Once again, I have found myself in one the booth based high tops in Friday’s cocktail lounge. Of course, over some time, Friday’s has become an increasingly favorite venue to patron and sense of comfort. Aha! In the realm of food and beverage, this begs the questions: what is so interestingly attractive about this establishment and others that are found as such that keeps patrons coming back, time and time again? What are the common qualities do these places possess? What are those “IT” factors?

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Nestled between P. F. Chang’s and The Cheesecake Factory lies McCormick and Schmick's Seafood Restaurant, with its signature facade of gold lettering on forest green awning and terrace-like outdoor seating. The Millenia/ Orlando location is currently one of the only four located in the state of Florida.

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   What happened on this visit to Friday’s was something that nobody expected and absolutely uncalled for.
    “Boom!” The noise jolted me from my preoccupied activity as well as getting the attention of everybody else hanging out in the cocktail lounge of the local Friday’s I frequented with my friends. Who says soap operas were reserved for daytime television? The drama unfolded in a matter of minutes and my friends and I had front row seats. Had the irate patron laid his hands on his girlfriend for the alleged affair, my companions and I would had to flee the area as to not get mixed up in the possible bar fight.  Thankfully it ended as quickly as it started.

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TGI Friday's - Millenia, Orlando, FL: Entrance at Night Ever had a piece of salmon that just melts in your mouth and flakes off when you put your fork into it? Or pasta made al dente with light creamy sauce that isn’t overpowering along with quartered golden zucchini? How about a bite of USDA steak that is well seasoned and juicy to the palette where A1 Steak Sauce is not always necessary? Well, I have, and it is certainly not from a place where you would expect. I certainly did not. The dish is called the Cedar Seared Salmon Pasta and the USDA choice 6 oz Petit Sirloin from TGI Friday’s, respectively. Surprising, yes? Indeed.

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Located in a multiplex for retail shops, offices, and residential apartments and lofts, called Sodo right outside of Downtown Orlando, there's a cafe called Rock n' Joe's Coffeehouse and Bistro. I felt like I was not in Orlando anymore, but somewhere that reminds me of Seattle Metro.

I found the ambience rather soothing with their collection of rock music playing in the background. Dark wooded furniture and shelving decorates the place with a living room styled seating area sporting a vintage styled love seat and matching chair. It feels homey. The walls are donned with framed vinyl disks from various rock groups and some are actually for sale at an inexpensive price as collectibles. It’s quite contemporary actually.


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One of my favorite stops driving from Los Angeles north is Margie's Diner margie'sin San Luis Obispo. When I first started stopping there, the only Margie's Diner was in San Luis Opispo, in a former Howard Johnsons. Now there are three more in Salinas, Paso Robles and Morro Bay. Margie's is a family business, and the owners were often at the cash register. It's typical diner food in terms of the menu, but it's good food made with fresh local ingredients and served by people who want you to enjoy your meal, and come back. The breakfasts feature homemade buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy and cinnamon rolls, fresh local eggs, fresh squeezed orange juice (or mimosas) and fresh ground Columbian coffee. The problem with breakfast at Margie's is that, well the food is really good and the portions are huge, so I want to take a nap after.

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The Huntington Library in San Marino, California, with its art collections and gardens, is one of the best things in Southern California. The Library, which contains incredibly medieval manuscripts like the beautiful Ellesmere Chaucer, a Gutenberg Bible, letters and rough drafts of the works of Twain, and Joyce, and early Shakespeare editions is surrounded by 120 acres of gardens, including a rose garden, a cactus and succulents garden, a Japanese Garden . . . It's a lovely place to spend a day. In addition, the Huntington art galleries contain Old Master paintings, sculptures, fine porcelains, furniture and art objects. There's an admissions charge of $20.00 per adult on weekends, and $15.00 on the week days that the Huntington is open.

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I still haven't found my "local" pizza place; this is every bit as important as finding a local brew pub and a local doughnut place. There's a really wonderful place in the area, but it's not really close enough for acts of spontaneous pizza.

But I think now I might have found it.

There's a small mini-mart sort of store called Yorky's in Fairhaven, WA. It's attached to a gas station, and sells the usual sorts of basic groceries, ice, and household necessities. Three things make Yorky's stand out:

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I suddenly developed an intense, The Greek House in Norman, Oklahomacraving for Greek food. More specifically, a gyro. After a bit of research, I settled on Cafe Akroteri as the restaurant, since I've not yet been to any Washington Greek restaurants.

It's a pleasant enough location, in downtown Bellingham. It's walking distance from the central downtown, and near enough to the higher end tourist hotels that I'd expect some walk-in traffic. On a Saturday afternoon at lunch time, there was one table occupied in the main dining area (decorated with Greek style Classical imitation frescos and travel agency pictures) and another in the lounge.

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I recently had the pleasure of enjoying dinner at one of Portland’s most hyped restaurants, La Pigeon.  For a place that actually offers pigeon on the menu, it was quite nice.  It’s conveniently located on Burnside, on the east side of the river near a few other specialty shops and boutiques.  Its location gives it the convenience of being downtown without all the hustle and bustle associated with a purely downtown location.  This restaurant consistently rates a 4.5 or 5 out of 5 on many web review sites and in many magazines.  I wanted to check out why it has received so many reviews, and perhaps discover for myself why it is so widely known on the west coast as an excellent French restaurant.

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