If your chinese restaurant is serving balut, then I’d question their geography skills…
For a greek place I’d say their baklava.
Definitely don’t mean to suggest that if Chinese people aren’t there in large numbers that it won’t be a good restaurant. Just that if there are then it is a good sign (though not a perfect one, I’ve had bad Chinese food in restaurants full of Chinese people).
Yeah, I’ve had antipasto, but in Italy, not the states. I don’t eat mammals or raw tomatoes so your typical antipasto spread isn’t of much use to me. But when in Rome, I had a few group dinners with set menus and to simplify things I’d said I was vegetarian and the restaurants’ method of accommodating that was point me to the antipasto. Eggplant was in season. I ate a lot of grilled eggplant.
In another category, with my meat limitations I have had more than my fair share of turkey burgers at burger joints. I can’t say for certain since I’ve never had the hamburger, but I contend that if you’re in a place that cares enough to produce a quality turkey burger (not dry, not over seasoned, not just the Sysco froken turkey patties put on the menu as a bone for non-beef people) then they almost certainly make a very good hamburger.
I gauge good southern restaurants by their collards and by whatever BBQ they have. You can tell a bad southern restaurant by their biscuits.
At Italian restaurants I’m looking for something that doesn’t have their red sauce. How good is their pesto? Al Fredo?
And where was this?
If you’ve gone to a genuinely “great” Chinese restaurant and are ordering kung pao chicken and hot and sour soup, you’ve missed the point entirely. You might as well just go to Panda Express.
Go with a Chinese person or find a table with a bunch of Chinese people talking Chinese and ask your waiter for whatever it is they’re having. Trust me.
Steakhouse on their ribeye and house salad.
Yes. You can always tell a great kind of Cafe Society thread by how they do “You can always tell a great (kind of) restaurant by how they make (common food1) and (common food2)”
Golden Temple in Washington Square.
Mind you, it’s not a very hip place, with a lot of innovation. It’s more like the kind of “old fashioned” place that you don’t find often anymore.
I’ve gone to some great and authentic Chinese places before, and with Chinese people. There’s nothing like it. But sometimes I’m in the mood for Panda Express, only good.
Well, I’m not a very hip guy. You up for dinner one of these days?
My experience is that if a Mexican restaurant doesn’t have tamales on the menu, then the food is mediocre, typically at a franchise/fast food level.
Sure! Maybe on the weekend?
At any American-style cafe/eatery, if they do an omelet well (fresh ingredients, distinct separation of flavors) then the same care often applies to the rest of the menu.
Peruvian:
Ceviche/Tiradito
Seco con frejoles
I didn’t say “Ají de Gallina” because it ain’t that hard or technical.
I’ve been to a number of lousy Chinese restaurants that were full of Chinese people (presumably because they were cheap and fast). Similarly, a busy McDonalds doesn’t mean that McDonalds’ food is great.
An old standby method of mine for identifying great ethnic food is to look for the table full of homework in the rear of the dining area. That means family-owned, with Mama in the kitchen, brother bussing tables, sisters waitressing and acting as hostess and Papa being the figurehead and general gofer. You could count on the best food you could imagine in a place like that, especially if the menu is a chalkboard.
I agree. That is not what I was suggesting.
True, and just because there’s alot of Asian people there is no guarantee they’re eating the same food as the white customers.