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I'm not sure of the type of restaurant, but I have a name picked out... Cranky! (look out for the chef).

get elaborate....i know we all dream...

Funding is not an issue? Then I have a really crazy idea. I would open a place called, say, "Around the World", that would contain a handful of ethnic "restaurants" under one roof (one big restaurant with several dining rooms, each dining room designed as a restaurant of its own) - Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, French, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Mexican...they would each serve their respective traditional cuisine but with some kind of a modern twist, being playful with both form and flavours. It actually took me about 30 minutes to write this because I started thinking of interior design and menus...and which chefs I would want to hire for each "restaurant"-:)...and since funding is not an issue, my first thought was, "well, I must have Morimoto for the Japanese room...at least as a consultant...and Eric Ripert for the French..." I stopped there. Now, back to planet Earth:-).

would have to be an all breakfast all the time type of place, since it is the meal of the day i am most obsessed with and can't think of anything on a breakfast menu i don't like

I had a restaurant and am pretty much over wanting to open another. What I would do if I had my druthers is have a specialty food shop. Think your favorite salumeria or someplace like Barefoot Contessa or Dean & DeLuca (on a hugely grand scale) or Gourmet Garage.

I cook wonderful stuff, sell it to people who want it, then they take it home and enjoy it. Everybody wins.

"Funding not an issue..."

Like chiff, I dreamed more of owning a top shelf kitchen store, or even of designing kitchens for gourmet cooks or wannabe's. Cook when I like, what I like and send them home with it.

I'd rather take the money and retire if it's okay by you? I'll travel the world and eat at everybody's else's restaurants. May I assume the check's in the mail?

i'd have a small lunch stand, maybe one of those downtown "line up in front of the window" places.

i'd offer a rotating menu of sorts, of things i love to cook - two or three salads, four or five main dishes, a few desserts, a few snacky/tapas type items. you could have soba stir fry with a side of taboulli and clafoutis for dessert. or balsamic honey pork with a side of braised lentils and a salad of spinash, pea pods and citrus, and blueberry pie for dessert.

even better, i'd hook up with the local CSA for the best, freshest yummiest stuff.

sigh. i'm going to sit here and keep dreaming for a few more minutes. . . .

I would have a little place (maybe two dining rooms in the front rooms of an old house) and just serve one sitting of one excellent, fresh, locally grown meal each evening. Diners would get whatever was being served, but it would be planned ahead so they could choose a night and make reservations. The help would be not so many and they would be people I came to know and trust. We would have fun doing it.

This is of course a financial impossibility but I'm dreaming big!

Oh yes, I've had these dreams for many, many years and actually came pretty close quite by accident (in fact that may have been what sparked the dreams).

I've dreamt of a veggie place focusing on healthy but incredibly yummy and homey almost from the beginning and even way before I even considered being a vegetarian because it seemed that veggies always received the short shrift in restaurants and if one wanted any that tasted good they had to be made at home. I envisioned great soups including navy bean but certainly not limited to that one not that I'm going to give them away here in case I can still make it come true. Certainly comfort foods, filling, inexpensive, and welcoming. Food that makes one want to hug themselves. Yeah, that good.

I'd also have a satellite location which would probably be a permanent food cart where one could get quick, healthy, filling, hot, yummy veggie food. This came about because the ex™ would... well, "eat up" some things I made with pure bliss on his face and one time said that people would pay good money to get their hands on stuff like that.

Nothing I've seen or heard about comes even close to what I've had in mind all these years.

I have several ideas from around the world including Thai, Mexican, and Guyanese. One, just one is stuff bell peppers. I remember bringing some in to work to share and the boss stole another one from me chomping it down when he was caught so he wouldn't have to give it back (it was my lunch!). I guess it was that good.

Some things would be just a buck or two so most everyone could afford to eat there including school kids (yes, I have great ideas for those as well).

Totally swoon food.

Also, I envisioned the food being local, and seasonal long before that was hip. I'd also have gluten-free dishes (which I'd also had in mind long before I knew about celiac disease).

But no tofu!

No mushrooms or cilantro either!

Now, given the stipulation that funding is no object in this particular fantasy then maybe I'd bring in Gordon Ramsey and Anthony Bourdain, just cause.

heh, heh, heh...

I would have a little place that served excellent fair-trade coffee during the day, wonderful microbrewed ales at night, home-cooked cafe-style food all hours, and as many musicians as could come play for cheap.

I vote for the shop instead of the restaurant. I know that I would enjoy developing recipes and menus more than actually running a place. Worked in too many to think the daily responsibility would be fun for me. But a good meat counter, excellent cheese counter, and shelves of those hard to find ingredients would be lovely.

I totally agree with Chiff0nade -- I would want a specialty foods store with a casual restaurant, like Carluccios in London. The front has fresh pastas, cured meats, wine, etc, and the back is a restaurant.

I would open a neighborhood bar specializing in humongous deli style sandwiches made on only the best local breads and rolls. No computerized kitchen ordering system, no chirpy young servers and no culinary school graduates. It would be family- run and the type of place where "regulars" would have their favorite beer on tap and their stool waiting for them. We have such a place here, and it is always packed. Just don't expect your food in 10 minutes. Sit back and enjoy debating who will win the Stanley Cup or Super Bowl and leave the rat race behind.

A coffee shop/bookstore/florist shop with no high fructose corn syrup and only real butter in the baked goods. Lunch would have a limited offering of wrapped sandwiches and sides (no nitrates in the meat!) and close for dinner so I could go home and feed my husband.