What is the best "hole in the wall" local restaurant in your area? For me it is a little Mexican food cafe that is in a strip mall near my house. It is a little family owned and operated joint and they serve the best authentic Mexican food I have ever tasted. They sell tacos singly for $1 each and stuff like this. What is your favorite local place to eat?
My favorite place in town is a vegetarian Hare Krisna restaurant. All their food ingredients are completely home-grown and organic. They make their own tofu and tahini, and their soy and mocca ice cream is second to none. Even just thinking of it makes my mouth water. I've been regularly going to this restaurant for over a year now, and the food has been consistently excellent.
My personal favorite is also a little Mexican joint and happens to be in a strip mall in an older part of town. It's been there for a lot longer, I understand, than I've been in the area (21 years) and seems not to be planning on going anywhere anytime soon. I'm surprised it hasn't expanded. It has quite a reputation and people come from all over to eat there. I also have a second choice which is a catfish restaurant in a dumpy building on a little country road about fifteen miles out of town. They, too, have a reputation and have been a draw for many people from places all around.
I'm all about our Middle Eastern section of town. They have ridiculous discounts & I know that has a lot to do with the cost of ingredients but I also have a sneaking suspicion it's because people are foolish or unaware of how awesomely delish they are.
Our downtown area is full of these, as is another town I visit on occasion. Downtown, there’s a great Japanese noodle and sake restaurant. The food is lovely and the prices are reasonable. There’s also this sort of Thai fusion place I wouldn’t have bothered with, except we were looking for somewhere relatively cheap to eat. What a find that was. It’s actually cheaper than some fast food items, plus it’s healthier and more filling. They use organic, locally sourced ingredients in many of their dishes, which I appreciate. In the other town, there’s a New York-style pizza place I love. The hours are weird and it’s out of my way, but I’m totally considering taking myself on a date there. It's some of the best pizza I've ever eaten.
Wow. Having to pick the best local restaurant in Portland is a pretty tall order. We are extremely lucky to have an amazing food scene here that tries hard to not only being creative and delicious but also not outrageously expensive.Log In and all of the other John Gorman restaurants here are absolutely amazing. It's known for it's amazingly delicious small plate dishes that are served family style, so you can get and share lots of different things. I've had everything from their Spanish style grilled octopus, to their Korean friend chicken (with house made kimchi!) to their French toast and it's all been 'last meal on earth' worthy stuff. And to top it all of is that these places aren't super fancy 'only go here on special date night' restaurants. You're frequently seated next to families with little kids, young hipsters still hung over from the night before, older couples and everyone in between.
We have a Chinese restaurant nearby that has great food. Their cooking is excellent and the prices are very fair. Not only that but the service is quick too as I only really have to wait a few minutes before my food comes out and it's overall just a much better choice for me than going to a fast food restaurant since I'd pretty much just be spending the same amount these days anyway.
Probably that Chinese restaurant across the street that offers dim sum recipes such as siomai (meat dumplings) and siopao (steamed meat buns). Their fried noodles are also very tasty.
When I lived in Bolton (England), there was a little nondescript Chinese take-away restaurant across from our place. It was so tiny, you could easily walk past and not see it. It was run by a husband and wife pair, just the two of them. Wow, I don't think I'll ever taste Chinese food that delicious. Plus it was very affordable. Sadly, they ended up having to shut down because they were being harassed by unruly kids in the neighbourhood.
While Northeast Ohio may not be one of the most glamorous places, one thing I will say about this area is we have some pretty great pizza shops. In fact, when I travel out west some times for work, I can never seem to find pizza as good as what we can get here. By far, my favorite would be Avalon Gardens in Youngstown. Some other ones I love though are Sunrise Pizza in Warren Ohio and Master Pizza in Mayfield Ohio. Cornersburg Pizza in Poland, Ohio is also incredible. Second to that, I would say there are quite a few fantastic family run Mexican/Latino restaurants which have been opening up in my neighborhood over the past 10 years or so. One of them, Los Gallos, became so popular it's started to franchise out to multiple locations now. Casa Ramirez in Youngstown is also a cute little place with great, authentic food. For a real local's place, Palm Cafe in Youngstown serves up roasted lamb (and other meats) on Saturdays which is incredible.
I have also found that some of the small Asian cafes are much cheaper to eat at than fast food restaurants or chain dine in restaurants. You usually get a lot of food and can pay as little as $5 if you purchase off of the specials menu. I normally have enough left overs to last me for one more meal and you can't say this when you visit a fast food restaurant. I am all about quality and quantity.
I have a somewhat small Mediterranean restaurant over here called Pita- Plus which makes some of the vest foods you will probably ever have since their eat and veggies for five stars for the price of two and a half. I tend to order a Falafel platter with a salad and pita and then some chips to make it more exciting but expect that meal to run about 12 bucks.
