What's Your Favorite Regional Food?
Talarashne - Wed, 04/28/2010 - 10:21
Every region has food's that were invented or perfected there and are known specialties of the place. You can get Buffalo Wings most places these days, but Buffalo obviously has the best, along with Garbage Plates. Canadians have Poutine. Philadelphia has the Cheesesteak, etc.
What is your favorite regional speciality from where you live? Something from where you live that your area is known for, and even not even available most other places?
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Pittsburgh
We have alot of good regional specialties, most of which are rooted in the ethnic makeup of the city. Lots of Polish and Eastern European immigrants, as well as Italians. So you can get a shitton of great Italian food, as well as Eastern European specialties that are harder to find in other places. Most cities you can't buy Pierogies from street vendors like you can here. Also there is a weird thing where people call something a Pittsburgh variant of a dish by putting french fries and steak tips on it. Pittsburgh Salad? It's a cobb salad with french fries and steak tips on it.
Also another thing the area is known for is a style of cooking a steak. It's called "Pittsburgh" obviously, and what it is is a totally rare steak whose outside is charred with a blowtorch. You don't even put it on the grill really, you just totally char the outside with extremely hot fire (right in the fire, or with a blowtorch) and then the inside is blood red rare, but the outside is crusty and burnt. Good steak chefs around the country know how to do it if you ask for your steak "pittsburgh style" though your waitress might not. But I've gone to steakhouses across the country and been able to order it.
However my favorite food from the area is unquestionably the Primanti Sandwich. No pictures can truly do it justice but...
I've mentioned it before on the old site. It's something you generally can only get in Pittsburgh (though they have some restaurants down in Florida where there are a ton of retired Pittsburghers and the owners summer). It's two thick cut slices of french bread, fried grilled meat and melted cheese, covered in a vinegar based cole slaw, slices of tomatoes. Best with hot sauce and/or ketchup on top.
Story goes that some steelworkers asked the Primanti Brothers to make them a sandwich that had everything on it so they coudl eat it easily at work, where eating fries and cole slaw would be problematic, so they took their cheesesteak and put it on french bread, and put the cole slaw and fires on the sandwich. A hit was born.
This is PURE Pittsburgh and it's so goddamned good that ANY guild member who visits me in Pittsburgh gets a free Primanti Sandwich of their choice (lots of choices of meat, or double egg and cheese for teh vegetarians). We'll also get some fried spicy pickles and some Pennsylvania beer.
Damn
looks like something you'd find on thisiswhyyourefat.com
I'd give it a try, but after hot wings. :)
Hmm... well Maryland is pretty famous for crabs. Crab cakes, and cream of crab soup. There are several places around me that serve massive crab cakes.
If it doesn't look like this, it's not a real crab cake.
Michigan Wasn't Easy
but I guess they're known for the Walleye Sandwich.
I personally haven't had (Walleye) it though so cannot comment.
Walleye Sandwich Recipe - How To Make A Walleye Sandwich
4 (4- to 6-ounce) skinless, boneless walleye filets
1/4 cup liquid (water, milk, cream, white wine, or beer) of your choice
1 egg
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
14 cup saltine cracker crumbs or dry bread crumbs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
2 teaspoons ground paprika
Vegetable oil
4 hamburger buns
Lettuce leaves
Sliced tomatoes
Tartar sauce
Rinse filets and pat dry with paper towels; cut into sizes appropriate for sandwiches.
In a flat dish, beat the liquid of your choice and egg until well blended. In another flat dish, combine flour, cracker or bread crumbs, baking powder, salt, pepper, and paprika until smooth.
Dip filets into the egg mixture, then into the breading mixture (pat breading onto the filets with your fingers), shaking off excess. Place the breaded filets in a single layer on a platter or pan; refrigerate for 30 minutes (this will allow the breading to set).
Preheat oven to 150 degrees F. In a large frying pan, heat 1/2-inch of vegetable oil to 365 degrees F. Add the breaded filets and fry 3 to 5 minutes on each side, turning once, or until fish flakes easily with a fork and is golden brown. Remove from hot oil and drain on paper towels. Keep war, uncovered in the oven.
Serve on hamburger buns with lettuce leaves, sliced tomatoes, and tartar sauce.
Makes 4 sandwiches.
Donar Pzza.
magne a gyro or ebab on a pzza.
WTF
you dip it in mayo???
No it's like Gyro sauce
it's like a greek pizza with gyro meat on it, and the gyro sauce. I so desparately want to try one.
Tzatziki.
When I have a kitchen, I'm so making that stuff myself. There was a sub shop in the neighborhood where I grew up that put it on every sandwich they made, and I just got addicted. Best. Sauce. Ever.
I keep hoping my grocery would
carry that but its too much to hope for in Western Michigan.
I suppose I could give it a shot in making it one of these days
It's not that hard.
Really the only esoteric part is finding (or making) the Greek yogurt. If you can't find the Greek stuff, regular plain yogurt, tied up in a cheesecloth, hung inside a vessel to drain in the fridge for a couple hours will do it.
OMG
I found a place in Pittsburgh that has this. I'm ordering one.
Weeee!
Not exactly the same. Red Onions instead of what looks like yellow onions, but the cheese, gyro donair meat, and sauce are spot on. I'd say yours still looks better, but this is a functional replacement that makes me happy.
well, i think California is a tough one
but i would have to say, Mexican Hole in the Wall joints..
The Pastor Taco, marinated pork...
The Torta..Yum!
Heh.
I know that's got to be queso blanco or sour cream or something in that top picture but it looks like toasted marshmallows.
We've actually just started to get a really good Mexican food scene going in Birmingham thanks to an increase in the population, and some very, very nice taco joints have come with it. One down the street from me serves probably a dozen different meats, including cabeza and lengua and some of the even more "you really don't want to ask what that word means" varieties.
yeah, funny meats
Lengua isn't bad, cabeza is fatty, but stay away from Seso's unless you're into brains
it's queso Blanco, on the taco
I should not have viewed this thread before lunch
I might have to drag my wife and boys to a taqueria. Not that we have any good ones here, but it'll at least hit the craving.
California is SUPER easy!
http://www.itsiticecream.com/
No doubt!
Hoo boy.
Being from the South, I've got to say nobody in the fuckin' world does breakfast like we do. It's honestly not out of the question to see ham, sausage, and bacon served on the same plate, along with hash browns, eggs, fried apples, grits, and either biscuits or corn muffins or sometimes both. This is a meal that you wake up for and then you have to go back to bed immediately afterward. You can get most of the components if you go to, say, a Cracker Barrel, but I can guarantee you the biscuits you get anywhere else in the country are a pale, sad imitation of what we've got down here.
And don't even get me started on what you people call fried chicken. And any place where you can ask for "sweet tea" and they point you at a packet of sugar isn't a place where civilized human beings live.
That donair pizza looks pretty cool, we get stuff like that down here (lots of Greek influence in town). My favorite is a loaded baked potato with gyro and barbecue sauce on top; best thing in the world in the middle of the night.
The one thing I think I miss from Nebraska is the cheese frenchee - it's a grilled cheese sandwich but battered and deep fried. Never did take much to chili with cinnamon rolls, and the "runza" - ground beef and onions wrapped in dough and cooked, kind of like a high-end hot pocket - never really appealed to me either.
Ooh.
Thought of another great Greek thing they do around here, but I know they also do it in the Northeast (as I had to listen to Robert Irvine wax enthusiastic about it for 30 minutes for an episode of Best Thing Ever). They call them "pronto"s here, and it's a breakfast sandwich. You take a pita, get it nice and toasty, lay an omelet on top, cover that with cheese, and when it gets nice and melty you lay falafel or gyro right down the middle and roll the whole contraption up. I usually buy one of each, eat half and half and put the rest in the fridge for tomorrow. Hit that with a little Sriracha sauce and you're in heaven.
God damn it, I know where I'm going tomorrow morning now.
Okay, that sounds amazing
I don't know if you can get that here, but I would love to try that. With sweet tea.
sweet tea.
What southerns call Sweet Tea, the rest of the country calls syrup. =)
Heh.
Sweet tea is easy to fuck up. You oversweeten, you put the sugar in too early, you put the sugar in too late, all going to give you a nasty, bad glass of tea. Done right though, there's absolutely nothing better to go with something spicy.
Love my sweet tea!
I went to this "cajun" place out here in Cali and asked the waitress if they had sweet tea. She said they did and would go get me a glass. She came back with some regular tea and handed my ass 4 sugar packets! I was upset! Needless to say, I've never been back to that place.
Okay I'm seriously hungry now
For the Northwest, specifically Oregon, I'd have to go with microbrewed beer. Sure, it's found in other parts of the country, but we have an exceptional collection of microbreweries based here. Also some local brew pubs that are amazingly good.
This is where I'd take any beer drinking guildie who came to town http://www.alamedabrewhouse.com/
We have lots of good food here, but Mexican food in this town sucks. I mean really sucks. You're much better off eating something else--Asian food, pan-ethnic food, anything but Mexican.
And I'd also take visitors here http://voodoodoughnut.com/ because who doesn't want a maple bar with bacon on it. They are delicious, and there's lots of others to choose from if that freaks you out. When Voodoo opened they had a donut with Nyquil on it, but it wasn't on the menu long. Think there was also one with Stoli.
Mmmm...bacon
Oh! I saw voodoo doughnut on a show once I think. That maple and bacon one looks AWESOME
Just like pancakes
with maple syrup and bacon. It honestly does taste like breakfast, in the nicest possible way. I close my eyes when I eat it. It's that freakin good.
Oh man....
Okay okay... bake pancake mix in a cupcake liner, cover with maple icing, decorate with bacon.
I must do this.
Chocolate covered Bacon
i actually had some of this at the Los Angeles county fair
it is pretty good! , it's alot better than the Crispy Creme donut chicken sandwich..Bleh!
Had it.
Not that, precisely, but Mo's Bacon Bar, which is a chocolate bar with applewood smoked bacon and smoked sea salt in it. They sell them at Whole Foods, along with a whole bunch of other bizarre varieties (like white chocolate and kalamata olives).
It was... all right.
Yeah, the texture was odd
I tried a Mo's Bacon Bar and found the texture of the bacon crumbles somewhat disturbing. Mostly, as Jaleika pointed out, it tastes like salty chocolate. I wouldn't buy it again.
This is the company that makes the bacon bar & the other bars E is referring to http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/
My very very favorite of theirs is this http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/product/red_fire_exotic_candy_bar/exotic_candy_bars
Spicy chocolate, oh lordy this stuff is good. Not Tal-hot, but a pleasant spicy hot that builds delightfully in your mouth.
one word.
fluff.
I could use a Fluff
Oh wait...
the marshmallow stuff?
Fluffernutter
Also a good word to use around kids in place of cussing, had to get in the habit of watching my language so started to use this instead (added to the fact my son and other kids thought it was funny) :)
^that
it's the best lazy food in the world
...until you've had it 5 days a week for a year straight, then you never want to eat it again.
my kid
would eat that every day if i let him
also.
clam chowdah.
not just chowder, chowDAH. it isn't new england's unless it's chowdah.
or dunkin donuts. america doesn't run on dunkin's, new england does. we can't live without at least 5 of them in a 5 minute driving span.
No shit about Dunkin Donuts
When we lived up there we'd joke that you can't go anywhere in boston without going out of sight of a DUnkin Donuts. They're fucking everywhere.
I'd also add for Boston in addition to Clam Chowdah, lobsters even though they're from north of the city, there are few major cities in America with so much available Lobster.
orly.
I've been to Dunkin' Donuts. It's crap. Timmy's is the best coffee & doughnut shop you're ever gonna find.. at one college campus I toured in Halifax they had not one, but two shops in the same building. One located at one corner, the other on the opposite. You cannot find a town in Canada without a Tim Horton's. They're everywheres. Never had the coffee but the baked stuff is amazing.
And they only hire women to run the registers. Apparently they get better customer reactions. Sexist bastards.
Yes.
Dunkin' Donuts in Boston is like 7-11's down here. There's one on every block.
Dunkin Donuts...
...is for people who can't handle Krispy Kremes.
Amen, brotha!
Preach on, preach on!
Little known fact:
If a Krispy Kreme has the "Hot Doughnuts" sign lit, you can legally break any traffic code or law in order to get into the parking lot or drive through in an expeditious manner. This covers everything up to and including vehicular homicide (provided the victim was directly blocking your path).
It's true!
We learned that in Crim Law! It's called the Doughnut Defense, and it's proven much more effective than the Twinkie Defense...
Little-known modification to the law...
...instituted by local law enforcement - you have to share your doughnuts with the officer(s) who respond, or they report it a block away and confiscate the doughnuts as evidence.
Dunkin Donuts sucks... but....
The coffee and Dunkin Donuts went seriously downhill like...jeeze 14-15 years ago now? It used to be really great, there was one across the street from my apartment in Boston, and I'd get coffee every morning there. Then one morning it didn't taste like great coffee anymore but watery coffee flavored pseudo tea.
I thought "meh they had a bad pot" but it continued. The next day I asked for the manager. I said "Hey for a couple days in a row the coffee has been crap. Did you guys change anything? Are you using like half the grounds as before or something?" and he just looked at me and said "no it's the same as it always has been."
He was a goddamned liar though. At some point there Dunkin Donuts changed their coffee, either the grounds, or how many grounds they use per pot. It now varys per restaurant but more often than not it just sucks these days. I get coffee there only if I have no choice. It's hot brownish water at this point.
---
Now as for Donuts, it depends. If you're big on the glazed fluffy type there's no doubt that Krispy Kremes, particularly when the light is on, are superior. However I've found that for certain other types of donuts, like Boston Kremes, or Cake varietyies Dunkin Donuts are better than Krispy Kremes. It might be regional.
The funny thing is that here in Pittsburgh until this past year you had to drive 30 miles from the city to get a donut from either (or from somewher ebesides a grocery store). the only donut places were in the boondocks. They JUST opened a Dunkin Donuts here in the city.
It's just not a donut city here.
Northern California food...
I love this thread!
Well, I live in Virginia now, but since it has been less than 2 months I can hardly speak to the specialties around here just yet. I spent most of my life living in Northern California and my favorite regional things were the produce, bread, and wines. Sorry, I can't seem to come up with just a single dish that was special to the area. How about I recommend a small local winery instead? Todd Taylor Wines. Totally worth checking out if you ever get a chance. The guy is so nice and his Cabs are to die for. They are based out of the Old Sugar Mill which is this incredible old renovated sugar mill along the river with 6 small wineries inside and they throw the best parties/wine tastings. Right before I moved, I attended their Port and Chocolate event and had a blast even though I don't like port unless I also have a mouthful of chocolate...which was convenient since the servers kept handing me massive amounts of both port and chocolate.
As for the produce, I am soooo spoiled by CA produce. Farmers' Markets were everywhere. I LOVED going to the market held regularly at the San Francisco Ferry Building. I suppose one food item that I saw way more often in NorCal than anywhere else is avocado. We put avocado on everything and it seems that people in other areas find this strange. Avocado, brie, wine, and the best fresh french or sourdough bread in the world. Man, I miss San Francisco!
That does remind me of Northern California
Avocado, Brie, Wine, Sourdough or French Bread.
Something else that's very San Francisco besides sourdough bread bowls, is putting mayo and mustard on a sandwich together. Not that people don't do that other places, but it's almost standard in san fran to order a sandwich and have them put mustard and mayo on it.
When I use to live in Connecticut
use to enjoy getting these:
A lobster roll.
Heck even McDonalds use to carry them in New Engand :)
Man do I miss New England.
Recipe (Everyone has their own favorite)
Directions
I make those at home :)
my dad's side all comes from Maine, but the bun is wrong...needs to be the square ones
Kansas City
We've got Bar-b-que. It's all about the bbq sauce here though a good grilled meat is a must as well. If you don't use at least three napkins when eating a bbq sandwich then there's not enough sauce. And of course the meat of choice around here is beef.
We like to eat around here. I think there's a little bit of everything as far as ethnic food goes. Recently we had a Brazilian restaurant open--fantastic meat selection but the side dishes were a bit on the "whatever" side.
I have a friend just outside of KC
He swears by the KC BBQ over Memphis and Carolina. I have to go eat it sometime.
The original Hereford House
The original Hereford House in KC has the Best steak anywhere i have been in the US. I have to stop and eat there 3 or 4 times a year
Oh boy, yeah. I used to
Oh boy, yeah. I used to order burgers from there for lunch until the place blew up. That was just the downtown location. Those burgers were huge and they were only $5 and you got fries. They were some of the best burgers I've ever had.
Jerusalem Cafe and others
We also have really good Middle Eastern food for some reason. I'm stil trying to get to some of our more famous BBQ places; most are out of my price range. :/
!
Alongside the Donair Pizza I mentioned above (it's called donair meat here, corruption of donner I guess), which is solely an eastern Canadian dish, there are garlic fingers. They don't have these in the US, but they're standard across Canada. It's a side dish any self respecting pizza joint makes to go alongside a pizza; it's... basically another, usually smaller pizza, with garlic spread instead of sauce, and lots of cheese for topping. Sometimes they add bacon. Almost always served the the aforementioned donair sauce, which is a derivative of Tzatziki.
And of course, Poutine. Developed in Quebec, Poutine is a well known and beloved Canadian dish that few, if any other countries in the world possess. I believe there was some baseball stadium in the US considering it, but somehow Americans, known for eating anything, balk at this. I don't see why. Take hot, crispy french fries, place cold cheese curd across them, and then very hot, brown gravy, usually beef. The curds don't melt, and offer a unique 'squeaking' sound and feel as they're eaten.
the garlic fingers
You can get them here. Depending on which pizza joint you order "breadsticks" from some will give the standard pizza hut ish breadsticks, but others you get exactly what you're describing. Basically a small pizza cut up, with garlic and cheese melted on it like am ini pizza.
Fried morrell mushrooms.
Fried morrell mushrooms. Where I live these are srsbsns... they only grow for about 3 weeks every spring and I log a ridiculous number of hours in the woods hunting them.
Yeah but...
....do they get you high?
Yes, do tell
but they do look delicious, and don't Morels have a "light" flavor?
and don't the ones that get ya high grow on cow poop?
No these do not get you high
No these do not get you high unless you acount for the uphoria you get from the yummy goodness. There the same as any old mushrooms you buy a the store except modern science has not been able to come up with a way to grow these in an artifical way. Sooo finding them in the woods is the one and only way to get them. The do big 100 or 200 man hunts here and in Michigan and send them to all the grocery stores for sale in our areas. They go for 50- 75 bucks a pound if you buy them so i will just keep on hunting. I generaly find enough for 2 or 3 good meals for me and my family each spring and that takes me around 24 - 36 hours spent in the woods depending on how lucky i am.
And yes the bad mushrooms do grow all the hell over my place every year. I have had to run kids off on more then one occation. If they ever legalized those kind of shrooms i would be set for life..lol
lol
send me some of the bad ones, washed plox..
nostalgia!
I used to go morrell hunting with my dad when I was little! He would make me and my sisters scramble around under trees and give ten dollars to the one who found the most....
I have never tried them fried though! Looks so delicious....
Half-Smokes
DC Original, and everybody loves em...
And this is where you go to get them:
You know
I've heard of them. repeatedly. Next time I head down to DC I'm gonna have to try one out.
Looks omg delicious
Never heard of these, but hot damn that looks good!!
New Orleans
Gotta be a Muffaletta Sandwich!
Yay for Louisianans!
This is Rautha's favorite food too! This summer, he was homesick and I found him one that was liek 10lbs and 30$ of meaty olivey mess. Suffice to say there were serious structural integrity problems but he didnt mind a bit.
Something from home.
Food trucks!
I was sitting here this morning and it hit me something that is a LA thing is gourmet food trucks. I know they have these all over the place but here it has turned into a cult following. People follow where they will be on Twitter and drive to where they will be stopped just to get a taste of some of the great food they have to offer.
Here is a couple I could think of here in LA:
Good burgers, messy and one will give you a heartattack. Made with 2 grilled cheese sandwiches for the buns of the burger. http://www.grillemalltruck.com/
Don Chow Tacos...Chinese/Mexican fusion cuisine http://www.donchowtacos.com/
Grilled Cheese Truck, supposed to be awesome! http://www.thegrilledcheesetruck.com/
The Nomnom Truck serving Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches http://nomnomtruck.com/
Probly a ton more I'm missing too, check out your local area and see if you guys have any food trucks like this...never know. And its a blast to track them down, its like going on an easter egg hunt across town but the reward is some damn good food.
Nice
I've spotted maybe a half-dozen of these bad boys popping up in DC, and they always look interesting. I've seen a lobster truck, a cupcake truck, a korean food truck, a fish taco truck, a cheese truck and....
A POUTINE TRUCK! No joke...
Nom nom.
Yeah, those two chick can nom nom me any time.
I saw them on the Great Food Truck Race on Food Network.
Haha!!!
I agree with you Kibs...hotties for sure. Yea, I watched that too. Was a good show, that was how I found out about all the great food trucks that LA has out here. Me and the GF try to go find new ones on the weekend sometimes, kind of a fun date to drive around and search for a new spot to eat dinner and know it won't be at the same place next week.
Scotland - Munchy Box
http://blog.23x.net/5/what-is-a-munchy-box.html
i dont really know what is going on here....
but i think it is a tad disturbing...
Yer Kidding
Man I want to order that for lunch. That's a whole big box of fried good.
I'd be happy
I'd be hapy with the meat and naan. And some fries. And maybe a piece of chicken tikka.... Damn it. I'd prolly eat the entire thing.
i dont see the chicken
i dont see the chicken tikka.... i think i was thrown by the french fries and red rings of something strange.
rofl
The red rings are onion rings, they just use a thicker batter. The lower right is chicken tikka I'm guessing. The list of stuff in there is in the link.
Where's our resident brit to comment on this!?
The Indian Food is Superior in England
This is all I know. It's not like the Indian food over here is not made by indians, so I have to assume they dumb it down or something for Americans. Or I've just been lucky in that the Indian Food I've gotten in England has all been from good places. Just feels spicier and more authentic. Probably because there are more actual Indians over there who eat it, I dunno.
This though, apparently is some sort of Scottish Turkish Indian Smorgasbord of Awesome. Doner Kebab, Naan, Chips/Fries, Crappy Salad/Cole Slaw, and freaking Chicken Tikka and some other Indian appetizers? OMG. GIMME GIMME GIMME.
Seriously, how do we NOT have this here?
Simple...
PETA teamed up with the American Heart Association and coerced the Obama administration to outlaw this level of animal-based awesomeness.
P.E.T.A.
People
Eatting
Tasty
Animals
I approve this message.
I approve this message.
Somehow, I just knew that you
Somehow, I just knew that you would like this one Moo! :)
!
There's an indian restaurant in a city near where I live, run by actual indian immigrants. First taste of that kinda food I had was from there, so it kinda spoiled me on everything else. I'm able to make a fair amount of it myself now, though I've failed every single time I attempted to make paneer. They have a sound system set up in the restaurant to play indian music as well, it's quite nice. Even more impressive is, since it's in Moncton, which is in New Brunswick and therefore forcibly bilingual, the staff need to know not only whichever indian dialect they speak, but english, AND french.
My wife makes our own Paneer
She'll make Saag Paneer maybe once every couple months. I wish shemade it more often but the making of the paneer is alot of work I guess, or at least moreso, so she tends only to do it ocasionally, but it's so good when she does make it. There used to be this amazing Indian place a neighborhood over that we'd go to. Family owned, amazing place. Sadly they sold out to another Indian family who seemed to be tryign to make some sort of Indian restaurant chain in town, the entire menu changed (although you coudl still order off their old one with a wink and a nudge), and then six months later they closed their doors.
That looks like lunch to me...
damnit now my mouth is watering.
bad placement.
At least I hope you aren't looking at the the pic of the cow pooping, firk. D=
Uh no...
was looking at the delicious Scottish fried stuff. Cows pooping...yeah, not so appetizing.
Call me old fashioned
+
+
=
+
And a sure way to get lucky with the hubby!
Though I do prefer a Bow when hunting Elk, I had to show off my favorite toy..
I love our traditional foods since I spend a considerable amount of time gathering, fishing, and hunting. Nothing like fresh fry bread with homemade huckleberry jam!