Restaurant review extravaganza 35 page 2

Galactic Pizza

It doesn’t take long to forget that you’re wearing spandex, or at least that’s what Captain Awesome tells me. And he’s right. After about half an hour, I don’t even notice that I’m covered neck to ankles in a bright pink bodysuit with a silver lightning bolt on the chest. I borrowed the suit, which previously belonged to Pink Thunder, from Galactic Pizza’s stash of retired superhero costumes. Whizzing along in one of the Lyn-Lake shop’s new two-seater electric cars with Awesome, I also forget that I’m wearing a bulbous white crash helmet. That is, until I look out the window and notice that people are staring. More >>

Nashville

Whiskey Kitchen

Anyone who has ever dreamed of a career in the paint-color-naming industry might also consider working for restaurateur Chris Hyndman–it takes similar brands of creativity to make wall paint and restaurant concepts stand out among so many similar shades. And anyone who has the panache to describe yellow paint as “jonquil” or brown paint as “Rio Grande” must surely appreciate Hyndman’s description of his new sports bar, Whiskey Kitchen, as “tavern chic.” More >>

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Orange County

Kula Sushi Bar

Kula isn’t the first revolving sushi bar in Orange County. At least three other restaurants have featured motorized conveyor belts as the mode of transportation for the raw-fish delicacies. From the jauntily popular Kura in Newport to the tiny-but-dependable Kaisen in Santa Ana and the recently departed Sushi 5 in Tustin, the formula has seen success and failure. More >>

Phoenix

St. Francis

When rustic American restaurant St. Francis finally opened its doors for Labor Day weekend, I think Phoenix food fanatics heaved a huge sigh of relief.

Why? To say the place was highly anticipated is an understatement. More >>

San Francisco

Pal’s Takeaway / Rhea’s Deli and Grocery / Mission Burger

If anything demonstrates the resilience of the human spirit, it’s the way San Franciscans have kept their highly attuned taste buds nurtured and cared for through these months of recession and want. Despite failing corporations and rampant unemployment, we have managed to keep ourselves in boutique nectarines, grass-fed tri-tip, and handcrafted Holstein-milk Appleby Cheshire cheese with a carafe of amusing Pinot Grigio at hand. More >>

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Seattle

The Cutting Board / Fort St. George

In a city of sushi addicts and diners who think udon-tempura-gyoza combos are the ne plus ultra of Japanese cuisine, The Cutting Board’s kari raisu with menchi katsu–or beef curry with a deep-fried hamburger patty–doesn’t make sense. The dish seems surreal, unpleasantly novel, three kinds of ersatz clumped together in one bowl. Without knowing the dish’s origins, you might read the menu board and think “Smoke another bowl, chef.” But the Georgetown restaurant helped unlock a piece of culinary history I had never considered, and in the process helped me decipher (if not actually enjoy) Fort St. George, a restaurant in the ID that has befuddled me since I moved to Seattle. More >>

St. Louis

Taqueria la Monarca / Amigo Joe’s / Latitude 26

Taqueria la Monarca is the latest addition to the unlikely Murderers’ Row of restaurants at the intersection of Olive Boulevard and Woodson Road. Across Woodson from the three-month-old taqueria is Jeffrey Plaza, home to Nobu’s, De Palm Tree, Indian Food and Pho Long — each among the top examples of their representative cuisines. Taqueria la Monarca fits neatly into this lineup, the No. 2 hitter lining singles to the outfield gaps, setting the table for the heavy hitters. More >>