Favorite 'hole in the wall' places you like to eat!

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sattie

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I have found over the years that some of the best places to eat are the places that may not look like much on the outside, or just seem so small that you would not think they could offer much in delighting your pallet. Well, I have a few places that I just can't resist and go to over and over because the food is awesome and the price just can't be beat!

What little tucked away places do you like to eat at?

Here are 3 of my favorties:

Joe's Pasta and Pizza - this place is actually an OLD Taco Bell joint tat has been dudded up with cheesy decorations. But the place is a real joy to eat at, great food and huge portions for $$.

Chef Point - This is a little cafe melded into a gas station... of all places, but they have awesome gormet meals that you just would not expect!

Shell's - Awesome little seafood joint in Port Aransas that has less than 10 tables, probably as big as a tool shed, but a vast menu and awesome ingredients makes this place worth a visit!!!
 
The town I live in is Loaded with restaurants. The only one I would reccomend to anyone is Murphy's Steakhouse. The rest of them are way too expensive and the quality doesn't match the price.

Another spot not too far from me is Zachary's. Great menu, good drinks and won't empty your wallet. I have never had a bad experience there and they have weekly All You Can Eat specials.

There we're a few restauraunts we used to frequent, but change of hands or different chefs has brought them downhill.
 
Miller's Bar, Dearborn MI. Great burgers.

The Whitefish Bar, Curtis MI. Great pizza and beer (Is it because I'm on vacation when I go there?)



John
 
Red's in Matalacha Florida. Looks like a biker dive from the outside but the variety and quality of the food inside makes up for the atomsphere.
Also a little place in a little place in Buckingham Florida called the Hut is suprising fantastic!
 
I love to find a good hole in the wall type restaurant. Can't say I have any local ones anymore.

When in FL my dh and I like to eat at the Whale's Rib in Deerfield beach. Curtis's Ribs in Putney VT. Clam Shack in Falmouth MA. Mimo's in York ME.
 
I don't even remember the name of this place. Way out in the sticks - north and west of Terre Haute, Indiana - was (is??) an American/Italian restaurant that sold huge plates of their entrees for a few bucks and bottles of swill beer for $1. For under $5, you were filled up with really, really great pasta (sauces made from scratch) and cheap beer. I think you could get cheese ravioli, manicotti or spaghetti marinara... those were your only options. The place looked like the dining room of a really bad retirement home or high school cafeteria. But the food was great and there was a line out the door every night.
 
A couple Mexican restaurants in the Mission back home in San Francisco that are to die for....too bad I'm 6000 miles away from them until I move home next year!
 
There's a Waffle World near us where you can get breakfast all day and comfort-food-type entrees for under $10 - they have sandwiches, salads, hot entrees like meatloaf and mashed potatoes, pork chops and scalloped potatoes, or baked fish and rice (there are veggie sides, but we're usually there for breakfast).

Lately we've been going to an out-of-the-way seafood restaurant that is well-known by the locals - a neighborhood hangout with an outside deck and live entertainment. They have appetizers, seafood entrees that can be fried, blackened, broiled or sauteed, burgers and salads.

Then there's the well-known, locally, pork barbecue restaurant with service in your car. The only thing the servers are missing is the skates ;) And a place called Dog & Burger that also serves pork and other kinds of barbecue, wraps and salads.

Hm, we have a better selection than I realized :)
 
This is an easy one..
Marty's pub in Converse Indiana-- outstanding steaks!!!

Big Rells, Kokomo For lunch they have great food. Good ribs on Friday and Saturday.

Bonge's Tavern..Perkinsville Indiana. Only a few items on the menu--all 4 star quality!

Ned's Corner Pub. Kokomo The large tenderloin is outrageous.
 
I now live in a tourist town, so there aren't many "hole in the walls" the way there were in other places I've lived. Here the best-kept-secret from the Chicago tourists is the "supper clubs". I'm sure there must be a history of them. Most small towns have a supper club just outside of the town limits. There is a bar and restaurant, and it is probably open only a few nights a week. Some of the best food I've had in the midwest (I've been to them in Illinois and Wisconsin) have been at these places. Quite often the chefs are a bit more adventurous than they might be at a restaurant in town. A friend from the south told me she thought they were road houses (which is another story entirely), and was surprised that they are very nice restaurants. The best kept secret in our part of the world.
 
I have found over the years that some of the best places to eat are the places that may not look like much on the outside, or just seem so small that you would not think they could offer much in delighting your pallet. Well, I have a few places that I just can't resist and go to over and over because the food is awesome and the price just can't be beat!

What little tucked away places do you like to eat at?

Here are 3 of my favorties:

Joe's Pasta and Pizza - this place is actually an OLD Taco Bell joint tat has been dudded up with cheesy decorations. But the place is a real joy to eat at, great food and huge portions for $$.

Chef Point - This is a little cafe melded into a gas station... of all places, but they have awesome gormet meals that you just would not expect!

Shell's - Awesome little seafood joint in Port Aransas that has less than 10 tables, probably as big as a tool shed, but a vast menu and awesome ingredients makes this place worth a visit!!!
Too cool, Sattie! Shell's has been at the top of my list since I found it 5 or 6 years ago. The story behind the restaurant is that the owner/chef named Shelly was a chef at Marcel's, a very pricey and upscale restaurant in Port A. She regularly pushed the owner to alter the menu to include some reasonably priced items, saying it bothered her that the locals could only afford to wait tables there, but not to eat. Apparently the owner finally told her "If you want to feed the locals, open your own restaurant." So she did!

Second on my list is a funky little place called Taco Kitchen. You have to go to a counter to order (tables but no wait staff) so I usually just get take out. But the bean and cheese soft tacos (also bean and rice) are always wonderful.
 
I forgot about this place in San Antonio that I love. It's in an old house downtown that is leaning seriously to the side and has a huge old oak tree growing up through it. It's a fixture here in SA and a must-go-to if you ever visit the Alamo city. Here's the link for the Liberty Bar and Grill Liberty Bar | Serious Food
 
One of those opened here in Huntsville a few years back, but I haven't eaten there yet. I'll have to try it out.

The Original in Tuscaloosa was good. The franchises I dunno about. I ate at one of the franchise outlets in Mobile a few years back and it was less than ok! Maybe they are like Corky's in Memphis. The original was very good! The franchises are just plain bad. A total waste of my time and money! In the old days Dreamland in Tuscaloosa had a great appetizer. A 6 oz. styrofoam cup with BBQ sauce and two peices of "light bread" Oh, and they only had three items on lthe menu, Ribs, Ribs and Ribs.:LOL:
 
Not quite hole in a wall places but I have a few that are awesome and you would normally not hear about them in your normal city guides or culinary journals.

Jimmy's Hotdogs
Grand and Pulaski in Chicago

Awesome place in a not so great neighbourhood. The best hotdogs and fries wrapped up together and provided in a simple brown paper bag. Gosh I get a craving just thinking about it. The fries are greasy and your car smells like them for days but I can't explain how good they are.

Thai Garden
Schaumburg, IL

Always busy and food is great. The satays and the tom yum soup is truly the best I have had and I have had quite a few different ones around US and also in Europe and none compare to this. The curries and the fish entrees (pomfret) is to die for.

Sabri
Devon Avenue, Chicago

Sabri is a Pakistani place and while its not everyone's cup of tea (food is pretty spicy and curries are extremely authentic) the food is outstanding. The place is not much to look at from the outside but again hoards of crowds and long waiting times on weekends. The sheek kababs, chicken boti (tikka), chapli kababs are to die for. The most popular dish on the menu is a beef curry called Nihari. It's super spicy and super delicious with the gigantic size naans they serve. They also have great kulfi and falooda (a milk based dessert)
 
Buck and I live in a very rural area, so not much in the "hole-in-the-wall" is available here. However, whenever we're out poking around or traveling, we seem to have a 6th sense about picking good restaurants.

As someone has already said, sometimes some of the places aren't much to look at from the outside, but the food they offer is wonderful. That's such a treat when it happens and, most of the time, we are only in the area once so we don't get a chance to enjoy the tasty delights on a regular basis.

Buck adds, "The best meatloaf I've ever had in my life was at The Dairyette in Golconda, Illinois. The voices in my head told me to stop there."

I have to second Buck's comments. Fabulous meal.
 
There's a few. The Red Chimney, best diner food.
Frankie's, the best garlic wings I have tried.

And there's Bubba's. It looks like a hole in the wall
place from the outside but it's really nice inside.
It's owned by former Nfl player Al "Bubba" Baker.
So there's lot of Brown's memorabilia. He actually
works there himself with his daughter and wife.
He mingles with all of his customers. Just a really
really nice place.

Best bbq we have in the Cleveland area.
 
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