We stopped at Whoo's on Thursday after we read about them here. We were disappointed. I bought a dozen and half of them are still in the box and will probably get thrown away. The flavors were enticing and they looked delicious, but the taste did not live up to our expectations. They weren't soft or tasty, just ordinary.

For the record, our favorite doughnuts are at the Holmesburg Bakery in Philadelphia.

My kids usually order some kind of chicken soup, fried rice and egg rolls. I get a spicy chicken dish. My husband probably would like a beef or pork dish. Does that help?

It's been a few years since I've been to Chinatown and I don't think any of my old favorites are still around. What is your favorite Chinatown restaurant? I'm dining with a couple of less-than-adventurous teens and we don't really eat seafood.

We visited Trevi about a week and a half ago. The menu was appealing, but the food was just "okay." We found the service to be indifferent--kind of slow, forgot to return to refill our drinks, and the whole meal took a very long time. The prices were average. It was kind of weird that the kitchen door was open and we could see the cook working. The restaurant didn't wow us enough to merit a return visit.

Thank you for your replies. I'd much rather leave cash on the table as I leave than leave a tip in a jar or on my credit card before I even get my food. I didn't know about pay scale differences in that kind of restaurant, now that I do, I understand that the tip is an expected part of the servers income in that sort of restaurant too. Thank you.

Here on the east coast, we have two kinds of restaurants--table service (where you tip the server) and counter service (where there is no server). In our travels to NM, specifically in and around Albuquerque, we've been surprised to encounter many restaurants that are a hybrid of these formats. We just don't have restaurants here where you stand at a counter to order your food, but a server brings the food to your table, checks in with you to refill drinks, etc and cleans up your table. Please tell me what is the convention for tipping in this kind of restaurant. Do you leave a tip of 15-20% like you would if the server took your order in the first place? Is there a different rate of tipping for this "intermediate" level of service? This system makes it awkward to put a tip on a credit card since you'd have to decide on the tip amount before you actually receive any service.

Please educate me.

OP here. We ended up getting shakes from Creole Creamery. Yum. We still talk about that place weeks later.

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Creole Creamery
4924 Prytania St, New Orleans, LA 70115

We like the bagels at the Whole Foods in Jenkintown best.

One more idea. We went to "The Joint" today in Bywater and I had some excellent bbq beef brisket.

How do you feel about dessert? We are in New Orleans right now (our first visit) and we've enjoyed beignets, bananas foster, snowballs and ice cream from Creole Creamery. We had some yummy Mexican food last night (chicken enchiladas), roast beef Poboy, fried chicken. I'm sure you'll find something that you love.

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Creole Creamery
4924 Prytania St, New Orleans, LA 70115

Any suggestions for a great milkshake? We are staying in Marigny if you happen to know anything close. But we'll travel for something very good.

We were recently disappointed in Fletchers' too. In addition to what elf.elf. baby said, the portions were very small and the prices were too high. I found the food greasy and bland.

We are just back from a long weekend in Williamsburg and wanted to share reviews of the restaurants that we visited. We made most of our choices based on recommendations from this board. I should say that each one of these restaurants was a much better value than we usually get when eating out on vacation. The prices were very reasonable.

Five Forks Diner--Very friendly service, classic diner atmosphere. The menu was a bit limited but we liked everything we tried for dinner, including Chicken and Dumplings, Chicken Fingers, Roast Turkey and a Hamburger platter.

The Cheese Shop--Yum. It was a gorgeous day to eat outside and the outdoor atmosphere is charming. Indoors was another matter. It was a very busy Saturday and the sandwich counter area was bedlam. There is not enough space indoors to have an orderly system of ordering or waiting for sandwiches. Between waiting to order our food and waiting to pick up the food, we spent nearly an hour at the store before we ate a thing. That said, the sandwiches (tuna salad, chicken salad, egg salad and pastrami) were very good. I'd love to try more. I would just make sure to go at a "off" time.

Pierce's Pitt BBQ--Okay, this place is NOT about atmosphere, it looks and operates like a fast food restaurant. That said, we sure enjoyed getting our food quickly and it was very very good. I would definitely go back there for pulled pork. The hush puppies were the best I've ever had and even the fries were pretty good. The kids meal ribs were a bit spicy for a kids meal, so avoid that unless your kid is used to spicy food.

Chickahominy Inn--Eating here, I felt like I was a character in a classic movie about the American South like Steel Magnolias or Driving Miss Daisy. Everyone in the restaurant and store seemed to already know each other. The service was exceptionally friendly and accommodating. We enjoyed the ham and biscuits and Brunswick stew (chicken soup was a bit bland) and sweet tea. The portion sizes are smaller than we are used to, but that just leaves room for pie. We tried three different kinds of pie and each one was perfect.

La Tolteca--Friendly service, huge menu, reasonable prices. Big margaritas. It wasn't the best Mexican food I ever had, but it was perfectly fine.

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Five Forks Cafe
4456 John Tyler Hwy, Williamsburg, VA 23185

I guess I am totally out of it, but whatever happened to The Book and The Cook Fair in Philadelphia? I can't find any mention of it in 2010. Has it been gone for a while?

Is McNally's an eat-in restaurant? The website only has a take-out menu. Would it be a nice place for two women to eat and also visit for an hour or so?

I am meeting a friend for lunch in Chestnut Hill on Monday. What restaurant would you recommend for two lunching ladies? Ideally we'd like to be in walking distance to the Borders store. I think any kind of food is fine, as long as the establishment would tolerate us sitting and chatting for an hour or so.

Thank you.
drcmk

Deb,
Little Red Hamburger Hut is on Mountain. Near Old Town.

http://littleredsburgers.tripod.com/

We just returned from our first visit to New Mexico. I researched restaurants on this board so now I will report back on the places we visited. We tried to eat at places that local people eat at on a a weekly basis, not fancy places. I was surprised at how many restaurants required you to order your food at the counter instead of having waitress service. That is different for us (we are from the East Coast). It was also new for us that so many restaurants have a bottle of honey on the table where we are used to a bottle of ketchup.

Flying Star Cafe: On our first visit here, we weren't very adventurous and got sandwiches. It was okay. But on our second visit we got the enchilada stack and corn pudding with carne almovada. Yum, yum, yum. I'd love to go back there. Fun, casual atmosphere, too.

Route 66 Diner: Very cute decor, but we didn't think the food was anything special. I wouldn't go out of my way to return. Maybe we should have just gone for coffee and dessert. We weren't hungry enough to try dessert.

Frontier Restaurant: One of our favorites! The food was delicious and SO reasonable. I wish we could have eaten there more than once and tried more of the menu. We had a bean and cheese burrito, carne almovada and huevos rancheros.

Church Street Cafe: Great food and a fun atmosphere. The server was so friendly and helpful. Portions were very large.

Dion's PIzza: I think if I did move away from the East Coast, pizza is what I would miss most. We didn't think that Dion's compares to what we get at home. But we didn't come to New Mexico for the pizza.

Monte Carlo Steakhouse: Interesting ambiance. I'm not a steak person and my salad was fine. The rest of my family thought that their steaks were very good.

Little Red Hamburger Hut: This place would definitely warrant a return visit. The burgers were fabulous. I'd heard that the fries were not that good, but I disagree. They seemed homemade and very good. What a friendly staff, too. Gotta love free drink refills.

LIttle Anita's: We only got to eat breakfast here. We tried to go to dinner at 8:00 on Friday night, but they were already closed for the night! Breakfast was very, very good. The sopapillas are wonderful, as was my breakfast burrito.

Burt's Burger Bowl: In Santa Fe--also a winner. We liked the burgers very much. This was the only place we ate in Santa Fe other than grabbing some chocolate at Todos Santos.

Krispy Kreme were the only doughnuts I would eat and i was sad when they left Philadelphia, too-----Until I found the Holmesburg Bakery. It is on Frankford Avenue, near Rhawn. And the powdered cream filled doughnuts are better than Krispy Kreme.

Thank you so much for the information. I am getting very excited about our upcoming trip now.

I'm interested in restaurants that are unique, yummy and interesting but also welcoming to children. The restaurant must have some kind of kids menu so that chicken fingers and mac and cheese are available as a last resort, but also have interesting food for adults. Any recommendations?

We've invited friends over after dinner for sangria and . . . dessert? Does any dessert go well with sangria? Maybe just fruit?

http://www.kginn.com/

The King George II Inn in Bristol. Food is very good, romantic view of the Delaware River. Building dates to 1681.

I just ran across this old post but I have the same question. I am taking a Girl Scout troop to Great Wolf Lodge in June. I hear the food at the hotel is abominable. Where can a group of about 15 eat nearby? We'll need breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Thank you!

Help! We are meeting friends for lunch and the Star Wars exhibit at the Franklin Institute today. I only just learned that our plans will be severely hampered by the St. Patrick's Day parade. We are going to have to find a restaurant close to an expressway exit (convenient for my friends--they are coming from Central PA) in University City or South Philadelphia since I can't predict what traffic or restaurants closer to the parade route will be like. Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help. I didn't measure the cake flour but added enough until the dough "felt right." The cookies came out just fine.

I love horseradish in my deviled eggs. I'm making some for our Christmas eve spread tomorrow.

I used up all of my all-purpose flour today, but I have a box of "cake flour." Do you think I could substitute cake flour for all-purpose flour in my gingerbread and oatmeal cookie recipes? It would be better for Christmas harmony if I didn't have to send my husband to the supermarket for flour tomorrow!

Thank you!

I've made whipped cream the night before without any problem. You might have to whip it up by hand for a few seconds, but it comes right back to the same texture and tastes fine. We eat leftover whipped cream for a few days after I make it.

Ben and Jerry have a Kahlua Amaretto Ice Cream that I have made to rave reviews.

You have to make their sweet cream base and add 1/4 cup Amaretto and 1/4 cup Kahlua then freeze in your ice cream maker.