Gates is  truly excellent!  I've had Jack Stacks, too, but it's pretty pricey.  Arthur Bryant got national name recognition at one point, but you're right - it's nowhere near as good as Gates.  But the best I had there was in a little bar downtown that I'll be damned if I can find again...
The company I do this contract work for won't pay for the train, only a plane.  Which is asinine, a round trip from central PA is about $320, much cheaper than plane fare.  It takes longer (there's a 12 hour layover in downtown Chicago), but the airlines are just as bad nowadays with the missed connections and insane routing - last year, I flew from central PA to Philly, to Denver (!!) then to KC.  
Where the fuck's the sense in that?