Fried Okra.
I can’t offer a recipe, but the idea is to pickle a roast in an acidic (vinegar based) marinade prior to baking/roasting it. Traditionally this would require a crock to contain the acidic marinade, but a ziplock freezer bag is an excellent 21st century substitute.
Ideally the marination time should be long (see above) so planning ahead is key. The anticipation is part of the appeal. Choice of vinegar will have a large effect on the flavor, so if the first one doesn’t turn out, try a different vinegar…I’d start with a good red wine vinegar.
Any honestly BBQed meat. By “honestly BBQed” I mean meat that has seen smoke and is not just flesh with liquid-smoke-based barbecue sauce on it.
I will always eat local as much as possible. If I’m on the coasts, I will go out of my way to eat seafood morning, noon, and night. If there’s any food on the menu I’ve never seen before, I will order it.
If there’s anything consistent I will try, for breakfast it might be homemade corned beef hash, or eggs Benedict. Oh, yeah, and creme brulee for desert (but not for breakfast, obviously).
The dozen or so places around here I’ve tried it at vary from Meh to Acceptable, with one odd sushi place is Tigard doing a Slightly Above Par dish. But I have never seen a place here’bouts (and anyone in Portland if you know what I’m looking for, please please please clue me in) that does Katsu like Diner’s did.
Diner’s didn’t use mere palm-sized skinned chicken cutlets. Nope, skin and fat and all and a normal sized portion took up half the plate. The breading wasn’t what I see too much of the time now; Not like essentially microwave chicken patties, now, this was thick crunchy panko that had just a hint of ginger and stayed crispy in the little pool of grease in the bottom of the bento box. Huge, gloriously greasy, crispy, delicious…
I know a Katsu. Was he named after Japanese cutlette?
I will always order profiteroles, and, like the OP, am often disappointed. Whipped cream is way too often the cause of said disappointment. When will American restaurants* learn that whipped cream is not the same as crème patissieere?
*I am referring to restaurants in America, rather than those serving American style food.
I gave up on ordering Saurbraten in restaurants and learned to make it myself. Sure, it takes at least 3 days, but it’s worth it.
- Thai vegetarian green curry. yummm A good green curry is how I gauge the worth of Thai restaurants, and there are a lot of them around here. yummmmm
- Nonalcoholic wine? Except that no one ever has any. I would get it everytime if I could ever find it on a wine list.
- Tiramisù. yummm
Ditto, but I have a hard time finding them this way around here.
Sauerbraten with spaetzle is heaven. If I’m at a restaurant that has both sauerbraten and rouladen, though, it’s a toss-up… although many places make the rouladen much too dry. 
Red cabbage is a must.
Going Japanese, I must have a spicy tuna roll. Korean, it’s a hot stone pot (bi bim bap?) with chicken. Indian, and it’s paneer pakora and a mango lassi.
For dessert, key lime pie gets me every time.
I’m amazed at how ignorant I am. I dine out regularly and I’ve been involved in the hospitality industry for 10 years and I travel extensively (never to the US though) and about half the things people have mentioned here I’ve never heard of.
I’ve never heard of sauerbraten and although I’ve had spaetzle in Switzerland have never seen it on a menu here. I had to google gyro, french dip, katsu and a few others. We obviously don’t have nearly the same huge selection of foods here.
For my answer - Creme brulee - and I’m dissapointed more than half the time
Whenever I’m in a nice italian restaurant and they have risotto, I definitely go with the risotto. Squash is my favorite, and then mushroom. I love it! A friend of mine in culinary school taught me how to make a bang-up version myself but, since it literally involves an hour straight of stirring, and I am not the best seasoner in general, I like to let the restaurant stir it for me 
Meanwhile, I’m deathly allergic to potatoes, so I always make the onion-ring swap in restaurants.
Ah! That reminds me. Upon visiting any Thai restaurant, Gai pad gaprao (Thai holy basil chicken) is the standard dish that I use to guage the “authenticity” of the cuisine. For me, it should be a simple dish, made with ground chicken, garlic and/or shallots, copious amounts of fish sauce and peppery holy basil, and, if I ask for it Thai hot, it should be blazingly hot. Most mainstream Thai places blandify this dish.
Oh! This takes me back to childhood. My mom made it so well.
For soup, I would always get French Onion or clam chowder.
Main dish: Alfredo whatever, usually fettucini with grilled chicken
Dessert: something peanut butter and chocolatey
That’s a standard at many cheap food stalls here in Thailand, and yes, it’s great. Also good with pork instead of chicken – that would be “mu” instead of “gai,” or “kai” as it’s usually spelled, even though the K is pronounced more like a G. I usually order it as a single dish for a one-off meal, like for lunch or dinner, and I’ll let you in on a secret: When you order it on rice, it’s common to have them stick a fried egg on top of it, and THAT is REALLY good, exponentially so.
Ooo…that sounds fantastic. I make it at home a lot because most of the places that make it really good around here (for me, that’s extra spicy and extra fishy) are way up on the north side. I will give the fried egg a shot–it sounds awesome.
The fried egg really goes well with it. You won’t be sorry.
Oysters!!!
Sometimes I wish I lived in the Northeast, and had to commute through Grand Central, just so that, every so often, I could drop in at the legendary Oyster Bar.
My friend and I were in a diner in NYC once, and the menu featured fries (~$1) and cheese fries ($2.95).
My friend orders the cheese fries.
Waitress (concerned look): Those are $2.95.
Friend: That’s fine.
The “cheese fries” show up: steak fries with one slice of American cheese melted on top. I can see why she tried to warn her. :smack:
How about wet fries? They are steak fries slathered in gravy. Sinfully good and not all that easy to find.
Depends on where I am…as someone mentioned, go local, and hope for the best…usually good idea to get a recommendation on a venue.
After that, irregardless of location, I’m always drawn to raw oysters and smoked salmon.
Whatever my favorite local Italian restaurants do well.
I, personally, steer clear of French Onion Soup; not because I don’t love it, but there are so many bad versions of it, and I’d be pissed to take the roof off the top of my mouth on a nasty version, then not be able to enjoy the rest of my meal :eek:
Move to Baltimore.
Oh, I’m sorry. My best friend growing up was allergic to chocolate and I always felt so bad for him.