OT What kinds of resaurants do you see popping up?

[Georgie Boy]

Food is my business and I keep seeing sushi joint popping up all over.  I'm just curious if anyone has noticed this same trend or other trends that seem to be growing.  Are you eating differently today than yesterday?  What do you think?

[Scott]

I like Buffets and we hit one about once every 2 months.

In our area we have a couple new places opening up. Cold Stone Creamery, Famous Daves, and some Italian franchise (not the Olive Garden) I can't recall the name of it.

Like great bad movies, great fast food calls for at least one visit to each of the many of those colorful franchises. Unless you have seen SUPERSIZE the movie.  : )

As for raw fish I'm not that interested and we really like seafood and eat alot of it.

Nothing beats pizza, pasta, or chilli dishes.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

Outside of Olive Garden (maybe twice a year) and Outback (about once a year) we tend to eat at locally owned places.   Its harder and harder to find really excellent food in the world.  On the flip side, its hard to find really bad food too.  But it is very easy to find perfectly average and unchanging food.  Chains tend to hit the middle road, but never really make me go "wow".
-Ed

[Neville]

I use to eat at restaurants frecuantly, and on the later years I've noticed that the menus are offering more ethnic food together with the usual dishes. One of my favourite places hired an arab cook and he even made couscous a couple of time. That cook left, but I've noticed the new one, although he is a local, now and then prepares chinese food or serves regular recipes with a touch of curry.

Also there are more arab and middle-eastern and latin restaurants in my hometown. This is no doubt a consequence of having an important Arab and south-american colony, something that didn't exist ten years ago. I also see more tropical fruit and vegetables in the supermarkets, as well as shops that only sell African food.

[Zapranoth]

I see lots of Taco Bells.

Since the franchise wars, all restaurants are Taco Bell...

=)

[dean]

Not so much chains/franchises, but there seems to be a 'hip cafe' trend at the moment with a few new ones popping up in my area, and older ones giving themselves a makeover so that they too can live up to said trend.  Not really a certain trend in types of food: most places stick to certain similar themes of offering a bit of different styles of food, ranging from foccacia's for lunch and a mix of pasta, gourmet pizza and some asian dishes, most common, things like Hokkein noodles.

Sushi places, whilst becoming more prominent, aren't really big news as of recently.

In terms of chains, not really any in the restaraunt biz, but in the last few years, juice and smoothie bars have been popping up everywhere, and Gloria Jean has become the new Starbucks.

[Mr_Vindictive]

I live on the coast of North Carolina, and there are a few new resturants popping up.

I've noticed lately that tourist type resturants have been opening up recently.  In my area, there used to be only locally owned seafood places but now swanky resturants are showing up.

Hence:

http://www.bistro-by-the-sea.com/

The most overly priced terrible food you will ever eat, but it brings in the tourists like crazy.  We also have a new "fancy" italian resturant that opened recently (20-60.00 a plate).  

For me though, I'll stick to Hardees and the various Bar N Grills in the area.

[Flangepart]

Zapranoth wrote:
> I see lots of Taco Bells.
> > Where all the dead people eat?  


> Since the franchise wars, all restaurants are Taco Bell...

Sad to say.

When i go on Vacation, i always try to eat at local places. Who needs franchises you can get back home?
Corky's BBQ in Lexington KY is a good place. Like City BBQ and Pig Iron Grill, here in Columbus, they make me hungry!

[daveblackeye15]

All I see are too many starbucks.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

There are always too many Starbuck!
-Ed

[odinn7]

"When i go on Vacation, i always try to eat at local places. "

Exactly what we do. If we're on vacation, we consider part of that is not eating at the same old crap places that we're used to.

[ulthar]

While on Hilton Head Island a few years ago, a bunch of my wife's colleagues heard "that great place" to eat; two nights, we went out with them at these much talked about places, and they were, in a word, terrible.  Crappy service, crappy, bland food and over priced.

While my wife was in her meeting, I went sailing with this dude named Kyle who lived on the island.  I asked him where to eat.  He told me of the "Sea Shack," locally owned and operated.

Paper plates and cups, you get your own drink, plastic 'silverware,' gravel parking lot for a low, almost (but not quite) run-down little building with screen doors,  the food is out-of-this-world.  Everything is caught that day and they know how to cook it.

Now, when we go to Hilton Head, we don't even bother with the 'great place' someone heard about.  If we eat out at all, we go to the Sea Shack.

Find out where the 'locals' eat; that's where the best food is.

At home, we almost never eat out.  I have not eaten McD's in nearly 10 years, and have not had ANY kind of fast food in nearly three.  I can count on one hand the number of times we ate out in 2004.  Given that, I don't pay much attention to what eateries are going up.

[Flangepart]

Columbus, Ohio.
Flangepart suggests...
Hoggy's.
Pig Iron Grill.
City BBQ.
Moe's ( A better form of personalised burrito place )
Talita's ( SW Mexican )
Franke's place.
Hummmm....

What home town places do you guys recomend?

[odinn7]

None where I live. They are all just mediocre around here. The best places I've been to in this area are chains. TGI Fridays and Texas Road House being the best of them. I live in a crappy area...



Post Edited (07-29-05 09:44)

[Georgie Boy]

Flangepart....I also like Planks.  The Dagwood is very good.

In Cincinnati I recommend:

Tower Pizza - better than any chain, national or local
Hi Bombay - great Indian buffet and Chris is an awesome server
El Toro - try the fajitas paradilla
Thai Delight - awesome sushi and thai food
Walt's Barbecue - no better BBQ in town, not even the famouse Montgomery Inn
Nicholson's Pub - the best fish sandwich EVER
Fusion Cafe - alot like Benehana, but much less expensive and very tasty
Waterfront Grill - pricey but the best steaks and raw bar in the state of Ohio
Izzy's - hands down the best Reuben outside of NYC

Bon Apetit