Restaurant review extravaganza 45 page 2

Best Fuzhou Restaurant

I’d zoomed past the gleaming new restaurant a couple of times on my bike, but it wasn’t till the third occasion that I noticed the name: Rong Hang. “What a hook to hang a review on,” I blurted out. So the next week, I dragged a crowd of avid Sino-diners to the location, a couple of blocks north of Canal on Eldridge Street, in the heart of Chinatown’s Fujianese neighborhood. But when we tried to get in, the manager waved us away, asserting in shaky English that all the tables were reserved–even though the place was more than half-empty. More >>

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Orange County

Continental Deli

Lest the rest of OC forget: La Habra exists. About the only city in the county that is completely unserviced by freeways, La Habra is often regarded as OC’s vestigial tail, known most notoriously as the home of Paul’s TV, the self-proclaimed “King of Big Screen,” and also as where Octomom and her brood live. More >>

Phoenix

Dave’s Electric Brewpub

In Tempe, where people gravitate toward bright commercial clusters like Mill Avenue and Tempe Marketplace, it can be hard for off-the-beaten-path businesses to do well.

The corner of Fifth Street and College Avenue is one of those places that’s had a revolving door in recent years — maybe it’s a bit too far from the main drag, or maybe it’s too dark at night. What’s more, maybe the locals weren’t ready for Cuban food, which is the last thing I recall eating at this spot a few years ago. More >>

San Francisco

Mayes Oyster House

Mayes Oyster House has catered to the great and near-great from all over the world since it was established 69 years ago,” restaurant critic Ruth Thompson wrote … 73 years ago. That’s a ripe cumulative age for any public institution, especially a restaurant, but then again Mayes isn’t the stolid old Tadich Grill-style fish house it used to be. After a confusing period when there were two Mayeses on the same block of Polk Street, and a decade or so when Mayes wasn’t Mayes at all but an Ethiopian restaurant, an Irish restaurant, and a loungey sort of pickup joint, the place has been resurrected under its original moniker, albeit with a decidedly 21st-century vibe and menu. More >>

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Seattle

Toulouse Petit

In 1897, Frank Norris wrote that there were only three “story cities” in the United States: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. “Fancy a novel about Chicago or Buffalo, let us say,” he smirked, “or Nashville, Tennessee!” Clearly, the man was indulging in hyperbole so off-base as to be inane–what else do you expect from a San Franciscan?–but he did pinpoint something about these three cities’ gifts for cultivating their own mystique. More >>

St. Louis

Post Sports Bar & Grill

In fifth grade I played Little League baseball. Struck out my first twelve times at bat. Then, studying the dandelions in left field, I had an insight: Most fifth graders can’t throw strikes. In my next twelve at bats, I walked eleven times and then, feeling lucky, swinging blindly, stroked a ball into left for my first (and only) hit. More >>