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<p>In an <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/food/2007/04/writerrocker_darcey_steinke_en.html" target="blank">article recounting a week's meals</a>, Darcey Steinke mentions smoked trout. I'm instantly transported to Atlanta, 1996-ish, Cafe Diem, smoked trout sandwich. I'm reminded of other favorite meals of various times and places, some still available if ever I chance to visit, some gone with the wind.</p>
<p><strong>Starkville, Mississippi, 1986-1990</strong><br>
I used to say that Starkville had more good restaurants per capita than any other place I'd ever been. It was a good place to acquire "the freshman fifteen" (although, thanks to mono and strep throat, my college weight gain was delayed for a year).
<ul><li>Jalape&ntilde;o fried cheese, The District Cafe (RIP): I cannot describe the beauty and goodness of this fried cheese. I think they used tempura batter; it was golden, light, and crispy. The cheese was pepper jack. I can't even remember any of the entrees served at the District. When I think of this place, a favorite happy hour hang-out, "jap cheese" and 90-cent draft beer obliterate all other food memories. </li>
<li>The Bulldog, <a href="http://www.eatwithus.com/food/bullfood/sigsand.html" target="blank">Bulldog Deli</a>: "Tender roast beef, kielbasa, spicy jalapeno pepper cheese, our own BBQ sauce with your choice of toppings." Thinking about the delicious interplay of the jalape&ntilde;o cheese and BBQ sauce makes my mouth water.</li>
<li>Shrimp po-boy and potato salad (with onions), <a href="http://www.obys.net/" target="blank">Oby's</a>: Oby's had two kinds of potato salad, with onions or without. The non-onion version was your standard Southern yellow mustard clumpy style. The onion version was something else altogether: chunks of potato and slivers of red onion suspended in a light sour cream (I think) dressing. I could easily have skipped the po-boy and eaten a plate full of the potato salad on its own.</li>
<li>Pulled pork plate, <a href="http://www.thelittledooey.com/" target="blank">The Little Dooey</a>: The only baked beans I've ever enjoyed&mdash;probably because they come laced with stringy pieces of pork. So good. Custom mixing the variously heated sauces adds to the pleasure of the meal.</li></ul></p>
<p><strong>Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1990-1993</strong><br>
Everything that Starkville was, food-wise, Tuscaloosa was not, but you could get decent "greasy spoon" (and other cheap) food there, to wit:
<ul><li>Starvin' Marvin with tots, Kwik-Snak (RIP): Kwik-Snak was a 24-hour joint, the late-night refuge of drinkers from "the Strip," where frat boys and freaks mixed uneasily. The Starvin' Marvin was a cheeseburger; that you could get it with tater tots is what made Kwik Snak so special. They also served a decent breakfast.</li>
<li>House fried rice, Chang's (RIP): Three servings of fried rice with chicken, beef, shrimp, and a few vegetables, for $5. I was in grad school. Need I say more?</li>
<li>Vegetable plate, City Cafe: Standard meat-and-three fare. I generally chose to forgo the meat. After 2pm, the vegetable plate cost under $3.</ul></p>
<p><strong>Atlanta, Georgia, 1994-1998</strong><br>
Salad days. I couldn't afford to eat out, but I did it anyway. Often. Fortunately, there was much good eating to be had on the cheap.
<ul><li>Smoked trout sandwich, Cafe Diem (RIP): This sandwich came with some kind of aioli that was like crack to me. Cafe Diem had the best of most worlds&mdash;food, coffee, wine & beer, and all in a great room (with a nice patio to boot). Its only flaw: not cheap. I could, and often did, sit there for hours, both alone and with friends. Good times.</li>
<li>Slice of pizza and a salad, Fellini's Pizza: The Candler Park location was my "local" the last two years I lived in Atlanta. That I could walk there in two minutes was perhaps unfortunate for my waistline. I loved it when they'd open up the garage door&mdash;the building was a remodeled gas station&mdash;so that you could be simultaneously inside and out (sort of).</li>
<li>Paella and sangria, La Fonda Latina: The Candler Park location was just across the street from Fellini's. La Fonda was a little more expensive than Fellini's, so less of a temptation. James was hooked after eating there once, so we've eaten there on each of our too-infrequent visits to Atlanta together.</li>
<li>Egg-Ceptional eggs, <a href="http://www.flyingbiscuit.com/" target="blank">The Flying Biscuit</a>: After I moved to Candler Park, I probably spent more of the money I should have saved at The Flying Biscuit than anywhere else. I just couldn't resist going there for breakfast. I most often got the more straightforward Eggstra-Ordinary breakfast (choice of grits or potatoes&mdash;I always got both); the Egg-Ceptional, with yummy black bean "love cakes" and tomatillo salsa, was a special treat. </li>
<li>Blue 'shroom burger, <a href="http://www.thevortexbarandgrill.com/TheVortex/index.htm" target="blank">The Vortex</a>: Blue cheese and saut&eacute;ed mushrooms on top of a giant slab of hamburger. What's not to love? Because of the cost&mdash;to health and bank account (because it took many beers to wash down one of those burgers)&mdash;the Vortex was a rare indulgence. I enjoyed the midtown location more than the "new" (ten years ago) location in Little Five Points. It amused me that the "no smoking" section was on the upper level and open to the lower, smoking, level. I'm sure it's all "no smoking" now.</li></ul></p>
<p><strong>Nashville, Tennessee, 1998-2003</strong><br>
Eating out in Nashville was kind of sad after Atlanta's bounty, but there was some good stuff there.
<ul><li>Caldo de camar&oacute;n, <a href="http://www.lahaciendainc.com/" target="blank">La Hacienda</a>: Good, cheap Mexican food. Alas, the shrimp soup wasn't on the menu when I ate there in May.</li>
<li>Stir-fried squid, Koto: Squid, cabbage, and red pepper, perfectly saut&eacute;ed&mdash;the squid not chewy, the cabbage not mushy. Delicious.</li></ul></p>
<p><strong>Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 2003-2005</strong><br>
Not much better the second time around, with a couple of notable exceptions.
<ul><li>Ghobi manchurian, <a href="http://www.maharaja-of-india.net/" target="blank">Maharaja of India</a>: Fried cauliflower in a red-pepper gravy. Yum.</li>
<li>Half price pizza and wine, Cafe Venice: Any pizza, any wine, every Wednesday.</li></ul></p>
<p>While there are restaurants that I enjoy here in Salt Lake, so far they haven't offered up any meals that I would add to "meals I miss" were we to move tomorrow. The food here is just too bland. Even typically spicy ethnic foods are toned down to boring. We've found one exception in Chanon Thai Cafe, where the curry or tom ka will easily set your mouth aflame. </p>