Los Angeles has too many good restaurants to list and I’ve been to too little. However, I can say that I love Boiling Point, Boiling Crab, and the best prime rib I’ve ever had was at the Stinking Rose
The best restaurant in my home town of El Cerrito is probably Elevation 66, a brewpub noted for its good food. El Cerrito is a bedroom community that has a bunch of fast food places, a few Chinese places, a couple of Japanese restaurants, but few really fine restaurants.
I’d say the best restaurant that’s close to where I live is Chez Panisse in Berkeley, a little over four miles from my house. It’s closed due to a fire, but should re-open soon.
I disagree that Sacramento has always “been poor in decent, independent restaurants that survived.” We’re not a big city or anything, but we have a number of great restaurants that have been around for quite a while. Many for more than 20-25 yrs and some for over 40.
I do agree that we’ve had a serious proliferation of crappy chain restaurants in the past couple of decades as well.
In any case, my vote goes to Biba (since 1986) with Frank Fat’s a close second (since 1939).
I have to take you to task here, Dung Beetle.
I can’t really speak on the Paramount, as I’ve only been a few times. Wasn’t super impressed. Bahn Thai used to be one of the best places in town until the former owners sold it a couple years back. He told me he trained up the new chef himself, but I don’t think the transition was at all successful.
I still dream about the Geng Kua duck.
The best restaurant in Gainesville is Indian Cuisine. Great food and great service. Amazing lunch buffet. A tad on the pricey side for dinner, but it’s worth it. Spicy food that’s flavorful rather than just insanely over-chilied.
For traditional Italian, you can’t beat Roman Village.
For Thai, you can’t beat Bangkok 96.
For Middle Eastern, it’d be hard to find a better place outside the Middle East than LaPita.
Three of my favorite places to eat in my hometown. (Dearborn, MI)
In Albany, NY, La Serre or Jack’s Oyster House. These is where the lobbyists bribe . . . uh, take the state legislators to dinner.
In Schenectady … well, there really isn’t anything really great in the city; the best have closed down. But there’s The Turf Tavern and the Glenn Sanders Mansion just outside.
Many of which should have closed far sooner. (ETA: Four of the worst five meals of my life were at old, expensive, well-established and highly-reviewed traditional Sac eateries.) Yes, there are a few good, reliable restaurants and always have been, but for an SMSA of almost two million it’s pretty pathetic. Where the chains haven’t pushed out quality independents, you have far too many places trading on names made in the Mad Men era. It’s hit or miss all around, much more so than any equivalent city I’ve been in. Mostly, it’s the profusion of chains that were allowed to plop in everywhere with no planning limitations… but then, Sacramento (County) is what you get when you let the developers run things for 50 years.
I should note that I lived there for 45 years, and my mother was an executive who worked downtown from the late 40s on; I know the history and evolution of the place well. And left it behind with zero regrets. It wanted to be LA when it grew up, and it succeeded in everything but class.
I haven’t been there, but if I ever have a special occasion and someone to share it with we’re going to go to Woodberry Kitchen It’s consistently well reviewed and the friends who’ve gone there agree.
The best restaurant here in Lakeville, CT is Pastorale. You’ve never heard of it, or of Lakeville, CT.
NitroPress,
What’s the *best *restaurant in *your *city?
The Second Street Emporium in Webster City, Iowa is pretty decent. My favorite is a potato dish named for the owner – Rector Potatoes – fried with red and green peppers and onions. They also do an excellent steak sandwich and deep-fried walleye.
Leon’s Pizza in the same block does an awesome greasy pizza, and they’re the only place around that makes use of garden veggies in summer – cucumber salads and fresh tomatoes, not that crap from the grocery store.
A bit farther away is Unkies in Thor. If you’re not there by 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, you’ll wait (in the bar next door) for an hour – they don’t take reservations. Small menu but everything was thoroughly tested. Excellent steaks and prime rib. My favorite is the hand-breaded fried mushrooms and the hash brown potatoes, fried in butter. Even their little green salad is good – it’s just iceberg lettuce and a few cucumber slices, but they do something that gives it some flavor. We’re going tonight with relatives from Wisconsin.
I answered above. I live in a REALLY small town that’s a bit isolated, so we have two diner-y places and a Dunkin’ Donuts. Slightly better restaurants (still mostly dinerish, deli-ish or Asian-Americanish) are a town away. Restaurants with stars anywhere but between their list of burger fixin’s are 20+ miles out.
I live in San Francisco, so we could go broke eating out.
My current upscale favorite is Fifth Floor; the food is generally* breathtakingly good, but it’s not so posh as to make middle-class me feel uncomfortable.
*We did a chef’s tasting and wine pairing for my partner’s birthday this year. It was all absolutely wonderful, except for one course called “lardo”, which is - wait for it - lard. I just assumed that I didn’t have the palate or sophistication to appreciate a small piece of lard on some greens.
Roddy
Lardo isn’t lard - it’s pork fat (“fatback”), and it’s delicious in small doses. Like bacon fat is…
One of my favorites in New York is East of Eighth in Chelsea. It has a really cute, friendly atmosphere, a backyard garden, and great food at a decent price. They run a lot of promos and specials too.
I also love Cafe Blossom. It’s a tiny chain of vegan restaurants (3 locations). I’ve only been to the one on the Upper West Side, but the food was amazing- my non vegan friends loved it- plus the staff is super friendly.
I live in Omaha, Nebraska and we have quite a few great restaurants here. It is hard to pick, but
Piccolo Pete’s This is where we are eating tonight. Two of Omaha’s Italian restaurant families are represented here. In the early 1960s Junior Piccolo married Grace Caniglia. A generation later, this is probably the best Italian Steakhouse in town. Pretty often, we see Warren Buffet there.
(I got my first job, at 14 years old at the original Caniglia’s)
For Lunch, there is The Dundee Dell This is the home of the authentic Reuben sandwich, invented in 1925 by Reuben Kulakofsky and on the menu of the Blackstone Hotel until it was closed in the 1970s. They also have the largest collection of Single Malt Scotch in the world.
A South Omaha Favorite is Dinker’s Bar This neighborhood bar has what is usually described as the best burger in Omaha
I don’t eat out much in Toronto, when we want fine dining we drive to Niagara Falls and have dinner at The AG
It’s become our place to try new things because we’ve never had anything there that wasn’t extremely good. They did a special deal this year - 4 dinners for 2 for $329 and that’s been awesome for us because it’s forcing us to get away on a semi regular basis. Since it also includes a 25% discount on rooms at the Inn we have been staying overnight allowing for full enjoyment of the wine pairings 
Nick Tahou’s of course.
Okay, if you’re looking for a more traditional fine dining experience it’s probably Max of Eastman Place or Rooneys. Those are the places you’d go to impress somebody.
Two votes for Chez Panisse. Two blocks east of where I live.
I had my wedding reception there, so I’m biased, but it’s awesome.