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NEWS 235 - 16 Comments
From: Jackzilla Entered on: November 16, 2004 1:44 PM
Someone's homesick...
From: BigFatty Entered on: November 16, 2004 1:47 PM
I will start the thread with one of my all time favorites - The Sock in Murcia, Spain. This has to be own of the sweetest restaurants in the world! It is in my brothers neighborhood and from the outside it looks like a crappy old place - its sign is a big, ugly sock. I just returned from a visit, and I had to go back to this place. It had the best chicken I've ever had. All I wanted was their chicken, salted almonds, and potatoes.     The Sock didn't disapoint! Of the many times my brother as gone, they have never given him a menu. You just order stuff and they seem to have it. You order a beer and they bring out a large bucket of ice filled with bottles. You drink all the ice-cold frosties you want and they keep track. But the chicken - Man, it is hands down the best chicken you will ever eat. It is definately fresh, then just seasoned with salt and pepper. The throw it on the grill and viola! Perfection. I am usually very picky when I eat chicken - I leave lots of stuff on the bone. But, this chicken I am sucking the bones clean. The first time I went, it was so good it blew my mind. So the second time - same experience 1 year later. Go visit my brother and go visit the Sock!
From: The Bone Entered on: November 16, 2004 2:00 PM
Better than Costa Rican Road Chicken?
From: Jackzilla Entered on: November 16, 2004 2:52 PM
If ever a topic screamed for the participation of Johnnybells, this is it! Johnny! Where are you!? Your fans await!
From: The Bone Entered on: November 16, 2004 3:02 PM
One of my favorite restaurants is called Jim's. It's an Irish restaurant in Bahrain. The owner, Jim, is an excellent host. He comes over and talks with you and makes sure everything is going well. They have the best damn Irish stew ever. The Guinness flows freely. The rest of the menu kicks ass as well.     I tell you, the food outside the U.S. tends to be better. I don't know why. Ross can call bullshit all he wants, but out of all the restaurants I've been to, my favorites in terms of quality of food have all been from outside the U.S.     I've had better Italian food in England, Thailand, and Bahrain than anywhere I've ever been to in the U.S.     Better Irish food in Bahrain and Thailand than I've had in the U.S.     Better staples like chicken and fish meals in France and Spain.     I'll give the U.S. props on better barbecue and steakhouses.
From: Ross Entered on: November 16, 2004 4:30 PM
Way to go opening another can of worms, Fatty... let me guess, the site was too dead for your taste so you decided to stir things up a bit?     I actually have no trouble believing that on the whole the US has inferior "quality" (depending on how you define it) food than many countries around the world. Mostly, this is probably because the US is a huge country, both geographically and economically, and that cheap food tends to be crappy, and that's mostly what Americans eat since we're good at manufacturing it.     However, my main contention was that there are plenty of great restaurants in this country. Granted, the sheer number of restaurants here greatly dilute the good ones, no doubt about it. But we do have world-class restaurants here, including right here in Chicago. The very fact that the US has such a strong economy compared to other countries means that there will be lots of places to eat here. And most of them, as with any business, are going to be bad.     That said, in my own experience travelling abroad (as Bone likes to point out, I'm not nearly as well travelled as he, but hey as far as I'm concerned all this anecdotal evidence does not equate to evidence at all), I have been fairly nonplussed by most of the food I've had: Amsterdam, Toronto, Costa Rica, and Jamaica all had relatively comparable food to what I would eat in a comparable place in the US. And it wasn't any cheaper, either.     So the point is, if you want to eat well in the US, you can do it. However, what is harder is that you have to wade through tons of shit in order to get to the good stuff. Size for size, though, yeah, the US sucks.
From: BigFatty Entered on: November 17, 2004 3:35 AM
Hold on, this was not supposed to be another - US food sucks forum. In fact, I have quite a few US restaurants that I will add to this thread - including Hot & Now/Get m and Go! Especially when these two just came out - they where sweet. 39 cent burgers - get the fuck out! They gave McD and King a spank in the ass with their overpriced burgers. I remember ordering at the speaker and when I looked up to drive forward, my order was bagged up and waiting at the window. That was sweet. I remember many nights going there and having long conversations in the car while we consumed burgers.     Bone - we have another favorite... What was the name of that French restaurant in Florida? The Petite something or other? That was another sweet restaurant. It was a tiny little place where this frenchie went shopping in the morning and cooked it for lunch. The menu was whatever he felt like making. It was some great food! I think it was in Jacksonville. Bone should be able to elaborate further.
From: Creeko Entered on: November 17, 2004 6:51 AM
The Sock is good!!! It's a little dank, but that's its charm.   There's only one waiter who's probably worked there his entire life. He's old and probably doesn?t shower much, but he'll tell you what they got and bring you what you want.
From: Ross Entered on: November 17, 2004 8:11 AM
Actually as far as that goes, Yesterdog is probably my favorite place in Grand Rapids. Though that Louis Benton steakhouse ain't bad either. Talk about apples and oranges, though.
From: Jackzilla Entered on: November 17, 2004 9:29 AM
How about a roast beef sandwich with potatoes and gravy from Jimmy's Grill? Huge ass portions but so good you gotta eat it all! Then finish it off with a giant no-bake cookie the size of a pizza! GIDDY-UP!
From: BigFatty Entered on: November 17, 2004 10:24 AM
Where is Poor Johnny? He can back me up on some Checkers! Every time we've went (which was often) we've had fabulous food - and the fries are exceptional! We'd go there after a workout to get our protein. Yes, we were very health conscious then AND the lettuce counts as a vegetable portion.     I'll back Jack up on some Jimmy's! I took the Bone there once and it was hilarious. First, we almost fall throught the ratty porch floor. Then we order the small Beef/Pork platters and got these monster-sized portions. Then, we see the two waitresses whispering. One stops and asks us if we like it. We said 'Oh yeah, its great!' She turns to the other and says 'See I told you they would like it.' Um, like what? Bone and I were a little concerned with what we ate, but it was tasty and Large and N-charge! I swear the weight of all the leftovers made my little Honda pull to the left on the way home. There were 3 huge bags of meat, bread, desserts, and the 'mystery item' we liked.
From: The Bone Entered on: November 17, 2004 10:48 AM
Jimmy's was ok. I was a little worried about what it was we were eating though. It seemed sketchier than road chicken.
From: Ross Entered on: November 17, 2004 11:16 AM
See, that's why I have to take Fatty's recommendations with a grain of salt - he LOVED the Mexican garbage cans in Costa Rica. Whereas most of us blanch at road chicken, Oscar the Heiss finds it Fatty-lickin-good.
From: Swerb Entered on: November 17, 2004 12:16 PM
I'll back up Fatty's Checker's praise. They have the best fast-food burger EVER. And the fries! Gotta love the seasoned fries!     I can't believe nobody has mentioned Ball's Tastee Wacky-Eyes Pork Sandwiches! Add mustard and pickle, and they're even better! But do they pull their own pork?     There's also a sub sandwich shop in GR called Hero's that rocks like rocket sauce. You can get a great big eight-inch sub totally meat-stacked for five bucks. They also have the best honey mustard in the world. And all subs come with a cup of kickass potato salad and a fortune cookie. Bert, I need to take you there next time you're in town - and Fatty, I think I told you about that place before, no?
From: Ross Entered on: November 17, 2004 2:05 PM
Alright, I'm game. Speaking of which, I'm coming into town on Wed night (probably late) and probably leaving Sunday morning, assuming we're getting people together for gaming on Saturday night. Swerb, are you in? As for restaurants around here, I have my own standbys that I love but I don't know that anyone else finds them particularly great. But one restaurant in Greektown called Athena stands out to me as having great food and a great greek atmosphere with a really nice garden area. I took my mom there a couple years ago and she loved it. I'm normally not one to rant and rave about food but they had this stuffed shrimp dish that has to be in the top five tastiest things I've ever eaten. There is a place here called Charlie Trotter's, which is a mile or so from where I live, that is world-renowned and often called the best restaurant in the country. I have been wanting to get over there for some special occasion some night, but haven't yet. But now in the name of Jackassery, I consider it a priority.
From: Creeko Entered on: November 18, 2004 3:01 AM
Charlie Trotter's - Now that?s what I'm talking about!   My girlfriend has all the formal training and experience to cook up any one of the dishes on this guy's menu. When she gets bored, she'll sometimes whip up some sweet-ass vittles (not to be cornfused with ass vittles) for me to sample.     In Spain, restaurants with similar fare are more common. The whole high cuisine and fusion cuisine trend is well established and usually within reach of the common folk.