Best (blank) you had was at (blank)

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Spinoff of the steak thread, but as a catch-all to discuss the best of the road.

Burger - Lions' Tap, Eden Prairie, MN
Mexican - some hole in the wall joint in San Antonio
BBQ - Abe's, Clarksdale, MS or Jack Stack in KC
Mac and cheese- Long Wong's, Tempe, AZ (long closed)
Hot turkey/meatloaf - Kaffe Stuga, Harris, MN
Cuban sandwich - El Maison de Pepe's, Key West
Chinese buffet - Lotus Gardens, Dodge City, KS

doesn't post a pizza to avoid being shredded by east coasters 

[Ned Weasel]

Best A&W: Ontario, Canada (I can't remember what city/town, but it was adjacent to a truck stop off the 401, somewhere between Windsor and Mississauga).

doesn't post a pizza to avoid being shredded by east coasters 

I'll do it then.  Pizza Parma, Pittsburgh, PA.  The only pizza that I can say was worth the one-hour wait.

[webny99]

doesn't post a pizza to avoid being shredded by east coasters 

Ha, probably a smart choice.

I actually think Rochester, NY, is the best place for pizza on the planet (there's a lot of Italian influence here, so there's tons of local shops and chains, and they're all great)...but I would also not say that, knowing what the blowback from those even further east would be. It's not that I'm afraid that pizza from the East Coast is actually better. It's just that none of our pizza is as famous, so I'm largely on my own, and completely happy to keep it that way. 

[Max Rockatansky]

Chicago Style is my pizza of preference, let the commentary fly.

[hotdogPi]

Food

Strawberries: ÃŽle d'Orleans near Québec City. The Cora in the suburbs near our motel (still within city limits) seemed to use strawberries from there; all the fruits (not just the strawberries) from that restaurant were really good.

Mac & cheese: I like two in particular: Uno (a chain), and Kitty's (a single location in North Reading, MA). The advantage of Kitty's is that the full meal includes two sides, but getting a side order of mac & cheese, which is the same size but without the two sides, and is still enough for a full meal, is only $8.25 (as of about 4 years ago; inflation probably has changed things). I haven't been to Kitty's since they closed for health violations, even after they reopened.

Non-food

Vacation trip: My trip around the country in 2011. I still have about 700 photos via digital camera; unfortunately, the camera doesn't store location in the same way that smartphone photos do. The "Where is this" US 89 in Arizona thread I posted was from that trip. I rode by Amtrak the entire way. I went to Chicago for the annual coin convention, then to Flagstaff to visit family, then to Los Angeles to visit other family (the train station was in Los Angeles; the family was in the suburbs), then up to Portland and east to Chicago again (we could see the Cascades), but we couldn't get home due to flooding from Hurricane Sandy. We went Chicago-DC-Boston rather than Chicago-Boston directly. Throughout all this, we had a 30-day pass that allowed unlimited train trips free, although sleeper cars cost extra.

Trivia game: Keon's in Georgetown, MA, although the host moves frequently. The prize was $100 cash for the winner, and if there's a tie (not that uncommon due to the one-point-per-question format), most people opted to split rather than have a tiebreaker, so even a 2-way split gives you more money than the cost of the food, and it's the only trivia we've ever done where you can get a net profit (and we were good enough that we did, and he changed the rules so that the three rounds were worth $25, $25, and $50 instead of having $100 for the winner). I like when hosts create their own questions; the ones provided by companies are typically more pop culture, and they're meant to be easier, but we seem to do just as well with host-created questions because we're a bit stronger in non-pop culture questions despite the questions being a bit harder. The one problem was that he didn't always do his research when creating the questions.

Class: Traffic flow theory, a graduate course. I'm much more concerned about efficiency than safety, although some things help both (such as getting rid of left turns in certain places).

Quote: "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." Major plot twist at the end. (George W. Bush, 5 August 2004)

Intersection type: 3-leg continuous flow

... in bed.

[kphoger]

BBQ – Dyer's Bar-B-Que, Amarillo (TX).
Breakfast – Red Apple Pancake House, Carol Stream (IL).
Seafood – A beachside shack in San Francisco (Nayarit, Mexico).
Hamburger – Red Robin.  Shoot me.

[webny99]

Hamburger – Red Robin.

You know, I actually considered that as my answer for burgers as well. I'm sure there are better burgers to be found, but I've never been able to find anything wrong with a burger from Red Robin. That makes it a pretty solid, airtight answer.

[kphoger]

You know, the best burger I've ever had might actually have been at a hole-in-the-wall place in a rough Chicago neighborhood.  I can't remember the name of the place now.  It was at Central Avenue and the Green Line L tracks, southeast quadrant.  It was the sort of place where you ordered your food through a bulletproof window and slipped your cash underneath, then took it to go.  Grease soaking through the paper sack.  But oh man! were the burgers tasty.

They tore that area down about fifteen years ago and put up newer buildings, so I can't link to it.  Here's what the area looks like now, totally different.

[NWI_Irish96]

Burger - No single burger has ever stood out to me, I can get on board with the above support for Red Robin as they are always good
Fries - Rally's/Checkers
Pizza - All the major Chicago deep dish places are great but I would give an edge to Lou Malnati's
Steak - Jeff Ruby's (Louisville)
Tacos - El Salto (NW Indiana)
Ice Cream - Graeter's (Cincinnati area)
Bacon - Cracker Barrell
Beer - New Oberpfalz Elucidator Dopplebock (Griffith, IN)
Frozen Margarita - Hacienda (North Central Indiana)

[Mapmikey]

Best rotisserie chicken - Brooks BBQ, Oneonta NY
Best taco - Tacoholics, El Paso TX
Best potatoes - Athens Restaurant, James Island SC
Best chicken and waffles - Lolo's, Scottsdale AZ
Best meat and 3 (sit down) - Wade's, Spartanburg SC
Best meat and 3 (fast food) - Abbay's, Memphis TN
Best shawarma (tie) - Al Basha, Baton Rouge LA and Zaytoon's, Lansing MI
Best pie - Blue Springs Cafe, Highland IL
Best quesadilla - Salsa Brava, Flagstaff AZ
Best Canadian fast food - Opa! (mostly western Canada but a few in Ontario)
Best brisket - Black's, Austin TX

[kphoger]

Take note, everybody:

French fries – Pizza Hut

[webny99]

  It was the sort of place where you ordered your food through a bulletproof window and slipped your cash underneath, then took it to go.

Something everyone needs to experience at least once in their lifetime. I went to a pizza joint like that once that has also now closed. (IIRC, it was in this building... Yikes!!)

[webny99]

Take note, everybody:

French fries – Pizza Hut

I have never had French fries from Pizza Hut, but...

I'm almost certain Taco Bell's nacho fries are better!

[kphoger]

It was the sort of place where you ordered your food through a bulletproof window and slipped your cash underneath, then took it to go.

Something everyone needs to experience at least once in their lifetime.

It's the only place I've ever been solicited by a prostitute, too.  With meth mouth.  Yikes!

Take note, everybody:

French fries – Pizza Hut

I have never had French fries from Pizza Hut, but...

I'm almost certain Taco Bell's nacho fries are better!

As soon as you mention Taco Bell, though, half the country is gonna hate on you.

[OCGuy81]

I like this, great idea!

Mexican: Old Town Mexican Cafe - San Diego CA
Sushi: Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar - Lahaina, HI
BBQ: Coopers Old Time Pit BBQ - Austin, TX
Burger: It's a chain, but I love The Habit burger (superior to In n Out, IMHO) they need to get up here to Oregon!

Pizza: Oreganos. Various locations in the Phoenix area.
Italian: Mama D's Italian Kitchen - Newport Beach, CA

[OCGuy81]

It was the sort of place where you ordered your food through a bulletproof window and slipped your cash underneath, then took it to go.

Something everyone needs to experience at least once in their lifetime.

It's the only place I've ever been solicited by a prostitute, too.  With meth mouth.  Yikes!

Take note, everybody:

French fries – Pizza Hut

I have never had French fries from Pizza Hut, but...

I'm almost certain Taco Bell's nacho fries are better!

As soon as you mention Taco Bell, though, half the country is gonna hate on you.

Dude, maybe that burger place is a front like Los Pollos Hermanos from Breaking Bad

[kurumi]

Mexican - Old Town Mexican Café, San Diego (hey OCGuy81)
Tonkatsu - Wako JR Isetan Kyoto. It's a 10-story department store, at the train station, with restaurants on the top floor.
Burnt Ends - Gideon's BBQ Smokehouse, Glastonbury, CT (no lie. But I'd likely find something better in the South if I looked)
Fried Chicken - San Tung, Inner Sunset, SF
Burger - Ono Burger, Hwy 56, Kauai (sadly, not there anymore)
Musubi - 7/11, Haleiwa, Oahu. Probably because we had been diving and were starving. But that musubi was delicious.

[OCGuy81]

Mexican - Old Town Mexican Café, San Diego (hey OCGuy81)
Tonkatsu - Wako JR Isetan Kyoto. It's a 10-story department store, at the train station, with restaurants on the top floor.
Burnt Ends - Gideon's BBQ Smokehouse, Glastonbury, CT (no lie. But I'd likely find something better in the South if I looked)
Fried Chicken - San Tung, Inner Sunset, SF
Burger - Ono Burger, Hwy 56, Kauai (sadly, not there anymore)
Musubi - 7/11, Haleiwa, Oahu. Probably because we had been diving and were starving. But that musubi was delicious.

Hey yourself, and congrats on having great taste in Mexican food!

I'm not familiar with the Musubi place you mentioned but I love the stuff!! Last time I was on Maui, I swear, the Chevron station near my hotel, had delicious cheap musubi!

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Tapas: Lots to choose! In Spain a bar is the traditional social network, and as result they are everywhere. Even in small towns I've found good tapas, like Cetina (population 583) or Belchite (population 1526), both in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon.

[TheGrassGuy]

Seafood chowders, Pike Place Chowder

[CoreySamson]

Mexican: Gringo's in Pearland, TX, or El Toro in Clute, TX.
BBQ: Sista White's in Freeport, TX
Burger: BBQ Bacon Burger at Whataburger
Mac and Cheese: Black's BBQ in Lockhart, TX
Grilled Cheese: DC's Grill in Brusly, LA

[hbelkins]

Burger -- Smoky Valley Truck Stop in Olive Hill, Ky.

[vdeane]

doesn't post a pizza to avoid being shredded by east coasters 

Ha, probably a smart choice.

I actually think Rochester, NY, is the best place for pizza on the planet (there's a lot of Italian influence here, so there's tons of local shops and chains, and they're all great)...but I would also not say that, knowing what the blowback from those even further east would be. It's not that I'm afraid that pizza from the East Coast is actually better. It's just that none of our pizza is as famous, so I'm largely on my own, and completely happy to keep it that way. 

It's interesting how perception of pizza changes the further one gets from NYC.  I like Rochester pizza, although I grew up in the area so I'm biased (my parents and I are loyalists for Proietti's out in Webster).  One of my coworkers who grew up in Schenectady isn't so fond of it (or Rochester, though he's only been there for the union convention and thus has only seen downtown; the Italian influence is strongest around Irondequoit and the restaurant scene is more along Park Avenue, so I can get where one would have a bad impression if they were just walking around downtown).  Meanwhile another coworker who grew up in the Hudson Valley can't even stand pizza in the Capital District!

[jp the roadgeek]

Buffalo Wings: J. Timothy's, Plainville, CT

Margarita: Coyote Blue, Middletown, CT

Ice Cream: Lapperts, Hanapepe, HI

Ice Cream Cone: Strasburg Creamery, Strasburg, PA

Chinese: Great Taste, New Britain, CT

[webny99]

I like Rochester pizza, although I grew up in the area so I'm biased (my parents and I are loyalists for Proietti's out in Webster).

I must confess, my opinion of Rochester-area pizza comes without my ever having been to Proietti's, despite driving right by with some frequency. I'll definitely have to try it out some time.

One of my coworkers who grew up in Schenectady isn't so fond of it (or Rochester, though he's only been there for the union convention and thus has only seen downtown; the Italian influence is strongest around Irondequoit and the restaurant scene is more along Park Avenue, so I can get where one would have a bad impression if they were just walking around downtown).

I would assume you'd want to try at least a handful of places before making a judgment of the pizza scene in a city. But good point: even if they have, most of the best places aren't right near downtown.

From my experience, the only places with less-than-tasty pizza around here are the national chains (Little Caesars, Pizza Hut, Dominos, etc.). I can't think of a single other place where I would genuinely turn up my nose. Even the local chains, like Guida's, Pontillo's, and Salvatores, are not only great, but part of what sets Rochester apart on the pizza front: most cities can't touch that level of quality and variety on basically every street corner.