And the Search Goes On

Sometimes the things in life that we take for granted in one part of the country just is not so in other parts.  Simple things that we thought were simple we just cannot find here.  The three main ones for us are Italian food, Chinese food and Pizza.  Everyone here has their favorites, but so far we just have not found ours.  Maybe because we are from a small town in Connecticut and could find all of them within a two mile radius from our home.  Let's start with Chinese food.

We categorize this in two parts really.  A nice restaurant where you can get a nice meal.  It usually starts with the staff bringing you a pot of tea and ending with a fortune cookie.  The staff, cooks and owner of these establishments are of Asian decent, so they do know how to cook and serve the food.  Second is the take-out only places.  Again the staff, cooks and owners are of Asian decent.  See the pattern here?  Well, since we have hit the southern coast line we have not found any.  Many locals tell us they know the best place.  It just never pans out (no pun intended).  So if you know of any place from the Savannah to St. Augustine please let us know.

On to Italian food.  We really thought that this would be a no brainer.  Boy were we wrong.  It seems that everyone wants to what I call "gourmet up" the food.  Since Charleston, South Carolina I have been wanting lasagna.  Not too picky here.  It can be veggie, sausage, or just cheeses.  They either way over cook the noodles or they were almost raw.  Like crispy raw.  And the sauce, I just can't go there.  Well here in Isle of Hope I did hit the jackpot.  The only thing is it was home made by Pam on Drift Away for our Pot Luck dinner.  Bill is looking for something much simpler.  Spaghetti and Meatballs.  Usually it is the same issue.  The sauce.  He thought he finally found a place.  We went on a recommendation from a few local people.  He was so hopeful when the dipping sauce for the bread sticks was a good marinara sauce.  Out came his pasta and......no marinara....chopped, cooked tomatoes.

This brings me to pizza.  We like a thicker crust pizza.  It doesn't need to be deep dish, just not so thin that if you cut it you also cut the cardboard box.  If you go for New York style, you should still be able to hold and fold it to put in your mouth.  There is always Domino's and Papa John's to fall back on, but still not the greatest.  We came close with Marco's.  Not too bad.  Yesterday, since it wasn't great weather, Gene, Dave, Bill and I decided to try pizza.  We had seen the building the day before for Godfather Pizza.  It was an instint hit.  Just thick enough, good sauce, good crust. Dave's dogs Ruby and Chevy seemed to enjoy the crust too.

If anyone knows of any places we should try please let us know.  Our next stop in a few eeks, we hope, will be St. Augustine.