd also nominate the Green Derby, also in Newport, which is an old fashioned bar/restaurant featuring fried fish, a staple of the Northern Kentucky diet.

Sorry,
That was toothpicks! I worked on the set!

It is hard to believe I haven't chimed in about Pittsburgh, yet. Now, I am not picking my two favorite places, just the two that best represent the food of Pittsburgh.

The obvious one is Primanti's, which has been discussed ad nauseum here in the forums. I am just a so-so fan of Primanti's, but it does seem to be the first thing out of towners think of foodwise for Pittsburgh. And we Pittsburghers love crazy mixed up foods, including putting fries on sandwiches and salads.

I used to frequent Primanti's fairly often in college, usually after 2:00 in the morning. Now, the only time I eat a sandwich is if I am at PNC Park or if I have company from out of town who want to try one.

My second choice is Pierogie Plus in McKees Rocks. Pittsburgh has a large eastern European population, but very few of these types of restaurants. That is because most of this type of cooking is done at home or at the local church. Pierogie Plus is happily an exception to this.

They are located, in true Roadfood style, in an old gas station and they have exceptional pierogies, stuffed cabbage, halushki and other Old World dishes. You can get your food hot, but most people get it cold, to take home and heat up there. The place is so small, that if you are the third in line, you are most likely going to be standing outside.

quote:

Originally posted by buffetbuster I used to frequent Primanti's fairly often in college, usually after 2:00 in the morning. Now, the only time I eat a sandwich is if I am at PNC Park or if I have company from out of town who want to try one.

On AOL's food site, Lucky's, who admit they stole the idea from Primati's was the second most popular reataurant in Chicago. The obvious caveat is that the winner, Salt-n-Pepper's, as well as 4 more of the top ten finishers, were in Wrigleyville, which suggests that the ballot was slanted by Cub fans, many of whom (including me) aren't from the Chicago area. I did have a good sandwich at Lucky's after my latest Cub game, though, and one day . . .

quote:

Originally posted by buffetbuster My second choice is Pierogie Plus in McKees Rocks. Pittsburgh has a large eastern European population, but very few of these types of restaurants. That is because most of this type of cooking is done at home or at the local church. Pierogie Plus is happily an exception to this.

They are located, in true Roadfood style, in an old gas station and they have exceptional pierogies, stuffed cabbage, halushki and other Old World dishes. You can get your food hot, but most people get it cold, to take home and heat up there. The place is so small, that if you are the third in line, you are most likely going to be standing outside.

Not to mention the pierogi races at Pirates games.

Still, who can't love a city that's best represented by good, cheap eats?

Big Ugly Mich-
You know, I completely forgot about the pierogie races. I take that as a sign that one of the two places for Pittsburgh should definitely be a pierogi place!

quote:

Originally posted by rjb

New York City:

Peter Luger's or the original Palm
The Oyster Bar (Grand Central)
Katz's Deli

I couldn't agree more! Except I would've also mentioned the defunct Automats

Baltimore, MD:

there are lots of wonderful places that have been here for years... but if I had to pick to two represent:

Faidley's (at Lexington Market) - for crabcakes, and for clams that people eat w/ hard boiled eggs (they actually keep an egg slicer behind the raw bar)

And if you're not big on seafood, you're still in luck. Check out the other concessions at the market, including a great Korean soul food stand - best greens in town. On Fridays, the eagle flies and crowds show up to drink beer and hang. And when the circus comes to town each spring, the market throws a big feed for the elephants in the parking lot.


Martick's - this place is pure Baltimore... peculiar, slightly depressing, and very magical. You ring the doorbell of what looks like a deserted, peeling blue storefront on a lonely downtown street ... and the owner or the one waitperson answers, probably much like the speakeasy and poets cafe it once was. The fading wallpaper in itself is fabulous - mock snakeskin! The house pate is strange but very good, served with dill pickles; and la specialte de la maison is a sweet potato soup that is always on the menu. The food is French influenced, somewhat experimental, and not always what you hope for... but still worth experiencing. Sharing is a good policy. Morris Martick, the owner/chef was born and still lives upstairs (he's approx 80), went to cooking school in Paris and on very hot days, cooks in the nude. Hurry, he's always threatening to close the place down.