As you know, my boyfriend and I eat out a lot. We don't go to expensive places and we don't eat much (we usually share a meal) so it's not an extravagance. In fact, with my non-cooking mindset these days, it's a necessity.
Each year our paper presents the "Foodie Awards." Since I live in what some people call "the tourist capital of the world" we have thousands of restaurants. So we were surprised to see that many of the ones we frequent won awards.
By the way, we're going with the public's choice. The Critic's Choice is usually pretty obscure.
I recently wrote about Bubbalou's Bodacious Bar-B-Que. It won for best BBQ - again.
Best Italian - Antonio's. I love their salad and pizza. In fact, it's my favorite pizza. By the way, they have big, heavy silverware. One time I accidentally dropped a spoon and it landed in my purse. The next day when I returned it the watress teased me the entire time I was there about "building" a set of silverware one piece at a time.
By the way, I'm talking Antonio's DOWNSTAIRS. Not upstairs - that's a different story.
Runners up for best Italian were Olive Garden and Carraba's!!!! What? If I was gonna pick a chain I'd choose the Macaroni Grill.
Best Late Night - Steak 'n Shake. We had breakfast there a few days ago. It was 10 A.M. so I had a burger and fries.
Best Burger - Five Guys Burgers and Fries. I agree. We ate burgers there on election day afternnon with my granddaughter and her friend. They were pretty clueless about the election but we had fun. If you go don't forget to have some peanuts.
Best Breakfast - First Watch. We had breakfast there last week. I always have the "traditional." They have the world's best breakfast potatoes.
Best Brunch - Dexter's. I think it's a bit pricey. But Dexter's has a great inexpensive signature sandwich and a good meatless pasta dish. (By the way, I'm still mad at Dexter's because the one I go to took over a traditionally African American intersection of town. One day my friend pointed out that there was an African American eating at Dexter's but I said, "Yeah, but it doesn't count because he plays for the Magic. I don't think he's from the neighborhood.")
Most Romantic - Manuel's on the 28th. Waaaaay out of my price range but my son took me there once for my birthday.
Best Overall - Season's 52. I've eaten there many times, too many, because my Oldies went through a phase of eating there several times a week. It got so the staff genuflected when we walked in. But I got tired of it. My favorite thing was the fish sandwich but at $13 I thought it was overpriced - so I usually had the shrimp flatbread.
The Critic's Choice for best Chinese - Ming's Bistro. Haven't been there but the review says that the dim sum can't be beat. My boyfriend loves dim sum so we're going to try it soon.
Have I told you he was born in Malaysia?
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