Memorable Restaurants

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dZpADTLrPmX4c

Impermanent Fixture
MBTI
<3
Some restaurants stick with me in my mind. Either the food was good, the location much different, or the restaurant tied to an immediate distinct 'qualifying life event'.

Are there any that you recall? they don't have to have had good food or service, only be memorable for one reason or another.

And if you like, share your reason too <3
 
In Mexico, while driving on a six lane freeway, through a very empty desert, there was a giant corrugated iron building, which looked like it could house hundreds of old cars.

I stopped in, and the whole thing was one big "restaurant." The entire place was full of scrap wood tables and splintery bench seats, and three of the walls had dozens of woodfired grills going, cooking beef, chicken, pork, and who knows what else. One corner had people processing whole animals to keep the grills loaded

The place was dirt floored, dusty, and very crowded, but I ate there. It was extremely cheap, something like $5 for all you can eat, alcohol extra. And the food was exceptionally delicious.

It's the only place I've been where the sole focus was pumping out food, with zero concern for anything else. It was like visiting a scrapyard, but instead of mechanics, it was butchers and cooks.
 
That's interesting @Sometimes Yeah I wonder how they got their start. It seems like an unusual place for a restaurant though maybe that's why it works.

* * * * *

Many moons ago when my dad was still alive, his employer (who everybody had nicknamed Billy the Kid) took us and many others to a very nice Mediterranean restaurant in Atlanta. I believe it was Taverna Plaka. I remember there was lots of other people there too at a long time, lots of singing and dancing opa! and the air smelled like some kind of wine (but not the red wine I was used to from churches).

They served us fried cheese that had been soaked in something alcoholic, and it was very good. I or my sister had lamb (I can't remember which of us did).

It had to have cost near a thousand dollars for everybody.
It sticks out in my memory because, although we weren't rich, at that point I knew we were no longer poor. But this was back before the housing bubble burst, and business was good for everybody.
 
Furr's, Perkins and Black Eyed Pea are all places I frequented as a kid. IHOP was a regular late night hangout.
The Lone Star Steakhouse was this cool place where you ate buckets of peanuts and threw the shells on the ground.
The whole floor was covered in shells. It was really cool, but then they got sued when somebody slipped on some shells so they stopped allowing it.
People always ruin things through their own stupidity.
 
Wyote said:
People always ruin things through their own stupidity.
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The legal system weaponizing stupidity for the acquisition of filthy lucre.

’murica! :rolleyes:
Ian
 
aeon said:
The legal system weaponizing stupidity for the acquisition of filthy lucre.

’murica! :rolleyes:
Ian
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Happens all the time, yup
 
My favorite places are always greasy holes in the wall that sell amazing food. I know a few Vietnamese places like this and once on tour we stopped at a Chinese place at 2 or 3am that was just one table and two chairs with a take-out counter and a cloth drape between the counter and kitchen. Best Chinese food I've ever had. Went to similar places in the Caribbean.

There are fancier places dotted across the map that I have truly loved, too.
 
Asa said:
My favorite places are always greasy holes in the wall that sell amazing food. I know a few Vietnamese places like this and once on tour we stopped at a Chinese place at 2 or 3am that was just one table and two chairs with a take-out counter and a cloth drape between the counter and kitchen. Best Chinese food I've ever had. Went to similar places in the Caribbean.

There are fancier places dotted across the map that I have truly loved, too.
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Same. If you ever wander to Ha Noi, there's this place that has some of the best Bun Cha and Pho I have ever tasted. It's about a hundred meters walk into an alley from the bigger street but it was worth the labyrinth.

If there's an interactive map of best food, shifty places, I'd volunteer a few information. I have several of these in my list.

....

A fave one for me is when my friends and I randomly arrived at a port side town of an off tourist island as we were about to jump off to the more touristy one by boat. We arrived early evening so we decided to call in the night and to pick the midday boat the next day for lesser seasickness. Hungry, we left our bags at the hostel and jumped into a motorcycle cabby and asked the driver to take us somewhere local and delicious. It was the best soup and barbecue in the world. It reminds me of my childhood. The world's best street food is worth the travel and the ameobiasis.
 
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mintoots said:
The world's best street food is worth the travel and the ameobiasis.
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Um, no. I had a friend die from amoebic dysentery after eating street food in Jakarta. He was one of 13 who died. Over 30 years ago now. Rest in peace, Rusty.

Cheers,
Ian
 
aeon said:
Um, no. I had a friend die from amoebic dysentery after eating street food in Jakarta. He was one of 13 who died. Over 30 years ago now. Rest in peace, Rusty.

Cheers,
Ian
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I'm so sorry about that :(

The distaste in that joke is my fault.
 
Another I remember was an old-time restaurant in downtown Rosenberg, Texas. Wooden bar stools, hand spun milkshakes, that sort of thing. It was across from the train tracks & museum and we had some of the most delicious grilled cheeses.

There was a similar diner on the other side of town, not as old. I think it was named 59 Diner? anyways we wanted to eat there until we found out it had a lower health score than it's name. It closed down short after.
 
mintoots said:
A fave one for me is when my friends and I randomly arrived at a port side town of an off tourist island as we were about to jump off to the more touristy one by boat. We arrived early evening so we decided to call in the night and to pick the midday boat the next day for lesser seasickness. Hungry, we left our bags at the hostel and jumped into a motorcycle cabby and asked the driver to take us somewhere local and delicious. It was the best soup and barbecue in the world. It reminds me of my childhood.
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Sounds AMAZING! I love stories and experiences like this one.

mintoots said:
Same. If you ever wander to Ha Noi, there's this place that has some of the best Bun Cha and Pho I have ever tasted. It's about a hundred meters walk into an alley from the bigger street but it was worth the labyrinth.

If there's an interactive map of best food, shifty places, I'd volunteer a few information. I have several of these in my list.
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This also sounds AMAZE. I'd need you to be my guide, though, please. (Because I just want to hang out with you IRL.)
 
This little hole in the wall Mexican food place in the middle of the desert. I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but their margaritas and tortillas were good enough for me to recall their taste ten years later.
 
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