If you've experienced the magical breakfast at the Yolk in Rock Hill, get excited: you're in for equally outstanding morning treats from Chef Gregory Collier and his wife, Subrina, with their understated cafe @Dawn in Charlotte's Steele Creek.

The salmon walls of this simple, 120-seat Chinese restaurant in Arlington's Lee Harrison Shopping Center act as a soothing backdrop for the not-at-all-soothing plates crafted by cult-favorite chef and namesake Peter Chang, who's known for his numbingly hot Sichuan cuisine.

Horace & Dickie’s is an H Street original, serving down-home soul food that'll have you convinced you're much farther below the Mason-Dixon line than DC's Atlas District.

Nestled into an unsuspecting corner of Chinatown, this family-run joint offers plump dumplings and steamed pork buns, but the green storefront's large glass window showcases the true star at this hole in the wall: You'll see chefs in tall white hats hand-pulling long strands of dough for the restaurant's perfectly chewy noodles.

Think of Luke's Diner from Gilmore Girls, but with a staff that's anything but grouchy, and you've got Ted's, a classic corner diner where locals start piling in at 7am for dirt-cheap, damn-good breakfast and lunch specials.

Situated among the several Thai and Laotian restaurants that call Milwaukee's Silver City neighborhood home, Bamboo is a small, six-table space serving up scratch-made Southeast Asian cuisine.

Does the name "2 Fat Guys" not strike true American patriotism into your heart?

The Rail is easy to spot in Downtown Rogers thanks to sidewalk signs that tout quippy sayings like "In Crust We Trust," which quite frankly, we couldn't agree with more.

Tom's is a spinoff of a China-based bao chain, and while it's postured as a quick counter-serve, it doesn't dole out hastily made bao at light speed in the style of traditional fast-casual spots.

You probably didn't know you needed an Asian diner/bowling alley hybrid in your life, but one visit to this Aiea gem and you'll realize you really, really do.

Before outposts starting popping up across the country, Peet's began as a revolutionary coffee experience right here, on the corner of Vine and Walnut in North Berkeley, where Holland native Alfred Peet impressed locals and helped change the American coffee game with his rich and complex small-batch brews.

Though many bars across the country stake the same claim, White Horse Bar on Telegraph Avenue is the self-dubbed oldest continuously operating gay and lesbian bar in the country.