Restaurants: Independents vs. Chains: What do you like?

[chickenhawk]

When i have a few bucks to spare i go to "The Yummy House"
its not a chain just a take out Chinese food place i love.

[State of Grace]

I love road trips with my girlfriend to see live music, especially to see an up and coming band you may have heard of? But I end up eating at fast food restaurants most of the time while we are on the road. Sometimes we discover a great new place but more times than not it's the usual fast food crap. I try to eat really well the week before I go away and then upon my return home.

Some of my friends and I ate at a place called the Hairy Buffalo in Cleveland. Somehow the name wasn’t very appetizing - sounded more like the name of a strip joint if you ask me - lol!! The wings were hot but the meat was dry. My eating companions had the steak and thought it was good. Guess I should have gone for that instead! I’ve been spoiled with awesome wings at my local pub so it’s hard to beat them.

Trying to find something to eat after the show of that up and coming band in Montreal was a difficult and adventurous task! You would think that a place known for its cuisine would be serving food after midnight. Especially after an event at the arena. So we hopped in a cab to the food/pub district only to find there was no food being served except for this little place called Boustan, they were making a killing and the Falafel and Shawarma were excellent, best I’ve ever had!!! The potatoes with garlic sauce were as good as the girl that worked at one of the pubs had told us they would be. Awesome service too! Saw pictures of The Trailer Park Boy’s and Pierre Trudeau who have eaten there. It’s a hole in the wall kind of joint but well worth it for the quality of the food! Like the girl at the pub that recommended it to us said, “It’s that or McDonalds at this time of night in Montreal... Boustan is healthier.” Yes it was and WAY more delicious too!

[chickenhawk]

YUMMY !!!!!

[smoker guy]

Last friday while on a ride l ended up at a great little place near my hometown called Gabby`s Restaurant. It sits right on State hwy 28 in Prole,IA. The menu may be limited. but l can vouch for the bacon cheesburger l ate as being top level. No fast food precut slab of meat. but a hand formed juicy burger with fresh cut tomato, onions, pickles, real bacon and cheese. The fries were crisp, but not greasy and the staff, CHARMING! Gonna go back on Tuesday on my next ride.

[indiscipline]

A friend and I were discussing this same thing yesterday and we both agreed that the chains are nice every once in awhile, but the real places that we tend to really like and remember are the "mom and pop" kind of places. I've been to a few around here in Iowa City and surrounding area, that ranged from some hole-in-the-wall places to a restaurant type place and the food was great and I love going to them.

[ShrimpCot_1]

Since I live in the same area of town that Nettiesaur is, (hi, sis!) I'm fortunate that we have a diverse number of ethnic choices available in the area. One I could recommend if you love Vegetarian Indian Food is Bombay Sweets on S. 13th Street here in Milwaukee. Small little place, but when you want something a little out of the ordinary, go for it. The food is fantastic, and you MUST try their sweets counter...highly suggest them..you would not be disappointed! They also cater to the carnivore in all of us.

[debskis]

Go local, go often...not just restaurants, but stores as well. Not always practical or cost-effective, but I try to support my neighbors as much as possible. I especially love the local farmer's markets in the summer months!

[JrGtr42]

I generally perfer the indies, be it a one-off or a local chain type of place. I feel the food is generally better, though maybe a bit pricier, and they are more able to handle allergies and tastes (not me for allergies, but my GF's sister and her husband, between the 2 of them they're allergic to everything.)
That said, I will sometimes go to the big guys (TGI ChiliBees) if I don't want to think too hard about it, I know exactly what I;m going to get, and at reasonable prices.
I do prefer going to farmers markets and such - you know everything is as fresh as it can get, 99% of the time cheaper than the supermarket, and tastes better.

[Phillip]

I prefer the local places instead of chain restaurants. We have Mom and Pop Greek restaurant that has been in business for 40 years. He does all the cooking and his wife runs the front of the place.

Being from down south we have one farmers market that is open year round. The other one is seasonal. They close our main street for the farmers market. The produce is better and so is the price.