Tiny Restaurants

[seebs]

So... Everyone's probably been to a couple of good restaurants that are too small, or too obscure, or possibly just plain long-closed. Tell us about your favorites!

[viscousmemories]

There used to be a little Mexican restaurant in Ann Arbor called "La Casita de Lupe", where I worked as a prep cook for a brief time. The owner was a doctor of some sort, and had purchased the restaurant in cooperation with his Mother, in an effort to get her out of the deteriorated Detroit neighborhood she lived in.

Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with cancer not long before the restaurant opened, and died before it did. Hence the owner had to keep working full time as a doctor and nearly full time as a restauranteur just to stay afloat. In the end it doesn't appear to have worked out, as the place closed in the mid to late 90's.

Anyway I really wish I had made a copy of the recipe book. We made everything from scratch, and it was some delicious food. My first (and only) experience working on the actual line was during a weekend brunch. The owner was on vacation and the head cook was, as usual, crashed out on the couch in the office. So I had to learn how to cook pretty fast, and had some fun doing it. Flipping eggs without a spatula isn't just for fun, I learned, it's essential when you're moving at a certain pace. :)

Anyway good food, good times. Next!

[RevDahlia]

Mahmoun's Falafel in NYC. On Macdougal between 8th and Houston on the west side of the street. The whole place is about the size of a box of saltines. You can get a yummy falafel sammitch there for a buck fifty. The lines are always stupendous.

You know Mahmoun's is amazing because there a couple of Johnny-come-lately falafel joints salted around it, obviously hoping that someone will think they are Mahmoun's and buy their falafel by mistake.

[Shake]

The restaurant business is fickle, and Charleston (SC) is a town with plenty of good food. There is (was?) a little hole-in-the-wall pizza place called Sharkey's which was big with the college crowd, but had some great food, nonetheless!

There was also a little Italian place, with a name to match, around on some back alley, that really did only apps, desert, and wines, but was fantastic!

That's all I can think of for now.

[Penni]

The kKtchenette in NYC, somewhere on the westish side, right north of downtown, but south of TriBeCa. It's Zagat rated, and it should be, though one might never go in on their own. It has like 5 tables, maybe. Best breakfasts, ever, though. I had a pear and feta omelette one morning and the biscuits were divine with a type of strawberry butter that was whipped up all light and fluffy.

Also, in the not-so-good parts of San Diego is a place called Sister Pee-Wees. Sister Pee-Wee cooks whatever she likes each day. There might be two choices. I got a plate of fried chicken with rice and gravy and green beans. It was real home cookin'. The only choices for drinks are water or fruit punch, the kind that come in the big milk-jug gallons. No soda, even! So funny. Sister Pee-Wee has decorated with bumper stickers and newspaper articles. Oh, and the place has no tables. It has a lunch counter that maybe seats 7 or 8 people and that's it.

[freemonkey]

There was a tiny place in Forest Park, IL that served Cajun/Creole. It was delicious, and different for that area. We didn't think they'd last long, though, because there were only a few tables, those were rarely filled and they were open only a small number of hours per week. I think the owner was just playing at it. AFAIK, its long since closed.

[livius drusus]

Why, seebs, what a fine idea for a thread. :)

I'll pony up one of my Italian favorites which is so obscure I can't even remember its name (assuming it has one, that is). On the shores of Lake Albano in the Castelli Romani area about an hour outside the city, there are these little shacks that sell sandwiches made from a local specialty known as porchetta. It's a young slow-roasted pig, spiced with garlic and rosemary (and other stuff I can't remember), sliced before your very eyes onto the bread of your choice and topped with a slab of locally made cheese. It's as rustic as you can get, and just so, so good.

My favorite of these shacks is across the lake from the Pope's summer residence and has a little splintery benched sitting area with the single worst violin player of all time as the entertainment. He makes money hand over fist, too, mainly because people are so anxious to have him move on to the next table.

[Dingfod]

There used to be a little diner in an old railcar in St. Mary, Montana, inside was a counter and stools, that's it, barely room to get around the patrons. I woke up on an early September morning to find a blanket of snow over the Glacier National Park campground and decided it was time to head south. I packed up and drove out of the park. I arrived in St. Mary, a coal mining community back then, right at lunch time. I had the best bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup I've ever had there. Good stuff.

When I was a teenager working summer wheat harvest there was a tiny little cafe in the little northern Oklahoma town that used to serve a hot lunch and hamburgers in the evening. The place had four booths and a bar with stools. Lunch was only one entree and two vegetable side orders, no choise, whatever it said on the chalkboard and it was $1.35 plus drinks, iced tea or bottled pop with a glass of ice. In the back were two or three grandmotherly white-haired ladies cooking up good old fashioned homemade food. Out front were their perky teenage grandaughters, flirting for tips. I loved the place. It's gone now, like many things of my youth.


Warren

[seebs]

Okay, let's see.

Twin Cities area:

August Moon. This place burned down, but they may come back. I hope so. Absolutely incredible food, good prices, very cool atmosphere. Really, really, awesome. Hard to explain what type of food it was. Sort of Asian, but not exactly. "Fusion", I think, is the official term. My favorite feature is that they had a stir-fry page with a list of sauces and a list of proteins. Pick a protein (say, beef, or tofu), pick a sauce. None of this "we only have spicy beef, but you can have ginger broccoli" stuff.

Sherlock's Home. Closed, probably due to lack of business. Microbrew beer, good English food. No, I'm not kidding. They used to have a porterhouse steak marinated in their porter beer... it was incredible. Mmm.

W. A. Frost and Company. Still open last I checked. Went here for an anniversary dinner once. Atmosphere: On December 26th, they were playing Christmas music, and it wasn't obnoxious. Even on December 26th. Food: I had to set my fork down very carefully because the steak was so good I lost the ability to hold the fork.

Pasta Time. Just a little hole-in-the-wall fast food joint, but they did really good pasta, lots of it, good prices. I miss this place horribly; I have never been able to duplicate their pasta al olio, although I'm happy enough with the stuff I make... but I think theirs was better.


Denver:
Denver Buffalo Company. Closed now. But... Buffalo steak, buffalo burger, you get the idea.

Pint's Pub. Just a couple of blocks from my mom's house. Decent English food, incredible selection of single-malt scotch, good variety of microbrew beers from their basement. If only they had plain yellow mustard!

[Blake]

The Silver Grill in Midtown Atlanta, at the corner of Monroe and 8th, doesn't suck. (Well, they could salt their mashed potatoes, and there is better cornbread and biscuits; but the chicken and country fried steak is to die for, and there's no better sweet tea.) It has longevity, too; I think they've passed their fiftieth anniversary. They're open till (10:30 AM?)-9 PM, Monday through Friday, cash only. Counter on either side of the register (10 seats?), I think four booths and a row of small tables in between.

Woody's, a half a block down across the street (Monroe and Virginia), may serve actual imported Philly cheesesteaks, along with their pretty cool hotdogs and tasty Polish sausage; I don't know, I don't think I've so much as gotten off a train in Philadelphia. They're way smaller than the Silver Grill and are open 11-5 Tues-Sat. You'll wait for probably at least half an hour between 12-2 PM on Saturdays--I guess it's the place to eat lunch on the weekend at Piedmont Park.

You know, Fabbiano's, a 75% genuine Italian delicatessan across the street in the miniature corner mall with Arden's Garden (fresh fruit juices) and the Blockbuster is pretty good too. They certainly get the overflow from the park on Saturdays. A few attactively polished high wooden tables with stools, and a row along the wall towards the back. I think I'm the only person who ever uses it, when I'm waiting to take out an order.

[BigBlue2]

Mamma Maria's Upstairs Restaurant in King Street, Newtown, Sydney :super: . It's cozy, it's cheap, it has good Italian food and an excellent wine list.

[viscousmemories]

Mamma Maria's Upstairs Restaurant in King Street, Newtown, Sydney :super: . It's cozy, it's cheap, it has good Italian food and an excellent wine list.
Is it a sign of arrested development that that smilie always makes me snicker?

[pescifish]

I like my little rural town's local saloon and grill restaurant. The food's not that great, the prices are pretty stiff and the decor is old mining town with lots of noise from the bar so I really wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking for a traditionally "great" dining experience.

However, I adore the infectious laugh of the woman tending bar, she makes a killer long island iced tea and overfills my shots of Patron tequila. The two waitresses are finally at that perfect spot between too talkative and not attentive enough. The regular iced tea is fresh and standard non-fru-fru black tea and they keep it coming. The beef is pretty good and the chef knows how to cook my steak medium rare and the twice baked potato makes for great leftovers the next day. He puts extra garlic in my wine sauteed mushrooms.

I love that people ride their horses and hitch them up to meet with friends and that everyone looks just a little bit "had a great day" dusty and happy. I bring my current book and enjoy my evening, gratefully alone yet still among a nice crowd of human beings without that whole pesky interaction thing. The saloon has been in operation since the old mining days (that's a long time for us Californians!) and the place is an example of everything I love about my little rural town hiding in the middle of Los Angeles. And it's only 5 miles from home instead of 15 like everywhere else.

That's probably not what y'all had in mind when asking for favorite tiny restaurants, but it meets my criteria!

[Roland98]

Mahmoun's Falafel in NYC. On Macdougal between 8th and Houston on the west side of the street. The whole place is about the size of a box of saltines. You can get a yummy falafel sammitch there for a buck fifty. The lines are always stupendous.

You know Mahmoun's is amazing because there a couple of Johnny-come-lately falafel joints salted around it, obviously hoping that someone will think they are Mahmoun's and buy their falafel by mistake.

Do you know if they have them elsewhere? We had a Mahmoun's in New Haven as well, also yummy and cheap.

[RevDahlia]

Do you know if they have them elsewhere? We had a Mahmoun's in New Haven as well, also yummy and cheap.
I have no idea; I am only conversant with the Greenwich Village Mahmouns. I wouldn't be surprised if they'd set up a franchise, though. I would if I were they.

The proximity of New Haven to NYC leads me to believe that yes, this is the same Mahmouns. But don't quote me.

[Ronin]

Mary Mahoney's restaurant, Biloxi MS.

Half off for cops...if said gunslingers could put up with the intoxicateds from the bar next door at 3:45 a.m.

"Hey...YOU!! I'm NOT driving...HAHAHAHAHAH...let me buy you a Dough-nut!

HAAHAHAHAHAHA...Fuckin PIG! HAHAHAHAH"

Great...c'mon Sally, it can't take that long to fix a BLT at this hour.

Extra fries?

...you are the best, sweetheart.

<nod to happy-go-lucky crowd of revelers>

Why do I do this to myself?

"89...copy 79."

Good. I'm out of here.

<nod>

Styrofoam BLT and cold fries at 5 again.

At least it'll be quiet.

[livius drusus]

Wait, wait, wait. You can't eat cold fries unless they're McDonald's; this is a known fact. Don't they even have a toaster oven in the coffee room or something? Is this what passes for justice in Biloxi, Mississippi?

[Gawen]

Sadly, my memory has failed in this. There's a sandwich shop...or maybe there was, this was 30 years ago, on a beach boardwalk in L.A. The best sandwiches I ever ate.

There's a pub/bar & grill in Chicago, whose name I can't remember. It's a Celtic name. They serve full English breakfasts. Imported beers. Wonderful place. I could eat there every day.

There's a place where I live called Sammi's Italian Bistro that does wonderful seafood linguini and chicken alfredo. Pizza's aren't to bad either.

There's a pub/restaurant in Dundee, Scotland that got the 'best restaurant' a couple years in a row. They make the best Shepard's Pie you ever ate.

[livius drusus]

Oh man, I love Shepard's Pie. (Is that how you spell it?)

[Lauri D]

Last night, I decided to take Dan (NS) out to dinner for his birthday, although he insisted that we didn't have to make a big to-do of it now, so I tricked him into it 'cuz I knew he would love this place (I'd only been there once before but I was pretty sure from my experience that he'd be just as wowed by the food).

Eva's (Carribean Kitchen) - a teensy place in South Laguna Beach on Pacific Coast Highway, with a lovely patio, perfect casual-but-classy ambiance/decor, perfect time of day (pre-sunset). Island/reggae music playing in the background - then live at 8 when a duo came and set up on the corner of the patio. Sat outside; Eva herself came over to greet us and discuss the menu, make her recommendations, etc.

Ended up ordering a perfectly chilled bottle of fume blanc and starting off for an appetizer with what she advised was the spiciest thing on the menu - large black tiger shrimp marinated in lime, garlic, chili, and Cajun spices, and served with grilled pineapple, mango, roasted pepper and passion fruit salsa.

Let's just say we both had flushed cheeks and a slight sheen of sweat on our faces after these.... one of the most intensely flavorful things I've had for a long time.

For entrees he had the curry chicken and I had the jerk chicken (sooo tender). Both served with sweet mango chutney, "dirty rice" and a vegetable confetti type thing, and best of all... plantains. Perfectly sauteed/grilled, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth plantains.

For dessert, key lime pie.

If you are even in South Laguna, you must go here. A fabulous dining experience all around.

[livius drusus]

Mmmm... plantains... That reminds me of a little Cuban place a few streets down: Las Palmeras. It used to have no liquor license, so you had to bring your own beer/wine/whatever, or go next door to the (attached) convenience store which carried a small selection of wines and wide selection of beers just for the purpose.

The food was (and is) delicious, particularly the perfect empanizado steak, rotisserie chicken, Cuban sandwiches, tostones, sweet plantains, steamed yucca with onions and lemon sauce, moros with a drizzle of olive oil on top, and a bunch of other stuff cooked by the family who owns the place.

The wine and beer is a total rip-off (as always in restaurants), though, so I miss the old days.

[Gawen]

Oh man, I love Shepard's Pie. (Is that how you spell it?)No..I spelled it wrong. Sheperd....sorry about that.

[viscousmemories]

Oh man, I love Shepard's Pie. (Is that how you spell it?)No..I spelled it wrong. Sheperd....sorry about that.
Sure it's not shepherd? :P

[Gawen]

Oh man, I love Shepard's Pie. (Is that how you spell it?)No..I spelled it wrong. Sheperd....sorry about that.
Sure it's not shepherd? :PI must be tired....*sigh* :yawn:

Yes..it's shepherd...good grief...*slappin me forehead*

[livius drusus]

And here me thinking some guy named Shepard invented the thing.

[Ronin]

Wait, wait, wait. You can't eat cold fries unless they're McDonald's; this is a known fact. Don't they even have a toaster oven in the coffee room or something? Is this what passes for justice in Biloxi, Mississippi?

Ronald's chilly shoestrings had nothing on Mary's glock barrel crinkle cuts, dear.

And, no...the BPD (in those days) was run out of an abandoned and condemned school. It was like working in The Joker's henchmen's warehouse where every room was significantly off-kiltered, flickering and caddywhompus.

Toaster oven?

Coffee room?

Police Department?

OSHA would have nothing of the sort.

No ways, no how.

~~

A quiet, cold meal
in the dark lot behind the
Saenger Theatre...bliss.