ON THE ROAD

[Michael_ Gee]

In Re: Jacksonville
Anyone going to the Super Bowl who finds time to hit the beach, stop first at the Beach Hut on 3rd in Jax Beach for a great breakfast.
Also, the best Italian food in area is Giovanni's on Beach Boulevard in same town.
Most of Jacksonville's restaurants that aren't chains are relatively small places. So I hope the good people of the host committee have blocked out some reservations around town for scribes.

 

[Cadet]

I wish to clarify the Chicago pizza "guide" offered up by NUkid...who it looks like has never been further than walking/el distance of NU.

Downtown: if you're a visitor, there's no better place than Giordano's. Classic deep dish, good beer, good atmosphere and plenty of locations.

Evanston: screw Carmen's all-you-can-eat-flatbread and hit Gino's East, which is a short distance from the NU athletic complex

Suburbs: can't go wrong with Lou Malnatti's, except in

Arlington Heights: Nino's, baby. It's all about the family pizzaria.

***
Some of you college hoops writers may find yourself in southern New Mexico when a certain famous basketball coach kicks it (most likely sooner than later - sorry, Lou). Have a meal at La Posta, and don't shut yourself off from appetizers (guacamole) or dessert (sopapillas). It's a meal you will tell your grandchildren about.

***
Finally, I'll be in Salt Lake City in a few weeks. Can someone offer up a place to get a real drink and things to do that do not involve mormons or mormon history?

 

[Redswriter]

Downtown: if you're a visitor, there's no better place than Giordano's. Classic deep dish, good beer, good atmosphere and plenty of locations.

Good call. Been to a lot of the Chicago pizza haunts and Giordano's is consistently the best.

Speaking of Italian, I like Leona's for a casual place. The one on Belmont is the one I've been to most frequently.

 

[Cadet]

Speaking of Italian, I like Leona's for a casual place. The one on Belmont is the one I've been to most frequently.

Leona's is awesome, but it's had some hard times lately. The location in Wheeling closed down, and it suffered some damage to a Chicago location with the Ford City Mall explosion.

 

[There's A Gleam]

***
Finally, I'll be in Salt Lake City in a few weeks. Can someone offer up a place to get a real drink and things to do that do not involve mormons or mormon history?

There are worse places to be than SLC. No. Really.
For one thing, obviously, great skiing. Don't know how long you will be there or what your schedule is, but if you have an off day, or even several hours off before heading to a night game and don't have a shootaround to attend, head to the hills.
For another, head to Nevada. That should be self-explanatory. It's about 2 1/2 hours to Wendover, if I recall, and nothing at all to see on the drive. But cross the state line, and you can find 21 easier than on SportsJournalists.com.
If you don't have the time/means to leave town, it isn't tough to find liquid entertainment. You just have to be willing to pay a few bucks to buy a temporary membership to a "club." It's not any kind of exclusive club, just the way things are run there so the city can feel like it has drinking behind closed doors. In reality, there are a lot of pubs and local-brew places right downtown that serve food as well. Squatters's and Red Rock are good.
A couple dinner places: Baci (good Italian) and Market Street Grill (good variety on the menu).

 

[rickschu]

Atlanta's a wonderful eating town, and I strongly recommend Mizzou's suggestion, Buckhead Diner. For some great breakfast, check out Crescent Moon in Decatur, the Flying Biscuit in Candler Park or one of my favorite all-time anytime restaurants, Murphy's, in Virginia Highlands. Quality pizza and calzones: Mellow Mushroom. Steak: The consensus says Bone's or Chop's, but for my money I go to McKendrick's, near Perimeter. Can never go wrong hitting the Brickstore Pub in Decatur, which has more varieties of beer than you'll know what to do with.

 

[funky_mountain]

cadet, here's a thread on things to do/places to eat in utah

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/forums/2/;action=display;threadid=8427;start=0

head to park city if you have a car and the time. there are good places to hear/see music in both towns. harry o's in park city. zephyr club in salt lake used to be cool, but i hear it's closed now.

for dinner, i second market street grill and/or market street oyster bar. one of them is a club and requires a small fee to join.

i had a couple of nice dinners and a few drinks at bambara at the hotel monaco.
http://www.bambara-slc.com/?

 

[funky_mountain]

also, if you're ever in hilton head, eat at the old oyster factory and the crazy crab. the crazy crab is more laid back and not as expensive. they have better hush puppies at the crazy crab, but overall, i like the food at the old oyster factory a little more.

 

[MMSW]

Anybody have any advice on sites, eating, and lodging in Lancaster PA?

 

[HejiraHenry]

Don't.

Sorry.

 

[markvid]

Anybody have any advice on sites, eating, and lodging in Lancaster PA?

Oh, boy...you can eat yourself silly there...there is one place where basically you share a table with 10 strangers and they pass plates of food around...just fantastic food. It's called Good N' Plenty. There are a lot of Amish stores, too to get fantastic baked goods. And try the birch beer, you'll never drink root beer from anywhere else again.
Also, for sightseeing, take an Amish farm tour, and try the railroad museum that's there. It's got an incredible collection indoors.

 

[shotglass]

Anybody have any advice on sites, eating, and lodging in Lancaster PA?

Oh, I'm all over that too, MMS.

Take Route 30 East away from Lancaster, toward Amish country. About five miles out of town, past the outlets, is a place called Miller's Smorgasbord. You'll eat yourself silly. Everything homemade. Unreal.

Quality Mexican ... down on Route 462, El Serrano. First-class cuisine.

Have not eaten here yet myself, but hear only good things about the Symposium, also on 462. Greek, Pizza, pasta. Great menu.

Right near the outlets on Route 30 is a good Chinese buffet which includes a Mongolian grill -- King Buffet.

If you're there over a weekend and don't go to Palm Court Sunday Brunch in Willow Valley Resort, about 10 miles south of town on Route 222, you've missed an experience you'll never forget.

And here's a link you can check out, has a lot of the menus and stuff ... http://www.centralpa.org/2bguide.html

There's a well above-average mall in Lancaster you'll want to check out, Park City Mall. It has eight "arms" running out from a common center area; each "arm" has 20-25 stores.

 

[Ace]

Geez, those amish must do a lot of belching and shopping.

 

[shotglass]

A relatively uncovered gem for dining and shopping, Lancaster is.

 

[cranberry]

Anybody have any advice on sites, eating, and lodging in Lancaster PA?

Oh, I'm all over that too, MMS.

Take Route 30 East away from Lancaster, toward Amish country. About five miles out of town, past the outlets, is a place called Miller's Smorgasbord. You'll eat yourself silly. Everything homemade. Unreal.

Quality Mexican ... down on Route 462, El Serrano. First-class cuisine.

Have not eaten here yet myself, but hear only good things about the Symposium, also on 462. Greek, Pizza, pasta. Great menu.

Right near the outlets on Route 30 is a good Chinese buffet which includes a Mongolian grill -- King Buffet.

If you're there over a weekend and don't go to Palm Court Sunday Brunch in Willow Valley Resort, about 10 miles south of town on Route 222, you've missed an experience you'll never forget.

And here's a link you can check out, has a lot of the menus and stuff ... http://www.centralpa.org/2bguide.html

There's a well above-average mall in Lancaster you'll want to check out, Park City Mall. It has eight "arms" running out from a common center area; each "arm" has 20-25 stores.

I could have used the info on Miller's Smorgasbord this summer when I took the family on a Hershey-Lancaster-Philly roadtrip. I think I stayed at a Sheraton in Harrisburg because there weren't any Westins and I wanted my Starpoints. Great outlet shopping in Lancaster, too.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Anyone have any suggestions for -- gulp -- Wichita? I'm headed there in the near future.

Just remember that the train don't run out of Wichita unless you're a pig or cattle. People train runs out of Stubbville.


Addendum to the Waco reference from a few pages back:

No stop in Waco is complete without a visit to George's Bar. It's about a block off of I-35 on the west side of the highway.

Great food, cheap beer and features quite a bit of Baylor eye candy on most nights.

 

[NUkid]

Don't have any suggestions for wichita ... but if you're ever in Boca Raton, check out Sonny's Gelato Cafe on Federal Highway. I recommend a half coffee, half chocolate combo.

But stay out of the BR Community Hospital. The ice cream there sucks.

 

[DisembodiedOwlHead]

I can make recommendations on restaurants, establishments, entertainment in Indianapolis for anybody headed to the combine or the basketball tournaments after the weather thaws a bit ... just PM.

 

[HoopsMcCann]

anybody got some tampa advicce?

 

[funky_mountain]

hoops - there's a couple of good steakhouses in tampa. ybor city is worth checking out, too - cuban food, cigars and nightlife.

i've been to sam seltzer's steakhouse on dale mabry highway. there's a spanish restaurant in ybor city called columbia.