As much as home games are fun, taking road trips are what establish the truly righteous college football fan.
And because you are sophisticated, worldly Pac-10 fans, said road trips don't include a 12-pack of Milwaukee's Best and a bucket of chicken for dinner (though that might be a nice capper to a long night in some cases).
You demand a pre-game Friday night of quality. You want real food and drink. And you want it to be A-list.
"Good" doesn't always mean Chez Panisse or Lark, though sometimes it does. It means fresh and flavorful. Best hamburgers, best burritos and best bowls of noodles are always appreciated.
Last year, we did the ultimate Pac-10 road trip. Many of you said "thanks." Others were outraged by the choices, a few of which I admit were typed in without a ton of thought.
Our purpose today then is to establish a list of two things:
Favorite restaurants in Pac-10 cities
Favorite place for cocktails and/or nightlife.
As for the latter, because of the diversity of ages reading the Pac-10 blog, please designate the bar as "under-30" or "30-and-over" (not that the Pac-10 blog believes in hard-and-fast rules in bar hopping).
Also, we recognize that the big cities of the Pac-10 complicate things. When I go back to Seattle, I seek out some of my favorite haunts when I lived there, few of which have any connection with Washington. So this shouldn't become a list of the best restaurants and bars in LA, San Francisco, Phoenix, Portland and Seattle. Let's try for some degree of proximity to the institution or stadium.
Send your selections here. It's my mailbag (you know, where you typically send notes telling me how wrong, wrong, wrong I am).
Please explain your choices and include as much info as you can: type of food, menu favorites, ambiance, location advantages, particularly good bartenders, etc. For example, if you believe that the owners of Beppe & Gianni's in Eugene seem to be particularly skilled at hiring hostesses ("Your wait will be two hours." "Great! Thanks for talking to me!") please share your insights.
The plan is to run the results before the opening weekend. So hurry.