If We Visit Your City, What Restaurant Should We Go To?

If you tell me your favorite restaurant, the next time I travel to your town or city, I'll go there. Why? Because I love distinct food and the creativity that goes into making a remarkable and palletable dish. Chain restaurants are not my first choice, but I have been to them, i.e., P.F. Chang's is my favorite Chinese restaurant. Once you develop a more discerning taste for food, including the flavor, creativity and display, you'll keep challenging your taste buds and your visual appeal. I also love Mexican and Chinese food and I'll go to a hole in the wall if the food there is great.

My favorite local Mexican restaurant is Ponak's in Kansas City, Missouri. Mostly because I have been going there for years and I always know what to expect. Is it the best in the country? Probably not, but it's my favorite in Kansas City and if you love margaritas, you will love theirs. The best Mexican restaurant I have been to is in Scottsdale, Arizona called The Blue Adobe Grille serving up the best tamales I have had to date!

What one person calls "gourmet," another person might just call it lunch. I prefer terms, "great," "good," and "wow" to describe food. I have a nephew who completed culinary school this year and is working in a classy place in a classy part of Memphis. He's still experimenting with cooking, and I can't think of anything more fun than to experiment with fresh foods and spices. Yum!

If I can find food that's really good, I also don't really care how it's packaged, as long as it "wow's" my pallette. For example, my favorite barbecue pit in Kansas City is historical Arthur Bryant's and there are a lot of people who just don't care for the flavor or won't travel to that part of town for the experience of tasting its style of barbecue.

If you like Thai food, according to Jonathan Gold of Gourmet Magazine, Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas, Nevada is "the single best Thai restaurant in North America." Owner and Chef, Saipin Chutima, specializes in northern Thai cooking.

I also enjoy the stories behind the restaurant. I find it interesting how a restaurant went from an idea to a photo depicting lines of people waiting outside for their share of the menu. Whether it's eating the best hamburger in a 40-year-old downtown diner or sitting cliffside with the best butternut squash soup, I'm in for the experience of a restaurant's personality and the opportunity to walk away saying, "Wow, that was so incredible!" I hope you've had that experience. Please let me know if you have!

If you have never visited the Gayot site, it's worth perusing; it has a lot of information particular to cities beyond just restaurants.