London Ice Cream Co. (London, ON)

43 Base Line Rd W, London, ON N6J 1V5, T: 519-645-6045

London Ice Cream Company is a small store selling homemade ice cream in London, Ontario. They have some 15 different flavors, including various very original ones.On this hot summer day most people enjoy their ice cream at the benches in front of the tiny store.

I get a small cone with two scoops: rainbow sherbert and butterscotch ripple (ca. $3.50). The sherbert is odd but fruity, while the butterscotch is tasty and not too sweet. The cone is fresh.

VERDICT: 85/100
London Ice Cream Co. serves nice, but not very special ice cream.

Shawarma House (London, ON)

1281 Commissioners Rd W, London, ON N6K, Canada, T: 519-471-0060

Shawarma House is a small Lebanese place in London, Ontario, which seems to mainly serve take-away food. They have shawarma (shoarma), falafel, kebabs, and salads.

I get a beef shawarma ($4.00): marinated beef, tomato, lettuce, onions, sour pickle and beet, hot and garlic sauce (normally they use humus and tahini) on Lebanes bread, which is pressed like a panini. It's a bit dry, but very tasty. I also have a Fattoush Salad ($4.75), which is nice and fresh with radish and excellent pita chips.

VERDICT: 87/100
Good shoarma and fattoosh for what is essentially a snack bar.

Redcoat Tavern (Royal Oak, MI)

31542 Woodward Ave, Royal Oak, MI 48073, T: 248-549-0300

The Redcoat Tavern is an established name in the best burger lists of Michigan. It is a huge English-type pub, extremely dark inside, and absolutely packed when I enter around lunch time on a Friday.

I order from the lunch menu and decide to go for the Brasserie Burger ($9.35): 1/2lb burger, bacon, caramelized onions, watercress, tomato, Dijon mustard, on a brioche bun (I opted out on the Swiss Gruyere). The burger is thick and perfectly grilled, the bacon is thick, crispy and full of flavor, and the whole experience is amazing. No wonder it was voted "best gourmet burger". I also ordered their onion rings ($5.65), which are another specialty: thick onion slices, lightly battered, and fried very crispy (enough for two).

VERDICT: 97/100

This is one of the best burgers I ever had and some of the best inion rings I ever had. Easily worth the rather steep price. Go there!

Jimmy B's Eatery & Pub (Indianapolis, IN)

10598 N College Ave, Ste 400, Indianapolis, IN 46280, T: 317-848-5057

Jimmy B's is a smoky, working class sports bar in a small strip mall in the north of Indianapolis. It attracts a very colorful clientele... One wouldn't say it from the out- or inside, but it is known throughout the city for its breaded tenderloin sandwich. No small feat in the capital of the tenderloin state!

I ordered a cup of chili ($2.50) as a starter. It was decent: meaty, but missed spice. Obviously, I also ordered the breaded tenderloin sandwich ($6.95): a HUGE freshly breaded and fried, very tender tenderloin on a crispy buttered and grilled bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles. Everything was extremely crispy and fresh.

VERDICT: 93/100
Best.breaded.tenderloin.sandwich.ever!

Coolhaus NYC (New York, NY)

Coolhaus Ice Cream Sandwiches has food carts in New York City, Los Angeles and Austin, and "storefronts" in Los Angeles and Culver City. The name is a play on Rem Koolhaas, the famed Dutch architect. You can choose from ca. 6 different cookies and 6 different and highly original ice creams, which are wrapped in eatable paper (at $6 per ice cream sandwich). We chose the red velvet cookies and butter and bacon ice cream. The cookies were very yummie and the ice very creamy.


VERDICT: 92/100
Coolhaus works with a great concept and is one of the best food carts around.

Bill's Bar & Burger (New York, NY)

22 9th Avenue, New York, NY, T: 212-414-3003

Bill's Bar & Burger is a fairly affordable restaurant at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan (there are also restaurants in the Meatpacking District and in Atlantic City), which serves classic American fair. Obviously, burgers are the signature dish. I got the Spicy Jalapeno Burger ($8.50), which was a 6oz medium grilled burger with pico de galo, jalapeno, shredded lettuce and chipotle aiolo. It was small, but tasty (and comes without any sides!). My friends had Bill's Burger and a Veggie Burger, which were both good, but not remarkable.

VERDICT: 85/100

Probably not the first place I would visit outside of Manhattan, but a good choice for an affordable burger in a decent setting in a very expensive part of the city.

Frost Bite (Avon, IN)

7025 Galen Dr W, Avon, IN 46123, T: 317-272-2483

Frost Bite is a classic American small town dairy/snack bar, which has been around for a long time, and is only open during the summer, when it is run by uninterested school kids with an attitude. While it mainly is visited for its cold treats, it also has burgers, hot dogs, and, of course, tenderloin sandwiches (this is Indiana after all!).

I got a Big Bite Burger ($4), which came with (too much) lettuce, (too much) mayo, ketchup, mustard, (too much) onion, a quarter pound pattie on a small bun. The excessive condiments were probably to cover the fairly tasteless pattie. The Chili Dog ($2.50) included a thick slaty wiener, generic chili, and a not-steamed bun. Finall, the small banana shake ($3) was (too) sweet and creamy with chunks of banana.

VERDICT: 70/100

Classic small town, old-school place from the time before (some) Americans started to care about food.