A Program Developer's Take on Things (pg 1 of 5)

Disclaimer: Former BER program developer, Sandy Anderson, has kindly provided her list of favorite restaurants around the country and the following descriptions are verbatim from her notes with the addition of formatting and hyperlinks by myself. Enjoy!

Sandy's Restaurant Reviews - Updated Version for Fall 2000

I always enjoy the opportunity to try out innovative, fresh cooking (or maybe decadent, wonderful cooking). So I thought I'd pass along some of my favorites - if you have favorites, I hope you'll let me know, and I'll add to the list.

Albuquerque (Santa Fe), NM

My favorite is the Coyote Cafe (map) in Santa Fe - incredible southwestern food and well worth a trip to Santa Fe. They also sell some of the spices and sauces in their gift shop.

Alexandria, VA

Try Le Gaulois (map) for great country French cooking. It's in Old Town on King Street - great fireplace for a cold winter day.

Anaheim, CA

If you're int he mood for Italian, consider Pavia in the Anaheim Hilton (map). The prawns were incredible. Tutto Mare (map) in Newport Beach offers upscale contemporary dining at reasonable prices. They always feature a wide assortment of fresh seafood and shellfish. You can eat to your heart's content and then shop until your plastic melts at Fashion Island (map) right next door. The sushi restaurant at the Disneyland Hotel (map) has excellent sashimi and roll assortments created by a talented crew from the Land of the Rising Sun using only the freshest ingredients. Try the Ahi roll or California Roll - they're outstanding.

Atlanta, GA

Buckhead has a number of restaurants that are outstanding, but one of my favorites is Cafe Tutu Tango (map), which serves incredible tapas. They also have one in Orlando.

Boston, MA

If you like seafood, try Legal Sea Foods (map). There are several of them in the Boston area.

Chicago, IL

The list is unending, but some of my favorites are Cafe Spiaggia (map) near the Drake Hotel (map) serving Italian, the Cape Cod Room in the Drake Hotel with incredible seafood soups and chowders, Prairie in the Hyatt on Printers Row (map) where I had a portabello salad, and Cafe La Cave (map) near the airport for wonderful seafood and/or Italian food. A new favorite is Maggiano's (map) for Italian food - the portions are oversized so plan on sharing or eating a lot - there are multiple locations, including downtown, Oak Brook, Schaumberg, and Arlington Heights.