Tosca Lee is an excellent writer whom I cyber-interviewed some time ago. I also met her at the ACFW conference, and found her very interesting and multilayered, though I didn't manage to make much conversation as I was stricken by a bout of unusual shyness. (How do I find a person multilayered if we don't talk much? Well, that's a subject for a post later this week!)
The other day, Tosca started a Facebook conversation about whether we liked oysters and mussels. I like oysters raw, and I like them in po-boys (blame my Louisiana connections). I only like mussels in Spanish food.
Our discussion reminded me of what I still call my favorite restaurant, though over a decade has passed since the last time I ate there.
It's Malaga, a Spanish restaurant in New York City.
Malaga
I've eaten in swankier places than Malaga. I've had more exotic and more expensive meals.
But if I could choose to go right now to any restaurant for dinner, and take ten of my best friends, I would choose Malaga.
Malaga is family-owned, and you feel it. The service is down to earth and friendly, but expert. The sangria is amazing. The food is out of this world (try the Mariscada Diablo, if you like seafood with a kick.)
I've eaten in many fine restaurants over the years. Malaga stands at the top. I discovered one day that my former employer and friend from NYC also calls Malaga his favorite restaurant, though we have never eaten there together. And he can afford to eat anywhere he wants, anytime!
Do you have a restaurant that stands out in your memory as "the best?" Why?
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Here are the best back-woods Cajun restaurants I miss in S. LA:
1) Soops Restaurant (Maurice, LA), best seafoof gumbo I've ever had and owned by 7 Cajun sisters!, 2) Boiling Point (best boiled Crawfish), 3) Thibodeaux's in Duson, used to be open 24/7 serving fried/boiled seafood. For steaks, I loved the "Pine Club" in Dayton, OH, cash-only and wonderful thick Angus steak or Hereford House in KC, MO; Best hamburger was at the Great Dane in Madison, WI; Nothing like Gates BBQ in KC, MO or the Rodezvous w/ their dry rub BBQ in Memphis. In Chicago, Lawry's for Prime-Rib. All of these places made my huge sales territory in the MidWest seem bearable.
Rosslyn, well, this in no way shape or form compares to yours, which would go more in the category of fine-dining. But we used to have a Fuddrucker's burger joint here in Fargo. It was a reasonably priced place and had THE best burgers, beer-batter onion rings, brownies and rice-krispie bars on the planet. It got bought out by another restaurant several years ago now and life has NOT been the same. There are others that are much more exquisite that I love, but this is the one I miss the most. :)
Seafood with a kick sounds good right now and I'm still very much in the AM. Should I be worried? I won't write anything about the sangria. :D
So many I've loved. We've moved around quite a bit, so I've gathered a list of favs. Salty's in Seattle, J. Gilberts here, J. Alexanders in Ohio, Ruth Chris in Louisville. I also like the little tucked in finds my husband and I have tumbled across.
Fun question to think about.
~ Wendy
My wife and I like a place called Ti'Amo in Laguna Beach, CA. It has a real Italian ambience, all the way down the the European bathrooms that can fit inside my brrom closet. I like the place so much I use it numerous times in my books. Great food too.
Stephen Tremp
Two rest. stand out.
1) Brown Derby in Montpelier, VT. Ate there with my family as a kid. One lazy day dad said, "Let's take a drive," and we wound up driving to the state capital. For lunch we ate the fanciest rest. any of us 4 kids had ever eaten in, and that mom and dad could not really afford. But they wanted to give us a treat, and it was.
2) A log cabin rest. south of Yellowstone Nat'l Park. Can't remember the name of it, but I could take you to it in a heart beat. Well, in about 20 hours, actually, but I know right where it is on the west side of the high way in the wilderness. Food is delicious, service good, and scenery in heavenly.
Believe it or not, the Blue Nile, an Ethiopian restaurant. I would not want to eat there every day, but the food is so good and so different!
Unfortunately, my husband is more a meat-and-potatoes type of guy. So, no Ethiopian food for him (sigh).
Take care, Rosslyn!
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