Wherever you live, you probably have a list of favorite restaurants; places you go when you’re craving X, Y, or Z that can always count on. Relocation means finding new favorites, and can make for some truly tasty homework as you get to know your new town.
Obviously, that’s exactly what we’ve been working on, bit by bit, starting with the first evening we spent in Thomsaville as new home-owners.
I’m not a fan of buffets. If I wanted to fix my own plate, I’d have stayed home and cooked, okay? Plus, the “all you can/care to eat” feature is lost on me as I purposely try not to stuff myself. The one exception to trough-style places is Chinese buffets. For whatever reason these get a pass from me and I really do appreciate a good Chinese buffet, especially for nights where cooking is out but you want food in a hurry that didn’t come from a drive-thru window.
Since we were downtown for the local Rose Parade and Festival, we decided to test out the nearby Chinese place: Hong Yip. The food wasn’t anything spectacular (the buffet, at least, we haven’t tried them for take-out, yet) and it felt a little dive-ish, so we’ll just leave it at that (though the barefoot patrons at the next table could have contributed to that feeling a little more than usual). The Urban Spoon reviews are pretty good, though, so maybe we just caught them on a bad night, who knows? Another weekend, still on the hunt, we walked into and right back out of Yummi Express (it involved a walk-up counter, not what we were after; again, we might try them another time) and headed up the road to the Hibachi Buffet (not sure if it has another name).
The Hibachi Buffet looked like it used to be a Ryan’s or something similar from the layout inside, but the buffet was large and featured a fair amount of variety (including frog legs, for those so inclined). Nothing amazing, but passable. They even had basic sushi and, while I didn’t try it this time, a hibachi option that was actually manned. It got the job done and we’d probably go back, but it still wasn’t as good as our favorite buffet in Tallahassee.
Sadly, the best sushi in Thomasville appears to be at the Publix deli. But, hey, at least now we know!
Having explored our limited Asian-cuisine options close to our new home (we’ve seen a sign for a 4th option, but we’re not sure if it’s actually still in business), we moved onto another staple: Pizza!
If I recall correctly, Todd did some digging and found out that Moonspin Pizza offered a gluten-free crust, so giving them a shot was an easy yes. Turns out, Moonspin is quite the place to be on a Friday night: we managed to snag a table inside but just barely, and a considerable crowd was not too far behind us!
Todd ordered a calzone and I ordered a gluten-free, sauce-less, onion-less version of their Lucky Moon (chicken, arugula, and feta) with a bit of olive oil brushed on the crust.
The pizza was fantastic, but I doubt they’ll be a last-minute take-out option. Moonspin bills itself (and rightly so) as gourmet pizza and their prices reflect that (His calzone, my pizza, and our drinks came to just over $30). Still, we now know where the good pizza is!
Next time, though, I think I’ll order their Salad Pizza. (Yes, a salad served on a 10″ pizza crust–someone next to us ordered that and it looked so good!)
These aren’t mean to be full-fledged reviews, just our impressions as we try out different places in our new town. Next time on Tasting Thomasville it’s time for Mexican and BBQ (though not on the same night, or even on the same weekend!).