GARLIC RESTAURANTS

People argue whether baseball or football is the national pastime. May we suggest that it is neither. Enjoying good food has emerged as our number one recreation. Just look at the number of fast food and "slow" restaurants popping up all over. The percentage of meals eaten outside the home is now over 50%. So knowing where to go for good food, especially good, garlic-laden food, is vital.
Since we travel a lot, we have the chance to visit restaurants all over the nation. More and more garlic is becoming a major player on the menu. We will provide our own reviews, but we would very much like to hear from you, too. Let us know about some of your favorite eating establishments and their prime garlic dishes. Or, if you have a commercial garlicky food item you would like to review or recommend, just e-mail us and we will include the information on our site.

Restaurants

GARLIC ROSE BISTRO (New Jersey's first all garlic restaurant)
41 Main Street
Madison, NJ

The Recorder's reviewer, Sherie Schmauder, writes: "The first thing to arrive at your table is a splendid garlic-olive dip for the very good Italian bread...It is pure heaven, and worth the visit all by itself...The restaurant is a storefront, with two levels for dining. It has an informal bistro atmosphere and can be cozy, especially when it is crowded...The menu is broad enough to tempt the most jaded restaurant goer." She gives the restaurant three stars.

GARLIC QUEEN
Reguliersdwarsstraat 27
1017 BJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands

This restaurant, dedicated to the Stinking Rose, seats 32 and offers both appetizers, main courses and desserts laced with garlic. Their location in the heart of Amsterdam should make it easy to find if you travel in that direction.

The Garlic
Killington, VT
This restaurant promises you lots of garlic in an "Olde World" atmosphere. It also offers Italian made products for sale, both food and ceramics.

spotted while driving in New York City...

RED GARLIC (an ethnic storefront restaurant)
916 8th Avenue
New York, NY

THE GARLIC CLOVE
New Orleans, LA
"It was very good...but smelled a lot more garlicky than it tasted. Very good garlic bread. Shrimp Scampi had lots of garlic, but not enough butter"
Rating: 4 cloves out of 5

JOHHNY GARLIC'S
Farmer’s Lane, Santa Rosa, CA
Paula Harris of MetroActive Dining says:"Eclectic, full-flavored, mostly involving garlic." "The place was jammed...an upbeat, comfortable atmosphere where Garlic is God and is worshiped baked, fried, roasted, caramelized, raw, slund into sauces, pasted into pastas...We sat at the counter and ordered the "famous" garlic potato chips served with sour cream dipping sauce...We nibbled house-made focaccia bread...and surveyed the 72 item menu. The roasted California garlic bulb with goat cheese salsa was a delightful melange of Crayola-red tomatoes, fresh basil and light, creamy goat cheese piled onto barely toasted sourdough bread points..." Three out of four cloves.

THE STINKING ROSE – A GARLIC RESTAURANT
325 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco, CA
415-781-ROSE
Hours: 11 AM – 11 PM, seven days a week

THE AMBIANCE. This place is garlic heaven, virtually a museum. Garlic braids and knickknack cover the multiple room, two level restaurant. A garlic gift shop by the door purveys all kinds of garlic gadgets, trinkets, souvenirs and foodstuff. The place is always packed. They take reservations and that is a must on weekends and busy weeknights.

THE MENU is Californian-Italian-Garlic. Virtually every dish uses a maximum of garlic. Appetizers, salads, pizzettes, pastas, daily specials and dishes du jour are highly varied. Any meal should be accompanied by the bagna calda; a steaming dish of roasted garlic cloves in oil and a very good Italian bread. You can start with a garlic chowder, move on to a house salad with garlic vinaigrette dressing, perhaps share a small pizzette with garlic sausage or chicken with roasted garlic and mozzarella. The pasta (penne, neon ravioli or lasagna) all have their maximum complement of garlic. The daily specials include Italian garlic meatloaf (Monday and Wednesday), paella (Tuesday) and baccala con polenta (Thursday). Other specials include the mandatory 40 clove chicken, braised lamb shank (our favorite), braised rabbit, a great zuppa di pesce and giant salt roasted prawns. And for dessert, yes, they do serve garlic ice cream drizzled with hot chocolate. We actually recommend it, it is more than a "freak" food, very refreshing. There is full bar service with a good selection of wines, beers and liquors.

THE FOOD at the Stinking Rose is good. It is not haute cuisine, but the food has a home made quality normally found only in the great old neighborhood restaurants which now are on the decline. One can kick back and happily pig out on cloves in the company of other garliholics.

THE PRICES are quite reasonable for a popular restaurant in the city famed for its eateries. Most entrees are in the $10-$15 range.

THE SERVICE We found the service to be very efficient, fast and courteous. The wait staff was well versed on the menu selections. We were a little surprised that our waiter didn’t know what types of garlic the restaurant uses. After all, garlic is The Stinking Rose’s line of business. But the food he kept bringing was just fine.

Rating: 4 cloves (out of five)

Want more? The Stinking Rose cookbook is available from Garlic Books.

GARLIC MIKE'S ITALIAN CUISINE
2674 Highway 135
Gunnison, CO 81230