Mexican, about any kind. Sometimes I want the real deal at the taco truck, sometimes I want white-people Mexican, sometimes I want Taco Bell. Favorite sit-down place is mostly Mexican with a bit of white-people Mexican mixed in. Only place in the metro area that has truly hot salsa, homemade.
If it’s Mexican, I’m definitely getting red sauce enchiladas or tacos with either al pastor or lengua.
I do not think I can pick a favorite, mostly I cook at home so just make what I want. But my most usual restaurant orders:
Burrito Jaliscience from Crazy Burrito. BBQ pork (asado, not like with BBQ sauce), refried beans, rice, grilled onions and their absolutely addictive so very hot hot sauce.
Pho from Pho Quyen. The one with thin sliced raw beef that the broth cooks.
Sag/Palak paneer and garbanzos masala from Rasoi Indian. And the curried okra.
And the best restaurant meal we ever had, ever, was at a Peruvian restaurant in Sarasota that is gone now. It was like 10 years ago and we still talk about it. Even the salad dressing was exquisite, every part of the meal so good. Seared tuna & a chicken dish with yellow sauce. Tableside bananas foster. Better than it sounds because every part of it was incredibly delicious.
I don’t do that anymore for fast food, but a local pizza chain called Bellagios is what I sometimes get (it’s rare when I do).
Back then, it used to be a local fast food chain called Burgerville, but their quality is horrible compared to what it used to be.
Oh man, I haven’t had Burgerville in nearly a decade and a half. Bummer.
Their stuff was really good back in the day, and their quality was fantastic. Too bad the quality’s gone to trash, especially during COVID.
I like buffet places, as long as they’re clean. That way I don’t have to order, I just grab some of this and some of that and go back for more of what I liked
Buffets are underrated. (Although overpriced)
Man I love me a good American Chinese buffet. The more Americanized and Sysco-ified, the better.
That said, I also fuck with more authentic Chinese cuisine like dumplings and hot pot. It’s all good food.
The best meal I’ve had in 2025 was at a Chinese buffet
All you can eat hot pot 😋🤤
In China it was usually called Bu Fei, but in Taiwan it was Chi Dao Bao - eat until full. Of course they usually had a 2h time limit, but I can eat a lot of hotpot in 2h.
The older I get, the more overpriced they are. My appetite is shrinking
All you can eat sushi. It doesn’t need to be great, just all I can eat.
The deli inside one of the Asian grocery stores we shop at. $12 for 3 huge portions of mains and another huge portion of noodles as the side. Basically a meal for 2 people for the price of one.
There a lotta fried chicken sandwich places. Love em all.
Otherwise the more traditional Pakistani and Arab kinds. Sit on the floor, stay there for hours.
And by floor I mean there are booths of sort with ‘ground seating’. That ground seating can be elevated tho.
At these restaurants I also like live classical music and ideally being outdoors
Local rural Mexican restaurant. Nothing special. There’s hundreds of similar places near me. But I know the staff at this place. I can order an amazing burrito and a good, generic margarita. It’s my comfort food.
We only have one legit Mexican place, taco truck. And we had nothing 20-years ago until Hispanics came in to work after Hurricane Ivan.
It was bizarre after spending a couple of years in Chicagoland. “Uh. Y’all got any Mexicans around here? Cause a man gotta eat.”
Favourite is a tough ask.
I love southern US style BBQ, and if they do a good ‘Jacob’s ladder’ beef rib I’ll be there on the regular.
I also love a good curry, but it has to be either authentic Indian, or authentic BIR. If it’s the former then I love a Dosakaya Pappu, an authentic Goan Pork Vindaloo, or a Mutton Paya. If it’s the latter then I love a good Lamb Madras or Chicken Jalfrezi.
I love good Mexican food, there was. a place I used to go to in London that did an amazing fish enchilada, but they’ve taken it off their menu and it’s the only thing I ever ordered it was so good.
But, for favourite it has to be a good steak house. And in an ideal world, I’ll have the ribeye, cooked as the chef suggests (which usually means a medium rare for a ribeye) with a bonemarrow butter sauce, thick cut chips, and maybe a couple of portabello mushrooms.
Most any restaurant is fine by me, but there’s an absolutely fantastic small chain Indian restaurant near me that does absolutely divine curry, but I tend to get chicken vindaloo if I remember correctly.
Also a fantastic local German restaurant nearby that does amazing everything from sides like their freshly made sauerkraut to fantastic spätzle, so you know I gotta get both of those.
Edit:
- I think it may have been lamb vindaloo. Been a while since I was last there.
- There used to be a local Chinese restaurant that I absolutely LOVED. It was most likely authentic considering you’d see Chinese families ordering family style and doing the whole lazy susan thing. I’ve never seen a nin-authentic Chinese restaurant do that.
Vietnamese.
Almost always order the Phở Dặc Biệt. Not sure what it means but it seems to be the deluxe or variety version of pho. Always tasty, and no stomach ache - which is the inevitable result of fast food in my case.
Ramen.
Ramen.Everything’s just Sysco™ now lol.
I really wish everyday people could bypass the middleman and just order directly from Sysco and Shamrock Farms. I’d never eat out again (and that’s why they won’t do it).
It goes in phases. There’s an Asian Latin fusion near me that is on my mind lately. The birria bao buns are fantastic!
Our go-to is tex-mex and i love chicken mole, cheese enchiladas, or a good old fashioned crispy taco. If my husband says no to 4 restaurants, we go to a taqueria. Made that rule about 5 years ago and it’s never let us down!
Breakfast diners, especially Greek ones. I order three eggs over medium and pancakes with extra butter. If they serve tea, I order hot tea.
