Thursday, December 11, 2008

B: china house

Most of you will know by now of my deep loathing for most chain restaurants. When I travel, I always try to find the local places and try interesting things. In my travels I have developed a few rules that have generally served me well.

  • A fake parrot or painting of a parrot in the entrance of a Mexican joint is generally a good sign
  • Chinese restaurants that are designed to look like houses are better than average, but Chinese restaurants generally suck.
  • Noodle places can almost always be counted upon for simple edible asian food.
  • Clever named Pho places (what the pho, pho king [actual name...], ect) aren't any worse, and sometime are much better than vietnamese places with Saigon in the name
  • A german restaurant can be judged by it's beer list. If you have never heard of more than half of the beers and they appear to be german, everything else will be ok.
  • French restaurants are generally too much to take on in a strange city, but if you must...find a place that has simple dishes (french bistro food), unless you are really committed.
  • In local eateries, always try a dish if it is named after the cook or some local person (Mike's Mess, Jake's Pasta....) More often than not it will be interesting and edible.
  • In a local pub, especially in Canada, always identify and drink the local beer. It will be much easier to blend and make conversation
  • Never eat at an empty restaurant
  • Let your nose be your guide
  • Learn to eat with the utensils you are provided, or not provided. If you aren't given a spoon for your soup, first check to see if anybody else has one.
  • If you can find it, try to local style burger at local burger joints. I love the gut buster in portland (beef, cheese, ham, fried egg)
  • Baking is not the act of heating frozen things taken from a box. Fresh baked only applies if you can see the dough, or the machinery for making and handling whatever product you are looking for. The grocery store should be the last place to find fresh bread.
  • Bacon + donuts = delicious!

No comments: