What's your favorite restaurant and meal?

[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!

[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

[shootingstar]

..Now where shall we start

We like well-executed ethnic food...and it doesn't have to be expensive. I prefer to order dishes/meals that I don't /seldom prepare myself (and I do cook 60% Asian-style meals).

So there are some favourite sushi restaurants. But one of them is actually a family-run Japanese grocery store where many Japanese-Canadians flock themselves. A good sign. They make fresh, diverse and well-priced sushi, sashimi, donurbi, etc. So we buy several packs and settle for 85 cent tofu miso soup bowl.

I like genuine Italian (not just pizza please), Thai, Middle Eastern, Greek and East-West fusion that's imaginative and has the right ying-yang feel in taste. To me, raw bok choy is crossing the line..is just dumb..and puzzling to anyone raised on Asian cuisine.

My partner comes from a family line of German pastry cooks...Black Forest Region. There's still a family inn-restaurant there. so I have adopted his strong preference for gourmet style cakes/tortes and flans. Ganache in downtown Vancouver is a upscale place near us where a French-trained pastry chef has lovely little cakes that are imaginative and well-executed. Also Thomas Haas in North Vancouver has excellent desserts. The guy is German and formally trained /from Black Forest Region.

You have to understand my partner's mother baked for family dinners, multi-layer light, flavourful mocha tortes, linzertortes (real German recipes call for aging which deepens the flavour), etc. Recipes that are very difficult to find in English language. We prefer to honour the memory of her cooking/baking... buying quality baking.

At home, favourite meals include:

something strudel done with bought phyllo --escargots, mushrooms, garlic and onions is delish. so is pear with ginger root, cinnamon, aniseed and honey in phyllo.

*Seared bison marinated in maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, with. With roasted beets on side. (roasted with star anise, very easy to make). Sauteed asparagus in onion, garlic and abit of soy sauce. With wild rice. Glass of merlot wine. We've had variations of this meal several times a yr.

*I make homemade foaccacia 3 ways --1. sundried tomato, basil, onion and garlic 2. black olives, rosemary, onion and garlic 3. fresh grapes with grated ginger root, crushed aniseed, cardamon, cinnamon, nutmeg and laced with honey. Fresh cut figs is nice too. Or add bits of goat cheese 5 min. before baking is done.

*Chicken breast with thyme, mustad yogurt sauce over rice or egg noodles

*Or just a lovely squash-apple/pear soup that my partner loves to make. He makes excellent carrot soup variations also. His specialties....

*And I always love to make a steamed fresh salmon fillet with some ginger root, green onion, abit of oil and soy. Sometimes put in rehydrated ****ake mushroom slices. Rice and sauteed/steamed veggies on side.

A steamed meat dish, done Chinese style, is actually a comfort, home food to me. It is a childhood , easy (and yes, healthy) type of cooking to me.

My idea of a LAZY meal at homeis: buckwheat noodles cooked for only 5 min. Drain and flavour with some sunflower oil and abit of soy. Or rice from rice cooker where a CHinese sausage was cooked in plus egg white thrown into cooking rice...to naturally cook. Just easy, lazy cooking...

[KnottedYet]

ooooooohhhh recipe? please! please!

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

[Trek420]

Shootingstar, there used to be a North Coast Native American restaraunt in Vancouver. I remember it from my college days. I think it was called Muc Muc? Smoked salmon, venison dishes, steamed fiddlehead ferns (steamed in clam broth), cedar infused teas ..... the setting felt/looked like a long house.

Is it still there?

[Velobambina]

The Lebanese Taverna, Arlington, VA. I love the Fatteh Bel Djaje--it's also good w/lamb instead of chicken. The Lebanese Taverna Market--not a formal restaurant but you can get a lot of stuff from the menu there--is a couple blocks from my house.

Five Guys -- double cheeseburger or the Italian Store in Arlington for an authentic "hoagie." Smoked moz w/sweet peppers, lettuce, and tomato! (they call them subs but anyone who lived in Penna knows that they are hoagies)

Fast food favorite meal---Wendy's chili and a FROSTY.

[smilingcat]

hmm someone mention whole fried fish Cuban style??? That is gooodd... And fried plantain. I would like to have that again but its pretty pricey around here.

I don't know why it is, but non-chain restaurants around here have terrible service. Well most restaurants around here have horrible service.

We like a local chain called Wahoo's. A Baja styled fish taco. Grilled or blackened albacore taco with black beans and rice. Costs about $4.00 and with drinks, two of us can have a decent meal for about $12.00. pretty healthy eat too.

I love to cook and bake so its not that big of a deal to have a really nice meal at home. Oh I did stint as a cook in NYC. It helps. and it costs $ instead of $$$$

my favorite dish? well I'm a foodie so anything well executed yumm...
chinese: sizziling rice soup, birds nest soup, braised whole bass...
thai: Tom Ka kai (soup), clear noddle salad, ...
Mexican: Good tamales, occasional Albadingas (sp) (soup), lots of seafood.
Sorry but tacos, burritos, and like are not really quintisential mexican.

Spanish: tapas of all sort, Paella yummmm....
Morrocoan: Good couscous with real lamb Tajine. Bacclava...
Italian: what's not to like?
French: diddo.
German: Good honest Schnizzle with good Sourkraut any variety wold do.
simple but delish Sausage and cabbage with dry Riesling.
oh and all those wonderful pastries. Tis the season for Kugelhof(sp)
Sorry to the Finn's but I will pass on Aquavee and Ludafesk(sp) that gellied fish dish.

ooo and sorry to Brits for that eel in aspic.

Irish: ooo love the corned beef with cabbage... quitinsential Irish dish.

smilingcat

[Starfish]

Any excellent Italian meal with a great red wine is usually tops on my list.

But, every once in awhile, I get a craving for a great rare roast beef with home-style yorkshire pudding...the way my mom used to make it in the big pan. Then, lots of potatoes, with the blood from the roast spooned over the top. Mmmmmm......

[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!

[shootingstar]

Shootingstar, there used to be a North Coast Native American restaraunt in Vancouver. I remember it from my college days. I think it was called Muc Muc? Smoked salmon, venison dishes, steamed fiddlehead ferns (steamed in clam broth), cedar infused teas ..... the setting felt/looked like a long house.

Is it still there?

You must be referring to Liligut Restaurant down by English Bay near Stanley Park. They have just released an aboriginal contemporary cookbook:
http://www.wherepeoplefeast.com/

I haven't eaten at the restaurant myself. Home aboriginal cooking seems plain to me....but locally there aren't strong spices/herbs grown here.

I assumed that fiddleheads tended to be more from Ontario and Maritime provinces...I lived in southern Ontario and did look forward to making steamed fiddleheads. However gotta do it right or it tastes wrong (ie. soapy).

I always die for beautifully thinly sliced cold smoked salmon. I find the hot smoked salmon abit heavy and oilier.

At home we do make a smoked trout sushi.

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I probably sound foodie-like....but honest, I was raised on home-cooked, everyday Chinese peasant dishes -- in Canada where I was born and raised. Same world as most of you in this forum, but a different interpretation of food everyday ie.:

*steamed chicken slices with tiger lily buds, ginger root, onion, sh*ttake mushrooms, a jot of soy sauce and jot of oil.
*many light vegetable broths or chicken broth with all sorts of Chinese veggies thrown in ie. Mustard greens, gai lan, Shanghai bok choy, watercress, spinach, etc. My mother was BIG on nutritious broth soups for us, as on add-on to a dinner.
*ginseng with certain Chinese herbs soup....for cold mouth sores, or if a child felt "off".
*homemade air-dried Chinese pork slices with soy, onion, etc. I helped my mother hang the pieces of meat or with marinating process. A winter task...
*white rice 4-5 times wk. as a child/teenager. I never had brown rice until university years. No, never Uncle Ben's. I learned to cook rice with a plain stainless steel pot...it's not difficult. But rice cookers just make it easier now and brainless.


Tonight will just throw together local spotted fresh shrimp in stir-fry with red peppers, bok choy, onion, garlic and ginger. Over Chinese wheat linguine or white rice.

I bought shrimp yesterday so they must be used. Tomorrow for dinner, it's sauteed smoked mussels from can with chopped tomatoes, onions thyme and garlic mixed with linguine. will put a dab of Malaysia chili paste (sambal) at beginning in frying pan oil, to add a zip to dish.

Once there's a recipe we like, we try to memorize it and it gets changed/transformed in different ways. Thankfully my partner likes to whip up some great, sometimes impressively gourmet meals off the top of his head.
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Some chain restaurants are fine....Boston Pizza or in Seattle there's Il Fornello where they make a terrific Sabayon....this sort of creamy liqueur dessert mixture. Just heavenly.

So when we are on cycling trips... we do hope for reasonable restaurants /places with some choice. Truly....it's understanding cooking techniques, knowing how to showcase natural flavours of ingredients and having fun/interest in food.

Honest, I'm not keen on tuna casserole unless there's no other choice.

[elk]

I SO miss North End Pizza....or Pino's on Beacon St in Boston...a real Italian big droopy thin crust pizzeria peetz...

But here we have Burgerville...free range antibiotic free beef, local produce....and I love a Tillamook Cheesburger, a Mocha Perk smoothie and some Yukon gold fries......

But I try to keep it to a minimum...

[redrhodie]

you guys are killing me.

[Trek420]

But here we have Burgerville...free range antibiotic free beef, local produce....and I love a Tillamook Cheesburger, a Mocha Perk smoothie and some Yukon gold fries......

But I try to keep it to a minimum...

Sounds a little like this joint. Now this is road food anytime I'm going from Sacramento to the Bay Area or vice versa.

http://daviswiki.org/Redrum_Burger

[elk]

Sounds a little like this joint. Now this is road food anytime I'm going from Sacramento to the Bay Area or vice versa.

http://daviswiki.org/Redrum_Burger

yum...I might have to forgo my ethics to eat there..(I like BV because it respects its food sources... ....but its oso hard to resist that road food!!!