Page 2 - Favorite Eatery Executive Ownership Style?

Doe's Eat Place one block west of where I work in Little Rock. Steaks and tamales are the specialty, but I always order their hamburger. If it gets too crowded, you have to walk through the kitchen to get to the overflow area. Its the quintessential dive: stick it on any corner in America.

The Camellia Grill in New Orleans. When its 3:00 AM and you have the munchies, the best place in the world to go. I always do breakfast, my wife does their hamburgers. No tables, just counter seating. Cash-only, so don't spend it all drinking Hurricanes before you get there.

Vino's Brew Pub about 7 blocks south of where I work. The menu is simple: pizza, Guinness, punk / alternative music. Another great dive (if you want proof, they have a 360 degree QuickTime of the interior).

The guys who pull up a trailer and fry catfish in the empty lot around the corner each day at lunch.

rycamor, you have them Stone Crabs their in Florida that I have heard so much about. We are the king of the Blue Crabs here being right beside the chesapeake bay, but I am dying to try some of those Stone Crabs you guys have down their.

Life for me is sitting beside a bushel of crabs, watching sunday football and drinking ice cold beer, oh man, it don't get no better than that.....

That's right!! I forgot about Joe's Stone Crab, on South Beach. This is a South Florida institution. It's been around for 80 years, and it used to be the kind of place where you could go in shorts and a T-shirt and expect to be seated next to Humphrey Bogart, or Hemingway.

It's kind of expensive ($50), but I have eaten there twice, and it is awesome. You get a plate of stone crab claws almost the size of your hand, with shells so thick they need to "pre-crack" them with a hammer, a plate of hash browns, and then Key lime pie for dessert. This is about as good as it gets.

Ironically enough, my company had offices for a year and a half right upstairs from another place: Peter's Stone Crabs, and for some reason we never ate there, even though we provided them web hosting, consulting, etc...

Thats insane that you just mentioned that - Joe's Stone Crabs is exactly the same place my buddies keep talking about. Man, too funny........

[QUOTE]you have them Stone Crabs their in Florida[?QUOTE]

That is the stuff I'm talking about, ugh, raw crab, my stomach churns thinking about it Ah well, I'm sure there is plenty of food here in kiwiland you'all wouldn't like, that I do - Lol

Z.

Trust me, Zitan, if this was anywhere between Orlando and St. Augustine, it either a.) wasn't really stone crab, or b) was at least a day or so out of the water, in which case it was already old. I wouldn't trust stone crab north of West Palm Beach.

Joe's gets the fresh catch of the day from Florida City, on the south tip, and has it served to you the same day. And no one sane eats raw stone crab. It is usually steamed, and then chilled.

Next time you come to Florida, let me know, and I'll send you to the right places .

By the way, when I was a kid, we knew a New Zealand family. I remember this awesome slide show their dad showed us, with that city you guys have with the super long name, etc... I will visit New Zealand some day. (My wife and I are the kind of people who prefer to live poor and travel).

Don't know anything about N.Z. food, though. Any informative links for us?

Damn you people for mentioning crab!!!

I could sit in one of those Vegas buffets for HOURS, eating nothing but crab legs. You never get full but those legs taste SOOOOOOOOO good every time!!!

I've got to weigh on my favorite cuisine- Ethiopian (dumb jokes not appreciated. . .)

Like Indian, but more savory, with bread to die for. If you're a cook (my three hobbies are cooking, computers, and photography, geek central, huh?) it's really fun and not too difficult to make impressive Ethiopian meals, including the bread (injera). Fermented for three days, with a texture that's like a crumpet, but round and flat like a tortilla. Awesome.

I'm also a big non-chain fan. In fact, I go out of my way to keep my money local. Working in Boston (on the same street as the FSF, Temple Place) I'm fortunate enough to live about 2 blocks from Chinatown, where you can get ENORMOUS Vietnamese noodle bowls for less than 6 bucks. You put the ingredients together yourself (a bag with sprouts, basil and fresh veggies, one with meat/tofu or cooked veggies, condiments like srirachi, and broth) and the stuff is incredible and CHEAP.

Perhaps my favorite Asian restaurant is Buddha's Delight in Boston- a totally meatless restaurant (it may even be vegan) I'm 95% vegetarian, and they do fake meat to die for (fake meat isn't a favorite of mine, though it's fun once in a while.) The food is great, and it's hilarious to see all the "beef," "shrimp," and "chicken" in quotes.

Also the North End is incredible for Italian- I've NEVER had a bad meal there. My favorite is Restaurante Lucia, not cheap but never a wait for seating, even on busy nights. Fabulous Seafood Fra Diavolo.

Glad I just ate!

Speaking of all this food - is there anybody here in the forum that has bought a chinese meal or dish and not gotten like 3 meals in one. I tell you, every freak'n chinese restauraunt I go to you get like enough food to feed you and your family with one meal. How do these places stay in business, you bye a sesame chicken lunch special - or as they say "Ah, u want numbo 12 lunch special, you want spicey?" - and for $4.50 you get enough food for 3 lunches. Is this like the norm - I mean is this all chinese places everywhere?

I think so jpenn. Us American rednecks need our filling so pile it on baby pile it on!!!

Actually I like that they give you so much because I like taking some home and eating it later.

Thank you guys for tips on eating in Central PA - there are many good places around here but there are also some that are terrible!

Cheers,
Joe of 4Life

Jpenn,

From my Chinese Malaysian friend I learned that this is nothing compared to the 10-course Chinese restaurants "back home". The Chinese like to eat. This guy is 5' 4", thin, and can easily put away as much as me at any meal (I am 6' 2", 210 lb).

It is a blast to eat with him, because he is from a respected family back in Malaysia which owns restaurants and other businesses. He can walk into any true Chinese restaurant, and toss the menu aside. He will ask the waiter for a combination of X with Y and some Z on the side, and invariably, the chef will appear, sometimes even bowing; "Ohh... You know that?". Then we would get the real treatment.

You know it's a real Chinese restaurant if--

1. You find 3 generations of the same family serving and running things.

2. Later in the evening, you see workers from other Chinese restaurants begin to fill up the place.

3. There are two separate menus: one for Americans, and one for Chinese.

4. When you say no, you want Chinese food, they don't give you a blank stare.

We used to go to this little family place fitting the above description called Hung Wo (let the juvenile jokes commence ).

Rycamor, I'm going to find out where stumlockers is But the crab there was terrible, along with the rest of the food. It definately wasn't Joe's.


Awesome, although that may not be for a long time unfortunately One of the coolest thing about Florida was the Halloween celebrations. Very cool, you just don't get that in NZ. I could point you to the best haunts in Florida, but we've missed the night



I can't spell that off the top of my head, but I can say it. NZ is a beautiful country to travel in, particularly if you like tramping in native bush. There are some wonderful walks here, and yes travelling is real cheap. If you do come over definately let me know, and I'll give you the info on all the best places to visit and to stay



Well I can give you too many links, because not a lot of places are on the web. Also when we go traveling we actually do a lot of camping, rather than wining and dinning.

A couple of links are:
http://www.pompeii.co.nz
http://www.indiatoday.co.nz

Trust me their food is a lot better than their web design ability

CTB,
I believe the place you went to used to be called Wonderful Wanda's. They used to have an awesome happy hour, man there were women everywhere and the drinks were super cheap. The happy hour food was good to.

That does sound like one nasty meal.

Get yourself to the Hamilton and get a CHILI DOG!!