Top 3 Thursday...Let's EAT!

It's that time again...TOP 3 THURSDAY!! This week: Top 3 Restaurants. This...is gonna be phe-nomenal.

I have traveled a BUNCH of places, so I eat out a lot. And by no means is this list exhaustive-I love to eat, and there are so many fantastic restaurants that didn't quite make the cut (let's be honest, I only get to pick 3, which means that lots of fantastic restaurants get left out. Sorry!)

So, in order, and again countdown-style, I present to you my 3 favorite restaurants.

#3: The Striphouse in Houston, TX. Good grief, this place is delicious...probably the best steak I have ever had. Rest assured, this place is not for the faint of heart (or skinny of wallet, for that matter). The only time I have ever been there was to celebrate a friend's birthday. The decor was fitting but not overdone (it's called the Striphouse for a reason...that does not have to do with food...get your dirty mind out of the gutter, everyone was clothed! The pictures on the wall are the reason for it, but they are not-quite-naked pictures; still, I would not recommend it as a place for the children). Anyway, back to what we are evaluating, the FOOD! Yum-o, as Raechel Ray would say. The steak was perfect, the sides are a la carte (I had the creamed spinach and garlic mashed potatoes), and the 7-layer chocolate cake for dessert is a must. Thank goodness I was not paying...the check ended up being over $1000-granted, there were about 15 of us, but still! Delicious though.

#2: City Cafe, in Tuscaloosa, AL. Putting City Cafe as my #2 choice is going to be very surprising to some people...and no doubt, it was a very difficult decision. I am the English Pea Salad girl...but let me start at the beginning. City Cafe is what I believe the Southerners call a "meat-and-three" place, and it. is. awesome. You pick your meat, and however many veggies you want (pick three, and you get a fourth one for free). DO NOT get anything except what's on the list in the middle of the menu...people will make fun of you, and plus you'd be doing it wrong anyway; I learned that the hard way, but rest assured that I got it together the next time I went back! Anyway, I only go on Fridays, and this is what I get: catfish, mac and cheese, fried okra, and literally as much English pea salad as those super nice ladies can squish onto my plate. Seriously-pile it on there, the more the better. This is why I am the English pea salad girl-I went back for the first time in about a year after I graduated from UA, and the ladies STILL knew me as the English pea salad girl. I haven't been able to get over to City Cafe since I got back to UA this past August, but I have no doubt that they would know that I want a heaping helping of English pea salad. How I long for City Cafe day, followed by a leisurely swim (or sink, depending on how much food we ate) in the Black Warrior River with some of my favorite people on the planet.

#1: DOMINIC'S. Sadly, this fantastic Italian restaurant smack in the middle of downtown Dayton, OH is no longer open...but it is without a doubt my favorite restaurant EVAA! There's talk that the restaurant will be reopened in another location, but I am not counting on it...despite that sadness, Dominic's will ALWAYS be my favorite restaurant of all time. I always chose Dominics as the place for my celebratory birthday dinner (or anything I was celebrating, for that matter), and I always got the same thing: spicy Italian sausage fettucine, which came with a salad and Italian wedding soup. Also, the bread bowl was ENDLESS (!!) and featured rye bread with salt...SOOOO GOOD!! But what, may you ask, is Dominic's known for? I would answer: the house dressing, which is literally like chewing garlic cloves or drinking straight garlic juice....that's how garlic-y it is. My parents always got the house salad with the house dressing, and they would have a competition to see who could smell more like garlic by the end of the meal. I took Nathan there for dinner when he came home with me for a bit one summer and warned him that there would be no kisses for him if he got the house salad...he got it anyway, just to try it, and dang if I kept my word-there was no kissing! Seriously, it was so strong that I had to roll the windows down in my car as we were driving around and I was showing him around Centerville. His clothes reeked of garlic the next day. But Dominic's was delicious, and I hope it does reopen...I have a few birthdays to make up for!

SO that's it, my three favorite restaurants of all time. There are so many others that I have been to, and one in particular that I'm excited to try when I go to New Orleans in a few weeks. If you have any recommendations for good restaurants, feel free to send them my way-chances are, I will be in the neighborhood at some point in my travels!

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