What's your favorite restaurant and meal?

[kelownagirl]

Big Mac, Large Fries, and a Chocolate Shake.

Just kidding!!!


Lobster, pretty well anywhere. Also the crab ravioli at the Wild Apple Grill. And pretty well anything on the menu at the Minstrel Cafe where I got married last spring. Yeah, I know, you've never heard of any of these restaurants...

[Trek420]

Yeah, I know, you've never heard of any of these restaurants...

Yeah, but I like that. Keep those reviews coming in.

[OakLeaf]

Mmmmmm, too many choices for restaurant meal.

Whole Cuban-style fried fish at the Spanish River Grille, New Smyrna Beach, is right up there.

Just about anything on the menu at Dragonfly in Columbus.

I wish I remembered the name of the little hole-in-the-wall in Chicago where I first experienced Thai food in '83. It probably isn't even there any more. The proprietors had only been in the US for six months, and I thought I'd died and gone to food heaven.

Home meals? Am I taking a lot of trouble, or doing something pretty quick? If I've got the time and energy to mess around with phyllo, it's spanakopita, hands down. For an easy meal, Phillipine mongo - whole unpeeled mung beans with spinach, tomatoes and lime juice, served over rice. Hah, spinach in both. Yummy!

[Eden]

For an easy meal, Phillipine mongo - whole unpeeled mung beans with spinach, tomatoes and lime juice, served over rice. Hah, spinach in both. Yummy!

ooooooohhhh recipe? please! please!

[KnottedYet]

ooooooohhhh recipe? please! please!

Ooooh, Oakleaf, I want the recipe too! Please, please, pretty please post it for us?

[OakLeaf]

ooooooohhhh recipe? please! please!

Phillipine Mongo (adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking)

2 medium onions
7 cloves garlic
1 c whole unpeeled (green) mung beans
3 tbsp olive oil
3/4 lb tomatoes, chopped (or one 12-oz can or home-canned pint)
1 large bunch spinach leaves and roots (opt.), separated and well washed
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tbsp lime juice
1 lime, cut in wedges
1/4 c fruity extra virgin olive oil

Pick over and wash mung beans. Chop onions and mince garlic. Heat olive oil in a 4-6 qt pressure cooker. Add garlic and cook until golden brown. Add onions and saute until transparent. Add beans and boiling water to cover. Seal pressure cooker, bring to high pressure and cook 10-12 minutes, then release pressure using a quick-release method. Check beans for doneness; they should be tender and slightly mushy. If beans are not done, replace (but do not lock) lid and continue to cook until soft. Add tomatoes, spinach and lime juice. Cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach leaves are wilted and stems are soft but not mushy, about 5 minutes. Serve over rice. Pass lime wedges and fruity olive oil on the side.

That's how I usually make this dish. The original recipe calls for cooking the mung beans on the stovetop first (speed-soaked or soaked overnight, then simmer in plain water for 1-1/2 hrs). Then saute the garlic and onions, add fresh tomatoes and fry just until they start to catch, then add the cooked beans and the remaining ingredients.

If you don't usually cook beans in the pressure cooker but want to start, Lorna Sass has a couple of great cookbooks with detailed instructions and cooking times for soaked and unsoaked beans. Most important: always add oil to the cooking water, to cut down on foaming.

Enjoy!

[Fredwina]

really, really bad...
I like Steak N' Shake
The good news: I;m 2,00 miles away form the nearest location.
The bad news: in 3 weeks, I'll only be 7 miles

[carpaltunnel]

Nettie's Mexican Restaurant in Bellevue, Nebraska, yum. (You can't tell where Omaha ends and Belluevue begins.)

A family owned place in what used to be a filling station/cafe combo building from the 1950's. Nettie passed away a couple years ago but worked late into her 80's there, as did her boyfriend. Pictures of Nettie and all the generations of Escamillas all over the walls. Also pictures Nettie with some world famous people who find theirway to her when they are in town for a concert or game.

These days her daughter Cathy and her family continue to put out the same high quality food. I always get the potato and pea enchilada plate, smothered with lettuce and tomato. DH always orders the beef enchilada plate. They remember their regular customers. Everything is made from scratch including salsa, chili, and menudo. The chili is painfully hot with a wonderful flavor. We get a cup and spoon it judiciously over our enchiladas.

You come in the door, work your way to the cash register, put in your name, then stand in line until a table is ready. Or sit at the bar if there's room . A very basic looking place that people flock to for the great food. You're more likely to see well known Omaha faces there than about any place else.