what food/restaurant do you wish was available in your area?

My FH and I recently took a trip to Myrtle Beach, SC- where we stop at a Sonic and a pizza chain called Ultimate California Piazza each time we go since there are none up here in NY... so got me to thinking, what restaurants or types of foods do you love and wish was available where you live but isn't?

This question is like asking an alcoholic what booze or drinking establishment he wished was in his neighborhood.  Mmm, I saw some absinthe on sale in a grocery store in Canada; I wish it was on sale here.  The convenience stores in BC sell chocolate candies with liquor in 'em - yummy.  We only have taverns in this town; sure wish some bars that sold hard liquor opened up so I could have a dirty martini with a blue cheese stuffed olive like that psycho bitch on the Housewives of Orange County.

Or am I confused?  Is this question posed for those few people who are trying to gain weight?  If you are trying to lose weight, this is not a good subject to be pondering, especially not the way you guys are reminiscing with such fond memories. 

Let me do you a service:  think back to how disgusted and physically uncomfortable you were with yourselves everytime you found yourselves bloated on restaurant foods and how much regret you felt when you did a mental tally of the calories, fat, carbs, sodium or sugar in the restaurant food you just consumed.

We're dieting, not dead.  You can still have favorite restaurants and learn to eat moderately.  If you only go for it once in a while then who cares?  Comparing alcoholism to a food addiction isn't exactly apples to apples, if you know what I mean.  You don't need alcohol to live but you do need food so you have to learn to deal with the fact that you are going to eat and will eat often.  Unless you shut yourself in your house and only eat food that you prepare and give up a large part of your social life there is really no solution other than learning to enjoy food in moderation and making the healthier choice most of the time. 

Anyway, enough of that.  Not trying to ruffle any feathers. 

I really wish that we had an authentic Chinese restaurant around here.  Ours are all really Americanized.  We do have a super good, really authentic Korean restaurant not too far away that we go to a few times per year.  Also, I love Middle Eastern food and would love to find a place that served really good shawarma or kebab.  YUM!

Original Post by amykins1283:

We're dieting, not dead.  You can still have favorite restaurants and learn to eat moderately. 

agreed. this post was just meant to be fun.

Original Post by amykins1283:

We're dieting, not dead.  You can still have favorite restaurants and learn to eat moderately.  If you only go for it once in a while then who cares?  Comparing alcoholism to a food addiction isn't exactly apples to apples, if you know what I mean.  You don't need alcohol to live but you do need food so you have to learn to deal with the fact that you are going to eat and will eat often.  Unless you shut yourself in your house and only eat food that you prepare and give up a large part of your social life there is really no solution other than learning to enjoy food in moderation and making the healthier choice most of the time. 

Anyway, enough of that.  Not trying to ruffle any feathers. 

I really wish that we had an authentic Chinese restaurant around here.  Ours are all really Americanized.  We do have a super good, really authentic Korean restaurant not too far away that we go to a few times per year.  Also, I love Middle Eastern food and would love to find a place that served really good shawarma or kebab.  YUM!

 I know the girls on Sex and the City spent a lot of time socializing in restaurants and bars but my social life never meant spending lots of time and money eating and drinking with my friends so if I never go into a restaurant again, my social life will barely be affected.  My reason for avoiding restaurants centers around one main issue:  control.  Portion control, quality control, ingredients used, and cleanliness of the kitchen and staff and health of the staff (I don't want hepatitis because some oaf with the disease coughed in my food).  Hey, watch Kitchen Nightmares a few times and you might be scared straight. 

Maybe there are different classifications of overweight people:  those who go on "diets" for the short term because they just need to shed a few pounds to get into that bridal gown or that bikini (or speedo), and those who are making changes in the way they eat for the long term, as in for life (in every sense of that expression). 

There is an organization out there that says recovery from overeating cannot happen without a profound change in the way one thinks.  I choose not to think of restaurants as viable social halls.  I'll take it a step further; I choose not to believe that every special occasion has to be celebrated by eating food and I certainly don't have to eat foods offered to me by friends or family that are not on my list just because someone went to "all the trouble" of making it. 

I saw somewhere, I'm sure it must have been here somewhere on CC, that said if your friends suggest meeting at a restaurant, YOU suggest meeting at the gym or in the park for a walk. 

I know you meant this to be a fun topic but when you put something out there for public perusal you have to expect someone might respond who takes a more serious stance on obesity.  This looks harsher than I intend it.  In person, I wouldn't seem so harsh, just concerned. 

Comedians used to make jokes about drunks and overdrinking and drunk-driving.  They hardly ever do, anymore.  Everyone understands what a serious health threat alcoholism is.  It's still considered fun and funny to joke about fat people and our persistent thoughts of food and apparently how clumsy and bumbling and socially inept we are.  I guess it will be a while before we all understand what a serious health issue being overweight, even by 10 or 20 lbs., is. 

Overeating is a progressive illness.  You may not be that overweight now but if you keep saying, "We're dieting, not dead," you will one day catch a reflection of yourself in a storefront window and gasp, "OMG!  How did I let myself get so fat?"

I would love to see more gluten free restaurants in the NYC area

California Pizza Kitchen- the closest one I know of is like 4 hours away!

Trader Joe's and Pinkberry- never been to either, but want to try both!

Chipotle- I've been to one and thought it was pretty good, but there aren't any where I live

Whole Foods Market

Original Post by meganwilliams2:

California Pizza Kitchen- the closest one I know of is like 4 hours away!

Trader Joe's and Pinkberry- never been to either, but want to try both!

Chipotle- I've been to one and thought it was pretty good, but there aren't any where I live

Whole Foods Market

 

Where are you from?

I live in Columbia, SC. The closest one I know if is in Atlanta.

Original Post by vanilla_swirl:

There's so much thing that aren't available in Canada...

Fage.

PB Loco (cinnamon raisin swirl, raspberry white chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate, chocolate chip, apple and cinnamon...)

Perfect 10 Bagels (9g of fiber and 18g protein!)

Bars (Luna, Larabars, ThinkThin, Zbars, Gnu bars)

Levain Cookies (They must be good if they won over Bobby Flay's cookies)

Swiss Chalet, Domino's Pizza, T.G.I's (Their commercials are killing me!!)

Okay I'll stop here. x)

 

 I live in NB, Canada and we have a whole bunch of Swiss Chalet's and Domino's Pizza here. I prefer St.Hubert over Swiss Chalet and Pizza Hut over Domino's though. :P

I would love to have a Jack Astor's, Denny's, and The Cheesecake Factory.

Hands down, an In 'N Out Burger and a PF Changs.  We live over on the Coastside in the Bay Area of CA so it takes a good 35-45min drive for us to get to either of these establishments.  Probably a good thing, because it is close enough to go for a special treat every now and again, but far enough where it takes an effort to get there.

One guilty vice though, it always seems to be a standing rule that whenever we go on a long road trip as a family we grab lunch at an In 'N Out along the way.  At least we have given up the Double-Doubles for now!

Nathan's Famous Hot dogs....not for the dogs.. the fries are like, the best ever.

i wish i had a whole foods near me. the nearest one is like, an hour drive away.

I wish the Cheesecake Factory closest to me was not 45 minutes north lol. Also I wish the same for the Bahama Breeze( They're in the same area ). It's sad really lol. Also my favorite gourmet vegan restaurant VegiTerranean is 30 minutes north but that is probably a good thing since it is fantastic and sadly expensive lol.

Original Post by runningbuns:

trader joe's

 Me too...everytime I visit my parents in NM, I go to Tj's about a million times.

I would kill for a Whole Foods. Their deli is amazing.