Restaurants I Wish Were in Washington

Washington has a lot going for it, but one thing it lacks, at least in Federal Way and surrounding areas, are restaurants that have become favorites similar to the ones I loved in Southern California. Every now and then, I'll think longingly of one of them and wish desperately that they had one like it here. Restaurants like:

• Aloha Food Factory (Alhambra) - a family-run Hawaiian restaurant with amazing food, a kitschy collection of decor and friendly proprietors who always seemed interested in how we were doing. We visited there last September, 2 1/2 years after moving away, and the wife, Betty remembered us. We got to introduce her to Ben and spend a few minutes catching up. I haven't food that compares to theirs. There's a pretty good one-off Hawaiian restaurant in town, but it's just not the same.
• Versailles (several locations, but the ones on La Cienega and Ventura are better than the Universal City walk-up fast-food version) - Cuban food; they had a garlic chicken that they served with buttery rice, mildly spicy black beans and fried plantains. There are no Cuban restaurants nearby and I haven't made it to any in Seattle to try them out yet.
• La Fontana (Glendale) - Italian restaurant with a romantic setting and fantastic food for great prices. They had a special where you could choose salad or soup, an entree and a dessert for something like $15, and they had a dozen or so entrees to choose from. I always got the Chicken Milanese, a breaded and lightly sauteed chicken breast with a creamy lemony sauce, served with very fine angel hair pasta and fresh vegetables. It was just a few blocks away from our apartment, and we'd go there every so often, including for one of James' birthdays. We went there for New Year's Eve the year before Rachel was born and had a nice evening out. They were busy, but they had piano music playing and it never got overly noisy. Oh, and they had really good focaccia bread, too.
• Papas and Beer (Lake Balboa/Van Nuys) - this is now apparently called Salsa and Beer. I'm wondering if they were unaffiliated with the restaurant of that name in Mexico and had to change it. Regardless, they had such good Mexican food and served it with chips and a warm bean dip along with the salsa. You could get a giant burrito for just a few dollars, and their combo plates were around $5 or $6. I miss the authentic Mexican food that was plentiful in Southern California, in smaller restaurants and taco shops.
• Adalberto's (San Diego, Sacramento) - A really great taco shop. I used to frequent this place in college in San Diego, and then found out that they had some locations in the Sacramento area, too. So whenever I visited my mom while she lived there, and later my dad, I'd be sure to fit in a visit to Adalberto's for carne asada chips and rolled tacos with sour cream and cheese.
• Wienerschnitzel (lots of places, but we went to the one in Duarte) - There are 2 or 3 of these in Washington, but the closest one is just over 50 miles away. And that's a little far to go for corn dogs and chili cheese fries. I miss having one 2 miles from my house.
• Islands (Glendale, Encino, many other places) - A fun restaurant with a surfing/tropical theme. They had really good salads and burgers, plus you could order a platter of endless chips and salsa or a big thing of fries/cheese fries and share them with the whole table. And they had Cherry Coke, mmm.
• Boston Market (Burbank/Toluca Lake, Pasadena) - Another fast-foodish chain, and they used to be all over the place, including Washington. But they've been gone from this state for years. I miss being able to get a nice home-cooked-style plate of ham or turkey, garlic dill new potatoes, cinnamon apples and a tiny little loaf of cornbread. Oh, the cornbread! Sometimes I just want comfort food, and there's nowhere where I can make a quick stop and come away with such a yummy meal like that.
• Rudy's Mexican Restaurant (Monrovia) - We only went to the sit-down restaurant once. Service was horrible. It took a long time to get anything and to even see our waiter, so we never went back. But they had a booth in Monrovia's weekly street fair, and I can't tell you how many times I'd get two of their carne asada tacos. Such tender, flavorful meat and a strawberry Jarritos soda to go with it. Tasty.
  

Now I'm kinda bummed and wanting to visit Southern California on a massive eating tour. During our Disneyland trip last September, Aloha Food Factory was the only restaurant we managed to visit. Hopefully we'll be able to hit several old favorites next time.