I tried this spots on Thursday and Friday. The first is on E Michigan away from I4. East towards 436. The next is on 436 at the airport entrance. Right side. The last two are next to each other on 436 between 408 and 50. I also was going to a pizza place across from Koon. It has passed. There is a Cuban food truck in the parking lot now though.
Cornerstone Pizza - They have been there since te 80s. This owner for 26 years. Total dump. I had two slices at $2.50 a pop. Typical NY. Garlic-y. Cheese had slipped all over. Underdone. They also have a few salads, sandwiches, apps, calzone, wings and two dinners. Prices are low (ie $10 subs). Places is tiny and slovenly. A few seats. Parking. I just went because it was the last place on the street I hadn't tried. For exactly the reasons I described.
Koon Thai - Don't boycott them. Corrupted minds. I thought it might just be a drinks place since it calls out boba on their signage. It was so much more. A full service Thai concern. Probably pan-Thai. I forgot to ask. Some seafood and Isan dishes. So, probably south and north. I tried the three curry dish with chicken for $17. It was a mix of yellow, green and red curries. I had never seen that approach before. Probably not an authentic Thai dish. I liked it. They also mixed in all the ingredients (ie potatoes and peppers) that come with those dishes. Lots of veg. Fresh. Rice was good. I only ate half and the rest today. I did an experiment that worked. Dipping a baguette in the "soup" is as good as sopping up a bisque or mussel juice. I wonder what would have happened if the French colonized Thailand instead of Vietnam. The food mash up would have been outrageous. The menu is large. Their digitally displayed version does a good job explaining them. It moves through it and highlights a dish every few seconds and shows a pic and describes it. Some interesting items are: Isan sausage, duck larb and stews. They have another place in Jersey. Mostly white look. Some plants and orchids on levels. Wood tables. Some unframed posters and displays on the walls. Maybe eight tables. It was full. Probably people from the adjacent hotels. Nice find.
Star Gyros and Grill - It was last Cappadocia. Kept everything the same. Feels creepy/dirty. The ceiling tiles are stained. They were (ineptly) fixing a sagging ceiling light by thrusting a section of pipe under it. But, I guess if Cornerstone can pass a health inspection anyone can. Adding to the lack of appeal was the lack of any customers. I settled on a chicken gyro because it was the cheapest/quickest thing. It took a while. I starting envisioning a scene from Waiting with them getting jizzy with it. A large circle jerk in the kitchen. The chicken was in chunks. I saved the meal for the next day. Nuked it to kill any germs that might have come with possible spooge or from the actual ingredients. It was bad. Poor thigh bits with sumac or some bitter herb blend. Onions and tomatoes. Like bad Chinese take out. Came with those gross formed french fries. The menu is more pan-Med now. They had the donation box for madrasas. Soups, cold apps, hot apps, specialties, sandwiches, burgers and pasta. Beyti, iskender, orman kebabs are some of their specialties. Nearly everything about the place gives me pause. I hate Med places that try and do Western dishes. I hate squalor. I hate an empty restaurant. I hate being served by people who conceivably could hate your guts by the look of you. It took all of my being not to toss this in the trash. Hopefully, this was all in my head. But, I won't be returning. They just opened recently. It is easy to miss the alley to the parking in the rear. Looks for an equally skecthy rub out joint aside them. Maybe you can pull a twofer.
ChimiKing - I stopped here for them. They JUST opened. Latin. Island latin. Huge menu. Daily lunch specials. I was exhausted, so, I just settled on a tripleta for $12. Very good. Pork tasted Asian-y sweet. Beef (usually strips of unchewable gristle) was cut into to tiny pieces. Tender. Chicken was fine. Ok roll and sauce and potato sticks. Saw some Dominican dishes. Not sure if that is who they are. English was a second language here. Pretty fulll. Around ten tables. Counter in front. Order there. Hidden kitchen. Parking in the rear. One color scheme (dark brown/black). New looking for this area. Worth a try.
*I was exhausted because I was supposed to be in Fiji. However, our rainy season decided to start the minute I was trying to get to Dallas to get there. Even with finagling a spot on a flight two hours earlier, our pussy air traffic controllers and/or federal safety dickheads (FYI - they have been fucking multitudes of travelers since then) kept us grounded for hours because of a little (approaching) rain. And then when they finally released us, they switched us to a runway on the opposite side of the airport just as we were to take off and let others jump our slot. This is the tropics right? Lightning capital of the world? The Swedes and Norse can fly planes in blizzards, but, we quail at a drizzle. I also have to give a giant middle finger to the Dallas airport for taking thirty minutes to get us to a gate. And AA for not trying to fly faster or apparently informing Dallas that we were arriving. Don't even get me started on how many terminals AA uses in Dallas and the crappy sky train. And the biggest, dirtiest finger to Fiji Airlines for not letting me on the plane even after I still somehow got to them ONE MINUTE before BOARDING closed. Plane was still there. Attached to gate. Gate door still open. People still boarding. After they changed their own boarding time to be 90 minutes earlier than the ticket they sold me. For a flight that can have no issue being late because they have one a day. Departure time twenty minutes past that. Why have a departure time? Obviously boarding closing time is the only thing that matters! And after that AA couldn't get me home because they said Fiji had control of the ticket. I had to buy another ticket (they were the only ones going before the pm of course) from AA at an inflated price to get home. I had to wait all night at the airport. The plane going back was grounded because of a door issue. We had to change planes. Just a lovely day of travel to nowhere. And that ticket to Fiji wasn't cheap either. And of course I chose this time to book the hotel in advance for the whole time. Non-refundable. There will be blood! How was your day?
Update - Fiji isn't doing dick. They aren't nice/generous people as sometimes reported. Said travel agent had to apply for refund of unused portions. I enlisted Expedia. They haven't heard back from hotel or airlines. AA finally got back to me. Have to call them back. I remembered that you can demand taxes back. That is often more than flight portion.
Final Update - Expedia got Fiji to capitulate to their share. American said only Fiji could return their portion as well. Still pending. American did return the subsequent ticket price that had to be purchased. It took alot of pressing. Expedia got the hotel to refund all but the first night. They refunded that from their own coffers. They also returned the American portion (or similar amount) of the ticket (kind of) as a "sign of good will". All sums were credits to my credit card. No coupons.
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