Don't read on an empty stomach

As promised, here is a list of my favorite restaurants. Enjoy, but just don't tell too many people about them thus they will become too popular and I'll have to wait to get in!

1. My Big Fat Greek Restaurant-Jon and I love this place. You can get a gyro for five bucks. Add a salad or fries for a few more dollars, and you've got yourself a ton of food. We can easily eat here for 20 bucks, even with an appetizer. Yummy!

2. Canton Dragon-This is a nice little neighborhood joint about ten minutes from our house. To be honest, Jon and I always have the same thing so I can't tell you everything on the menu is great (why mess with what you know is good?), but we can tell you the egg rolls, sweet and sour chicken, and moo goo gai pan is deliciouso!

3. Jade Palace-This place is actually right across the street from the Canton Dragon and a little nicer inside, but the prices also go up. I like this place just as much as the previous restaurant, but Jon is partial to Canton. Either way, this place is very good as well. The lunch prices are amazing and you get SO MUCH FOOD-soup, entree, crab puff, egg roll, and fried rice for six bucks. Not too shabby since you will definitely get two meals out of it.

4. The KEG-I have commented on this restaurant in a previous post for good reason. After having one poor experience there over a year ago, which left us with a bad taste in our mouth, we finally decided to go back...and boy were we happy. We always order the "KEG size" prime rib, 16oz of pure awesomeness, and we split it. The meat is seasoned perfectly, and it is so tender it falls apart in your mouth. It is the perfect amount of food for us. The staff is excellent and always wiling to split the plate, and we still each get a huge order of garlic mashed potatoes to boot. We have also sampled the salads (huge) and creme broulee dessert. This restaurant is a bit pricey, but you have to splurge every now and then.

5. Carols O'Briens- This is a great Mexican restaurant with a funny name for the cuisine it serves. They have wonderfully seasoned machacca beef and very reasonable prices. The flavored margaritas (half price during happy hour) are delicious, and the chips are never greasy, salsa muy bien, and the staff very accomodating. In addition, we had our rehersal dinner here and were so impressed with the way they handled our large (thirty plus people) rowdy group. Tiene hambre, muchachos?

6. Paradise Bakery- How about a fast food nod? Paradise Bakery has a great chicken walnut sandwich and it comes with a free chocolate chip cookie as well. This is a perfect stop after a day of exhausting shopping :).

7. Sweet Tomatoes- This is the best salad bar around. The caesar salad is great, in addition to the pizza (yummy dough!), chicken noodle soup, apple cobbler, brownie muffin, etc, etc, etc. Although the price keeps going up and I probably don't get my money's worth as much as some of the customers because I can't eat as much as some, this is a great place to check out.

8. California Pizza Kitchen-This place is a very trendy but always good. I have had many an appetizer, salad, pizza, and dessert, and all have been great. It's not the cheapest pizza place around, but it is definitely different and what they do good (BBQ Chicken Pizza) they do good!


9. Sandolo's at the Hyatt Regency- This Italian restaurant is truly unique. The waitors sing to you before you eat, the prices are fairly reasonable for a resort in Scottsdale, and each meal comes with a complimentary ticket to ride the gondala (think Venice, Italy) at the end of your meal.

10. Mom's Pot Roast- My mom makes a delicious crock pot cooked roast. It is so tender! Then, she has fresh made baked potatoes, corn, rich gravy, and hot rolls to accompany it. I have enjoyed this meal since I was a little girl.