Italian is the ultimate comfort food, and Angelina’s Ristorante Italiano in Concord has a flawless presentation of it.

Rudi's has been open since just mid-June but the buzz has been going on about this restaurant for many months.

Brews and burgers, stout and chowder, lager and pizza — the foods we pair with beer are usually pretty much traditional pub fare, simple comfort food to fortify until the next pint.

The “Decks,” the series of open-air seating spaces each attached to a restaurant, are all open and in full swing down by the harbor in Portsmouth.

Laconia’s Bike Week is over, but at Crazy Gringo’s the bikers still thunder down the street to park in front and come in for a cold beer and some pretty good Mexican fare at great prices. The atmosphere is laid back during the day, much livelier at night.

With the renovation of The Centennial Hotel, its own restaurant, Granite, goes beyond the usual hotel cuisine experience with its contemporary décor and creative food with influences from all over the globe.

In a world where most Chinese restaurants serve just about the same old Americanized versions of General Gau’s chicken or kung pao beef, when one stands out a bit above the rest it’s a cause for celebration.

Right about now things get crazy down at Hampton Beach, enough so that Seacoast locals try to stay away for as long as they can in the summer, letting the tourists take over.

There are plenty of pizza joints all over the state, each with a take on the classic pie and each usually with the standard array of related foods on the menu. Salem Kabob goes beyond the pizza and into more exotic fare.

The ambience at Black Orchid is a pleasant homage to an era gone by. The classic and kitschy décor invokes Paris circa 1930 and colorful posters depict bubbly wine and lithe ladies.

There’s an interesting type of behind-the-counter restaurant worker I encounter from time to time. They’re the kind who seem to care less about interacting with customers and doing a great job and more about the interpersonal social activity of having the job itself.

We don’t have many miles of beach in New Hampshire, but what we do have is filled with lovely views and plenty of restaurants to dine in while admiring those views.

I pulled the end of a black chili pepper from my mouth, most of it already down my throat, leaving a burning sensation tempered only slightly by the potatoes and onions of my Masala Dosa, a Southern Indian specialty that includes a large crepe wrapped around various fillings and a small bowl of sambhar, a soupy dish of vegetables and spices ($8.95).

If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you might just drive past Eden Restaurant, at least that’s what Companion and I did.

From what my companion and I observed about the guests that trickled into the lovely Victorian-inspired dining room filled with cascades of fresh orchids, the Bedford Village Inn is a popular special-occasion restaurant.

I smelled garlic before walking into Nonni’s front door and I tasted it long after walking out. Happily, between those bookend garlic experiences was a whole dinner of delicious dishes.

La Hacienda Del Rio has all the basics of Mexican cuisine, but also much more in interesting entrees and delicious margaritas that go beyond the usual fare for Northerners like us.

931 Ocean is a terrific, hip, beach restaurant with a low-key attitude and food that, amazingly enough, outshines the cool atmosphere of black lacquered tables, bright wall colors and artwork of stylized waves.

South Garden is one of the few places to go in New Hampshire for authentic Dim Sum, the little snacks of dumplings, steamed buns and meat tidbits found in many regions of China.

The small parking lot in front of Pan Thai II is usually jammed. People park to dine in the small Exeter restaurant or double-park to run in and get their takeout.

Holidays is one of those affordable local spots with a bar, a few rooms for family-friendly dining and a menu that tells you you’re in America.

The Peddler’s Daughter is a cozy Irish pub (in a huge room) with good service, lively atmosphere and very good, even upscale, Irish cuisine.

If you like Slim’s Tex Mex in downtown Rochester, you’ll also like Fat Tony’s. Sharing the same owner, the restaurant also has much of the same liveliness, albeit without the live music.

At Gauchos Churrascaria in Manchester, you'll experience an endless parade of steaming, succulent roasted beef, pork, lamb, ribs, even chicken hearts cut off the skewer right at the table and served with gusto by dudes in modified Brazilian cowboy garb. Vegetarians beware.

Save room for dessert. I don’t have to advise that really, you’ll do it anyway after you see the long pastry case filled with brightly colored cakes, mousses, pies and an enticing myriad of elaborate sweets when you walk into Popovers on the Square in Portsmouth.

If you’re driving the country roads around Kingston, it’s a shock to come across Carmen’s Diner, a huge, bright red, barn-like building – with even brighter yellow trim – among the much more subdued white and beige homes nearby.

West Lebanon’s 7 Barrel Brewery has a very good reputation for its craft beers, and deservedly so.

Dining at The Inn at Thorn Hill in Jackson Village is a lovely experience.

Eagle Mountain House is one of those big, old, grand hotels from the late 1800s that has changed and expanded over the years and now overlooks a great cross-country ski trail and golf course and offers some good recreational options.

Set along a stretch of highway just past the main drag in Claremont, among fast food joints and strip malls, is Bistro Nouveau, a hopping dinner spot with terrific live music and delicious food at a remarkably good price.

Quaint little college towns usually have more than their share of pizza joints and Chinese restaurants, but in Hanover, there also are a few cuisine gems – great spots for lunch, dinner and just hanging out at the bar.

The cozy New Boston Tavern, the former Molly Stark Tavern that changed hands in 2005, retains its warm, welcoming atmosphere.

There are many chain restaurants to choose from in any mall area, but in Newington there’s Ixtapa Cantina, a little oasis among them all.

Don’t let the stark facade of The Seedling Café on a little side street in Nashua fool you.

It’s nice to dine in a restaurant that’s kid-friendly without having to put up with talking buffalo heads or a menu filled with deep-fried fare.

The New England Center at The University of New Hampshire in Durham is a conference center and hotel set out in the woods which houses Acorns, one of very few fine dining restaurants in town.

The Tilt’n Diner is all about attitude. Iit’s got that comfortable, homey feeling that many of the “Common Man family” of restaurants have, each with its own individual flair.

Most of us would chuckle if someone opened a restaurant called “Paris and Rome,” or “Madrid and Athens” but we don’t blink an eye when there’s yet another mixture of Asian cuisines.

We walk up to the cheery pale yellow building that houses Bellini’s and are greeted by even cheerier Italian music piped out into the parking area with a welcoming Feniculi, Feniculaaaa!, or perhaps some Sinatra.

A look around the vast barn-like dining room of The Red Blazer tells you immediately that the restaurant is all about family.

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