USA Restaurants

Our favorite restaurants in the US

***Happy Hour Springs Tavern and Grill, East Hampton, New York

On an overcast weekend in East Hampton late summer, we visited Springs Tavern and Grill for their delightful happy hour menu. On our first round of margaritas, three of us had the regular; one tried the frozen refreshing blood orange one, although the sweetness made it more like a dessert. With that, we shared their delectable steamed mussels ($14) with garlic, herb butter, white wine and a soupçon of cream, then topped with fries; plus the mouthwatering Mediterranean platter ($15) that included housemade hummus — a regular and herbaceous green version with basil, a little mint and garlic — plus marinated olives, pita points and grana padano. I loved that [...]

By |2025-04-14T08:00:27-04:00November 5th, 2024|Happy Hours, USA Restaurants|0 Comments
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Breakfast at Joe’s Cafe, Santa Barbara, California

We had a few hours to kill in Santa Barbara before heading to the airport for our flight home. To have enough time to catch our flight, we took the pre-sunrise Amtrak Pacific Surfliner from San Luis Obispo. We walked into town from the train station, stopping at Joe's, a friendly cafe at the bottom of State Street, where we sat outside to enjoy our last day in California. Fortunately, as train passengers, we could leave our carry-ons ($10 each) with the stationmaster, a service I didn't realize had returned since the pandemic. Joe's is a very friendly cafe with sidewalk seating. We took advantage of that as we were [...]

By |2024-11-17T06:16:00-05:00November 3rd, 2024|Bites from the Road, General Food Info, USA, USA Restaurants|2 Comments
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Shoreline Visits: Shell and Bone, The Stand and Zinc

I'm always amazed at how few restaurants are on the water in Connecticut, a coastal New England state — something I realized while writing for Yankee Travel Guide. And so, when visiting friends in Connecticut, I picked my first dining stop at Shell and Bones on the water in New Haven. Their bloody Mary cocktail is almost a meal ($19) garnished with chorizo, shrimp, bacon, cornichons and olives. I also shared their grilled Baja fish tacos (3 for $19) with cabbage pico de gallo and tomatillos. Another night, we headed to The Stand in Branford one evening for open-air dining and music. There, I indulged in their crispy fried coconut [...]

By |2024-09-13T11:09:40-04:00October 20th, 2024|Bites from the Road, USA, USA Restaurants, USA Travel|0 Comments
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The Cottage, Westport, CT

It's been almost a decade since a publicist had invited me to try Brian Lewis' innovative cuisine at The Cottage in Westport. I returned recently to share a meal with some Connecticut friends. It's a lovely small cottage, hence the name. Its ever-changing menu showcases seasonal fare — very Connecticut. The Chateau des Jacques Bourgogne, Chardonnay 2022 ($80), went well with our selections. For apps, we shared cottage-smoked meaty ribs ($25), the spicy squid with broccoli in a red chili vinaigrette ($21) and the beet and citrus-cured hamachi with pickled onions, cara cara orange and wasabi crema ($20). I couldn't miss the do-it-yourself Wagyu brisket bao buns I sampled on the [...]

By |2024-08-19T15:47:37-04:00August 25th, 2024|Bites from the Road, USA, USA Restaurants|0 Comments
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Vin Sur Vingt Wine Bar, Washington DC + Carlyle in Arlington

I was in DC for my babysitter's burial in Arlington. She was not the woman who took care of my sons, but she took care of me as an infant and stayed close to me until the end. We gathered to see her buried atop her hubby, an army colonel. The night before the service, we ended up at Vin Sur Vingt Wine Bar, where my friend was a regular. We had fabulous, attentive service. We each sipped a glass of Chateau Martinet ($18), which our server continually refilled, and shared with a  Monsieur ($21) with Paris ham, gruyère and a Parmesan bèchamel, and a salad Niçoise ($24) with fresh [...]

By |2024-06-24T13:44:06-04:00July 24th, 2024|Bites from the Road, USA, USA Restaurants, USA Travel|1 Comment
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Bistro Mediterranean Tapas Bar, Milford, CT

The third Bistro Mediterranean Tapas Bar opened recently in Milford in a restaurant with a seemingly revolving door. I experienced various iterations when I lived in the area. We stopped in before the official opening last month when I was in Connecticut, meeting a friend for lunch.  The manager served us, and we sat there for hours catching up and sipping an Antares Reserva Rioja ($36). We focused on the tapas part of the menu with two of their seafood tapas worth mentioning, the grilled calamari ($14) and grilled shrimp ($14.50). The tender squid drizzled with a bell pepper vinaigrette, the shrimp swimming in a garlicky sauce. I hope they [...]

By |2024-06-30T14:46:43-04:00June 21st, 2024|Bites from the Road, USA, USA Restaurants, USA Travel|0 Comments
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All-Day Breakfast, Charleston, South Carolina

On our sibling trip, we started our day by yakking over a meal at one of Charleston's many breakfast-all-day places. First stop, Toast! All Day, as one sibling and hubby had eaten there during their last visit. I do suggest what I had, which was a Pig Candy bloody Mary made with Dixie Black pepper vodka ($16) and topped with candied bacon and pickle okra ($16) and an omelet with biscuit and grits ($26). Big Bad Breakfast's Bloody Mary with candied bacon and pickled okra is just as good ($12). I'd also recommend their unusual huevos rancheros ($14). That's Marsh Hen Mill grits with sliced sausage black beans, and salsas topped [...]

By |2024-06-03T08:29:11-04:00May 21st, 2024|Bites from the Road, USA, USA Restaurants, USA Travel|0 Comments
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Pearlz Oyster Bar & Fleet Landing, Charleston, South Carolina

I recently returned from a visit to Charleston with my siblings and their spouses. It was the first time we've all vacationed together. What follows is the lowdown on the low country in two posts. This one covers two dinners worth describing, and the next our breakfasts, where we sat and yakked for hours. We ended up at Pearlz Oyster Bar because we couldn't agree on a dining place before we landed, and they could handle the seven of us that night. We shared southern-fried oysters — as some had only tried them raw — and added an order of corn fritters with maple butter ($6.50). The oysters came with [...]

By |2024-05-19T08:28:47-04:00May 16th, 2024|Bites from the Road, USA, USA Restaurants|0 Comments
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Jaleo, Washington, D.C. + Women’s Midlife Health Summit

The last time I ate at Jaleo in DC was at a party Jose Andres threw during a food conference in the 90s. I was again in town for a conference, this time for a Women's Midlife Health Summit, on the heels of President Biden's Executive order to allocate $12 billion to new women's health research at the National Institutes of Health; First Lady Jill Biden will lead the White House initiative. At our conference, put on by the National Menopause Foundation, where I serve on the board, we discussed the many needs of women during menopause and midlife health, which span advocacy, policy, clinical care, education and awareness. Graphic [...]

By |2024-04-21T20:42:04-04:00April 21st, 2024|Bites from the Road, USA, USA Restaurants|0 Comments
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Key West Dining: Roostica, Sloppy Joe’s, Santiago’s Bodega, Blue Heaven, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, Latitudes and La Chapina

Thanks to all the Facebook friends who responded when I requested restaurant recommendations in Key West. What follows is a sampling of the places where we did eat and dishes that I'd recommend. Across from where we stayed on Stock Island is Roostica, a friendly place filled with a crowd and a great vibe at 4 pm when we went for Happy Hour. Don't miss the hearty meatball sliders, 2 for $8. We would have returned if we had had enough time. Drinks good, too. Roostica 5620 McDonald Avenue Stock Island 305.296.4999   Walking on Duval Street, Key West's main drag, we stopped at Sloppy Joe’s Bar — Ernest Hemingway's watering [...]

By |2024-03-15T09:24:16-04:00March 15th, 2024|Bites from the Road, Happy Hours, USA, USA Restaurants, USA Travel|0 Comments
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Heritage BBQ, San Juan Capistrano, CA

Who knew that California BBQ could be so good? After my grandson's performance as King Triton in The Little Mermaid, we headed south to San Jan Capistrano to meet some friends for a BBQ at Heritage. (He, by the way, killed it!) The line to order reminded me of the line in Austin outside Franklin BBQ, although not nearly as long. People do wait for good BBQ. Heritage opened in Orange County in the summer of 2020, the first BBQ place to get approval to use the 1,000-gallon Texas-style offset barrel smokers, where food smokes in a long horizontal chamber while charcoal and smoke wood burn in a firebox attached to [...]

By |2023-12-17T09:23:49-05:00January 20th, 2024|Bites from the Road, USA, USA Restaurants, USA Travel|0 Comments
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Nashville: Fenwick’s 300, Noshville, Snooze, Nash Family Creamery and Arrington Vineyards

When served a Bloody Mary ($7) garnished with pickled okra, I knew I was in the South; that, the plate of biscuits ($5) for the table and the price. Our first breakfast at our Nashville celebration was at Fenwick's 300, a modern diner in the Melrose section. The birthday boy ordered corned beef sauerkraut hash ($13) with a poached egg topped with Hollandaise; I indulged in the Ian 3-egg omelet ($14) with turkey chorizo, jalapeño, onions and cheddar cheese, plus home fries with sides of salsa; those crispy chunks of fried potatoes made that dish. At Noshville, a diner that describes itself as a New York Deli, the griddle cake [...]

By |2023-12-13T10:02:12-05:00December 9th, 2023|Bites from the Road, USA, USA Restaurants, USA Travel|0 Comments
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Audrey, Nashville, NYC

Some friends and I were in Nashville to help mutual friends celebrate a 65th birthday and a 10th anniversary. We decided to sample some of the city's fare before the celebration commenced. Audrey in Nashville is Shaun Brock's new flagship restaurant inspired by his Appalachian roots, rural South and his maternal grandmother, the restaurant's namesake. He also stirred into the mix his love of Japanese culture. Not familiar with Appalachian cooking, we opted for the $99 per person "feast" to sample lots. Our waiter asked if there were any allergies or food restrictions they should be aware of. One friend said no red meat, the other no pork or shellfish. [...]

By |2023-10-26T21:05:19-04:00November 27th, 2023|Bites from the Road, USA, USA Restaurants, USA Travel|0 Comments
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L’Escale, Greenwich, CT

We were almost the only ones dining in L'Escale who weren't celebrating a birthday! Practically every table around us ended their meal with a sparkler and song. Brunch started with the Koesar's Bloody Marys ($16), described as "a little spice, lots of sass," and the jumbo shrimp cocktail (3 for $18) and the tender Mediterranean octopus with chorizo and Gigantes beans, shared by all. With a group of five, we sampled much of their menu. Two of us savored their lump crab cake eggs benedict with sautéed spinach ($24), one the fresh blueberry pancakes with Connecticut maple syrup ($19), one a Croque Madame ($24) with bistro ham, gruyere cheese, mornay [...]

By |2023-10-26T14:38:36-04:00November 19th, 2023|Bites from the Road, USA, USA Restaurants|0 Comments
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Eddie V’s, Nashville, TN + Trisha Yearwood with the Nashville Symphony

  We were running late for our reservation at Sixty Vines before heading to the Trisha Yearwood concert with the Nashville Symphony and kept trying to call. Their phone wasn't working. That didn't matter to the hostess. "Sorry, we gave your table for eight away. We could seat you in an hour." She didn't care that we could not reach them to say we were running late. That timing wouldn't work, as we wouldn't make our concert on time. Lucky for us, we could all be seated at Eddie V's around their bar. I started with a "cocktail with attitude." Blair, our friendly bartender, made my Smoked Old Fashioned ($20), [...]

By |2023-11-15T07:49:07-05:00November 13th, 2023|Bites from the Road, USA Restaurants, USA Travel|0 Comments
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Central Park Boathouse Dockside Pop Up, Central Park , NYC

For an iconic afternoon in Central Park, I suggest sitting dockside at the Boathouse alongside The Lake that officially opened in 1858. With views of the Manhattan skyline, row boats on the water, the trees changing color in front of you and others taking in the idyllic scenery, it’s pure bliss. Boat rentals are available — weather permitting — from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 until November 26. They offer a limited menu with all food served on disposables. The food is tasty, and the servers friendly. Lucky me, I was invited to sample their fare and tried several of their offerings. Our servers couldn’t have been friendlier, including Clay, who [...]

By |2023-11-06T19:54:20-05:00November 5th, 2023|Bites from the Road, USA Restaurants, USA Travel|0 Comments
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Long Branch, NJ Eating 2023, McLoone’s, Rooney’s and Turning Point

After Labor Day, my friend and I took a quick one-night trip to the shore. The beach was almost desolate; the weather was perfect even though they predicted rain. We packed rain gear that we only needed after we almost finished dinner. But I digress. After the morning on the beach, we shared a light bite for lunch — fish tacos ($18.94) and fries ($4.95)  at McLoone’s Pier House, along with one of the best cocktails I've had recently. Their Clockwork Orange ($16)  of Tanteo habanero tequila, Cointreau, blood orange puree and a Grean Marnier floater is the right combo of sweet and heat. I highly recommend. At dinner that [...]

By |2023-10-09T12:34:49-04:00October 18th, 2023|Bites from the Road, USA, USA Restaurants|0 Comments
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Bostwick on the Harbor, East Hampton, Long Island, NY

We arrived at Bostwick on the Harbor early to be sure we'd get right in instead of on a waiting list. We even got seated on the porch out of the sun as it began setting. We sipped our Flora Dora (Hendricks gin, club soda), Casamigo Blanc Margie and Aperol Spritz,  ($16-$17) while savoring the breathtaking view. We decided to share their delectable lightly dressed in a sherry fig vinaigrette salad ($19) with two warm goat cheese croquettes on baby arugula, sliced grape tomatoes, green apple batons, rounds of dried figs and candied pecans. I highly recommend. Then, each of us ordered Bostwick's hearty cold lobster roll on a warm [...]

By |2023-09-20T16:08:14-04:00September 21st, 2023|Bites from the Road, General Food Info, USA, USA Restaurants|0 Comments
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Caló Kitchen + Tequila, Laguna Niguel, CA

We stopped to have lunch at Caló Kitchen + Tequila restaurant before heading to Barnes & Noble for a book for my granddaughter. My daughter-in-law, granddaughter and I nibbled on their shrimp ceviche ($17) and their warm, wonderful beans and salsa with chips while the adults sipped margies. I tried their Cadillac one made with milagro blanco and Grand Marnier, asking for their spicy twist ($15), while my d-i-l had the grilled pineapple chile one ($16). Both delicious. When ordering from our well-trained waiter, Alex, I realized he knew his Mexican sauces. As a New Yorker, I was fascinated by the enchilada discussion. My d-i-l was hoping for Enchiladas Suizas, [...]

By |2023-09-20T11:48:01-04:00September 15th, 2023|Bites from the Road, General Food Info, USA Restaurants, USA Travel|0 Comments
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Driftwood Kitchen, Laguna Beach, California

For my last night before heading home, I wanted a casual restaurant with good food where my son and I could sit outside along the Pacific. My daughter-in-law suggested Driftwood Kitchen in Laguna Beach for good food on the ocean. Great suggestion, as the food, service and views are quite good. I sipped a margarita-like upside-down 42 caddy ($16) made with Cointreau, Don Julio 1942 anejo tequila and lime juice while my son tried their high tide ($16) made from Dikel 8 rye,  fresh pineapple juice, ginger, lemon sour mix and fresh mint. We sipped our cocktails as the sun set over the Pacific with a rainbow visual in the [...]

By |2026-02-27T07:05:51-05:00September 13th, 2023|Bites from the Road, USA, USA Restaurants|0 Comments
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