Impressive! Your response made my post worthwhile!

Well now I know what I am doing with that expiring WN old school awards. I've never been to a Trulucks. Normally when I am in FLL I'll eat at the Southport raw bar for my seafood fix. Usually hit Joe's or the Keys or the other side for stone crabs. I was just in the Fish House in early January and the App was $54 for the Jumbo's.

Speaking of triple D. I looking to go to the Blue water grill in San Diego. And lastly when you hit the south side of Chicago there is a place called Calumet Fisheries on east 95th st. right at the base of the bridge. http://www.calumetfisheries.com/ Greatest smoked chubs IMO and killer fried shrimp and smelt. Its a take out place. Actually Ill eat on the hood of the car. But I grew up on the east side so I have little or no manners ;)

Would a visit to Gujo Hachiman, Japan count? I haven't done it yet, but it sounds like it needs to happen-- it's the epicenter of fake food, the kind you'd see in the windows of restaurants throughout Japan.

If anyone wants to go, I think Nagoya (NGO) would be the closest major city/airport, other than that, I haven't the foggiest of how to get there. May inquire at the Japan forum another time though.

a great place indeed, a James Beard award winner no less, here is a thread from the Chicago forum: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chica...r-indiana.html

--

Memories
 

Ah, smelt - haven't seen those in years. Friday nights half a century ago were always at Phil Schmidt's in Whiting - butter fried boned perch to die for back then, altho I heard it went downhill later.

Truluck's Monday night was $79 for AYCE - they call them mediums, but they are large mediums, perfectly cracked, served ice cold, good mustard sauce, OMG here we go again ;) Otherwise, just go for their happy hour - great stuff at a good price, and on Sunday, happy lasts all night long. Fantastic martini's as well, great with blue cheese olives.

back in the 60's and 70's i knew a couple NR's who would get on a trans continental and return for the meals.

Kauai for malasadas. How disappointed I was that the person at the k-mart parking lot packed up early on both days. I had to settle for some from a mini-mart and they were not that good.

I've since learnt to make them myself. Malasadas to the Hawaiians and Portuguese, Puff-puff to the Africans.

I may have had them, but I'd also recommend the Okinawan sata andagi, aka the Okinawan dango). The yuzu-flavored one, if you like that taste, was quite the treat.

So... which one is better Boca of the one in Lauderdale? It may be a mute point with the Miami herald running a story yesterday on how poor the fishing season for crabs actually is. Oh well I think Ill run to the bridge for some chubs tomorrow. I'd go today but with it being lent and all that place is gonna be jammed!!

Flew to Brussels, trained to Bruges to pick up chocolate from my favorite shops. And, yes, that was the sole reason for the trip.

Back in those days, I worked for EA, and yes, there was the monthly Saturday run to STT for booze/cigarettes, the weekend run on the L-1011 to SFO (just to pick up sourdough bread), ORD for greek or italian beef - it was a wonderful life - miss it.

Think I may have lost it.......lol
 

I just booked a MIA-SFO happy hour run - yes, not for dinner, just for happy hour. At $88+tax each way, couldn't pass it up. Gonna hop on BART, go downtown for a couple of hours, and then head to happy hour, either at Roy's or Morton's (unless someone suggests something better). Back to the airport about 7pm for the flight home.

Sounds crazy, but when you realize that the closest Roy's to me is in Naples, I'd rather let someone else do the driving. Besides, going to see if I can get a free drink (see post#37)

Seeing how Roy's is an OSI property like Flemings. I should not have been surprised to see they have the same setup. The nice thing is here in IL, (and its about the only nice thing) is the liquor laws require that they serve that menu (the 5 for $6 til 7) needs to be available from open to close as Illinois does not allow happy hour prices to be limited in Time. AFAIK

I'm going to having a long layover at ORD on Sunday, April 7... I might have to get myself an Italian beef!

I suggest Tonys Italian Deli in Edison Park. Great beefs and other sandwiches...about 15 min from O'hare with mild traffic. There is an Al's beef right off of Cumberland (a little closer) if you want one of the more touristy (but delicious) sandwiches.

The little joint on the left halfway to the end of the "E" gates at ORD makes a great Italian beef sandwich. Reasonably priced and large too.

Flew ORD to LAX for a Double/Double Animal Style once :D

When I first tried Zabar's Chocolate Babka I could not get enough of it: have flown several times to NY for more (and yes, I know they ship).

I am about due for another run.

MRs + DRs
 

Last year when there were good SFO-SJU fares, I made multiple runs to Puerto Rico for Lechon (BBQ Pig).

Trip 1 was an overnight, rented a car and made the hour+ drive from SJU to Guavate. Ate myself silly, drove back downhill to hotel (for mattress run), back to airport next morning.

Trip 2 was a same day turn. Went to Bebo's 24hr BBQ right by the airport, sat there for 2 hours. About a pound of pork and a couple beers later, turned around and headed back home. I bought a takeout for the flight back and the crew was envious. I shared it.

Thinking of another trip soon.

I think I actually posted about it in this forum. Back in September, I (thought I) needed to do a mileage run to maintain silver with DL (need those free bags!). Moving out to SLC my dad and I were both upgraded so we saved a few hundred dollars on baggage fees that way, so this trip was, in essence, "paid for." I ended up flying SLC-MSP-DFW-ATL-SLC with just over three hours in Dallas, where I rented a car for $14.99 from Hertz and went to Hard Eight BBQ in Coppell. I returned to the airport an hour or so later with a duffel bag stuffed with ~$70 worth of kick-... pit barbeque (ribs, sausage, chicken, etc., etc.). It was delicious and I wouldn't mind doing it again :D

I almost went to some burger place in MCI (or ICT?... I forget which) until I realized that I have (probably) better burgers here in SLC anyway.

Oh man, if my home wasn't actually in NYC then I'd be posting the same thing as you. They have so many good things but their babka is such a treat!

-J.

I also did my first MR from AUS-LAX-AUS for a double double with Fries (Animal Style, of course) too... point has been made a bit moot now that In-n-Out is opening in Texas

Back when I delivered RV's and trucks for a living in the winter and rode the Greyhound bus back (A dog that should be put to sleep), I always tried for a run from Indiana to Boston, just so I could go to South Station to the little stand that made cheesesteaks. They weighed about 4 pounds, dripped greasy goodness, and made all the other bus passengers envious. One sandwich would last all the way to Cleveland!!

Cheers!
JudyJFLA

Not a DR per se, but I have intentionally scheduled 3+hr layovers at DTW so I have enough time to rent a car, drive to Blimpy Burger in Ann Arbor and make it back. I'd highly recommend this to any burger aficionados if they have the chance.

During the old CO/NW days, I used to route my mileage runs via MEM for this very reason. I believe I used to go to either Interstate or Corky's, whichever had the shorter line (Concourse B, if memory serves me).

This is an embarrassing problem, and I would join a support group if there were one:

Paris a lot, a lot, a lot for Pierre Herme and innumerable Michelin stars.

During college, while eating subpar sushi, a friend I was dining with who seemed to think I had all the time and money in the world to travel (not true, just read flyertalk :cool:) suggested we fly to Tokyo and have *real* sushi, then turn around and fly back. Amused, I looked it up, found a sub-4cpm MR and off I went.

Also during college - one spring break saw a cheap fare to Iceland so I went to try whale (another FTer from my college went for a beer and came back); one summer break had cheap fares to Italy, so I did a few for pasta and pizza, both of which I gave up eating after tasting them on my first trip to Italy in high school... I'm such a food snob sometimes that I disgust myself.

HNL-DXB is my preferred MR these days, as it's 25k rt AND it's amazing for Persian/Iraqi/Yemeni/allsortsofmiddleeastern food, plus my Emirati friends always invite me for homemade dinners. There's a Gagnaire and Ramsay's old restaurant has improved since he left, but to me, they pale in comparison to all the Middle Eastern food available. I'm also quite addicted to dates and Yemeni sidr honey, so I have a luggage dedicated to lugging them home...

In fact, I've been craving jianbing 煎饼 for the past couple days, so this morning I was actually looking up routings between HNL-PEK (which also has a Boulud restaurant that I prefer to NYC's Daniel) to pull in as many miles as possible... Asia is unfortunately difficult for MRs from HNL.

Mmm, now I'm hungry. Back to working on that PEK MR.

Went NYC-Maui for a weekend just to have some decent poke. (OK, the $250 RT fare was also the reason).

I once re-route hubby's flight from Sydney - NYC through HKG, instead of LAX, just so that he can have good wonton noodle.

Uh... did HE know about the reroute before getting to the airport? :)

Is the stone crab the only AYCE bit? That's the only mention I read on Yelp's review of Truluck's.

Italian Beefs are worth the trip - done this too. I like to finish the job with dinner at Lawry's before returning home.

My last dining run was to Austin a couple months ago. Only reason for going was I needed barbecue and a small amount of year end miles for status. I could have solved the miles in other ways; this was about the chow.

After Taco Cabana warm up started at Franklin. Too big a line so drove to Lockhart and ate well at Smitty's. Next morning off to Luling & City Market for a bit of everything, followed by nice back road drive north to Taylor. I have not been that keen on Louie Mueller over the past decade & a half but that day was a good day. Thanked pit boss for his good work. Grabbed a couple Salt Lick brisket tacos at the airport on the way out of town.

Noma. I was going to Copenhagen in May for a beer festival and decided that since I was there, I should dine there too. :)

Yeah, like a day prior to flight.;) Actually his flight through hkg on CX is cheaper than AA thru lax. And much better seats, not that much longer either. So that's how he flies since.

Kuching for Laksa
 

I was thinking I never did this exactly, but then I remembered I did take a trip to Kuching, Malaysia specifically to eat the incredible laksa in the place where it originated. I fell in love with this silky, umami, noodle soup (soup is really the wrong word here) in Singapore and have some every time I pass through - as in two day ago! Use the ieathawker website/app for the best of cheap Singapore food. Kuching is a wonderful small city and the laksa was splendid. To be specific, I am referring to Katong Laksa and not the darker,sour-fished based Asam laksa of northern Malaysia. Asam laksa is good, but Katong is heavenly.

Come to think of it, the entire RoK is an infrequent dining run for me. I'm in Daegu now, wishing kimbap was as ubiquitous on NYC street corners as it is here.

We've done VLC-SVQ and a VLC-DUB for lunch then back on a later flight. My favorite right now is VLC-IST, just to have dinner in Sultanahmet and pick up a kilo of Turkish delight.

Amusingly all these places literally qualify for 3 Michelin stars:

"exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey"

The only place I've gone to purely to eat was San Sebastian. It's about as good as you can get in that category, and I stopped off at Martin Berasategui for some good 3* food on top of all the pinxos.

Coming up this week
 

I'm flying London to Syracuse, connecting through Chicago (dinner at Next), Miami (not long enough to leave the airport), and Sao Paulo (lunch at D.O.M.). The trip is to visit family, the connections are to eat.:D

In MIA if there's time, I'll usually swing by La Carreta for some Cuban food and a cortadito.

Does beer count?

Two family members recently flew to VT for Heady Topper and a few beers from Hill Farmstead. If I knew I could get some Double Sunshine IPA, I would make a trip.

Had me a Italian Beef both at Wrigleyville Dogs & Portillo's.

That's pretty cool.

Really,always wanted to fly LAX to Philly for some Cheesesteaks.

^

Any Tips?

Awesome

How was it? Did you enjoy?

Will trade you for a Italian Beef Sandwich.

That sounds so good. Pork is wonderful.

Heading to SLC later this month,any tips are good restaurants? I don't mind a great dinner to food truck options,thanks.

Awesome!