3 Green Hills restaurants

Table 3:  3821 Green Hills Village Drive

Table 3 is where you go if you want something completely different; this place serves items that might just be on your gastronomic “bucket list.”  If you want, for instance, pan-seared octopus with pequillo pepper and browned butter, Table 3’s your place.  If you want a duck burger with thyme and boursin cheese, Table 3’s your place.  And if you’re hungry for rabbit fricassée with mushrooms and pasta, yep, you’ve found your place.  Table 3 calls itself a bistro with “French comfort food,” and you’d expect, correctly, a robust wine list.  The fresh fish is superbly done, and if you’re into oysters, Table 3 has occasional “baker’s dozen” specials.  It’s located very near Green Hills mall (and the movie theatre), so plan on getting the valet to park your car and waiting for a table.

Chinatown:   3900 Hillsboro Pike

With a name like Chinatown, you know what you’re getting right from the start.  As you open the door, Chinese lion statues are there to greet you as well as Jack, the smiling Chinese maitre’d.   This review can be quite short, because no matter what dish you select, it’s going to be a winner.  The soups are hot and flavorful; the dumplings/pot stickers are addictive, and whether you choose chicken, beef, seafood, pork, or vegetarian entreés, it will be perfectly cooked, delightfully seasoned, and – it goes without saying – scrumptious.  I think I would choose their spring rolls for my “lost on a desert island” fare.  Another feature of a great restaurant is its service.  You can’t beat the service at Chinatown: friendly and attentive but they don’t give you the idea that they are wondering why you’re taking up that booth for so very long.

Five Guys Burgers & Fries:  4017 Hillsboro Pike in the Hill Center

Think back to when you were a teenager – long before you ever worried about your weight or your arteries.  Five Guys Burgers & Fries will take you back to those heady, carefree days of your youth.  These burgers are thick, juicy, made to order: with or without cheese, with or without bacon; your choice of mayo, mustard, tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, pickles, hot sauce – or not.  Even the plain Jane will fulfill your burger dreams.  And now let’s talk about the fries.  Served standing upright in a New York style paper cup, you toss a little salt in and crunch away, licking your greasy fingers and promising yourself that you’ll walk an extra quarter-mile.  Burger.  Fries.  Coke.  This is the American food you know you love.  And for you vegetarians?  We’ll meet somewhere else.  Right now, I’m full.