DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... If you could eat at only one restraurant, where would it be?

I am not talking some gourmet place. I am talking about somewhere you can go for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, because that is the only place you can eat.

For me it is Waffle House. It's open 24 hours, 365 days. The entire menu is in play the whole day. They have great coffee, make great omelets, the hash browns can't be beat, you can get them maybe 40 different ways, the pecan waffles are super, they grill up great burgers and sandwiches, and even their steak is pretty darn tasty.

I know it is more of a southern chain, but there is one out in Medina. I stay out there from time to time when going to games because of the Waffle House. I sometimes like to start my day with a ham and cheese omelet, scattered, double smothered taters with a side of bacon and grits. I break up the bacon to put in the grits. Oh....raisin toast and cup of coffee.


What about you?

I haven't watched enough Diners, Drive-In's, and Dives to properly answer your question. I'll pass to Guy Fieri...

Hugo's Restaurant in Claremore, OK. Just a family owned breakfast/lunch diner where they treat you like family, the prices are reasonable and the portions are huge.

thats tuff for me most restaurants here specialize in something. Very few do breakfast lunch and dinner. I got nothin.

Kinda like here. A place called The Home Restaurant. It is exactly as the name applies. Awesome breakfasts, great pricing. Lunch is the same, and dinners are good as well. Different special every night. You won't get a steak there though.

Thursday nights are barbeque night. Local meat shop sets up a grill outside - and a smoker. Varies from brisket, to pork, to.....whatever.

Right?!
I’d choose this great Thai place down the road as the only cuisine for dinner (if I had to focus down) but one can only eat so much congee for breakfast.
There’s not really one restaurant that’d not bore the hell out of me after a few weeks.

There’s a local cafe that is great for all 3 meals. I’m up very early each day (like 3:45) to work out and get some stuff done ... so I’m hungry by 5 or 5:30 and they’re open. Great eggs, bacon, sausage, etc.

They have superb soup and sandwiches for lunch.

And great dinner entrees ... especially the chicken and fish.

It’s close to home, good price, and good food.

Applebees' sure why not, or something similar, I can do without breakfast.

Some place that has milk though.

"Sunny's" out on Hwy 92, just past the boarded-up Baptist college in Palominas, AZ.

Three delicious, terribly unhealthy meals a day full of grease, lard and salt.

5 two-seater tables, room for 6 at the counter, and full of locals who mind their own business.

As lame as it is to say... Panera. I can eat soup and sandwich every day and never get tired of it.

If there's a good, classic deli nearby, then that... but Panera is everywhere and pretty consistent in terms of their food. Their coffee and breakfast sandwiches are decent-to-solid as well.

Good choice. I like Panera. I like having soup/sandwich options

JR'z Pub

Breakfast
lunch
Diner
booze

all at low prices.

The Place Tavern

The menu is pretty good, and they do have breakfast at all hours.
And their bar area is pretty nice with plenty of TVs
Plus its right near the range. Go shooting then go eat/drink.

I can't think of a good seafood and steak restaurant that also served good pizza and pasta, and that also serves breakfast.

The Original Pancake House. The best breakfasts ever, all day long. They have enough specialty offerings that you'd never get tired of the food.

If it can be any restaurant and not necessarily only in my vicinity, I would give strong consideration to Balthazar in NYC.

Open for breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch and late night.

Great menu. I have had breakfast and dinner there and both meals were fantastic.

https://balthazarny.com/menus/

I almost seconded your choice of Waffle House - always loved it and looked for it whenever we'd drive to Winter Haven, Fl for Indians' spring training. A Waffle House being nearby was always a plus when we picked motels for overnights on the way down and back. (I also really liked a southern chain called Huddle House). But because they offer a very diverse and somewhat healthier menu, more comfortable and more private seating, and also because they have a liquor license, I would pick Shoneys.

https://www.shoneys.com/menu/

HoneyDip Donuts Kenny and Henderson Columbus Ohio

Chick-fil-a
Buffalo Wild Wings
or if we're going fancy a steakhouse called Perry's

I'll skip breakfast and go pappadeauxs.

Paco’s bro.

And then you die.

A small eatery in the town I live: East-Side Family Restaurant.
Supper, lunch and breakfast, all day. Best place I’ve ever been to.

Small, family-owned place.

Breakfast is $10: coffee, eggs how you like em, lots of bacon, toast, hash browns, orange juice. The waitresses are so nice they’ll throw in a bit extra, for free, of whatever you want.

There is an Amish buffet in logan, about 20 minutes away for us, that serves home cooking style meals like most restaurants did when I was a kid. The food is well above average for the type and the family stays on top of the limited exposure buffet keeping everything fresh, hot, and delicious. The food is healthier than any franchise place too.

I clicked the link

Never been to the restaurant, but have been to the Governors. I have a friend who lives in Powder Springs. We get together every now and then. Both of us like to shoot. I may have to call him up to set a date. Go to breakfast before.

What is it, a greek place? I like Greek food.

My problem, if it's a problem is I wake early, 3ish most mornings. By 5-6-7 I have to get some grub to fill the hole.

We all have our deal. I can skip lunch if I have a good breakfast, plus, I like breakfast foods. Maybe eat a apple or something mid day, then dinner around 4. I am a pretty happy camper with that.

Smoked coon is good. Just kidding.

That is the kind of place I am talking about. We have a place like that near the house, I almost went with it...the Hungry House. A meat and three plate lunch place. I eat there often. Just home cooking, southern style. Lot's of mustard greens, cabbage, fried okra, white beans, fried corn... 2-3 choices of meat....I might have to reconsider.

Sushi place around the corner. I haven't been there since February. Either that or Five Guys.

My girlfriend and I got takeout recently from our favorite sushi place. Our first ‘dining out’ experience since March. I‘m a good cook. It’s how I put myself through college. I can cook many types of cuisine at home... but sushi is something different. It’s not anything I’d even try at home. Man I missed it.

I have thought about your question since you posted it, but I can't come up w/one restaurant. I know it would not be Waffle House. We ate there when we were driving our daughter and one of her teammates from Ohio to Raleigh, NC for a huge softball tournament. The place stank. The food was greasy. My daughter had a fork that still had food on it from a previous patron. I called the waitress over and she grabs the fork, wipes it on her dirty apron and hands it back. Never again.

I will say that if could just pick one place, it would be home. My wife and I are both excellent cooks. Right now, I do most of the cooking because I work out of the home and I have a better ability to move my schedule around and make our meals. But, cooking is something we both enjoy and are good at. Plus, we have so many more options than a restaurant could provide.

You may have had a bad experience, but they aren't all like that.

I understand cooking at home. I rarely order steaks when going out because I run the best steak house in the country. Ballpeen's Steak House.

Award winning. I have a bit over a lb and a quarter prime ribeye aging on a rack in the bottom of the fridge crisper... a almost 2 inch thick monster. We will eat it on Sunday. On Sunday I will buy another to allow it to dry age for a week.

I just keep the rotation going. Sometimes it might be strip steak, filets, or a big sirloin. Whatever I can buy in prime to provide a 6-8oz portion of beef for each of us. Drying them out a bit by aging a week really makes a big difference. Wrap them for a few days, then let air out.

Yeah, we prefer our home-cooked meals more than restaurant food. We used to go out before the virus hit, but that was mostly just for spoiling ourselves. Not sure if you have them in Tennessee, but we like going to Halls Chophouse. It's really expensive. We spent over $800 for 5 of us the last time we were there, but they really pamper you and the food is delicious.

Btw-------do you ever make Cowboy Steak? I usually pick up a 3 inch and about 3 lb bone-in ribeye and my wife and I share it. Now, that's some good eatin'.

We are big eat at homers too. We cook a lot. My wife and I split the duties. Anything that goes on the smoker or grill, is me. Mostly everything inside is my wife, although I have a few signature dishes that do not require a grill or smoker as well.

The restaurant thing is really just to get out once in a while and be waited on. No cooking, cleaning, etc. Just sit down and have someone else do it all. Relax. Get a tall glass of beer or two and unwind.

Eating out is very expensive so we try to limit our eating out to places we know we will have a good meal that we don't mind paying for. Nothing makes me more angry than a $100 meal that we did not enjoy. And let's face it, for a family of four for a sit down meal, that's about what it costs these days. I don't mind paying for it as long as we enjoy it.

They had some cowboy or tomahawk cuts, whatever you want to call it. With the bone they wouldn't have fit in my largest cast iron pan.

I don't grill steaks anymore. Maybe burgers and some smoking now and then..


For steaks, I have found a simple sear in a hot cast iron skillet for a minute or two per side, then finishing in a 350 degree oven is heaven. Maybe broil at bit at end to add more bark. Most of the top steak houses don't grill meat over fire and coals. They sear and broil and roast. It gives a more controlled outcome.

Plus, you live in the South. The last damn thing you want to do when it is 94 outside at 5 PM is stand over a hot fire tending meat. No need to salt the meat, you are going to sweat all over it.

Cast iron and oven, the only way I do it anymore. A dab of homemade maitre d butter. Just softened butter, a sprinkle of garlic power, and some crushed rosemary to melt over the steak while it rests 10-15 minutes....Ballpeen Steakhouse perfection. I sometimes use basil. It's sweet. That works. I grow both out on my deck in planters. I grow a few others, but those are the two I use for beef steak. Mint and oregano don't work. My wife and I like Mint Julips, so I keep mint.. If you make tomato sauce, which I know you do, you need some oregano. Nothing better than fresh. They all survive most winters, if not, start another plant in late March. It's not like you use all that much. Half the time I am trimming them back. I have frozen all I can, I am just tossing it away if nobody wants it. I don't want huge bushes in 5 gallon planters. Sprig or two here, sprig or two there is all you need.

I do season the steaks while bringing them up towards room temp before cooking.

I remember your steak thread a few years ago, but can't remember if you said your cast iron pan was a flat bottomed or ridged? (Mine is flat.)

Flat. My sister got all of the cast from my Mom and Grandmama. She was fine enough to her big brother to share a couple of pans. She knows I like to cook.

Girls generally get the jewelry and plates, guys get the guns, knives, and watches, but I wanted a couple of those well seasoned pans.

My sister loves me, we didn't have to make a trade. Plus, there were about 10 of them. Give me a 6 inch and a 12 inch. That is all I need. There were several of each. Something to cook a few steaks, something to cook up 3-4 eggs, maybe some taters.

Cast Iron rules.

If anyone's interested in the cast iron method for steak, here's Ballpeen's original thread:

https://www.dawgtalkers.net/ubbthreads.ph...teak#Post684018

I didn't say to grill the Cowboy steak. I asked if you make them.

I sear the 3 lb bone-in ribeye in a cast iron skillet, but longer than you do. I heat the pan up for at least 5 minutes and then sear each side for 3 minutes. I take it out and smother it an herb-garlic paste and then bake at 425 degrees. I bought a really good remote thermometer and take the steak out at about 125-130 degrees. Then I use aluminum foil to create a tent over it and let it rest for 5 minutes. This allows the juices to seep back down into the meat.

I'm telling you guys.........it's freaking delicious.

You're making me hungry...real hungry.

You really need to clarify that, lamp...