Anywhere

Its hard to beat a home cooked meal, or a meal with good friends, wherever you are. Some of my food photos.

Chicago

  • Giordano's: Better than Gino's (now). They have a location that's on the way to/from Midway. Convenient for dinner on the way into town, or to make TSA agents jealous on your way out.
  • Gino's East: Once the stuff of legend (if Anne is to be believed), now gone corporate; yellow numbers 5 and 6 now replaces the corn meal that made the crust so great. That said, Gino's still makes a pretty good pizza, and they are available in the freezers of groceries nation wide. Gino's will even ship directly; giving the added bonus of some dry ice to play with while you cook your pizza.

    Pasadena

  • Avanti cafe: A small gourmet pizzeria that is routinely voted best in the area. My favorites are the glazed apple and the roasted garlic pizzas.
  • Tarantinos: A grungy (in a mostly good sense) little italian restaurant with good food at good prices. The Florentine pizza is one of the best pizzas I've ever had.
  • Casa Bianca: Just try a pizza with fried eggplant and garlic, the food will speak for itself.

    Philadelphia

    Philly has tons of pizza, some actually pretty good, but the real diamond is Vedge. Its vegan; if that doesn't bother you, try it out, Vedge as the successor to Horizon's is my favorite restaurant! If the vegan part bothers you, try it out, the food is amazing and you will like it, unless you are the sort of person that thinks of food only in terms of slabs of meat with garnish that you would rather deal without (but if you're that sort of person, why are you reading my food recommendations). Blue Sage is really good. But its considerably further away, and is vegetarian, not vegan.

    Bagels

  • Brueggers: A large chain slowly creaping across the north-east and to a lesser extent the rest of the country. Decent bagels, particularly if you're in Philly.
  • New York Bagel Bakery: Their bagels seem decent, but the one time I tried them, they didn't seem particularly special (as some reviews suggest). Still its a pleasant bike ride to the bakery, and it is certified kosher.

    Pizza

  • Slice: After being goaded into trying a slice by the owner, shortly after he opened shop, Slice is my favorite pizza in Philly. Its great gourmet pizza, with a sprinkle of Philly attitude. Also, I'm a sucker for a good salad in a bread bowl.
  • Lorenzo and Sons: The pizza is greasy, the only options you get at the counter are the number of slices of plain old cheese pizza and if you want it/them in a box or on a paper plate. Yet, the pizza is really good, and really hits the spot at 2am after a reasonable ride, when they are definitely the best pizza in Philly.
  • Blackbird: Its vegan, its certified kosher, and its good gourmet pizza-by-the-slice.

    Falafel

  • Maoz: The best Falafel I've had in the US.
  • Mama's Vegetarian: A close second to Maoz. Unlike Maoz, Mama's is certified kosher.

    Crepes

  • La Dominique: Try it when you have time for a relaxed lunch. The crepes are worth the wait.

    Urbana-Champaign

  • Papa Dels: They make a good Chicago-style pizza (I like it with either black and green olives or garlic and spinach). Caution: too much of their Super Stuffed pizza may result in heart burn.

    Rochester

    Pizza

    Nope. Rochester doesn't seem to have much in the way of particularly good pizza. Great Northern Pizza Kitchen is reasonable, and definitely a cut above the national chains.

    Crepes

  • Simply Crepes: Good crepes in unbeatable locations (at least the one next to the canal is a great location). Be warned, the crepes may be larger and more filling than one might expect. Also the hot spiced cider is a serious contender for the best I've ever had.

    Bagels

  • Bagel Land: My favorite bagels!
  • Brownsteins: Less than a block away from Bagel Land, but twelve corners has high enough traffic to support both. Brownsteins makes my favorite bialies, and their bagels are pretty good too. I tend to stop at both on my way out of town.

    Baltimore

  • Joe Squared: Disclaimer: I'm biased by strong family connections to the restaurant. However, the numerous good reviews and awards the restaurant has won since it opened are not the result of family bias. I'm still waiting for Joe to try Slice, or vis-versa. If you run into Joe, tell him I say hi.