If you are an international student new to the United States, you may be worried about the food here like I was. Here are some of my favorite restaurants that I have found after being in the States for three years, in case you are wondering where you should try out for dinner tonight.
Panera
Basics: Panera Bread is an American bakery-café that serves sandwiches, salads, soup, and
pasta.
Panera became my favorite restaurant when I had braces. Wearing braces limited my choices of
food because hard and chewy food may break my brackets. Panera always serves the best soup.
Chicken noodle soup, for example, is my all-time favorite, and Panera’s chicken noodle soup not
only has the taste of “grandma”, it’s smooth taste of noodles and fresh chicken make wearing
braces seem not that bad.
Buffalo Wild Wings
Basics: Buffalo Wild Wings started its first restaurant in Columbus, OH in 1982. When you
look for their information on their website, they say that there are only three things you should
know about them: wings, beer, sports.
Buffalo Wild Wings’ restaurants are known for all the TVs they have hanging all around the wall,
I believe. On those TVs, only sport events will be displayed. My brother from my host family in
Nashville, TN, is a huge sports fan and Buffalo Wild Wings (which he calls it as BWs), where he
can watch different sport events at the same time, is definitely his favorite restaurant. The first
time he took me there, I thought that the restaurant was too crazy and loud because I believed
that a restaurant should be place people enjoy their food instead of staring at TVs and yelling at
one another. Later on, however, when I started following sport events, BWs has become very
top of my favorite restaurant list.
Qdoba
Basics: Qdoba is an American chain restaurant that serves Mexican-style cuisine.
Qdoba was the restaurant where my family and I always went after Church back in Nashville,
TN. In Qdoba, you choose what you want from the menu, like a burrito, a taco, or some soup,
and you choose your toppings, like lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and avocado. My favorite item
from Qdoba is its quesadilla.
After introducing you my favorite American chain restaurants, I have to tell you about some of my favorite local restaurants here in Bloomington.
Sobon
Basics: Sobon is a Korean restaurant located on 10th street.
Sobon’s owner is a beautiful Korean lady who always smiles at all her customers and always
makes sure her restaurant does the very best to meet its customers’ needs. My favorite dish
from Sobon is Kimchi fried rice. Kimchi fried rice is not only popular among international
students but also domestic ones. I remember one time there was an American student walked
in the restaurant and asked me if I could give him some recommendations. I said Kimchi fried
rice because I was actually eating it. He took my advice and the next time I ran into him in the
restaurant, he told me that he came back for the same dish every day for a whole week because
it was too good.
Lotus Garden
Basics: Lotus Garden is Chinese restaurant located on Washington street, owned by some
Chinese students.
As a Chinese student and a huge Chinese food fan, Lotus Garden would never go wrong when
you crave for some authentic Chinese food. I have to say something about its Koushui Ji, which
in English literally means “mouth watering chicken”. Koushui Ji is a “must” when I go to Lotus
Garden. Koushui Ji is a Sichuan appetizer served with sesame and chili oil. Though it is an
appetizer, I still eat it with white rice. The soft and fresh taste of chicken and a little spicy touch
up are never resistible.
Related WeAreIU Articles:
Food in Bloomington Kicks Serious Butt - Indiana University