Happy Birthday, LTHForum, and thank you....

So LTHForum.com is one year old this week. Congratulations to all those who have created this community--it's a truly wonderful resource.

Though my wife and I haven't been visiting this site for the whole year, we've been reading long enough to have had quite a few LTHForum-inspired meals. When I saw it was the 1-year anniversary, I started to reflect on the many great meals we've had over the past several months that we certainly wouldn't have experienced if it wasn't for your explorations and your willingness to spread the word far and wide. The more I thought, the longer the list got--dangit, we're seriously in karmic debt to you all!

So I figured my first post should thank you, the LTH community. And to give you a sense of how much we owe to listening in on your conversations, I thought I'd share with you a representative listing of where you've led us:

Avenues - I took my wife here for her birthday--the first for us as husband & wife--and this was our first true 4-star experience, from the impeccable service to the creative and delicious cuisine. While maybe not the single most delicious meal I've ever had, it was fabulous, and certainly one of my most memorable.

Spoon Thai and Sticky Rice - while each really deserves its own place on the list, I'm lumping them together because they both represent perhaps the most significant LTHForum contribution to my culinary life: the discovery of a new cuisine. Sure, I'd had Thai food before--beef or chicken with green curry, basil, or garlic, perhaps the odd bite of pad thai before I remembered it has peanuts in it--but it was nothing special, and never to be craved. Until I learned of what I now think of as "real" Thai cuisine. Now I can't get enough of Spoon's pork neck larb and incredible Thai fried chicken, or Sticky Rice's kaeng hangleh and sai ua. I've eaten more Thai food over the past several months than I'd had my entire life prior--and Lord help me, I don't think I'm going to stop.

(And special thanks to Erik M., whose Thai food web site is a truly invaluable resource.)

La Oaxaquena - our recent favorite Mexican spot--while I love their giant tortas, it's the homemade salsas and the seafood that keep us coming back. Especially the octopus. Mmmm....pulpo....

Carnitas Uruapan - I didn't even know what carnitas were before. Now I know they're porky chunks of heaven.

"Little" Three Happiness - after Hong Min burnt down, we didn't have a go-to Cantonese place in Chinatown, but that's no longer a problem. A special shout out to G Wiv, whose recommendations for specific dishes have become such a hit with us that now every order we phone in ends with the LTH guy asking, "Are you Gary's friend?"

Rudy's Taste - I like to think we'd have made it here eventually, since we only live a few blocks away, but it took reading Mike G.'s posts to spur us to action. A great neighborhood place, where we'd make it to much more often if we didn't have all these other recommendations pulling us in different directions.... I'd like to point out their seafood, as the last time I went I had a perfectly done, super-tasty grilled shrimp dish (camarones ala parillas).

Tournesol - you can take anyone here, and be pretty much guaranteed they'll love it. I mean, who doesn't like good French food?

Bistro Campagne - also very good, right up there with Tournesol.

Katsu - absolutely amazing fish here. I'd never before seen three 'levels' of yellowtail offered, but the regular hamachi, the premium, and the super-premium range from "awfully good" to "really damn good."

Jury's - a really good burger in one of the most civilized neighborhood bars I've ever been in.

Hopleaf - the mussels and frites really are everything they're cracked up to be, and their sausage plate is pretty tasty too. And the beer selection? I really, really wish this place were just around the corner from me.

Pie-Eyed Pizzeria - we were looking for good pizza in our neighborhood, and found some here. Also surprisingly good fries.

Piece - more good pizza.

Solga - while probably nothing can touch my distant memories of discovering Korean barbecue at the dearly departed San Mee, or the almost-obscene-but-actually-sublime gorging at Kang Nam's buffet when the meat was all-you-can-eat, I was certainly happy with the kalbi at Solga. And the seafood pancake was fantastic.

Taqueria Puebla - I really have to go back and have another cemita - it may just become my favorite sandwich.

Sun Wah - I think the roast duck here may have been the best duck I've ever eaten. No kidding.

Furama - our current weekend brunch favorite is dim sum at Furama (the Uptown one). Good, inexpensive, and not too crowded.

Pho 777 and Tank Noodle - when we wanted to find a good place for pho, LTHForum came through again.

I'm sure I could come up with more, but my brain's starting to hurt. Considering repeat visits and leftovers, this list surely accounts for several meals a week between my wife and me. Pretty darn good meals, at that. So thank you all again. And happy anniversary!

-PT

[note: most of the links above include addresses for the restaurants in question; below are those addresses that aren't included in the linked thread.]

Spoon Thai
4608 N Western Ave
Chicago, IL

Carnitas Uruapan
1725 W 18th St
Chicago, IL

Piece
1927 W North Ave
Chicago, IL

Now that's a first post! Welcome to LTHForum.

Really nice post, makes it all worthwhile, thanks for sharing it with everybody.

Wow! Ditto Mike and gleam. And I'd like to add, that if anyone's looking to nominate Great Neighborhood Restaurants, this list is a pretty good place to start.

Thanks for the LTH love, PT Love.

PT Love,

Heck of a first post, heck of a round up of restaurants.

I hope, now that you've broken the ice, you will post Chicago Voter Style, early and often.

Hope to get a chance to meet you at an event one of these days soon.

Enjoy,
Gary

I will chime in....very nice post. However, living just down the street from Hop Leaf, believe me, you don't want temptation that close.

BTW, kudos to Cathy2 for her roundup in the thread to which you linked. Me? I'm off to some of that Luciano's fried chicken. Me and fried chicken, well some things have not changed in this most enriching year of the LTH.


pd