fav restaurants

Hong Kong: The restaurant at the bottom of Aberdeen street for lunch. Awesome. Yeah, I know the name, but I'm not going to try to spell it in English. Two words, second word is Hong (same as in Hong Kong). They make good moon cake too.

Tampa, FL: Bern's Steak House. It's more than dinner - it's an event.

Florence, Italy: This place at the NE corner of the marketplace (the one that's actually still a marketplace, not the old one that's considered a tourist attraction. Not sure what it's called, but I do remember it's closed on Tuesday (or was it Thursday?).

Toronto: For lunch, this place in Scarborough. No, I don't remember the name! But if you go on 401, you get off at the second street past Kennedy, go North for a while, and it's in the shopping mall on the right towards the back. For dinner, there's this place in Chinatown towards the North end. On the east side of the street, but before it gets dead. It's the one with a big back room. Front room looks nondescript but has a big serving station on the left that's almost the size of a bar. Yeah... this description sucks... made it really hard to find it last time.

Montreal: Lots of good food. Vargas has a great prime rib. It's downtown by the Reine Elizabeth Hotel.

Las Vegas: Bellagio Buffet. It's worth it.

Vancouver: I'm not sure you can go wrong with any restaurant in Vancouver.

Japan: OK... not a classy joint, but there's this chain of curry joints that's the Japanese equivalent of Skyline Chili. In other words, it's like crack. There's one in Kyoto two or three blocks south of the train station on the right.

Newark: Um... really shady neighborhood by the Greyhound station. There's this place right by it called Forno (oven in Spanish). Classy and tasty. Makes a great Xmas eve dinner if you happen to be stranded in Newark's Airport with a bunch of fresh friends you are escaping the city with.

Boston: I've never had bad food in Boston. But Legal Seafood is good for (you guessed it) seafood.

Fried Chicken: Popeye's will destroy KFC any day of the week. There's a reason Popeye's is the chicken joint of choice in airports such as Hotlanta, Raleigh/Durham, and !Hong Kong!.

Cleveland: Italian - Geraci's at Warrensville and Silsby in University Heights. Chinese - dinner at Siam Cafe. Yes, Chinese food at the place which has a Thai name, Vietnamese employees, and Cantonese food. Oh... and in Chinese it's really names "East China Sea." Sushi - Matsu at Chagrin and Farnsleigh in Shaker Heights. Milkshake - Banana milkshake at Tommy's on Coventry in Cleveland Heights. Thai - Mekong River in Cleveland Heights on Lee at Superior.

Places to avoid: Mongolian Barbeque. Only go if it's to see off a *good* friend or to join a group to celebrate something for a *good* friend. Never go if you don't feel obligated to attend as a social function. Guaranteed to overcook your food. MacDonalds - Ever since they started microwaving their burgers around 1998 it's been an insult to the culinary arts (as if they ever cared). Did I mention the "bacon" that was not only perfectly rectangular, but also perfectly flat... with perfectly straight and parallel lines of "fat" that had the exact same texture as the rest of the "bacon?" Any Chinese food place in Pittsburgh - it would either be really bad, really inconsistent, really slow, or really over-rated. Chinese people drive to Cleveland for Chinese food .

- Yes, this is a more tame topic after I heard some remarks about my last post. But hey, at least people are reading!