Love Joe’s Stone Crab. Worth the very long waits.
Ditto on Red Eats.
Was just in Portland last week and we ate at an old fashion Chowda House - Gilberts. Was fab. Their lobster chowder is to die for.
Also had lunch at a lovely cafe - Duckfat. Can highly recommend.
In Florida…The Columbia…I think it has terrific Cuban food, and their house salad is excellent.
National chain: Chipotle
Regional chain:
Burgerville (Pacific NW)–although frankly, it’s still not great.
Pastini Pasteria (Oregon chain) (nice lunch menu)
McMenamin’s (Oregon chain) (good hamburgers and salads)
Local (Portland, OR):
Pok Pok (anything but especially their chicken wings)
Silk (ditto)
The Observatory (shrimp ceviche, burger burger)
Xico (whatever the special is)
Nuestra Cucina (whatever the special is, or the fish)
Salt N Straw (ice cream) (and that’s all they have)
Ava Gene’s (whatever the special is)
Lauretta Jeans (pie)
BiPartisan Cafe (pie) (oh, and soup, in the winter)
Bamboo Sushi (it has three locations, and frankly, I think the one on SE 28th is the best by far)
And should you happen to find yourself in Charleston, OR, make sure you stop at the Crabby Cakes Bakery for cinnamon rolls. The best ever. Really.
Given a choice, I will almost always choose local over any kind of chain. I look for cleanliness and a good smell when I open the door, then I check the menu. If I smell mold, bathrooms, or cleaners–I’m outta there.
I’m not a chain fan and really dislike Applebee’s probably most of all.
Loved lots of places in Miami and to me, it is sort of like San Francisco…it’s all good.
Regionally we have amazing food from Harbor Springs south…as Mario Batali says (who lives here as much as he can) :
Shhh, so let’s just keep it that way 
D gave H some pineapple drinking vinegar from Pok Pok & he loved it!
He usually doesn’t like anything remotely healthy.
He drank it with just water, but I mixed some with ginger beer ( my favorite brand includes a euphemism for male genitalia, so I can’t name it), and a little Irish whiskey along with the water.
It’s really good.
The shows I’ve been to at the a Triple door require you to order dinner to get a seat, but they do have decent drinks. Although, good luck ordering more than one.
I do like Burgerville. I once had fries that were the best I ever had, at the Burgerville by Lloyd center.
Once.
We took a huge group to Stacatto Gelato, last time we were in Portland.
But if you were in Ballard, we would go to D’Ambrosio Gelato.
But Mallards ice cream, is practically enough reason to move to Bellingham.
Even if there wasn’t, [Archers](http://thearcheralehouse.com)
Chains that I like: On the Border, Wingstop, Taco Cabana, Whataburger, Twisted Root burgers (I think most of these are regional Texas area).
There are too many local restaurants to list. But when we lived in Dallas, we ate at The String Bean now in Richardson, TX every Wednesday night for 12 years. Great homestyle Southern cooking and friendly, quirky management and staff.
How do you define regional? Your state? Midwest? (so section of the country).
I love Cuban food, Thumper. Somewhere in the back of my head I remember you mentioning this salad on cc somewhere before. I just looked up the restaurant & it looks fabulous. When visiting Tampa, we ate at Bern’s Steakhouse with their private dessert booths upstairs on the 2nd floor. Next time I’m in that area, I’ll have to remember to check out The Columbia, yum!
Yep…I have mentioned that Columbia salad before. I’ve been to two locations…Celebration and Sarasota. The salad has numbers after it…the 18something or another, I think. It’s fabulous!!
I wish we had In and Out Burger on the east coast.
Except that in Philly it would be called a hoagie, never a sub. 
We rarely, if ever, eat at chains. If you’re ever in the Hilton Head area, these are our favorite places to eat and we go at least once every time we visit.
Sunset Grille - fabulous food and the most gorgeous sunset views.
http://www.sunsetgrillehhi.com/
Low Country Backyard - good Southern eats in a friendly, casual atmosphere.
The Cottage
http://www.thecottagebluffton.com/
Claude & Uli’s Bistro - delicious French cuisine
http://www.claudebistro.com/about_us.html
Trattoria Divina - excellent Italian
^^actually in New England they’re called Grinders! I figured sub was a more common term…
I’m not a huge lover of chains, but I’ll frequent Panera’s for lunch when I’m out. I do like cheesecake factory and also like the thai lettuce wraps. I like PF Changs, Brio, Bonefish, Ruth Chris, Flemings.
I dislike most fast food, number one on the hit list being Taco Bell.
We have 5 guys here, not in and out but I’m not really a burger person.
Living on the chesapeake everyone needs to learn about crab cakes. What the rest of the country passes off as crab cakes is total crap. We have a local place called Jerry’s that is the premiere crab cake hole in the wall. No, not Phillips - do not come to the mid atlantic and be suckered in by them. Lump crab meat, not shredded and NO FILLER, for the love of all that is holy, there should not be peppers, onions, breading, capers in them. And they should be like a ball, not smooshed flat and fried. A little old bay and lemon is all you need on good crab.
Next time I’ll discuss how to properly eat a hardshell crab… 
I somehow never made it to Dinosaur in all the four years D was at Syracuse. I knew she had mentioned they were coming to Boston a while back, so I thought I’d get a chance when we visit her there. So I checked to see where in Boston the new place was, and discovered there’s a Dinosaur in Chicago now!
Oh, and I can’t find any information about one in Boston now.
Interesting. Thanks for starting this thread.
National Chains: Applebees (Asian Chicken Salad), Chipotle, Taco Bell (Chicken Cantina Bowl), Wendy’s (salads)
Regional: J Alexanders, Caribou Coffee, Del Taco (fish tacos), Culvers (Butterburgers, cheese curds, and frozen custard)
Local: We have Mediterranean restaurants on every block and most are very good (Shish Tawook, hummus, fatoosh salads)
Hate: Panera (everything tastes low-cal to me), Red Lobster, Cici’s Pizza, Sbarro, Potbelly, Outback Steakhouse
NYC:
Gramercy Tavern
Gotham
The Clam
The Flinders Lane
Figs and Olives
Tao
The Bao
Marea
My son is at school at Rochester and I second or third the vote for Dinosaur BBQ
D1’s graduation party was catered by Dinosaur. We probably will do the same again for D2.
Really never eat at a chain restaurant unless no other options exist. Several years ago while touring Oberlin we stayed nearby in a place that seemed to only have chain stores, shopping centers and restaurants. When we asked for what restaurants were in the area, we were told: Friendly’s, Applebees, Bennigans, etc. etc. and went to Bennigans as the best of the bunch. Haven’t eaten in a Friendly’s in years, only for lunch or dinner when kids were young. Same with Burger King/Wendy’s/McDonalds although will stop for coffee when traveling
Panera - have only been there to buy bread
Cosi- have had lunch there a few times in the past few years-only salad
Have been to:
Dinosaur BBQ in both Syracuse and Rochester - pretty good. There are several other good restaurants in Rochester and a few Italian restaurants that are good in Syracuse but out in the suburbs
Maggiano’s in Philly - okay but wouldn’t go out of my way to have dinner there again
Bonefish- have had dinner 2x in 2 different ones in FL. Didn’t realize now a chain, one here on Long Island opened a few months ago in Rockville Centre but haven’t been there
Johnny Rockets - once had lunch in Union Station in D.C. and a Johnny Rocket’s look alike in LAX
Red’s in ME… pretty outstanding. Would happily stop there next time in Maine, maybe even this summer
Fine restaurants: Too many to name… but most recently had a really elegant fine meal at 1919 in the Condado Vanderbilt Hotel in Condado Beach, San Juan -superb meal, outstanding service in a beautiful room-very pricey
Having dinner tomorrow night in the restaurant owned by Lady Gaga’s parents on the Upper West Side
Restaurants of the past… what about roadside stopping at Howard Johnson’s???
National…McD’s breakfast sandwiches; Chipotle; Panera; Subway
Regional…Uh…Red, Hot and Blue
Local…Tony’s NY Style pizza
Yes, forgot about this group. Thanks.