Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

My top 5:

Chicken egg rolls
Frozen Naan
All of the curry sauces are amazing
Peanut butter pretzels
Booze, especially the Hofbrau

After reading this, I need to try that pumpkin butter.

I drove 100 miles to the closest Trader Joes to me just to purchase their Blackberry Infusion tea and they NO LONGER CARRY IT!!!!!!!!!!! I could have cried. I am in love with that tea. They told me to try World Market and I found some Blackberry Sage green tea (for 3x the cost of Trader Joes teas) and it was weak and not comparable at all Could someone please tell me where I can find that luscious tea???? Many thanks!

I saw that you love panini sandwiches--I second the mall option. I don't know where it is now, since Westfield mall has eaten San Francisco Centre, but there used to be (and might still be) a great bakery on the first floor of San Francisco Centre (in the heart of downtown) that made the best chicken and pesto panini.

Burma Superstar in the Richmond District for the tea leaf salad, samusa soup, and Burmese chicken casserole......grab a cab to get there and 90 minutes should be doable. You'll spend the afternoon humming with happiness........

A new restaurant named Wexler's is opening in the Financial District the first week in June. It will be open for lunch and is featuring a refined take on barbecue. The pre-opening buzz has been really good and the chef is a San Francisco favorite - Charlie Kleinman. I am looking forward to trying it on my next trip to san francisco

I can't get enough of the offerings in the Ferry Building. Especially Hog Island Oysters (happy hour is best), Tsar Nicholai Caviar (for an informal caviar tastings and bellinis), Delica (for tasty bites and bento boxes - I love their lotus root salad!), Miette (for pastries, salted caramels and caramel panna cotta), Ciao Bella (gelato and sorbet), etc., etc. There is fantastic blog coverage of the Ferry Building on Bunrabs, here, should you be interested.

Of course, there is always The Slanted Door (at the Ferry Bldg.) or Boulevard (across the street). Also, E&O Trading Company is fun for the ambiance, and Bar Crudo is great, too - if you are near Union Square.

Cheers,

~ Paula

Thanks everyone for the recommendations! Keep them coming.

Roast suckling pig in Spain. Beautiful crispy skin, moist and tender pork flesh. To die for!

In London, go to Falafel King by the Portobello market. A beautiful falafel sandwich wiith a cup of minted lemonade for under a fiver.

Pret is good, as is the chain Eat, which does sandwiches and soups.

Also in London, try the North Sea Fish Company in Bloomsbury (near King's Cross and Holborn) which serves perfectly cooked fish and chips...crispy, not greasy, and full of flavour.

Out of the pub chains, I think All Bar One has the best food, particularly the tapas and mezze plates and the Portobello mushroom, roasted pepper and haloumi burger. Be sure to get the frites.

Speaking of frites, you may want to look up Belgo (the best one is near Covent Garden). A pot of steamed mussels and frites, with a good Belgian beer, for less than you think.

And there's always Wagamama, the ultimate noodle bar in the UK. Communal seating, great dumplings, and house-made smoothies to go with terrific noodles served every possible way.

Go to Carcassonne and eat a cassoulet. Yummmmmm.

Be glad that you have it at all, people. I moved to Florida, and THERE ARE NO TJ's here!! Bunch o' clods....

Dana828,

You have my utmost sympathy. TJ's is a two-hour drive for me. This, after living in San Diego for 18 years...and for the last five years I was there, a TJ's was within walking distance! Now in San Diego, it's a15 minutes drive between stores! Oh, how I miss it!!! My favorite food from the San Diego TJ's is the Eastern Flat Bread, a soft, thicker version of pita bread. Yum! Can't get it in St. Louis, drat! I had converted several friends to TJ's, and when one of us was planning the two-hour trip, she had to call the other four and get their list. The total was usually $800-$1000, and our story was known so well at each of the four St. Louis stores that the shopper was always asked, "Are you the designated shopper for Columbia (MO) today?" Gave the checkers a good laugh and the shopper always got a big thank you and quite often a high five! Now that I've moved 50 miles away, I'm not part of the group anymore...sob...

kateinmo