jhlurie

Since Mr. Wolf apparently thinks you'd be dead set against Ellen's "Parking Lot Dinner", are you confirming that such is the case, or is your current strong opinion the opposite?

More realistic might be the "Food Court Lunch". You walk into a mall and cherry-pick items from food court restaurants... Malls are almost everywhere in the country, so its feasable. -Side Salad Shaker from McDonald's--providing it seems to have been prepared that day. Side salad is lettuce only, except for a bit of egg, tomato and scalions, so you are fairly safe from bad ingredients -Fries from Nathan's or Chick-Fil-A -1st choice - Shakes from a Haagen Dazs: 2nd choice: Shakes or Frostees or whatever the heck they call them, from Wendy's -Popeye's biscuits -Onion Petals and/or Jalapeno Poppers from Arby's -Chic-Fil-A chicken sandwich -- original style only -Cinamon Bun from Cin-a-bon Not all of these would be in the same mall, of course, so you just pick the ones available and double portions if a variety doesn't exist. I'll bet Holly Moore more than Steven would have strong opinions on this topic. Holly... are you out there? (Edited by jhlurie at 1:23 pm on Sep. 2, 2001)

I far from the most adventurous of foodies. I'm downright conservative, and the list of things I won't eat might rival the list of things I will. But for some reason I've never had a problem with Alligator (I suspect I'd like Rattlesnake too, but that's another topic). My three experiences with Gator have been as a sausage in Gumbo, as a fried concoction treated kind of like Calamari and as a filet. What other Gator eatin' experiences are out there? Do folks other than the cajuns eat it? Is Crocodile an acceptible substitute, and if so who eats it? Aussies?

We have to work on a good drink involving use of hot pepper or chili oil (BESIDES a Bloody Mary, I mean). I'm trying to think of what combinations of alcohol and base liquids this would work with besides a vegetable base like Tomato juice. I'm thinking that a Citrus/hot oil combo with some kind of soothing alcohol to counterbalance it might work... Or not.

When I was away last I had both a great Mexican chicken soup with tons of chili oil and cilantro, and a great Thai chicken soup with tons of chili oil and lemongrass. I guess there's a clear pattern there to my preferences. :) I haven't noticed a "Chicken Soups from around the World" thread anywhere, so I'm gonna start one!

I'm kind of the reverse... I've always loved cilantro--even before it became trendy--but can only barely stand dill. My relationship with Lemongrass is actually most similar to yours with Cilantro. I hated it years ago, but now recognize how necessary it is to certain dishes.

Let's say that the non-shellfish were "as good or better" (my exact phrase) and that the people I was eating with (who have eaten at Silver Pond) reported that they thought that the shellfish were also "as good or better". Then again, since we are in NJ and not in KC, and since Silver Pond is still better than 95% of its competition outside of Chinatown, its still a pretty good choice. No? And I also think that the phrase "as good or better" admits that there is a slight margin of error since I didn't have food from both places side-by-side. If you want to quible I'll say instead that it ranged from "almost as good up to better".

Saw this website for a Thai restaurant (http://www.yumyum.co.uk/) and noticed that they call the dishes "Yam" instead of "Yum". Is this just a case of the English being contrary again, or is this a legit alternate spelling? :) I was also interested by the fact that these guys give the recipes to everything they serve. Cool! Of special note are a few things I haven't seen elsewhere, like the <a href="http://www.yumyum.co.uk/yamthavai.html">Jungle Salad (YAM THA VAI) </a>, the <a href="http://www.yumyum.co.uk/yamsomo.html">Pomelo Salad (YAM SOM O) </a> and the <a href="http://www.yumyum.co.uk/yamhuapee.html">Banana Flower Salad (YAM HUA PEE)</a>.

Jason... what's the name of that badly air conditioned Brazilian BBQ place you and Rachel took me to? That certainly belongs on this list. Somewhat grease-spattered, but the food was plentiful and pretty good...

Perhaps its a bit more pedestrian than Squid Yum, but my faves are Duck Yum and Beef Yum. Relatively boring, I know, but some of the versions I've had have been really great.

It's what I was told... however I was told so by a civilian (someone at another table), not by an employee. The slogan is accurate, however.

Uh... all I can say after reading that is "Yum"--pun intended.

In the past few years I've become a big big fan of Thai Salads, aka "Yum". In fact, I look forward to a good Yum even more than a good curry these days. I find the unique combinations of sweet, spicy, tart, salty and vinigary ingedients in the best Yums to be absolutely unbeatable. Does anyone else share this obsession, and if so have you tried to prepare them at home? Or if not, what restaurants have you had the best Yum at?

Charles Chips were indeed the best. I haven't seen 'em here in the Northeast for at least 7 or 8 years... Believe it or not, those silly "French Bistro" chips from that monster Frito Lay are actually good. I doubt anything like them was ever served in a French Bistro, but they are worth trying if you haven't had them.

po' boy sandwiches from about a dozen different excellent vendors on carts in New Orleans, and if your definition of "street" includes fast places NOT on carts, most especially the po' boys at Mother's Restaurant at 401 Poydras.

Back from KC... In addition to Stroud's, a few other observations... BBQ/Traditional American: With the exception of Stroud's and a night at the Buffet at the Ameristar Casino (formerly The Station Casino), I didn't visit anything in these categories--since I'd been to several of these types of places on my last visit to K.C. 6 months ago. Since I've already brought it up, I'll say that the Ameristar Casino Buffet is on par with the better quality buffets in Las Vegas. The night I was there was a theme night, where the featured item was filet mignon from the popular meat distributor Omaha Steaks. I had 3, since I've always thought that Omaha Steaks are of very good quality. Other theme nights feature Crab, Lobster, etc. Chinese: The Chinese food in the area is poor, according to several sources, with one great exception--a place I DID visit myself. In an unassuming corner of downtown (well away from the tourist areas) is a place called Bo Ling's, where I had absolutely superior Dim Sum. The quality was as good, or better, than my NJ standard Silver Pond, and the selection included at least 30 different items during my visit (and according to several reviews I read at least another 20 items I didn't see on that visit). Of particular note was the black bean BBQ pork, the completely outrageous chicken spring rolls, the noodle dishes freshly fried up right in front of you, some absolutely fantastic Gai lum, and some of the best sticky rice I've had anywhere. Since I'm not partial to shrimp dishes I can't comment on those, but I was told by my dining companions that they were off the scale in terms of yummyness. http://www.bolings.com for more info, and don't be put off by the somewhat cheesy website. I visited the oldest location, at 4800 Main Street in downtown K.C. and can't really comment on the other two locations that the website discusses. If you ever visit K.C on a weekend, this place is a MUST. Cajun: I had some mediocre Cajun food at a place called "Jazz", but for completeness I'm commenting on it. The only item of note at Jazz were the Beignets I had for desert, which were very good. The Jambalaya I had was passable, but only just, and most of the rest of the menu consisted of "blackended" versions of various meat and seafood items. Thai: I wanted to visit at least one of the main steak houses (Rosie mentioned a few), but on the night we'd elected for this we got sidetracked in another part of town. So instead we visited a little hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant called "Tasty Thai". If that sounds like the name of a place in a strip mall... its because it is. Next to a K-Mart, a Papa John's Pizza and a Laundromat, in fact. The location is SO bad (it's in a part of town called the Northlands, north of K.C. proper and filled with LOTS of strip malls) that the place apparently almost went bankrupt last year--after only being open for about 6 months--for lack of business. But a timely review in the Kansas City Star apparently saved their hides, and the food is well deserving of having been saved. The Northern Thai Golden Noodle Soup (similar to Tom Kar, but with egg noodles) was hot enough to almost floor me (and my tolerance is VERY high), but also contained hints of enough other flavors to keep my interest. The Yum Nua (Beef Salad) was probably the 2nd best I've ever had... and I've had some really good Thai Beef Salad. Other excellent dishes I stole portions of from my companions included the excellent Tiger Cried Beef (marinated beef in a tangy sauce), and a very subtle Panang Curry over noodles. Despite the slightly hick/ghetto location inside strip mall city, Tasty Thai has a website at http://www.kctastythai.com where you can view the menu for the unlikely event of ever getting stuck in Northern Kansas City and needing some decent food. :) Mexican: You may (or may not) be surprised to hear that the Mexican in Kansas City is FAR better than in the Northeast. In fact, many people there who have traveled think it better than most West coast Mexican. The odd thing is that most of the Mex restaurants are of the previously mentioned "strip mall" variety, and yet folks there say that if you pick a different one at random each day, apparently they are all uniformly--and somewhat anonymously--excellent. I ate one lunch and one dinner in two such places, and while I can't verify that all Mexican food in K.C. follows these rules, I think that it might be true. The two key elements apparently are a.) better produce and meat than just about anywhere else in the country and b.) a large displaced population of immigrant Mexican workers who were originally brought to the area as seasonal farm workers. Together they seem to equal an excellent selection of small Mexican restaurants throughout all of Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas. Italian: I didn't try any Italian this trip (I did last time), but from what I've heard it's uniformly horrible in K.C. Then again--a slight disclaimer--I simply may not have asked the right people... Overall, I'm still not THAT impressed with Kansas City as a place to live (the pace is too slow for an Eastern lad like me...), but I will confirm that good food is indeed very possible there... largely due to an influx of talented and creative Mexican, Thai, Chinese people who are ensuring that the kind of food I had at Stroud's is only one of many available. (Edited by jhlurie at 11:06 pm on Aug. 28, 2001)

getting off topic a bit (since its not in NJ), I had good southern cuisine in Missouri, of all places. http://www.egullet.com/cgi-bin/topic.cgi?forum=12&topic=18 for my description of Strouds--also in Fort Worth Texas, from what I hear.

Upon arrival I was taken to a place called Stroud's. Stroud's seems to have locations at least here and in Fort Worth Texas. For what it's worth (maybe not much) Stroud's received the 1998 James Beard Award-suppossedly for its Pan Fried Chicken. The Chicken was indeed very good--but the Pork Chops were even better. Pan seared, heavy with black pepper... just the way they're suppossed to be. The accompanying fresh applesauce was completely unnecessary, but was good enough to eat seperately, since it literally was just mashed up apples without added sugar. The Chicken was freshly killed by the way--the "quaint" motto of Stroud's is apparently "we choke our own chickens". And they do... out back--the morning before they fry them up. The other major highlight was the Cinnamon Buns. They give these instead of bread or cornbread. Not too sticky (and with only minimal icing), they work really well. Fixins with the meal include mounds of mashed potatoes, cottage fries, green beans with bacon and an extra bowl of gravy. I also tried some of the chicken fried steak, and it was quite good as well--although to my northern palate I thought it needed just a bit of the black pepper that the Pan-seared Pork Chops had in such abundance. The location I visited was called Stroud's Oak Ridge Manor--a converted log cabin built in 1827 an expanded many times through the years so that the front has classic southern architecture (with a porch as large as several rooms of the house!), one of the sides has a large dining room overlooking a lake litterally brimming with VERY large swans and the back end is the original two room cabin.

Actually, Ill accept BBQ recommendations too, but I figure the people I'm visiting (they've lived there for 8 months) probably know plenty of them. So does anyone here have any special knowledge of good restaurants in K.C.? (Edited by jhlurie at 11:27 am on Aug. 23, 2001)

There is also a Burger King somewhere downtown with high speed Internet-browsing while you eat capability. I haven't been there but read about it in a newspaper last year.

It's a good thing they taste much better than they look. Then again, melted cheese, red meat and onions are rarely attractive singly, or in combination. And the way the top part of the bun got all wrinkled... that's the topper in that photo. Doesn't really affect the taste, of course.

Personally, the one or two times I've been thrust through the doors of an Olive Garden I have NOT been impressed. Heck, it wasn't even a little good. And the other "downside" argument I didn't make in my initial presentation was that arguably chain restaurants have helped kill many smaller mom & pop restaurants. And another argument could be that they've helped keep down the expectations of locals who come to think of that chain as being "high class" somehow (odd idea that... but I've seen it). But there ARE exceptions... even you seem to have admitted so. So that was partially the purpose here: to discuss the exceptions, as well as the whole concept of chain/franchise restaurants. I mean, have Stuckey's really done any harm as a concept? Was Howard Johnson's the beginning of the end, or just what they claimed to be--a consistent good meal mainly for the traveler? And the big kahuna... Starbucks. Some people swear by it and some think its the ultimate scourge. (Edited by jhlurie at 11:09 am on Aug. 12, 2001)

Recently I was in an area out of town where I knew none of the restaurants, had no opportunity to look anything up, and didn't have the time to go around asking. So I pulled into a local Applebee's and had lunch. It wasn't great, it wasn't bad... it was just Applebee's. Applebee's is my current "safe" chain restaurant in the same way that many MANY years ago TGI Friday's was (but no longer is...). Thinking about this reminded me of the internal debate I've always had about chain restaurants. On one hand they cater to the lowest common denominator and even if they luck into an up and coming or accidental talent to run their kitchen the menu is always unchallenging. On the other hand, they provide a safe harbor of consistency for the traveler (in that light even a "fast food" chain like McDonald's qualifies--perhaps even more so...). Also, it occured to me that even the most despised chain sometimes, by happy accident, has one or two outstanding items--things that may be guilty pleasures just as much as the "junk food" we've discussed elsewhere. I'm curious if the opinion here is overwhelmingly that chain restaurants are a scourge, or if anyone thinks there are redeeming qualities. I'll qualify this by saying that my own consumption of chain restaurant food is pretty limited (3 or 4 times a year at most), excluding fast food--which I'm guilty of eating on road trips, commutes, late nights, etc. as much as once every few weeks. Also, if you are a confessed fan of some type of chain restaurant, what are the outstanding items that draw you there? This can include fast food if you'd like. And yes, I've seen the many articles on how unhealthy most chain restaurant food is. Worse than most outright fast food in many cases. (edited for speeling, er, spelling... hey guys does the next Ikonboard have a spellchecker! :) ) (Edited by jhlurie at 11:53 pm on Aug. 13, 2001)

Well it is a Northern NJ thread. Jay... why don't you post a Central Jersey thread and post Morristown recommendations. Well... actually some might still consider that Northern Jersey. And besides, those would all be within 10 miles of where you USED to live! :)

1.) I'm assuming Jason meant 3 or 4 EACH of light and dark... in other words, the end of just the first round! 2.) The beer AT McSoreley's is much better than the McSoreley's you can get bottled and on tap elsewhere in the city. It's certainly no threat to any real sophisticated beer, and there are tons of better in-bar breweries in New York as far as beer quality, but the beer is far from crap. The fact is that going to McSoreley's (which I only manage once every year or two at most) is more about the experience than the beer--its about the history, the neighborhood, the cheese plates, the sawdust, the ugly old pictures on the wall, the grouchy barkeeps, the sense of sitting and drinking in a spot where ten thousand other butts have probably sat (I know that sounds gross...). And the beer really does taste much better than what is available in MOST bars.