Three Chimneys, Isle of Sky, Scotland. People actually fly their private planes here to have dinner.

The Fat Duck, Bray, UK. 15 minutes drive or so from Heathrow. May not be the middle of nowehere.

I've eaten in a number of such places in Italy, one in a little walled hill town, population maybe 100, between Rome and Florence that was astoundingly good. There are probably hundreds of others.

I don't know if it still exists, but there was a fabulous restaurant in Booneville, CA that grew all of its own produce and meat called the New Booneville Cafe in the Anderson Valley in northern California. It was an oasis on a bike trip. We got up at 4 AM to do the 5 mile climb (with never a flat spot in the road) between the Sonoma Valley and the Anderson Valley (I think, though my California geography is not terrific). The food was so great that we altered our trip to stay at least an extra day there.

Hechizo in Tulum south of the Riviera Maya . Run by a chef and his wife with exquisite care and quallity of ingredients . A long dark drive down the tulum road but once you get there , you are very very glad you came.

Walpack Inn- Walpack Center NJ
About as remote as you can get in NJ, near the Delaware River, about 1/2hour from the Poconos. A nice scenic ride especially in fall.
Excellent homemade bread.

Gunbarrel restaurant- Jackson Hole Wy
Great game dishes elk, antelope etc.

Kennicott Glacier Lodge- Kennicott AK
Not really a restaurant, but they have unbelievable food for being 8 hours away from civilization. Copper River salmon, steak etc. An unbelievable ride to get here, 3 hours on a dirt road with potholes. Gorgeous scenery in Wrangell St Elias Nat Park.

The Double Musky has come out of the middle of nowhere and has been in the news recently down here in the Lower 48; owner Bob Persons testified in Sen. Ted Stevens corruption trial and supposedly gave the senator a $2,700 chair -- although Stevens said it was a loan.

Funny thing, that's the same number, although with a few extra "000's" to make it $2.7 million, that got spent to widen and pave the road to the restaurant. But when the locals decided not to use that federal money for that purpose, according to the Associated Press article....

...Girdwood officials planned to cut that project, however, until a Stevens office worker suggested that state transportation officials ought to talk first to Bob Persons to clarify the senator's intent.

Second the Carine's rec! Chowder is outstanding.

Also, Pete's Place in Krebs, OK. Why go to southeast OK to eat Italian? Because that's where Pete's is... ^

http://www.petes.org/

+2

While we're on out of the way chowder, the seafood chowder at the tiny restaurant near the UA gates in EUG is both excellent and cheap.

I'd like to add FireBonz BBQ and Grill to the list, Rock Hill, SC.


Saw it advertised on my room key, thought it might be nothing (but didn't really want to search for another restaurant in town), turned out be incredibly good, so much that I went back for a second night.

Lancaster's BBQ in Mooresville, NC. Mr. Kipper was going to be there about 15 minutes after they closed, and wanted to bring BBQ back into Yankee territory. After hearing the distance he was driving to get there, and where it was going, their take-out person agreed to stay late so he could pick up an order. :)

Land of Magic steakhouse, Logan MT (halfway between Bozeman and Butte.)

Trip report excerpt: http://flyertalk.com/forum/showpost....51&postcount=3

You didn't expect, that there is a very good restaurant in the suburbs of Salzburg, which is called "Das Esszimmer" - http://www.esszimmer.at/.

Also outside the city of Salzurg, we have one of the best restaurants from Austria, which is called "Das Pfefferschiff" - http:/www.pfefferschiff.at/.

The Star Inn at Harome, North Yorkshire, UK
 

This archetypal English country pub on the edge of the North York Moors serves possibly the best pub food in England. It has a Michelin star and was voted the Egon Ronay Gastropub of the year in 2006. What's more, it's a picture postcard inn - the building itself dates from the 14th century (that's not a typo!), and is a picturesque old longhouse with thatched roof. Anyone visiting York (30 miles away)should make the detour to visit this pub.

They have an informative and well done website for anyone wanting more info, directions etc.

In the heart of the barrio in Waco, Texas, in a tan metal building of stark lack of appeal, "Siete Mares", much patronized by media covering Bush's trips to the ranch on Prairie Chapel Rd. in nearby Crawford.

Passible fish and shrimp, original sauces, and along with the obligatory "Shrimp Cocktail", a pleasant tpair "Ceviche" and "Pulpo" (Octopus).

An unexprected encounter.

Hatch, Utah is a tiny village a little more than halfway between Zion NP and Bryce Canyon NP in Utah--I think that qualifies as the middle of nowhere. By chance, I stumbled upon the Adobe Deli, and boy, was I not disappointed. I was so impressed that I wrote a TripAdvisor review--something that I rarely do, just because I'm lazy ;)--which you can view here. (Looks like a couple other reviewers concur with me!)

But be careful: they're only open seasonally!

If I'd only decided to start keeping up on this forum a few weeks earlier...I was there just days after your post!

I saw the literature on it, but I figured it was a touristy thing. We were on a budget, and the most basic private accomodations (booking a four-bed hostel room at $42 for each bed...the cheapest way to get a room to ourselves) at any of the Voyages accomodations near Ayers Rock/Uluru (due to monopolistic concession agreements...grr...) was already more than double our standard nightly budget, so we opted to avoid any of the eating options and just make PB&J sandwiches. Still, I now wish we'd have taken advantage of the Sounds of Silence, now knowing that it was actually worth it!

Wow I would so recommend a New York City restaurant right now but it is deifnitely not in the middle of nowhere ;).

Maybe I should start another thread "Great restaurants in the middle of a sea of horrible restaurants." :D

If shawbridge hadn't mentioned it, I was going to add it. I wrote a review on www.igougo.com for any that would like to read:


http://www.igougo.com/review-r135550...tmosphere.html

Another place (not in the middle of nowhere) that had great food in Scotland was Oakwood restaurant. it was west of Inverness, on the road down to Loch Ness. Here's my review of it:


http://www.igougo.com/review-r135550...tish_Food.html

Opinions on the price/performance of this event vary considerably; I did not think that it was worth it, or was even that good ignoring the pricing (which is stratospheric -- but then you know about the tourist monopoly there). Lots of better food and scenery is available at a fraction of this price, and just as memorable. The primary benefit is convenience, for those who can't/don't want to spend the time to find better. It really doesn't fit in with the motif of this thread.

Fennville, MI - about 20 miles from Saugatuck, The Journeyman Cafe, with a pub connected next door called the Rye.

http://www.journeymancafe.com/

Both are excellent, and quite a find!

EL PASO?!?!?!
 

That's right, El Paso TX!
Simply called: "Homemade Italian Food"
9449 Montana Ave

Christina is the Owner- Italian immigrant who married a soldier who was stationed there. The best Italian food I've had since Spring of 2007 (When we spent 10 days in Tuscany)
Seriously- Go to this place, you will not be disappointed.

Mountain Thai - Lakeside, AZ

The cook/owner is from Thailand. I've never been to Thailand, but this Thai is equivalent or better than any other Thai I've had in the US.

Tammy & Johnny's - Melfa, VA
If you love fried chicken and hush puppies, this is the place for you. KFC opened and didn't last long. Popeye's opened and had to close as well. Best fried chicken I've ever had.

Lee's Garden Restaurant - Troy, OH
This is my favorite restaurant of all time. Chinese restaurant but the cook is originally from Japan. Go there at lunch time and all of the execs from the local Honda plant eat there for real Japanese style food.

I created an account just to respond to this thread.

Mendocino, CA - population 1200. Hard to get to. Windy roads, but beautiful. Me and mine ended up at Stevenswood. Subtle, but upscale. Very comfortable and considerably understated - the food was incredible! I'd say it's New American cuisine for sure and perfectly executed. I had duck prepared sous vide with confit duck leg and foie gras ravioli. My mind was blown. Tender and perfect. Tasty. Juicy.

I had a delectable salad to start. Arugula and beets as I recall. Again it was very subtle, but really delicious - the kind of thing that needs to be eaten a few times over the course of a week to get a full understanding. Like good music.

Anyway, there's my 2 cents! Enjoy your travels.

Oh, stevenswood.com

Anthony's Market in West Point, MS. Close to no where, but oh so good. Rich comfort food, so nice for nowhere.

The Larapin Inn in Trinidad, CA. About 20+ mins north of Eureka, CA

Based on my recommendation, we hosted a state-wide meeting of about 30 people in Eureka, just so we could drive up to the Larapin for dinner one evening! ^

Excellent food, great specials, and very attentive staff.

I paid and got the miles! :D

Wish I knew that when I was there for 2 weeks last summer. Not that I expected much, but it was hard living on restaurant food for that long in RST.

Nice thread. I'm excited to go to Magnolias in VA next time I'm there.

Mococho, in the beach town of Huanchaco, a few km north of Trujillo, 500 km north of Lima, Peru. Guaranteed, best seafood on the planet, an excellent Peruvian-Chinese fusion with only the freshest of ingredients. In the Peruvian style, only open for lunch. Unfortunately the owner died a couple of years ago. His son has carried on but I'm not sure the quality and presentation are what they were. :(

New Scenic Cafe - just outside Duluth, MN
 

While Duluth is hardly "the middle of nowhere", it is not what I'd call a "fine-dining mecca". I have eaten at "The New Scenic Cafe" twice in the last 6 months, and this past Saturday had one of the best meals of my life there. I found out that I now really like parsnips (when sliver-thin and served fried in a "haystack") and, fava beans. Who knew? The fava beans were incredible. They were fresh, pureed, with a few whole ones, and truly awesome. The potatoes and the pork tenderloin with huckleberry sauce were outstanding as well. My brother had what he called "the single best meal ever", which was duck breast, rabbit leg, Brussels sprouts, wild rice. We had excellent starters and the desserts were terrific, too. My goatcheesecake was fabulous. The last time I was thru the area and stopped, in the fall with a friend from LAX, we had a great meal and a banana dessert that was so good that we almost stopped there again the next day on the way back from Canada just for the dessert. Can't recommend this place highly enough. It is across from Lake Superior on old highway 61, about 20 minutes out of Duluth, on the way to Two Harbors.