I'm from socal but I did some research and have a sense for unique food types from visiting norcal sevearl time. Ill try and organize this more later.
Everything here is stuff thats fairly close to antioch, but will probably require some form of transportation. If youre capable of heading closer to san francisco you might have better options with anything that isnt purely local to antioch. Id also definitely highly recommend going to Berkeley and San Francisco for a meal or even just for the experience if given a chance. Get some clam chowder in a breadbowl on the warf
* = my recommendation
Mexican:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mi-pueblo-food-center-pittsburg*
Not too far but you need transportation to get here, but based on what ive read this is something Id highly recommend, especially if youre new to authentic mexican (none of that tex-mex BS from the southwest
). Its a grocery store but it sounds like it sells food too and reviews say it has good prices. They have a seafood section that sounds pretty fresh, so if youre fortunate theyll have mexican-seafood dishes; a hard to find but amazingly delicious hybrid of dishes.
Seafood
http://www.yelp.com/biz/ifes-crab-cioppino-dinner-mountain-view
This place is a small ways, but sounds kind of awesome. They also mention a decent wait time. Its seafood so of course itll be pricey, but if youre in the bay area and can afford it its a necessary experience. h/o if youre able to go to san francisco you might want to wait for better options.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/maes-fish-fry-antioch
Southern style seafood place with good ratings. Any decent seafood places near the bay are probably going to be worthwhile.
Italian
http://www.yelp.com/biz/la-veranda-ristorante-italiano-pittsburg*
Good reviews, and most importantly this place serves italian-seafood, one of the best (and sorta rare) seafood hybrid cuisines imo and made even better by being in the bay area. This is another one where you can probably find a better one near SF, but would be good to try otherwise.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/bella-cucina-antioch
Great reviews and local.
Japanese
so many places...and bay area is a great place for japanese
http://www.yelp.com/biz/okawa-japanese-restaurant-antioch
More of a restaurant in case you arent a fan of sushi. Great reviews.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/little-tokyo-antioch*
Sounds more like a sushi bar and people saying it has good prices, also has great reviews.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/kabuki-sushi-antioch
Another sushi place with good reviews.
Burgers
http://www.yelp.com/biz/nations-giant-hamburgers-and-great-pies-pittsburg
A burger and bakery chain in norcal. Sounds good, Ive never been.
Filipino
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mabuhay-oriental-cuisine-and-food-mart-antioch
Im not a fan of filipino food, but its local and has good ratings.
Dessert
http://www.yelp.com/biz/brown-cow-farm-antioch-2*
An ice cream place, found this under local flavors and it has unusually high ratings. This is probably as specific to antioch as youll get and it sounds pretty good!
http://www.yelp.com/search?find_loc=Brentwood,+CA&cflt=icecream#find_loc=Antioch,+CA
http://www.yelp.com/biz/uphoria-yogurt-antioch*
http://www.yelp.com/biz/go-go-yoh-go-antioch
Apparently antioch has a ton of great local ice cream places in the area (first link). Personally Id recommend the frozen yogurt shops since supposedly the way most other parts of the country do frozen yogurt is different from the way cali does it. Here they are self serve and you have about 15-20 flavors (some normal and some ridiculous) of froyo and about 30+ different toppings you can put on it They usually put a price like $0.30 an ounce and you pay based on how much you serve yourself. If that sounds like something different Id recommend giving it a try. Over here these places are everywhere and sort of double as hangout spots as well, you can probably find other ones but the ones I listed had good ratings which means they probably have better toppings and flavors (although the last link isnt self-serve, so its not a normal cali experience
).
Other
http://www.yelp.com/biz/steeltown-coffee-and-tea-pittsburg
A coffee shop thats more for atmosphere than anything. Since norcal is sorta famous for being hippies and living in coffee shops, I thought Id put this here if you were looking for the experience
. Another place thats more of a WC chain is coffee bean and tea leaf, they have really good drinks and youll probably see them everywhere.
Semi-local
Youll find these places in other parts of the country but theyre more well known for being more common and having origins in the area. Again more of an atmosphere thing
http://www.yelp.com/biz/jamba-juice-antioch
Smoothy places are very popular in cali.
http://www.awrestaurants.com/
One of my favorite fast food places, and their root beer is amazing, definitely not the same when store bought.
BevMo
http://www.yelp.com/biz/bevmo-antioch
Not local at all but its the best place to buy alcohol, lol.