US/UK equivalents

[Mags 112]

I really miss Wagamamas. Yasai Katsu Curry. *sighs*

In fact I just miss curry, but I did love my once a week lunch there.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

apparently they opened a Wagamama in Boston - a bit far to go for noodles, but they might be planning to expand!

[Jeraly 4]

I really miss Wagamamas. Yasai Katsu Curry. *sighs*

In fact I just miss curry, but I did love my once a week lunch there.

Oh I know - I am soo going to miss my Indian... they're about - I know San Fran has some and so does Vegas but there are none that I know of where I will be living - Jeremy loves Indian as well though so at least we can miss it together!! Or devise our own

[ginger1981 0]

Sometimes you'll find things in the oddest of places too. I went into a corner store up the street from me (that I had previously never been into) and found a whole range of Irish foods. They had imported sausages and rashers, walkers and taytos, a variety of McVite's digestives, steak pies, and just about every Cadbury product (along with some of the British Nestle products...yummm aeros) imaginable. Very strange as I think this small store has almost as much variety as World Market when it comes to food from that part of the world.

[Toshtishtash 1]

Gucci Giant. Love it. You are all making me miss the US tremendously.

In Washington (DC) we had Safeway. So there was the Social Safeway (posh Georgetown), the Soviet Safeway (northeast, never anything on the shelf), the UnSafeway (southeast, bad neighborhood), and the Gayway (Dupont Circle....you figure it out.) There is something about naming each branch that makes the chains not feel so soul-less.

Can anyone explain to me the English obsession with chain stores? I've been in London for two years and keep trying to find a neighborhood with some originality...they all feel like highway exits in the US...same restaurants, same liquor stores, same pharmacies, same bars. Depressing and a little bit weird.

Homesick American.

Come to Cornwall We have nothing!

[ginger1981 0]

Now, don't you guys think Tesco is more like Giant? We have two giants near us. One is like a regular Tesco, the other one we call Gucci Giant. It's like a Tesco Extra. And it's only 15 days now until I can get in my new car and use my new Tomtom to find my way to Wegman's.... Wegman's is like a cross between Waitrose, and the Selfridges's food hall. Yum yum yum!!! Toshtishtash and I like to get halloumi cheese there...!

Gucci Giant. Love it. You are all making me miss the US tremendously.

In Washington (DC) we had Safeway. So there was the Social Safeway (posh Georgetown), the Soviet Safeway (northeast, never anything on the shelf), the UnSafeway (southeast, bad neighborhood), and the Gayway (Dupont Circle....you figure it out.) There is something about naming each branch that makes the chains not feel so soul-less.

Can anyone explain to me the English obsession with chain stores? I've been in London for two years and keep trying to find a neighborhood with some originality...they all feel like highway exits in the US...same restaurants, same liquor stores, same pharmacies, same bars. Depressing and a little bit weird.

Homesick American.

In Chicago realm of IHOP's (International House of Pancakes) we have the Big Gay IHOP in Boystown. I guess we are missing the GayWay...as the only grocery store in the neighborhood is Jewel.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Now, don't you guys think Tesco is more like Giant? We have two giants near us. One is like a regular Tesco, the other one we call Gucci Giant. It's like a Tesco Extra. And it's only 15 days now until I can get in my new car and use my new Tomtom to find my way to Wegman's.... Wegman's is like a cross between Waitrose, and the Selfridges's food hall. Yum yum yum!!! Toshtishtash and I like to get halloumi cheese there...!

Gucci Giant. Love it. You are all making me miss the US tremendously.

In Washington (DC) we had Safeway. So there was the Social Safeway (posh Georgetown), the Soviet Safeway (northeast, never anything on the shelf), the UnSafeway (southeast, bad neighborhood), and the Gayway (Dupont Circle....you figure it out.) There is something about naming each branch that makes the chains not feel so soul-less.

Can anyone explain to me the English obsession with chain stores? I've been in London for two years and keep trying to find a neighborhood with some originality...they all feel like highway exits in the US...same restaurants, same liquor stores, same pharmacies, same bars. Depressing and a little bit weird.

Homesick American.

In Chicago realm of IHOP's (International House of Pancakes) we have the Big Gay IHOP in Boystown. I guess we are missing the GayWay...as the only grocery store in the neighborhood is Jewel.

The Gay IHOP! Just reading that sentence made me miss my Chicago days of a long time ago. I remember the Gay IHOP as the destination of choice for those who spent the evening drinking at The Closet or Manhole (now closed, I believe)

[Mags 112]

apparently they opened a Wagamama in Boston - a bit far to go for noodles, but they might be planning to expand!

Now I just need them to open one in Indianapolis...

The Gay IHOP! Just reading that sentence made me miss my Chicago days of a long time ago. I remember the Gay IHOP as the destination of choice for those who spent the evening drinking at The Closet or Manhole (now closed, I believe)

That has to be the best club name ever - The Manhole.

Edited April 15, 2008 by Mags

[ginger1981 0]

The Gay IHOP! Just reading that sentence made me miss my Chicago days of a long time ago. I remember the Gay IHOP as the destination of choice for those who spent the evening drinking at The Closet or Manhole (now closed, I believe)

The Closet is still there, but I'm not 100% if The Manhole is. I agree there is nothing tastier at 3 am than the pigs in a blanket served to you by a queen wearing rouge and eyeshadow.

That has to be the best club name ever - The Manhole.

Yeah the Machine Shop is just down the street from the Big Gay IHOP too lol. I'm sure THAT place has a leather room!

Edited April 15, 2008 by ginger1981

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I thought that it had closed, but I have not been to Chi-town in a few years. I never knew anyone who went there (or so they claimed anyway, lol). Back in the day, my mother was in town for my cousin's wedding out in the suburbs and we got back to my Lakeview apartment at something like 2am and wanted something to eat. Now where would be open at that time? Gay IHOP! I think she found the experience very educational.

[ginger1981 0]

I thought that it had closed, but I have not been to Chi-town in a few years. I never knew anyone who went there (or so they claimed anyway, lol). Back in the day, my mother was in town for my cousin's wedding out in the suburbs and we got back to my Lakeview apartment at something like 2am and wanted something to eat. Now where would be open at that time? Gay IHOP! I think she found the experience very educational.

I currently live in Lakeview myself, and I take friends from out of town there more for the experience than anything else. There are certain requirements for going to the Big Gay IHOP:

1) You must have a blood alcohol level of at least 2.0

2) It must be after 2 am

3) You must be able to put up with the state of the bathroom during the inevitable bathroom breaks.

I don't spend as much time anymore as my friend who lived on Grace and Broadway has moved away, but I still like to go there on the odd night. Clarks is a bit closer for me, but it can be uber-hipster.

So when did you live in Chi-town? And did you ever indulge in the deliciousness of cinnamon rolls from Ann Sather?

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I thought that it had closed, but I have not been to Chi-town in a few years. I never knew anyone who went there (or so they claimed anyway, lol). Back in the day, my mother was in town for my cousin's wedding out in the suburbs and we got back to my Lakeview apartment at something like 2am and wanted something to eat. Now where would be open at that time? Gay IHOP! I think she found the experience very educational.

I currently live in Lakeview myself, and I take friends from out of town there more for the experience than anything else. There are certain requirements for going to the Big Gay IHOP:

1) You must have a blood alcohol level of at least 2.0

2) It must be after 2 am

3) You must be able to put up with the state of the bathroom during the inevitable bathroom breaks.

I don't spend as much time anymore as my friend who lived on Grace and Broadway has moved away, but I still like to go there on the odd night. Clarks is a bit closer for me, but it can be uber-hipster.

So when did you live in Chi-town? And did you ever indulge in the deliciousness of cinnamon rolls from Ann Sather?

Ann Sather! (starts weeping at the thought of the cinammon rolls) I loved Ann Sather

I lived in Chicago from 1993-1996 - so that was back in the dark ages (or so it seems). I lived on the corner of Oakdale and Clarke.

LOL at the Big Gay IHOP rules - when I took mom, I was drunk but she was sober. Is Berlin's still there? That was the favored destination for going and shaking your booty to Erasure with the gays back in the day.

[ginger1981 0]

I thought that it had closed, but I have not been to Chi-town in a few years. I never knew anyone who went there (or so they claimed anyway, lol). Back in the day, my mother was in town for my cousin's wedding out in the suburbs and we got back to my Lakeview apartment at something like 2am and wanted something to eat. Now where would be open at that time? Gay IHOP! I think she found the experience very educational.

I currently live in Lakeview myself, and I take friends from out of town there more for the experience than anything else. There are certain requirements for going to the Big Gay IHOP:

1) You must have a blood alcohol level of at least 2.0

2) It must be after 2 am

3) You must be able to put up with the state of the bathroom during the inevitable bathroom breaks.

I don't spend as much time anymore as my friend who lived on Grace and Broadway has moved away, but I still like to go there on the odd night. Clarks is a bit closer for me, but it can be uber-hipster.

So when did you live in Chi-town? And did you ever indulge in the deliciousness of cinnamon rolls from Ann Sather?

Ann Sather! (starts weeping at the thought of the cinammon rolls) I loved Ann Sather

I lived in Chicago from 1993-1996 - so that was back in the dark ages (or so it seems). I lived on the corner of Oakdale and Clarke.

LOL at the Big Gay IHOP rules - when I took mom, I was drunk but she was sober. Is Berlin's still there? That was the favored destination for going and shaking your booty to Erasure with the gays back in the day.

Oh Berlin certainly is open. I live pretty much around the corner from it...I'm about Sheffield and School (but I'll be moving in a month up to Rogers Park). We get a lot of "romantic trysts" from "couples" that meet there in the alley next to me if you know what I mean. I don't know how it was in the mid 90's but it is a really sketchy bar now, and you certainly want to watch your drink when you are in there.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Oh it was kinda like that back then too, it was all part of the charm. Maybe it's got sketchier though

I just looked Berlin's on Citysearch. Under the "cons" section someone wrote "not a place for the shy or unfabulous"

[ginger1981 0]

Oh it was kinda like that back then too, it was all part of the charm. Maybe it's got sketchier though

I just looked Berlin's on Citysearch. Under the "cons" section someone wrote "not a place for the shy or unfabulous"

I'll have to go to Prince night (as in Purple Rain)...that sounds like a lot of fun.

I once saw a Cher impersonator walk out of Berlin.