OT: Restaurant and Food Thread

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Just heard that the owner of Ortanique’s is closing permanently. Between the Miracle Mile construction & Covid, they cant make it. There will be a lot more restaurant closings.
That’s a shame and a real loss. I feel like Miracle Mile has been under construction for decades now. Hopefully they are in a position to ride into the sunset. I’m sure their rent has gotten astronomical in recent years too.
 
Rents gonna be going down soon.
Unfortunately so are the number of diners comfortable eating in for the foreseeable future. Fast casual or places with food that holds well to go will be all the more in demand. Tough industry with thin margins. Maybe it will give more independent spots a shot, especially in cities like NYC and SF.
 
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The food out here in Colorado is TRASH. Its like when you had pot luck at work and to be nice you ate karens unseasoned food, but out here youre paying $25 a plate for it. The best restaurant I've found in colorado springs ins 503west. Asian fusion joint with a amazing pork belly noodle bowl.

For peel and eat shrimp breakers in nsb is my favorite. Good burgers too. Downtown Orlando it's little Saigon restaurant. My pops took me here when I was little and I dont know if the food is super fire or its the nostalgia but I've never gotten anything I was disappointed with. Corn fritters and rock shrimp at dixie crossroads in Titusville are bomb too.

And last but certainly not least baggs produce on the corner of 46 and sanford Ave has boiled peanuts that would make you slap your momma and then every other momma in sanford. I'm drooling just thinking of them bad boys.
Have you tried BlackBear Inn? Briarhurst Manor? Mona Lisa?

I might be dating myself here keeping it real for Powers....
 
Have you tried BlackBear Inn? Briarhurst Manor? Mona Lisa?

I might be dating myself here keeping it real for Powers....

Never eaten at briarhurst but have at the Broadmoor. I used do the pest control for black bear so thats a nope there, and fondue ain't really my thing. There are some pretty good newer joints on powers. The rib and chop house is pretty good. There's a skirted heifer that just opened and L&L Hawaiian usually does right. The wobbly olive is good and Bubbas33 stays packed but I wasnt impressed.

BBQ here is a joke but b'z on powers is the best ive had here. Its a permanent food truck in the parking lot of rocky mountain brewery across from the snooty fox. ( a strip club we dubbed the island of misfit toys).
 
Never eaten at briarhurst but have at the Broadmoor. I used do the pest control for black bear so thats a nope there, and fondue ain't really my thing. There are some pretty good newer joints on powers. The rib and chop house is pretty good. There's a skirted heifer that just opened and L&L Hawaiian usually does right. The wobbly olive is good and Bubbas33 stays packed but I wasnt impressed.

BBQ here is a joke but b'z on powers is the best ive had here. Its a permanent food truck in the parking lot of rocky mountain brewery across from the snooty fox. ( a strip club we dubbed the island of misfit toys).

Is Ted Turner's Montana Grill still in Briargate? Not bad, not great.
 
Is Ted Turner's Montana Grill still in Briargate? Not bad, not great.

Yes sir. Thats a pretty good spot too. I used to seevice that plaza too. There's a pf changs and the bad daddy burger bar is pretty good. That whole area is blowing up. Rent is 2k a month for a decent 2 bed 2 bath.
 
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3 top meals I’ve ever had:

- Hvar, Croatia: restaurant Zori. Rode a boat out to the island. Food plus ambience was incredible.

- San Sebastián - pound for pound, best food in the world. Tried The Txuleta is incredible. But, Akelare was an experience.

- Charleston, SC - FIG.
 
SANDWICH: Toss up between roasted lamb sandwich from Balthazar NYC, Ding’s crispy chicken sandwich from Houston’s and the lampredetto sandwich from Da Narbone in Florence
STEAK: Asador Etxebarri in Spain, The Grill NYC
PASTA: Lilia in Brooklyn
SEAFOOD: depending on what you like any restaurant in San Sebastián; shrimp at Bar Goiz Argi is a good one
BBQ: Rodney Scott’s
SOUL: Bertha’s Kitchen in Charleston
CAJUN: Liuzza's by the Track in NO
INDIAN: Memories of India in Lake Mary, FL(lamb chops)
MICHELIN: The French Laundry in CA lives up to the hype

Also visited Asador Etxebari a couple years ago. It's certainly up there, although so many great restaurants, vintages, styles, etc to have one "best" choice. A couple of photos here. And for those who aren't familiar: https://www.bonappetit.com/story/etxebarri-spain

Beyond that, so much has changed over the years in terms of what defines "great" cooking. I'm older and started eating well in the very early '80's. Back then it was classic style: Soltner's Lutece and La Bernadin, or New American: Inn at Little Washington and French Laundry, here in the as my "best" choices in the U.S. In Europe back then it was France, period. I preferred the cooking of the Burgundy region, and therefore would say Lameloise in Chagny, etc. moreso than the great rooms in Paris in the 80s/90s.

Fast forward to today, my taste has simplified substantially and so has my definition of great cooking. I admire classic style cooking, but am done with it personally. Hence a favorite such as Asador Etxebari in Europe where cooking simply consists of a variety of different woods and fire along with the very best regional food stock.

Here in the U.S. today, while French Laundry is always mentioned as the epitome of NoCal cooking, in all honesty it hasn't changed much since I first visited in the early '80s. IMO Manresa is where the best and most innovative cooking is being done in NoCal right now. in SF imo it's Benu, although Spruce would be my number two.

I've also noticed discussion about Napa and Sonoma. I lived in the Bay Area from 2000-2016 and spent a lot time in all of NoCal's wine regions. Napa makes sense if you coming in from out of town for vacation as that's where most things are located. But would also recommend getting over to the Farmhouse Inn in Forestville (west Sonoma County on the other side of the 101). And while the drive from the Bay Area is a little longer, we actually started spending more time up in the Anderson Valley. A lot of the original Napa and Sonoma growers who sold out years ago end up re-locating there. We'd base out of Mendocino (a treasure of a town) and spend the days sampling and visiting the produce/farmers and wineries/growers in the Anderson valley to the east. It's a very different vibe than Napa/Sonoma, which I personally prefer.

Great thread!
 

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Also visited Asador Etxebari a couple years ago. It's certainly up there, although so many great restaurants, vintages, styles, etc to have one "best" choice. A couple of photos here. And for those who aren't familiar: https://www.bonappetit.com/story/etxebarri-spain

Beyond that, so much has changed over the years in terms of what defines "great" cooking. I'm older and started eating well in the very early '80's. Back then it was classic style: Soltner's Lutece and La Bernadin, or New American: Inn at Little Washington and French Laundry, here in the as my "best" choices in the U.S. In Europe back then it was France, period. I preferred the cooking of the Burgundy region, and therefore would say Lameloise in Chagny, etc. moreso than the great rooms in Paris in the 80s/90s.

Fast forward to today, my taste has simplified substantially and so has my definition of great cooking. I admire classic style cooking, but am done with it personally. Hence a favorite such as Asador Etxebari in Europe where cooking simply consists of a variety of different woods and fire along with the very best regional food stock.

Here in the U.S. today, while French Laundry is always mentioned as the epitome of NoCal cooking, in all honesty it hasn't changed much since I first visited in the early '80s. IMO Manresa is where the best and most innovative cooking is being done in NoCal right now. in SF imo it's Benu, although Spruce would be my number two.

I've also noticed discussion about Napa and Sonoma. I lived in the Bay Area from 2000-2016 and spent a lot time in all of NoCal's wine regions. Napa makes sense if you coming in from out of town for vacation as that's where most things are located. But would also recommend getting over to the Farmhouse Inn in Forestville (west Sonoma County on the other side of the 101). And while the drive from the Bay Area is a little longer, we actually started spending more time up in the Anderson Valley. A lot of the original Napa and Sonoma growers who sold out years ago end up re-locating there. We'd base out of Mendocino (a treasure of a town) and spend the days sampling and visiting the produce/farmers and wineries/growers in the Anderson valley to the east. It's a very different vibe than Napa/Sonoma, which I personally prefer.

Great thread!

Tried to get to Farmhouse Inn on last trip but couldn’t get reservation. Have a work colleague who LOVES Anderson Valley.

It’s funny in the now 8 years I have been going to Napa Valley it has changed noticeably and that’s a short time frame.

I think in another 8 years we will see greater shift.
 
SANDWICH: Toss up between roasted lamb sandwich from Balthazar NYC, Ding’s crispy chicken sandwich from Houston’s and the lampredetto sandwich from Da Narbone in Florence
STEAK: Asador Etxebarri in Spain, The Grill NYC
PASTA: Lilia in Brooklyn
SEAFOOD: depending on what you like any restaurant in San Sebastián; shrimp at Bar Goiz Argi is a good one
BBQ: Rodney Scott’s
SOUL: Bertha’s Kitchen in Charleston
CAJUN: Liuzza's by the Track in NO
INDIAN: Memories of India in Lake Mary, FL(lamb chops)
MICHELIN: The French Laundry in CA lives up to the hype
Thomas Keller is Brilliant...Without question Best of the Best..and has been for 20+ yrs...
 
Also visited Asador Etxebari a couple years ago. It's certainly up there, although so many great restaurants, vintages, styles, etc to have one "best" choice. A couple of photos here. And for those who aren't familiar: https://www.bonappetit.com/story/etxebarri-spain

Beyond that, so much has changed over the years in terms of what defines "great" cooking. I'm older and started eating well in the very early '80's. Back then it was classic style: Soltner's Lutece and La Bernadin, or New American: Inn at Little Washington and French Laundry, here in the as my "best" choices in the U.S. In Europe back then it was France, period. I preferred the cooking of the Burgundy region, and therefore would say Lameloise in Chagny, etc. moreso than the great rooms in Paris in the 80s/90s.

Fast forward to today, my taste has simplified substantially and so has my definition of great cooking. I admire classic style cooking, but am done with it personally. Hence a favorite such as Asador Etxebari in Europe where cooking simply consists of a variety of different woods and fire along with the very best regional food stock.

Here in the U.S. today, while French Laundry is always mentioned as the epitome of NoCal cooking, in all honesty it hasn't changed much since I first visited in the early '80s. IMO Manresa is where the best and most innovative cooking is being done in NoCal right now. in SF imo it's Benu, although Spruce would be my number two.

I've also noticed discussion about Napa and Sonoma. I lived in the Bay Area from 2000-2016 and spent a lot time in all of NoCal's wine regions. Napa makes sense if you coming in from out of town for vacation as that's where most things are located. But would also recommend getting over to the Farmhouse Inn in Forestville (west Sonoma County on the other side of the 101). And while the drive from the Bay Area is a little longer, we actually started spending more time up in the Anderson Valley. A lot of the original Napa and Sonoma growers who sold out years ago end up re-locating there. We'd base out of Mendocino (a treasure of a town) and spend the days sampling and visiting the produce/farmers and wineries/growers in the Anderson valley to the east. It's a very different vibe than Napa/Sonoma, which I personally prefer.

Great thread!

Forgot to add in San Sebastián our splurge meal was Arzak which at time I think had two years in a row between top 10 / top 25 on the San Pelligrino world’s best list...well will just say I didn’t agree. Service was actually worst part which in those places was a HUGE surprise. Wish I had gone to Asador instead. But **** still remember the pinxtos in the Old Town.
 
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