I ate the best steak sandwich* of my life today… at a little Cuban place that had bars on the windows, smelled like my Mother’s basement, and had an exposed hot water heater in the dining room… ( I should note the place was fairly clean, just… run down.)
What’s the best hole in the wall place you’ve eaten?
*The sandwich was steak and peppers with cheese. I think she seasoned it with crack.
Mmmmm…Lowry’s Crack Salt. Use it once, and they’ll ask for seconds, guaranteed!
I go to a place around the corner called Darcy’s. Basically a dive bar with a kitchen attached, but what a kitchen! Food so good and at such great prices that church groups have meetings there.
There is this little burrito shack next to a car dealership that was right on my way home from work for years. It was the size of someone’s living room - just the kitchen and a couple of walk-up windows. Best garbage burritos evar!
Not quite a hole in the wall but close. I used to live in Middletown, NY and there’s the restaurant called the Blue Finn Grill (I just checked and it’s still there). When you’re inside it’s a very classy seafood restaurant. The kind of place that sells Seared Duck Breast with Pomegranate-Tamarind Glaze or Fried Tofu and Flame Roasted Red Pepper Napoleon as appetizers and two people could easily run up a hundred dollar check.
But when you drive by the place, you’d never suspect there’s a upscale restaurant located there. It’s in a rundown strip mall in a rundown shopping district.
There’s a tiny Mexican restaurant in the corner of a dodgy little strip mall in my town that has wonderful food. It’s simple home cooking, but no one can touch them for quality. They turn out wonderful chiles rellenos, enchiladas, and chile verde. You get your own soda or beer from a fridge over to the side, and the tables are creaky and the door won’t fully close.
It’s called “La Choza”. I hope they’ll always be there.
If you’re ever in Roanoke, VA, do yourself a favor that’ll last a lifetime and go to The Texas Tavern (“Roanoke’s Millionaire’s Club”) on Church Street downtown.
-“We seat 1000 - ten at a time.”
-“We don’t Cash Checks or Play with Bumble Bees.”
-Home of one of the only left-handed grills in the whole world.
-Your best bets are “a bowl with and two hots with” (the bowl is chili, the “with” is onions, and if you don’t know what a “hot” is, I’m not the man to help you).
-OR, the world-famous Denver (“What’s a Denver? It’s a city in Colorado.”), which is a burger with everything and an egg.
-Where Roanoke has gone to sober up since Time Immemorial.
-(sob) AND I DON’T LIVE THERE ANYMORE!!!
There are several, but a few stand out:
The White Spot Cafe in Anchorage, AK: this place started out a long time ago, maybe before I was born. I became aware of it in about 1960 or so, when I was 13 or so. At that time it was a literal “hole in the wall”: a tiny counter service that was wedged in between two other buildings, and barely had enough room between the counter stools and the wall to walk the length of it. They catered to the taxi stand and the local bar patrons. They served the best burgers and fresh french fries in the city. It has moved since those days to marginally larger digs and changed owners when the original owner/fry cook died, but it still serves good burgers and outstanding fresh halibut sandwiches.
Tony’s Crab Shack in Bandon, OR. In the old days, this was a bait shop that also sold crab pots, and a place where fishermen could bring in their crabs to be cooked. They still do those things, but nowadays they also serve up a number of seafood items. Their warm shrimp and crab sandwich is outstanding.
South Beach Fish Market, in Newport, OR. A tiny place on the south side of Newport bridge. Terrific chowder, etc., plus fresh fish and a boiling vat of water to cook your crab.
Bandon Fish Market, Bandon, OR: best fish and chips on the Oregon coast.
The best pulled pork sandwich I’ve had–and one I still dream about–came from this little grocery in Eads, TN. Now, I didn’t discover it myself. I had some leads praising this place up and down, and it was every bit as damned good and better than I thought it would/could be.
There’s this little Mexican place near my house called La Fondita. It’s on a residential road in the middle of a neighborhood, and clearly is someone’s home converted into a restaurant, as the building is identical to all the other houses on the street, save for the 4 very narrow parking spaces cut out of the side yard. You would never just come upon this place, you have to know where it is and go there. Best tacos in all of DC.
Rocky’s III in Burbank. Best cheap greasy bar burgers ever! And this place is a total old hole dive bar. And I think it’s a cop hang out. And it closes really really early for a bar (like 8pm).
In my home town of Evansville IN, there is a tiny little place called the Hickory Pit Stop. It seats MAYBE 50. It has been owned by the same family since it was built in the early 50’s. They have their own smokehouse built on the back, and they serve the best ribs (dry rubbed, sauce on the side) and pulled pork I have ever had. Their smoked chicken is damned good, too.
Heh. I’ve actually been there. And it was when we were coming back from our trip down to Memphis and Owensboro, where we made that pitstop in Eads. I do remember it being very good barbecue, and I remember them particularly for having mutton on the menu (just like in Owensboro.)
Why don’t you have ketchup? “Because this is the Texas Tavern!”
Is it still there? I haven’t been to Roanoke in years.
Chow Chau in Boston’s Chinatown.
Not Chow Chau City, that restaurant, while quite good, is far too big and fancy to qualify. Chow Chau (which may have been run by the same owners) was a little run-down diner where nearly all the customers were locals. The walls were covered with slips of paper listing dishes in Chinese that weren’t on the English menu, they were open all night, and the food (both on-menu and off) was fantastic. My gang of friends in college made late-night runs there on a weekly basis. The only time I ever skipped a Chau run was when I was in the process of losing my virginity.
That was where I honed my chopstick skills, as we set a rule that no forks were allowed. So no chopstick skills = no food.
In Seattle, you can’t go wrong with Beth’s Café - a little shithole of a greasy spoon on Aurora near Greenlake, with no parking and barely enough room to sit down, and home of the best 12-egg chili cheese omelet (with bottomless hash browns) you’ve ever laid eyes on.
Morette’s in Schenectady is an institution – great steak sandwiches, but everything on the menu is good – and inexpensive, too.
I first noticed a little, tiny hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant right up the block from where I work about a year after I started working there. Lots of vegetarian food, and bubble teas and coffees. The first time I had their fried cheese wontons, I attacked them like a wolf. I’d forgotten food could taste that good!
When I was in grad school, there was a little hole-in-the-basement Indonesian restaurant that I (and a lot of other grad students) frequented. They had a daily lunch special that was the same price as a McDonald’s happy meal, but flavorful. They always had a protein, a veggie and a fruit, but not always English words for them. 
More recently, there was a nice, tiny Korean restaurant within a short walk that we’d go to regularly when neither of us felt like cooking. Unlimited side dishes with good quality meat. When we went once on a birthday, the owner scolded us for coming to her restaurant and not someplace better. :smack: But she gave us desert on the house.
Is it a Fiery Doritos Locos taco with sour cream, guacamole and Franks Red Hot sauce?
There is a burger joint, that’s been around and owned by the same family since my parents were teenagers and my dad used to take my mom there on dates, where most of their menu is just ok diner fair but they have the best onion rings and milkshakes. The onion rings are huge. You can watch them cut up a giant onion and then batter and fry it while you wait. Their milkshakes are made with real ice cream. They’re not just some sludge that comes out of a machine like McDonalds. You can watch them pull out a tub of ice cream and pour in the milk. You can get peanut butter added and they pull out a tub of peanut butter and put a couple of giant scoops in and then mix it up.
Several times a year they hold a Classic Car show in their little parking lot and I’ll go and get some onion rings and a shake.
Haven’t been back in years myself, but I’m sure they’re still servin’ it up. They got a website and everything.
