My "food paradise" is the Rue Cler market in Paris!

PM, I have to see if I can get the Travel Channel on our "sling" TV. We dumped satellite, cable is not available here, and so now we have NetFlix, our Roku box and Sling TV for $29.99 a month.....

My food paradise is my garden, although Detroit's Eastern Market is second place. Too bad I have to go to Detroit to get there. Elery laughs at me, he loves to travel and I think 5 hours is too long a drive, LOL.

Annie

Anglophilia, I've never been to Paris or anywhere in France, but according to a friend they have THE best bread anywhere. I'd challenge with seed-encrusted rolls I had in Germany. :)

Annie, I hope you can get it -- I suspect Elery would really like the show too based on what I've seen so far. I've seen lots of emphasis on great BBQ (in the traditional southern ways) and unusual food and sauce ingredient combinations -- almost always with some *kick* from something hot and spicy. Occasionally they'll claim that a "secret ingredient" is what makes a food so incredible, but generally they show and describe dishes being made.... great ideas!!!!

AnnieB., the Eastern Market is barely under 2 hrs. from me, but I also dread the long drive there - especially unarmed.

In regards to TLC's Food Paradise, to me, the show is similar to DDD with Guy Fieri . . . minus the 'Guy.'

The show has featured quite a few Mi. restaurants in the past, though. Including one in Birch Run, years ago (can't remember its name, but will never forget their [world's biggest] BLT).

And, at the risk of losing my "Bacon of the Month Club" membership card, in good conscience, can't recommend it.

That's not to say the show never stumbles onto some gems. But, it almost always features meat, lots of it. I have no beef with that.

My beef, however, is the show has been on for almost ten years, and while entertaining, I'm hoping for new shows and less reruns in 2017.

Sol

Ignorance is bliss. lol! I had no idea the show has been on for 10 years! I don't watch much TV, unless it's for a movie or mystery. Don't know what DDD is, or who Guy Fieri is, and am not a card-carrying member of the 'Bacon of the Month Club'. :) OTOH, re them featuring meat, in the couple shows that I saw, I felt that what they *really* featured was fried foods and cheese!!!

We're having BBQ bacon cheeseburgers and onion rings for dinner tonight because of this show. I don't even really
care for BBQ sauce, except on Lil' Smokies, but I saw them on Food
Paradise last weekend and absolutely *must* have one! lol

I foundthis restaurant map, for restaurants in Los Angeles on that show - they are all pretty mediocre IMO and too many feature hamburgers/hot dogs, but are quite trendy/popular without having great food. I've also seen several of these restaurants on Huell Howser's shows on PBS, notably California's Gold, which may not be shown outside of California. The restaurants in L.A. that are on DDD are a bit better than these, but I am not a fan of diners or dives in general, but I do want to visit Beer Belly in Koreatown for their Korean style duck - it was featured on DDD. Guelaguetza is an exception in that it is a very good Oaxacan restaurant, and I do normally like Oaxacan food, compared to other Mexican.

Food Paradise for me is probably New Orleans, but I'm very fond of Yucatan.

Sol, I've seen quite a few restaurants featured on DDD that I've wanted to try - but the best of them seem to be in places other than Los Angeles. If their main features are hamburgers and hot dogs, I won't be very interested, however. If they feature fish, fried chicken, or fish & chips, or just fried food in general, then I will be more interested. The Beer Belly restaurant is on my list of must-try, partly because they have Duck Fat Fries, which is potatoes fried in duck fat. They also have fried catfish and fried chicken. I don't get to Koreatown that often, even though it is not that far.

Canter's Deli (on the Food Paradise list) is not bad, but everything is extremely salty, especially the matzoh ball soup. In general, I do not have much interest in getting a sandwich when I eat out, as I eat out very seldom and I make a lot of sandwiches at home.

Sol, that Birch Run restaurant would be Tony's, I think. The place where a BLT has a pound of bacon. Yeah, really, an actual pound. I've been to Birch Run twice but have not even been able to get into the parking lot of the place, go figure.

OK, so I'm not going to Eastern Market because I don't have a gun. I'll stick with Horrock's, although I don't go there often now that Elery and I actually live together. (grin)

I found "Food Paradise" on one of our channels, or Elery found it for me. It appears that Season 8 only has six episodes. I saw the Minnesota State Fair episode, where they had "hot dish on a stick" with cream of mushroom dipping sauce. I'm not quite sure what to think, LOL.

Annie

Sorry about that, Annie. lol! I saw an episode about the top sandwiches and they were showing some incredible-looking food combinations and interesting sauces/condiments. And then I saw the episode on top diners............ mostly NOT your average diner food, though some places were clearly chosen for their "atmosphere". It's all eye-candy to me. We have a classic old diner in the area that's been in business forever -- it's a real railroad car and I fully expected to see it in the diner episode. lol!

We also have a wonderful old diner, Rosie's Diner, in Rockford, Michigan. It was the one used in the paper towel commercial, the "quicker picker upper" one, with Rosie, hence the name. Lpinkmountain and I went there for breakfast one time when we got together.

Unfortunately, it's closed now. I'm wishing someone would buy it and open it back up, the last owners horribly mismanaged it and the food became terrible.

Maybe I'll go look for the "Diner" episode, gotta be better than "hot dish on a stick", LOL.

Annie

Rosie's Diner was in that episode! and it's CLOSED?!?! They said it was so popular that the owner of Rosie's opened other diners!

I've never eaten a 'hot dish on a stick', but if it's State Fair stick food it was probably things like heavily-battered deep-fried pickles, butter, and oreo cookies (individually, not together!)... not appealing to me. lol! You'd probably enjoy seeing Rosie's in that show, if you can find it. I especially enjoyed the sandwiches show.... One place north of Boston allegedly serves the best lobster rolls and I actually checked to see how far it is from my sister's house. lol!

About these places not really having good food, I'd guess it's a mixture of everything... comparing it only to other places they've been, being drawn in by the atmosphere, popularity based on absurdity, etc. -- even including how the place might film. And it depends on what you have to eat!!! We have a little breakfast diner here that's also open on Friday nights for 'fish fry' and other things. Their food on Friday night is always great!!! I tried it for breakfast and it was probably the worst diner breakfast food I've ever eaten in my life!!!!!! go figure. :p

Lars, the restaurant Beer Belly's 'Death by Duck' is not covered by my insurance, but what a way to go ☺ (I saved their menu, in case I end up in your sunny part of the country).

I'll admit, so far, Jim and I have been to four diners featured on D.D.D., while traveling with the kids (No need to go into details of those experiences).

The only thing I will say, it's getting more difficult to keep an open mind, with my lizard-brain reproaching me at every stop.

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AnnieB., we almost tried Rosie's once, during one of our weekend drives, but veered in a different direction altogether. Qué sera, sera.

I understand about Birch Run. Being only minutes away from touristy Frankenmuth, finding a place to park, will always be frustrating, whether on weekends, or weekdays.

But we go there, once in the summer, and again in winter. Bronner's is our first stop, which gets us into the holiday spirit. And it's no secret I'm a kid at Christmas.

Then, we head over to Zehnder's for their 'famous' dinners. This is where I will quote Lars: "mediocre" at best (okay, I still like their cranberry relish and buttered noodles), but it's one of those things that clandestinely became a tradition.

Sol

Sol, I had the "world famous" chicken at Zehnder's, very highly advertised. I was not impressed, it was OK, but not amazing, although the kids very much liked the "family style dining" that let them pig out on dinner rolls.

I have gone to ONE restaurant that was on DDD. That was Joe's Gizzard City. When Elery and I got married, we had tickets to go to South Padre Island later that year, so we agreed that that trip would be our "honeymoon", and so I took a week off work and just hung out at Elery's. He asked where I wanted to go and I told him "Joe's Gizzard City". When he asked why, I told him that for the rest of my life, if someone asked where we went on our honeymoon I could blithely say "Joe's Gizzard City". I do, too!

Yes, PM, Rosie's is closed. When they closed up they stiffed the staff a couple of months pay and closed with no advance notice. It's sitting empty now, waiting for a buyer. Ashley used to love the place, the only place she ever found that had a fried bologna sandwich. I liked their cobblestone bread...

Annie

Annie, I first learned about Joe's Gizzard City from my dear MIL. She raved about it.

And Zehnder's world famous chicken dinner is like a regular chicken dinner, only bland and depressing ☺

Sol

So I looked up the place that I'd been to and it turns out they weren't actually on one of those shows after all! The friend who took me there had said so, but maybe she really meant it was the kind of place that's featured. The food was pretty good for the price. There used to be fabulous diners around here. Now they're all uffty puffty places or have been made into offices. Sigh.

Well, Rosie's Diner used to be popular but that was maybe in the 90's so the outdated information was probably due to a re-run. Good diners are getting harder and harder to find, the restaurant business is brutal to make profitable and also good tasting. There are two in my home town and the food is horrible and the sanitation and maintenance in both places has seen better days. One outside of town near a tourist area is quite good though. These days the best diner food comes out of my own kitchen. I have discovered that given the right tools and inspiration, SO is a fantastic short order cook!