DiningBuzz! - What are your 5 Favorite Ethnic/Regional Foods-Restaurant

Big Ethnic Food Fan. Faves Include:
1) Thai at Thai Tanic in DC for Pad Thai with softshell crab. Great, unusual
combination.
2) Cuban at El Siboney in Key West for Puerco Asado. The real thing, tender
and cooked just right.
3) Tex/Mex at Carlsbad Tavern in Scottsdale for Snapper tacos. Fresh fish
flavor in a great taco.
4) Italian at Ristorante San Marco in Philly suburbs for Osso Bucco. The best
I have ever had,
tender, large, fresh
and cooked to
perfection.
Impeccable service.
5) Southern soul food at Prossers in Murrells Inlet, SC for fried chicken,
greens, chicken &
dumplings, peach
coppler, banana
pudding and more
served buffet style.

- Thai from Brown Sugar Cafe in Boston (in Alston, near Boston University). Amazing Red Curry Duck

- Sushi from Sushi on Rainbow in Las Vegas. It's an all you can eat sushi place in a run down little stripmall by Korea Town west of the strip. And it's just excellent.

- Mexican from Macayo's in Tempe, AZ. I know it's not authentic but I really love Mexican food here. In fact, it's where I got into it, and as an Arizona State grad, it has the nostalgia factor going for it. Plus, Obama ate there and liked it so it can't be terrible.

- Dim sum from Ming Hin Cuisine in Chicago. I hadn't had dim sum in a long time but I went to a FT Do here last November and it was excellent. Plus it's the first place I tried congee!

- Thai from Brown Sugar Cafe in Boston (in Alston, near Boston University). Amazing Red Curry Duck

- Sushi from Sushi on Rainbow in Las Vegas. It's an all you can eat sushi place in a run down little stripmall by Korea Town west of the strip. And it's just excellent.

- Mexican from Macayo's in Tempe, AZ. I know it's not authentic but I really love Mexican food here. In fact, it's where I got into it, and as an Arizona State grad, it has the nostalgia factor going for it. Plus, Obama ate there and liked it so it can't be terrible.

- Dim sum from Ming Hin Cuisine in Chicago. I hadn't had dim sum in a long time but I went to a FT Do here last November and it was excellent. Plus it's the first place I tried congee!

More details on Sushi on Rainbow in Las Vegas. Sounds like a place I could dig my teeth into.

More details on Sushi on Rainbow in Las Vegas. Sounds like a place I could dig my teeth into.

It's a fun little place. There's a sushi bar with about six seats in front of it and maybe a dozen tables throughout the restaurant. You pay $30 for the all you can eat and you have one hour to eat as much as you want. You get to order one thing at a time and you CANNOT remove the fish from the rice. It's all very good. They have a punch card where if you eat 10 times your next one is free.

Seafood sandwich at almost any mom and pop joint in Florida- one in Panama City (I forgotten the name) but outstanding
Seafood Gumbo on Bourbon Street, NO
Lobster sandwich at Michaels Newburyport Harbor MA
BBQ at Sugars Chatanoogga TN
BBQ at Wabash Excelsior Springs, MO

It's a fun little place. There's a sushi bar with about six seats in front of it and maybe a dozen tables throughout the restaurant. You pay $30 for the all you can eat and you have one hour to eat as much as you want. You get to order one thing at a time and you CANNOT remove the fish from the rice. It's all very good. They have a punch card where if you eat 10 times your next one is free.

Thanks. Will be in Vegas later this year and that sounds like a place I have to try.

I'm currently in mood for Vientnamese or Arabic food.

Big Ethnic Food Fan. Faves Include:
1) Thai at Thai Tanic in DC for Pad Thai with softshell crab. Great, unusual
combination.




This sounds amazing. A local Thai restaurant in my home town does a soft shell crab curry and it's to die for. Thai is my absolute favorite cuisine.

1. Dumplings - Crab and Pork Soup dumplings from Joe Shanghai in Manhattan (china town).
2. Mexican - Barrio's cafe in Phoenix, AZ
3. Spanish - Bodega in DC (Georgetown)

Italian - Al Forno - Putney, london
Tapas - Toro - Boston, USA
Sushi - Fairmont, Dubai UAE or IZAKA-YA Manhattan Beach, CA
Indian - Veggie Delight - Blantyre, Malawi

1. Dumplings - Crab and Pork Soup dumplings from Joe Shanghai in Manhattan (china town).
2. Mexican - Barrio's cafe in Phoenix, AZ
3. Spanish - Bodega in DC (Georgetown)

Going to DC later this month. Staying in G-Town. Love Spanish food. Can you give more details on Bodega?

Thai -- Lotus of Siam, Las Vegas, NV

Central Texas BBQ -- Franklin BBQ, Austin, TX

Spanish -- Jaleo, Washington, D.C.

Chicken Fried Steak -- Babes, Dallas, TX


Tacos -- Urban Taco, Dallas, TX

Thai -- Lotus of Siam, Las Vegas, NV


I've heard that place mentioned soooooo many times, not only here, that I'm about ready to book a trip to Vegas just to try it. The best Thai food I've had in the US so far is mediocre or worse.

1. Dumplings - Crab and Pork Soup dumplings from Joe Shanghai in Manhattan (china town).

This. And also:

- Very, very numb-hot beef noodle soup ^ at Wu Liang Ye (36 W 48th St # 1, New York)

- Sushi and ramen at Hashiguchi, Jr. Buckhead (Atlanta), GA

- Indonesian (owners are from Medan) at Bayleaf, Sunnyvale, CA

- Vietnamese at My-Tho (rue Flatters, Paris, France)

- Malaysian at Kopi Tiam (Charing Cross Rd. London, UK)

Chicken Fried Steak -- Babes, Dallas, TX


+1,000,000!!!! And the fried chicken there is great.

I've heard that place mentioned soooooo many times, not only here, that I'm about ready to book a trip to Vegas just to try it. The best Thai food I've had in the US so far is mediocre or worse.

It is fantastic...

I'm currently in mood for Vientnamese or Arabic food.where you live the latter is an easy fix!!!

I've heard that place mentioned soooooo many times, not only here, that I'm about ready to book a trip to Vegas just to try it. The best Thai food I've had in the US so far is mediocre or worse.


I'll be honest and say I don't eat in many Thai places. And I can only talk about places I have been to. But I enjoy LoS a lot. I think part of the reason I like is because if I am eating there, I am in one of my favorite places to be. Las Vegas.


+1,000,000!!!! And the fried chicken there is great.

Yes it is. It too is some of the top fried chicken I have had.

I'd like to nominate a strip mall in Durham, NC. I wouldn't include any of the restaurants as the best ethnic/regional restaurants, but combined together in an average-looking strip mall, it's my current go-to place for lunch in the Raleigh/Durham area.

Off Highway 55. Has the most wonderful Bolivian empanadas place (Sarah's?), Papa Mojos (decent creole and fun bar), a fantastic Thai restaurant (with the best ginger/cilantro dressing for salads), very solid Indian buffet, and a new Mongolian place that was promising in my one visit. Backyard BBQ was just a walk down the road in case you need a fix of delicious Eastern NC barbeque. A couple of other non-chain sandwich places as well that are fine but nothing I'd drive to.

The one ethnic restaurant I'd like to include from Raleigh is Machu Picchu, a Peruvian restaurant off of Falls of the Neuse road. Best ceviche trio I've ever had ...

I'd like to nominate a strip mall in Durham, NC. I wouldn't include any of the restaurants as the best ethnic/regional restaurants, but combined together in an average-looking strip mall, it's my current go-to place for lunch in the Raleigh/Durham area.

Off Highway 55. Has the most wonderful Bolivian empanadas place (Sarah's?), Papa Mojos (decent creole and fun bar), a fantastic Thai restaurant (with the best ginger/cilantro dressing for salads), very solid Indian buffet, and a new Mongolian place that was promising in my one visit. Backyard BBQ was just a walk down the road in case you need a fix of delicious Eastern NC barbeque. A couple of other non-chain sandwich places as well that are fine but nothing I'd drive to.

So I just Googled this and it seems I've driven by this strip mall maybe fifty times in the last year and have even shopped at the CVS across the street and never went to any of the restaurants. They're all going on my list now!

I've too many too count, but in the spirit of FT magnanimity, Jakarta has at least two to mention:

Woku Blangan, Manado cuisine, Jl. H. Agus Salim No. 19 (near Sarinah/Jalan Thamrin)-food from Manado, a city in northeast Sulawesi, is generally quite spicy, seafood-friendly, and can also have dog and bat (as much of the Manadonese are Christian, some of the food may not be halal). This is the one cuisine that I can't find in the NYC-area that I think about everyday.

Dapur Sunda, a chain (at least in Jakarta) of Sundanese eateries. Sunda is a region in western Java, and the cuisine combines spicy and sweet and is halal.

A bonus of both of these places is that they have always have soap...