I’ve been doing some traveling as of late and I’m having difficulty finding restaurants where I really enjoy eating. This was not the case last week in Chicago as I discovered two restaurants and finally ate at one that I’ve know about for years.

Since I was on an expense account, I splurged a little…

5. Lou Malnati's - deep dish pizza - say what you will, but I'll pick Lou's over Gino's almost every day of the week. Uno's just doesn't stack up... Year's ago, Connie's (in the Chicago area) was excellent, but I haven't been there in a long time. Lou will ship it to you frozen in dry ice if you are so inclined as well.

4. Masck - eclectic - I've always been a sucker for prawns and they do them very well. They also have an interesting take on Calamari.

3. Grand Lux - eclectic with Cheese Cake factory desserts - I guarantee you won't be hungry when you leave this establishment!

2. Shaw's Crab House - sea food - Make sure you make reservations or you could wait up to 2 hours to get a seat. But, that's okay if you like jazz, because the Oyster Bar has got you covered.

1. Ruth's Chris Steak House - steaks cooked in butter at 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. This place could easily become my favorite restaurant if I could afford to go there on my own nickel...


My favorite used to be Houston's, but several of the locations including in Chicago have closed. Fortunately, there’s still one on the Plaza in Kansas City the last time I checked and that’s only 3 hours away…

Tell me about your favorite restaurants—Please!

Skoegahom…

i went searching for fun topics...i like this one!

by far, my favorite restaurant has to be gullifty's back home in pittsburgh. the actual food isn't that good, but the potato soup is to die for, as are the desserts. i think they've won the award for the best desserts in pittsburgh for the past....umpteen....years running.

i also enjoy eating at hillbilly hotdogs here in huntington. the original is in some little town out on route 2, but i don't know what it's called. the first time we drove past it, i thought, "i will never eat there!" it looks so ratty and dirty, but inside it is very clean, and the food is oh so good. my favorite thing on the menu is the taco dog...a hot dog with all sorts of taco fixings, including nacho cheese, lettuce & tomato, and jalepano peppers.

check them out at www.hillbillyhotdogs.com

just a couple off the top of my head...

non-chains;
(inexpensive) the varsity/atlanta
(moderate) lynn's paradise cafe/louisville, the saratoga/terre haute/encore cafe/bloomington
(expensive) pat's steak house/louisville, janko's little zagrab/bloomington, pappas brothers/dallas

chains;
(inexpensive) steak n' shake, chick-fil-a, penn station
(moderate) houston's, j alexander's
(expensive) morton's

gosh i'd have to say THIS PLACE would rank among my favorites.

hmmm...the name of that sommelier (who is actually the Wine Director as well, that profile is out-dated) sure is familiar. wonder who that could be....

non-chains;
(inexpensive) buds pizza/minster ohio, the italian store/arlington va, barbeque review/cinti, anchor grill/covington ky, casa rodriguez/celina oh, oler's bar and grill/findlay oh
(moderate) teak/cinti, nick's terra mar/russell's point (out of business), signature room at the 95th/chicago hancock (lunch buffet is cheap-ish, the rest is very expensive), pino's il sonetto/terre haute (out of business), japan west/findlay oh, pullman bay/celina oh
(expensive) carlo & johnnys/cinti, mesh/cinti, picasso at bellagio/vegas, maisonette/cinti (out of business), botín/madrid (the oldest restaurant in the world!)

chains;
(inexpensive) el taco bell, qdoba, donatos
(moderate) palomino, ruby tuesdays miraculously got better, cheddars
(expensive) fogo do chão, morton's

congrats. but I can't figure out why they'd want "motor supply" in their restaurant name.

~fff

funny you should ask!

I think this is explained at www.motorsupplycobistro.com, but i'll explain here anyway.

The building we occupy is really old (in the historic places registry), and for a long time it held a branch of Motor Supply Co. They vacated decades ago, but when they did, they left this huge, beautiful old neon sign that was built by Colite in the 1930s. The restaraunt ownership though it a shame to scrap the sign, so they incorporated the name and just had a smaller neon sign build on the bottom that said "bistro."

We have two sister restaurants in the area: Tombo Grille, and Paulie's...so there are more "traditional" names in our family as well (though i can't remember the significance of the name "tombo,"...i think it's portuguese for something).

Here in Ky Cinci area I love Lemongrass and Karlo's Bistro. I also love the Knotty Pine for the cajun flair!