Where should we eat?
Let's talk about what's best in your neck of the woods.
I’ll be perfectly candid: I’m about to repeat myself today.
I suppose this is inevitable. In the course of publishing a multiple-times-a-week newsletter for years on end, I’m going to end up repeating myself. Unless it’s finding new-and-abhorrent ways to incorporate Cincinnati-style chili into different recipes, though, it’s something I try to avoid.
Nevertheless!
A few years ago, I asked a question on here.
If I were visiting the town where you lived, and I asked for a recommendation on where to eat, what would you suggest?
That discussion that spun off from this question remains one of the most-commented-upon newsletters in the six-year run of The Action Cookbook Newsletter.
It’s also one of my favorites, because it strikes at the core of my “mission”, inasmuch as I have one.
As I explained at the time:
My mental geography of the world is built almost entirely around food; I don’t think I’m alone in this, either. Whether I’m going to a different country, a different state, or simply a different side of town than the ones I’m normally in, the first thing I think is—what’s good to eat here? What can I get that I don’t normally get?—Any trip I take is, first and foremost, an opportunity to eat somewhere new.
Well, it’s been more than three years since I first asked this question, and I think it’s time to ask it again. Restaurants come and go, but so do we—you might’ve moved to a new place, discovered a new restaurant, or started reading the ACBN since the last time I asked.
I’m not just asking this in an effort to stir up engagement today, either. (Though, I do love when the comment section really gets going here.)
No, I’m trying to remind myself what I love about being on the internet.
There are obvious and deeply-unpleasant reasons for why—reasons I’d prefer not to get into today, you all know what they are—but I haven’t been having a great deal of fun on the internet of late. Social media has devolved into a firehose of anger and hysteria, and even if much of that is justified, it doesn’t make for a pleasant or terribly-productive place to spend your day. I’ve made efforts to cut down my doomscrolling, but that means I’ve also been cutting out the parts I do enjoy.
Amidst all this, though, there’s been reminders of the good.
Twice in the last couple weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting up for a meal with a friend who was happened to be passing through Louisville. I don’t consider either of these friends as “internet friends”—I’ve long since stopped drawing that distinction—but the truth of the matter is, they’re people with whom I would never have become acquainted without the internet.
Over the roughly decade and a half since I first joined Twitter (a site I’ve since departed), I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a great number of people in situations just like this—passing through town, meeting up for a bite, and turning a name onto a screen into a real person.
The food is secondary, but it’s a great pleasure onto itself, and it’s fascinating to find out the kind of places that a local would suggest. These are places that might not necessarily be landmarks or tourist attractions, but places that you’d count on to take an out-of-town guest to during a very-brief visit.
So, let’s answer the question again.
Pretend that I’m passing through your town with time enough for one meal, and I’ve asked you where we should go to eat.
Don’t overthink it: where should we go?
Tell us what city you’re in, and where the first place you’d think of to direct an out-of-town visitor to eat would be.
For the record: when I first aired this question three years ago, I cited Louisville’s Royals Hot Chicken. For one of the recent visits, we went to the excellent Havana Rumba. For the other, it was rainy heavily and downtown was flooding, so we went to Parlour Pizza. In other circumstances, I might take you to Toasty’s Tavern for smashburgers and cocktails, or to North of Bourbon for dinner.
As noted three years ago, I have no relationship with any of these places and would never allow my recommendations to be compromised (unless they wanted to pay me).
So, where should we eat?
—Scott Hines (@actioncookbook)
PS: I mentioned a few Louisville places here, but—since this is a town people often pop into for a long weekend—I pulled a number of my recommendations into a separate post several years ago, one that’s still mostly up-to-date:
I live in Frederick, Maryland, which holds the distinction of being the fastest-growing city in the state. We moved here during the pandemic, so it took us a while to get out and explore. Now, I’ve found several restaurants that never disappoint.
First is a Peruvian chicken place called Crisp and Juicy, which has several locations. They serve rotisserie-style chicken seasoned with unique spices, but what really sets them apart is the sauce. The owner actually travels to each location daily to hand-make it—and he won’t share the recipe with anyone. The chicken is great, but the sauce is phenomenal.
There’s also a ramen spot called Tsunami that’s amazing if that’s what you’re craving. But the place I always request when it’s my turn to pick is The White Rabbit. It’s a great downtown spot serving Detroit-style pizza—which I didn’t even know was a thing until I tried it there. Like most places in Maryland, their menu includes something with crab, and their crab pizza is incredible. Honestly, all their food is.
It also has a really cool vibe and is kid-friendly, even though there’s no traditional kids’ menu.
I'm in Richmond, VA. We have great upscale places, great dives, a huge variety of excellent ethnic food... but for one meal, we're going to a Texas-style barbecue joint, ZZQ. It's phenomenal, and its run by great folks. Every time I go, I think about how lucky I am to have this place in my town,