Dining Out

There has been another challenge this week, that of the five favorite eating establishments. Well, mine will not be limited to one location since I used to be a very well traveled individual and I will not really limit them to five (well no more than five per city maybe).. They will include a varied variety of food types as well. Some are in memory order, not necessarily the best and not necessarily the best establishment of fine food.

1st – The Ritz Café – Early, Early Childhood and a little Mexican restaurant my dad and I went to on Fridays before we went to high school football games. He somehow always got access to the sidelines so we were right on top of the action.

2nd - From my early days (childhood), the Yturri. This is a Basque restaurant where all meals (7 courses) were served family style. While the steak was fabulous, my memory always takes me back to the shrimp potato salad. The time with my dad & mom and siblings was priceless. Later years included NK.

3rd– Any home in Vietnam (including the little bar where they served the egg salad sandwiches). I spent quite a bit of time with civilians in Vietnam and was fortunate (????) enough to have been invited into their homes to share meals with them. While most of the time it was limited to rice and fishhead soup (they were peasant farmers after all), it was a large part of my life at that time. As Nixon called it, our job was to Vietnamize the war. So a large part of our time was spent with the local population. While I did not really enjoy fishhead soup (they just kept bringing it and I would try to toss it out the door), we did get quite loaded on the rice wine.

4th – This is where my travels come in (though some are from where we lived). In Memphis, Corky’s BBQ, simply mouthwatering. In New Orleans, just about anyplace, but Carriere’s (a good friends house) stands out. In Houston, Papadeaux’s (soft shelled crab), El Toro (Taco’s al carbon), Louie’s on the Lake, Shanghai Reds, Hickory Hollow (BBQ), Lynchburg Landing and the San Jacinto Inn. (just to name a few). In Denver, there is the Broker, an excellent steakhouse in an old bank vault. El Paso, Phoenix and Tucson, all have excellent Mexican restaurants.

5th – Other places I’ve been or places I’ve lived: San Francisco, Scouma’s (try the Cioppino), Phil Lear’s (probably not there anymore), and a little Chinese restaurant on Post St. in Japantown (you can’t get any better Chinese food than this in any other city). Portland, Oregon – Springwater’s (great weekend brunch), Eleni's Estiatorio – best lamp chops I’ve ever had, Eagles Thai Restaurant and FuJin (you’ve got to try the crispy, spicy eggplant). Oh yeah, I forgot Murillos and Helen and Neds in Vacaville and a little Mongolian BBQ spot in Eugene.