h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My favorite restaurant experiences all involve some wacky turn on the expected.

The first I can remember is the Magic Time Machine in Dallas, Texas. When I was a child, my parents took me to this novelty joint where the salad bar is in a pink cadillac, your table is set in an ancient library or an Indian teepee, and your server is Marilyn Monroe or Peter Pan. Many fine actors and comedians have no doubt moonlighted at the Time Machine. And who cares about the food? You come back with stories.

As a teenager, I remember going on a rare date with my high school sweetheart to a Chinese restaurant where the dessert that was not to be forgotten. We wondered why the chef suggested fried ice cream, a traditional Mexican desert with fried caramel topping. Instead we received a flaming ball of fried cake batter that, upon closer inspection, turned out to have ice cream half-melted in the middle. The flaming goo turned out to be the best cherry sauce I've ever tasted.

And as an adult on vacation, I went to a tiny Indian restaurant in New York City. When afternoon turned to evening, the manager turned on the disco ball and music. It was a more festive, energetic evening than I could have planned. And like mist it has evaporated. Though I now live in New York, I'll never find that place again on its street full of tiny Indian restaurants that look identical from the outside.

I'm all for good food, but there's also something to be said for the ambiance of a place. My vote goes for wacky, memorable restaurants.