Unique Restaurants

Wednesday, December 14, 2022 6:38 PM

Tell us about a unique restaurant that you know and why we should eat there. One of the better things about New England is that we cherish the past, so we have a lot of restaurants that have been around for a long, long time. Union Oyster House in Boston is the longest continually operated restaurant in the country; Black Horse Tavern is the oldest Tavern in America and if you recall history back in the day, you will recall Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of Paul Rever's ride fame, Longfellow's wayside in in Sudbury Mass where I ate with my mom in Aust, opened in 1716. Nothing so commercial here because my pick is Polly's Pancake Parlor. Polly's is in Northern New Hampshire, in a very rural, sort of remote area. In fact, the best view of the White Mountains and Mt. Washingtons around is from their parking lot. 8 years ago Polly's moved to its current locale in a large barn-like structure. It seats a lot of people, far more than the falling apart original, which is now gone. Polly's is in year 85 of being a breakfast spot and remains family owned. We got there at 9:45 on Saturday and lucked into 2 seats at the counter as every seat was taken and the wait for a table was 60 minutes. Given the remoteness of this place it's almost inconceivable to get 250 people for breakfast. The food at Polly's is great and always has been. Everything is scratch. They make old fashioned small pancakes, not the hubcap sized ones of today, but the old kind 3.5 - 4 inches across. They make many distinct kinds such as sourdough, buttermilk, buckwheat, gluten free, corn meal, blueberry etc. What makes their pancakes unique is that your server, not the cooks, make them and they are not from a mix, nor store bought flour: they stone grind all their pancake flour. They make their own maple spread, which blows away maple syrup on pancakes. They make their own English muffins from scratch. The beef for the breakfast burger is grass fed. The eggs come from outside your window. Everything on the menu is locally sourced (even the hot sauce) from local farms or made by them. It is a gourmet breakfast in the country and makes you feel like you were on Green Acres. It is amazing. Where do you recommend?

36 comments

People tell me a lot of customers have dined at the Y, your wife’s Y!! Lol…

Mate27

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a year ago

Lynwood Cafe in Randolph, MA. The finest example of South Shore Bar Pizza in existence. Personal sized, cracker thin crusted beauties with the cheese (cheddar) and toppings right to the edge. Walking through the door is like walking back in time. It opened in 1949 and I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't spent $100 on the interior since it opened. Cash only, take out pizzas are served between two cardboard plates wrapped in a brown paper bag rather than a pizza box, and the servers are best described as abrupt. The recipe has not changed one bit over time and a pizza today tastes the same as it did 20 years ago, or 40 years ago. Or 60 years ago.

crosscheck

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a year ago

^^ I guess you can call me an untraveled dumb fuck, too. I’ve never been to any of those places you mention, but I have gone to Point Loma near the San Diego airport and had their seafood, but there was no bacon!!

JimGassagain

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a year ago

Gatsby's Tavern in Alexandria, VA is on my list of unique restaurants. It's been running since Revolutionary War times, and the food is still very good. To top it off, George Washington really did eat there - often! Another Alexandria restaurant, Fontaine's, has wonderful crepes, both sweet and savory and an excellent wine list. It's owner is a Vietnamese lady who is just delightful.

ATACdawg

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a year ago

There used to be a restaurant in a small town near where I grew up that was a converted bordello. At one point, the rooms were allegedly named for some of the women who worked there.

georgmicrodong

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a year ago

I tend not to like high priced restaurants with snooty waiters. I like what is sometimes called "comfort food", which is food your mom might have fed you when you were a child. Here in Indiana the two largest ethnic groups were the Germans and English, which is my heritage, so I can find the type of food I grew up with relatively easily. At one time, Indiana had more cafeterias than any other state. The food there appealed to the dominant ethnic groups. The MCL cafeteria chain is still here. The last time I went I got fried chicken, corn on the cob, cole slaw and blueberry pie. Pies are popular there. Sugar cream pie is considered the state pie and MCL also has that along with apple pie, cherry pie, pumpkin pie and lemon meringue pie. I also go to Shapiro's cafeteria downtown. That is run by a Jewish family. I especially like the Jewish rye bread, which I get with my meal. I also like the Workingman's Friend east of downtown. It's an old tavern that has been there a hundred years. I sit at the counter and get a hamburger, iced tea and French fries. I stopped there last Friday night while heading for Dancers strip club on the east side.

docsavage

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a year ago

Sobrino de Botín in Madrid. Killer suckling pig, not to mention jamon, rioja, etc. Also the Oldest continually running restaurant in the world, founded 1725. I’m getting a meat boner just thinking about it!

drewcareypnw

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a year ago

Hey ski that sounds good as fuck. But shit I don't like driving all the way up to the NH boonies for some pancakes. Maybe one day. Heart attack grill in Vegas is a pretty unique touristy experience. Around here, there's a lot of restaurants with mob history. Umberto's Clam House, Sparks Steakhouse etc. There was a spot near me growing up when I was a kid that had a mob shooting, that stuff was way more common back then now https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/04/05/lucchese-figure-hit-by-gunfire/5e957385-cbac-487d-846a-565663e1a1cf/

Muddy

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a year ago

Miller's Bar on Michigan Avenue about midway between BT's and Flight Club. You can order a Cheeseburger or plain Hamburger served on a piece of wax paper.... that's it. The only add on available is a large slice of sweet raw onion.... one of the best burgers I've ever had. You tell the bar tender what you had for food and drinks and they'll ring you up; cash only. Sice 1941: https://www.millersbar.com/

Longball300

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a year ago

My late father, Simba, told me how back in tha NC there was this spot where a Range Rover would show up and deliver delicious hairless apes. Hell, that is how he discovered the fun of fucking sexy female hairless apes. Some female ape that said her name was “Trophy Wife” offered some sexy fun after pops ate the old guy she was with. Alas, it went out of business. Anybody know of a similar place in my adopted home of the United States of America? ROAR!!!

rickthelion

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a year ago

Fire and Ice in Boston is unique. Its a buffet meets hibachi place. They give you an average bowl and a variety of topics. You mix them together and give it to the grillmaster. Unfortunately, By the time you get the hang of what goes well together you are full https://fire-ice.com/

NJBalla

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a year ago

^I was laughing at this even before I read the last line. Hahahahshahahahahahs

drewcareypnw

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a year ago

Grub ad!

SirLapdancealot

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a year ago

Heart attack grill is disgusting. Everything from the off putting theme to food. For a classic LA burger experience https://www.hinanocafevenice.com/ Al and Bea's for old skool la style Mexican http://alandbeas.com/ In Vegas Hamburger Hut https://www.hamburgerhutlv.com/ Los Arcos taco shop https://birria-bite.com/ If you like Ethiopian food. Yeshi Mart is unassuming but is the best I've ever had https://yeshimart.wordpress.com/restaurant-menu/

Icee Loco (asshole)

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a year ago

My grandfather ate here, my father and uncle ate here, my friends and my kids ate here, and I ate here. One of the few things I miss about California. https://joejosts.com/

shadowcat

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a year ago

The Jazz brunch at Court Of The Two Sisters in New Orleans is amazing, at least was the last time I went a while ago. It's been there since the 1880s, the food is among the best in the city, and the jazz added to the perfect setting. It was everything I expected New Orleans to be. https://www.courtoftwosisters.com/

BaggerRider

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a year ago

Any fans of Nathans in Coney Island on Surf Ave. as a kid every week on Wednesday evening my Dad would have dinner with my grandma, and in the summer he would take me with him when I was off from school, and on the way home we always stopped at Nathan's usually find a parking spot a few blocks away get a hot dog and French Fries then walk on the board walk along the beach stopping to play in some of the arcades or ride the Cyclone, or the Parachute Jump, damn times were good then.

twentyfive

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a year ago

Tuckahoe Inn, Beesely’s Point, NJ. Been there since 1714. Still has a great bar, great view of the Bay, and good food. Live music. Almost respectable, but not stuffy.

Studme53

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a year ago

^ Fact check - been there since 1736

Studme53

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a year ago

The Olde Jaol Steakhouse and Tavern in Wooster, Ohio I'd a great steakhouse built in a Civil War era jail and sheriff's office. The dining room is setup in the old jail cells and there is a great prohibition style bar upstairs I'm the old sheriff's office. In addition to great steaks I highly recommend the walnut crusted walleye. The Lobby Bar and Grille at the Brown Hotel in Louisville Kentucky is located within a century old hotel and absolutely embodies the meaning of old school southern hospitality. Their Hot Brown with some Smokey Mac n Cheese and a nice flight of bourbon is my ideal comfort food. I don't remember the name of the small town on Rt 2 between Point Pleasant and Huntington West Virginia where you'll find Hillbilly Hot Dogs but it is well worth the drive if you're in the area. It is exactly what you would expect of a place named Hillbilly Hot Dogs and it plays up every stereotype about West Virginia.

whodey

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a year ago

Fuck a hoe inn 😭😭😂😂😂

Icee Loco (asshole)

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a year ago

I like to waste slow time on countdown slide shows (50 oldest resaurants in each state, best burger in each state, etc.). I have made it a point of picking out restaurants around me, or in places I am traveling to, to try based on these slideshows. None have met my expectations. I admit, I have high standards on everything, but life is short. Unique is not enough, I need quality and at least some value to earn my endorsement.

gammanu95

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a year ago

SafeHouse in Milwaukee, WI is another different kind of restaurant. Been around since the 1960s, it's a spy themed restaurant that you need to know the password to enter. It's fun to watch others trying to enter, and the burgers (all I've had there) are really good, I've heard the rest of the menu is decent also. https://www.safe-house.com/

BaggerRider

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a year ago

crosscheck: The Lynwood's Boston Baked Bean pizza - Yea or Nay!

rockie

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a year ago

Sadly I don't have a single example of one local to me. Not one. It's mostly chain joints and the ones that aren't have been terribly disappointing. I grew up in MA, where Mom and Pop restaurant food is practically an art form. I could have easily named 4 or 5 just near where I used to live up there before I left and several others in surrounding towns, but it's been so long that I don't know which ones still exist and are as good as they used to be. The culinary standards or so much higher there that it blew my mind how bad the restaurant food was in so many other places when I moved away. Everything is just so much better, even simple stuff like pub grub, small breakfast joints, pizza (including bar pizzas, something not very common elsewhere) and Chinese food. It's one of the reasons that I had to bite the bullet and start cooking my own food once I moved to the NY metro area. Anyway, with the whining over, I will give an honorable mention to Westfair Fish & Chips in Westport CT. It's a hole in the wall takeout joint with a small number of tables buried in the back of a small shopping plaza on Rt 1, but the food is excellent. They serve fresh off the boat scallops, whole belly clams, a variety of fish, etc., etc. The food quality rivals what I'd find in much larger seafood joints on the east coast of MA. They are cash only, but that doesn't seem to be hurting them. The food is so good that the placed is often slammed at lunch time with large takeout orders. I myself have picked up large lunch orders from the joint and had to walk in with a strip club wad in my pocket to pay for it, lol.

rickdugan

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a year ago

The Wild Goose south of LAX. It was a topless place with a full luncheon buffet. The place was packed with aerospace workers on their lunch break M-F. When it closed, it was the end of an era. We’ll never see anything like it again in todays environment.

mark94

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a year ago

The Red Bar - Grayton Beach Florida. Brunch in the off season is a treat at this eclectic venue, as is lunch and dinner! They've been in business since 1995 and recently rebuilt on the original site after a major fire burned the original building to the ground. Live music many evenings. Cash only and one of the best dive bar restaurants I frequent. RD: You enjoy a good meal to well to suggest that your neck of the woods is barren of choices. You also travel, come on now - belly up and at least offer best meal out this year!

rockie

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a year ago

Rockie - nay on the baked bean pizza. Not a fan of baked beans in the first place.

crosscheck

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a year ago

I’ve been there fairly often of late and never felt today was the day for a baked bean pie!

rockie

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a year ago

How are some of those places making such good burgers? Whats the formula, is it a cooking method or ingredients used

rickmacrodong

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a year ago

There's a place in Tappan NY called the Old '76 House. All kinds of history associated with it as the building itself is about 400 years old. It's decorated with authentic Revolutionary War muskets and other artifacts. But it's most famous for having served as a makeshift courthouse and jail, where Major John Andre was tried, convicted and executed. Andre was the British intelligence officer who conspired with Benedict Arnold. The hanging actually took place about 1/4 mile up the road on a hilltop, and there's a monument there. Apparently George Washington was at the bar when he was informed of his friend Arnold's plans to give up West Point. A portrait of Arnold was hanging in the tavern and in his anger Washington turned it upside down. It still hangs that way. They also say that Alexander Hamilton lived upstairs from the bar for around two years. It's an interesting place and the food is pretty good too. https://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/2015/05/08/Westchester/Westchester/635667099031898681-pc050615-76-house-3.jpg?width=592&format=pjpg&auto=webp&quality=70 https://img-aws.ehowcdn.com/700x/www.onlyinyourstate.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/76-House-7.jpg https://jschumacher.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c339953ef01630329d9f9970d-640wi

misterorange

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a year ago

@whodey: Hillbilly Hot Dogs is in Lesage, WV. It's also been reviewed by Guy Fieri on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.

ATACdawg

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a year ago

Thanks Atacdawg, I couldn't remember the name of the town, I just knew it was on my way when I would visit my cousins in Point Pleasant after business in Huntington.

whodey

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a year ago

I go to one called da taco shits

MackTruck

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a year ago

Rockie - totally agree, yet there are many who swear by it. Personally, hamburger and onion is my go to.

crosscheck

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a year ago

Mushroom and Onion when I'm behaving and Linguica (or Pepperoni) when I think that I'm still that Teenager!