Trying to find a good area to relocate to (Chicago to FL) (Jacksonville: transplants, high crime)

[LA-VA-FL]

haha, woops mawipafl beat me to it

[orchid1]

Great! Thanks!

I love me some Chipotle And glad to hear they have an ice rink, too. One activity I love doing.

I'm actually not familiar with the other places you mentioned (except for Panda - have one here).

Not sure how this turned to food (probably my fault) but it's nice to know the types of restaurants/services available -- fast food, fine dining, etc since we love to eat.

Any good Thai restaurants in the area? I think that's probably what I'll miss the most if we move...the local food we have around here. Oh well -- new places to discover, right?! And probably more outdoor/sidewalk dining?

[LA-VA-FL]

Here's and old thread about the "best ethnic restaurants" in Jax. It'll give you an idea of whats in the area (definitely Thai food )

http://www.city-data.com/forum/jacks...rants-jax.html

[ngrome]

Well, put it this way, I lived in Chicago most of my life except for some short stint in California. I moved down to FL for some of the same reasons you did (tired of cold weather, time for a change, etc.) and after over 10 years in FL, I'm finally moving back to the Chicago area. If you never had allergies before, be prepared to experience them (but then again if you had allergies up north, the move may improve your situation).

Stay away from east Orange County and southeast FL. The southwest coast is nice (Ft. Myers, Caper Coral, all the way up to St. Petersburg). You will be part of the next wave. Good luck.

Edit: At this time of year, Florida always look great to northerners. But take into consideration the rest of the year you'll be under constant heat and humidity. On the flipside, there's only a few months of the winter blues. That's not enough to convince some people to stay north and they just want to escape the cold, but having lived in FL this long, I've really come to appreciate and miss the four seasons.

[projectmaximus]

Originally Posted by LA-VA-FL

(i find good chinese food hard to find)

Probably cause you think good Chinese is Panda Express.

Just kidding...i mean, im serious, but dont want to sound mean.

Originally Posted by orchid1

And glad to hear they have an ice rink, too. One activity I love doing.

I'm actually not familiar with the other places you mentioned (except for Panda - have one here).

Not sure how this turned to food (probably my fault) but it's nice to know the types of restaurants/services available -- fast food, fine dining, etc since we love to eat.

Any good Thai restaurants in the area? I think that's probably what I'll miss the most if we move...the local food we have around here. Oh well -- new places to discover, right?! And probably more outdoor/sidewalk dining?

Yeah, I'm terrible at ice skating but I've attempted it at Millenium Park twice. Sadly, theres nowhere to ice skate outdoors in Jax...safely.

As for food...I'll draw a quick comparison to Evanston and by extension, I guess the other Northshore suburbs. It seems that there are tremendous options for quality dining up here...and the entire city of Jax would be hard-pressed to match it. I think you probably can find an equal number of excellent restaurants in Jax, but they're spread all over the city. So you'll have to do a good bit of driving to satisfy your particular cravings. This last statement probably applies to most everything else besides just food...you can find a lot of things in Jax but you'll probably have to drive a ways to get it.

Back to food again...if you aren't a big time foodie (ie, not too picky) and you enjoy chain restaurants then you'll be fine. Tons of those around.

[LA-VA-FL]

Originally Posted by projectmaximus

Probably cause you think good Chinese is Panda Express.
Just kidding...i mean, im serious, but dont want to sound mean.

No I know what you mean. The reality (for me) is that all those: china wok, china garden, hot wok etc... are all the same nasty uncleanly chinese food takeout joints. I have had bad experiences with those "identical" chinese spots (I wont go into details..gross stuff)

N E ways, Panda Express is as "chainy" as it gets, However it is clean and IMO decent chinese food. Also,My Dad knows the guy who started the chain back in L.A. ... so gotta give some respect

I loved the chinese food in NYC when I visited, and in Jax "Hong Kong Bistro" is fantastic. I am yet to find a decent one close to me (at the beach) so im looking forward to the "you know what your gonna get" Panda Express

Sorry for the long response- I dig authentic food. So gotta back myself up

[projectmaximus]

^^^I can totally understand that. I'm not a foodie, although I try to appreciate fine dining whenever I get the chance, so I definitely empathize with the "safe" choices. I had Panda Express once here in Chicago and it seemed alright.

I don't really ever do the chains in Jax, but I think I remember Wok N' Roll being ok. Went to Lee's also once cause we're distantly related to them somehow. Also, the people who started Ying's Takee Outee were old family friends. They sold the franchise many years ago, though.

How's Bamboo Creek aside from dim sum? It's probably a little closer to you (off JTB). And the new one...Mr. Chan's out towards the beaches on either Atlantic or Beach? I've never been there but have heard in the Chinese circles that it's not bad.

I used to love the Chinese buffet place on atlantic out by Hodges or San Pablo. They had Peking-style roast duck...and it was all-you-can-eat. MMMM.

Sorry for pulling this off topic, orchid. Back to your regularly scheduled programming!

[orchid1]

No I don't mind! I like hearing about all the food-choices down there. We're not 'foodies' either or food snobs or anything but do like our fine dining. We LOVE italian and thai food. Mexican, too. Like I said, that would probably be one of the hardest parts of leaving this area!

We eat on the North Shore (Highland Park, Evanston, Highwood, etc) quite a bit and will often drive to Milwaukee or into the city (Chicago) for a good restaurant, so I'm hoping St Aug and Jacksonville will have some similar fine dining options.

[riveree]

I'll throw my 2 cents in ......

Moving from a first tier city (Chicago) to Jacksonville, which is more of a second tier city, you will find many things lacking - that is a given.

We do have many of your specific requests though. The Avenues Mall has both an Ann Taylor and an Ann Taylor Loft, also a Coach store and some other nice stores. The company that owns the Avenues mall also owns the Saint John's Town Center and these are the 2 nicest malls we have in Jacksonville and the entire Jacksonville area. The Saint John's Town Center is outdoors and has a lot more luxury stores and the better restaurants (P.F. Chang's, etc.). The Avenues Mall is indoors and about to double in size with the outdoor "Avenues Walk" mall under construction across the street.

You'll also find some great shopping - and some of our best restaurants in the river neighborhood of San Marco. So while you won't have all you had in Chicago, I think you'll be pleased with what you find here.

The next decision is how far from these places do you want to be? Less that 30 minutes? More than 30 minutes? How about Mayo?

Jacksonville is primarily suburban, St. Johns and Clay county are entirely suburban (and rural), so your suburb choices are endless if that's what you're looking for. New/newer construction is especially plentiful in all the counties while desirable older, established communites with houses from the 1920's, 30's, 40's are limited in quantity and mostly found along the river (such as the San Marco neighborhood I mentioned above).

p.s. Chipolte is alright, and I think we have 4 of them now in Jax, but give Tijuana Flats a try, I think they are so much better and they're local (originated in Orlando) .

[projectmaximus]

If you want to go local with burritos, how bout Burrito Gallery downtown?

Good to see you back, Riv. I didn't realize Avenues Walk was considered an extension of the Avenues Mall.

Orchid, if you're willing to drive to Milwaukee and Chicago for good food, then I think you'll be fine driving around the city of Jacksonville. You'll find what you need, and as long as you don't eat out at expensive restaurants too frequently, you probably wont run out of options.