I just ate here and it was really good: rep your local restaurants

Founding Farmers in DC

http://www.wearefoundingfarmers.com/

Been there many times and went from a skeptic to an ardent lover of this place.

Flaherty's seafood grill @Carmel, CA
Enterprise Fish Co. @Santa Barbara, CA
Lefty O'Doul's @San Francisco (you will love it)
Lighthouse Breakfast & Lunch @Sausalito, CA (went for breakfast)

http://www.phat-burger.com/

a burger joint. You can customize your burger at the fixin's bar. You won't regret upgrading to sweet potato fries.

Recently vacationed in Asheville, NC. I had no idea it was such a foodie town. Every place we ate was excellent (did a little research beforehand):

Plant (vegan)
Thai Orchid
Nine Mile (Caribbean)
Laughing Seed (veggie/vegan)
Chai Pani (Indian)
Mamacita's (Mexican/seafood - soft shell crab tacos!)
Lexington Ave. Brewpub (upscale pub grub)

I was going to mention a hole in the wall place in the town where my wife and I used to live. But we were back there last weekend and the waitress, carrying a tray with our drinks, spent literally five minutes talking to the couple at the next table, mostly complaining about how busy they were. And when she got to our table, she spilled the tray, dumping a glass of water and a glass of red wine on my wife.

My first thought was, "hey, free meal!" but the wine spillage was 100%, so my next thought was "how do I keep my wife from tearing off the waitress' head?"

The garlic fries sound tasty.

So how did you keep your wife from killing the waitress?

Secret Sandwich Society (Fayetteville, WV): http://www.secretsandwichsociety.com/

I'm slowly going through their entire menu. The other day I had their Dynamo burger which was delicious. Their fries arewonderfully seasoned as well. My favorite burger so far is their Centurion burger.

You ever see the Jerry Springer Show? I used the skills I learned watching those guys in the black shirts.

This is where you'd have lunch in Chicago if you were younger and cooler than me. OK a lot younger and a lot cooler.

http://www.rickbayless.com/menus/xoco/xoco/

Alright I did eat there a couple of weeks back, good if annoyingly popular. I gotta try me the pickled pigs' feet tostada, I missed that somehow.

Holy crap, our favorite Chicago restaurant is still there!

http://amitabulchicago.com/

Korean vegan food. Damn fine kim chi. Back in our day, it was on Southport right by the el stop.

Now wait a second. I may be younger than you, but I'm most certainly not cooler than you and I've already had lunch there a couple times. I also missed the pickled pigs' feet tostada. After repeated unsuccessful attempts to eat Chinese chicken feet at several dim sum houses, I'm not sure pigs' feet are in the cards.

A couple of weeks ago, I was up at my parents' beach house in SW Michigan and dragged everyone to check out Greenbush Brewing's Tasting Room in Sawyer, MI (about 2 hours from Chicago). The beer, as expected, was excellent. They've done a lot of events with Chicago restaurants and that's how I had heard the name. But I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of their food. I had the Roast Beef and Provolone sandwich. It's served on focaccia with house-made giardiniera and was probably better than the Philly version of the sandwich I had at Tony Lukes a few years ago. And the several other items that I sampled from the rest of my family were quite tasty as well.

http://www.greenbushbrewing.com/tap_room/index.htm

I live in the Chicago Suburbs and have to mention Meson Sabika in Naperville.
Wonderful Spanish Tapas and Paella.

I've been to Tapas Valencia in the South Loop, which is owned by the same folks, at the suggestion of one of my ESL students who waited there. It was delicious and didn't hurt that he set us up with a bunch of free dishes on top of the miniscule $5 charge for the wine tasting event that night. One of these days, I'd love to make it out to Naperville to try Meson Sabika, about which he spoke glowingly.

Good stuff for sure.

I used to love the Tapas Valencia that was on Lake street near Bloomingdale but it closed.

now, i recobinize that all of youse are way too cool to come to The OC, at least the part where we live -- West Orange County, where there isn't anything but blandness -- but there is a small, family-owned Italian restaurant, Domenic's, where they serve the most ridiculous garlic breadsticks in the galaxy.

the rest of the food is very good.

Nikki West located in Arkadelphia, Alabama. The best restaurant in the state, by far. Favorite dish is the Grilled Red Snapper.

lol! Interesting funny and the only question how did you keep your wife from tearing off the waitress head

I was in Huntington Beach back in June and found SlapFish. It was really good. Not a huge seafood menu but what they do, they do well.

http://www.slapfishrestaurant.com/

I can't stand that place. I'd say it's probably the most overrated place in the state by far. I've been on several occasions and it's never done much for me.

There are sublime places in Birmingham like Bottega, Highlands, Hot & Hot, etc.

The restaurant did take a step back whe Ted and his brother took over.

Btw, you like The Bright Star down in Bessemer?