What does your town need?

[corazon]

In Bellingham, most of the resaurants are just okay. There are only a couple that we really like but can't afford. Not any great bakeries, italian, mexican, or pizza places. The best pizza is a few minutes from our house on the road up to Mt Baker. It is a beer shrine, pizza joint & wedding chapel. There isn't a good organic grocery store either. There is a co-op, that is tiny and overpriced. We need a trader joes.

I'd love it if this town had a decent swimming pool too.

 

[Michelemarie]

I agree - Trader Joes is a must! My newspaper took a poll and TJs came up! Yahoo! Maybe someone will take the plunge and do it!

 

[college_cook]

I'm originally from the chicago area, and i think it's safe to say that chicago is probably the best place to eat in the midwest. Not only are the very expensive restaraunts great, but the affordable ones are as well.

Good food found its was into nearly all of the chicago suburbs from the city, and y ou can find almost anything nearby if you know where to go. the NW indiana region has great italian, greek, indian, japanese, thai, chinese, middle eastern (cool new flavors there, if you're feeling adventurous), LOTS of good mexican food, all in addition to your usual chain restaurants. I can't think of anything that my hometown area needs except a good BBQ place. Mt dad and I used to drive an hour east every other week to pick up BBQ from a roadside shack restaurant that went out of business after about 2 years. There was never a replacement after that.

I go to school in Bloomington IN, now, about an hour south of Indianapolis. Even here in a small town where students make up maybe 40% of the population for the school year months, has ots to offer. 2 decent Thai restaurants, a few good vegetarian places, 2 GREAT italian places, a little place that offers jewish (yiddish? im not sure how that works...) fare, as well as some others. Most of them are pretty unimpressive on the outside, but if you're the type of person that doesn't much care if the restaurant operates in an old 2 BR house, then you'll be amazed by the food once you sit down to eat. Here agin I'd say we're missing a good BBQ place. I also haven't found a good mexican place yet, though there is a tiny noon-4AM taco shop thats pretty great, and some decent tex-mex.

 

[Claire]

Galena is very tourist-oriented, and we have tons of restaurants -- just that they seem just variations on the same-old-same-old. We did have a Chinese restaurant, but they quit -- we're hoping they just closed for the season. We have Dubuque about 20 miles away, and there are multiple Chinese restaurants, a Vietnamese couple have a pan-Asian and Mexican grocery, with a small Vietnamese/Thai restaurant on the side. We do have an excellent Mexican restaurant. One of (to me) the big upside of the Mexican migration is that (and I can say this with some authority) you can find good Mexican food in some of the most improbable locations! I love it. Luckily I have two or three stores where I can buy ingredients for almost anything I want to make. When I first moved here (5 yrs ago), I couldn't find rice varieties. Now my kitchen is stocked with several. So at leasst I can cook any cuisine I want. Still, it would be nice to have more variety in our local restaurants.

 

[Claire]

I have a personal preference for ethnic Mom & Pop places, don't go to chains for the most part. Here in Galena, we have very few chains (I think a Subway, a Culvers, and a McD's), and I like it that way. I like walking into a restaurant and meeting the owner.

Lived in Utah as a kid. Travelled through many times. It sort of takes away from the dining experience when if you want a drink, you have to go through a procedure akin to setting off a nuclear missile -- if you can at all.

 

[-DEADLY SUSHI-]

Less polititions. Less city workers with HUGE pensions. Less traffic. More attractive single women my age. More affordable sushi.

 

[mish]

As far as restaurants, we have it all in L.A.

What I would like to see re restaurants here:

Less wait (at the bar), reservations taken and not over booking.

Decent sized portions of food & not having to order everything a la cart.

New (trendy) restaurants w or w/o a famous/personality chef should make seating available throughout the restaurant to all patrons - not the best seating to a 'known' personality or friend in a special room.

Better, less crowded seating arrangements. Garden patio chairs, seating near the kitchen, does not make for an enjoyable meal.

Ample parking w/o having to pay a valet & wait for your car... & watch 'em burn rubber when I gave them the keys to my sports car.

Restaurants that only take reservations a month in advance.

I remember one famous? restaurant, where we waited 2 hours at the bar. We were so hungry, we left and went for a burger. I never went back.

Cutesy staff outfits to go with a restaurant theme... & an introduction.... sometimes like - my name is so-and-so, and I'll be your wench tonight.

Italian restaurants with singing opera waiters that come to your table when you're eating, & linguine is hanging out of your mouth, lol.

 

[The Z]

Well ... my wee town of 2000 has 4 bars that each have their own version of the hot beef, 2 local cafe's that are owned by siblings that hate each other, trying to out-do the other and as a result are running their once very good restaurants into the dirt and a steak house.

Sounds like a good TV show....

It is a beer shrine, pizza joint & wedding chapel.

Yeah... that too!


Oh... and my town needs more buffets. I just don't know where you can get a decent buffet around here

 

[ronjohn55]

We need a good cajun place closer to us here. The old one closed up due to building problems.

John

 

[Toots]

I'm originally from the chicago area, and i think it's safe to say that chicago is probably the best place to eat in the midwest. Not only are the very expensive restaraunts great, but the affordable ones are as well.

I agree - my husband used to live in Chicago and we drive up there 2-3 times per year. We always eat breakfast at Ann Sathers, get a pizza at Giordanos, etc. I have a rather long list of "must eat" places in Chicago!

In my area, we have too many chains and not enough ethnic food places. There is not an Indian place in the entire county I live in.
I have to drive 20 miles if I want any curry.

 

[mudbug]

Chicago is a great eating town. Any kind of ethnic food is available, usually prepared by natives of the cuisine you are after. Plus the foo-foo places like Charlie Trotter's joints and others, plus the best pizza and Italian beef on the planet.

sheesh, I'm homesick.

 

[Claire]

I agree that Chicago is a great eating town. When we go there (infrequently, it's a 3+ hour drive) we immediately start researching to find our favorite little ethnic places. Madison is a good eating town as well, and lots closer. I suspect most college towns are good eating places, most have an influx of foreign students, teachers, etc and a more adventurous population in general. So when we really have a yen for Thai, Indian, etc, we drive the 90 min or so to go to Madison, shop at Whole Foods, hit all the bookstores, and find Asian food of some sort.

 

[SizzlininIN]

We have a lot of fastfood resturants in the neighboring town with a few larger chains....nothing worth mentioning really though. There are a few family owned businesses but only one that is worth mentioning and it is an awesome authentic mexican resturant.....I love going there. I so wished we'd get some ethnic resturants that didn't fall into the chain catagory. A real mom and pop Italian resturant would be wonderful. One where the family is all involved. The whole red and white checker table clothes and candles on the table. I envy those who have access to a variety.....say like those that live in Chicago and New York. But then again I'd be broke and 50 pounds heavier if I had access to all those wonderful places to eat....hee hee.

 

[liketobake]

More places that are not pubs or nightclubs that are open late. Every thing closes early here.

 

[middie]

Too many bars here. We have 2 restaraunts and they both suck. I'd like to see a really nice family oriented restaraunt. Not a chain restaraunt.

 

[Ishbel]

We have good pubs, restaurants and coffee shops - great museums, art galleries and wonderful shops - as well as 2 castles and a palace..... Edinburgh is perhaps one of the prettiest capital cities in the world! The only thing I would get rid of would be the many tourist shops which clutter the Royal Mile - oh and the absolutely AWFUL piper who stands in Princes Street from 10.00 am - 4.00 pm ALL WEEK during the summer and makes LOADS and LOADS of dosh from tourists (who, frankly, cannot tell whether or not he's playing well, but just want their photographs taken with a man in a kilt!)

 

[BigJim]

Here in Fresno, we have just about any kind you can think of some are great
and some I would take my dog too. with all the rednecks and hillbillies that
are here that includes me. I would like to see a Bob Evans even if it is a
chain store I like there food. and a couple of soulfood places. we probably
per capita have more mexican stores than we do churches. I love that
mexican food.