the common man thing a bit, but didn’t have too much of a chance. I got a half smoke with chili and cheese, but not at Ben’s Chili Bowl as I had hoped. I also got some Peruvian rotisserie chicken at El Pollo Rico...

be an excellent starting place. Then I would consider what type of cooking I really wanted to do – if it was ethnic, I would pick one or two cuisines I really wanted to dive into and get those books. The following are good...

the yogurt by putting the pot, covered with a towel, on the end of the diving board. (By doing this, it was in the direct sun, which provided the heat needed for the yogurt culture.) On the molasses-chip cookie day, for some...

was hungry with no other way to get food, I wouldn’t worry too much about eating someone’s leftovers from a fancy restaurant that they hand directly to me. I’m sure it beats dumpster diving by far. And may I...

. Sajna has always been wildly variable. I’d never rave about them in print, 'cuz I’d soon be proved wrong as soon as they took their next dive, changed the menu, got a new chef. But this is the web, so I can hand you...

Wayne, it’s a pity you didn’t get to hit some of the local dives and temples, but now you have a good reason to return.

Jewels of Davis Street – The Olive Mountain (they have much better Seafood than Davis Street Fish Market) and the much maligned Phoenix Inn. I love the Phoenix and try to eat there a couple of times a month –...

of the dive even after raising the quality and quantity of their food and subsequently go bankrupt.” Chinese restaurant owners are businessman first, and secondarily business owners who provide food to the public. Chinese...

A post on the Boston board references a current Gourmet piece on the 50 best restaurants in the US. Wow! Could we come up with some rules on those sorts of articles/lists!? As it is, the editors concede thye eliminated "dives"...

) Westside. It’s such a huge component of our food milieu in this area, but do you think that these Michelin inspectors are going to dive into a taqueria in Sun Valley, a pho shop in Rosemead or Westminster, a kabobery in...

dive bars that maybe only the degenerates among us can appreciate. But they have Laphroaig among other good single malts, and if you like local bars, it’s a good place to check out (or at least it used ot be; as I...

the same people eating the same food all over the US in these places. Then again, i’ve eaten in a lot of Tampa’s dives, mom and pop’s, and greasy spoons and half of the time i get bad food and/or service. As...

of joints, holes in the wall, dives—mostly ethnic and mostly cheap—that result from a long tradition of immigration in larger cities. I still buy my parmesan cheese in NY and search out killer pizza in the five...

My weakness is stopping for lunch in small town Mexican food dives while on a long distance drive. I KNOW it is not a good idea and still fall for it. Sure makes the last five hours buckled and cramped in my car seat a wee bit...

for several years, especially in summer. I still go there, but it’s no longer cheap and no longer special (as it was when they were an unpretentious little dive). This is a classic example of a fabulous little place growing...