The other day I was showing a Norwegian friend some photos from our trip to Disney World last January. She told me about their trip there a few years ago and mentioned something that really disappointed her at Epcot’s World Showcase. For those of you who haven’t been there, one half of Epcot is made up of about twelve different areas (referred to as pavillions) each representing a different country. Each pavillion is built to show architectural styles typical of that country, and each has at least one restaurant serving food from that nation. Well, my friend and her family were planning to have lunch at the “American Adventure” pavillion, assuming that Disney, knowing how many foreign guests come to their theme parks, would be showing off what American cuisine has to offer besides hot dogs and hamburgers, only to find… well, hot dogs and hamburgers. And a little else, but nothing like what they’d hoped. They decided to head to Morocco instead for hummus and schawarma. Which I’d rather have than a burger, too, frankly, but I agree with her that it’s a wasted opportunity. I’ve been playing with that thought in my head for the past couple days.
So let’s imagine the place my friend had envisioned really exists. In some place that lots of foreign (and American) tourists visit, we’re going to set up a high-quality food court serving authentic American regional foods. We’re going to have five booths: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and West. Each is going to serve food typical of that region - food that is either unavailable, or available only in an inferior form elsewhere. Remember this is a food-court type set-up, so we have to be able to do everything as fast food - no haute cuisine here, folks. But we can imagine that the logistics involved in getting the good stuff to our restaurant have been magically resolved.
What will we be serving? I’m going to insist the Northeast counter serves proper Philadelphia-style cheesesteaks, on real Italian rolls, of course. Oh, and good bagels.
How about regional barbecue from around the country?
Juicy beef brisket from Texas
Baby back ribs in thick, sweet, tomatoey barbecue sauce from Kansas City and St. Louis
Smoky pulled pork from Memphis
Vinegar/mustard-based ribs from North Carolina
Chicken marinated in tequila, chili, and lime, grilled on mesquite, to represent the Southwest
And so on, with beer-battered Vidalia onion rings, golden-fried sweet corn nuggets, cole slaw, corn on the cob, garlic-buttered Texas toast, and more!
But I just got back from my first visit to Kentucky, and was taken on a Culinary Tour by my (Yankee) friend and her very Kentucky husband. First stop: fried green tomatoes (wow! I had no idea they were tangy!) and fried pickles (umm…ok…maybe there IS such a thing as too much salt…) Next, fried chicken with white beans (yum), black-eyed peas (heaven) and boiled cabbage (yum, yum, yum) and a deep fried apple pie like substance for desert.
Anyone have the number for a good cardiologist in the Chicagoland area?
From Chicago (Midwest, I guess, but fairly devoid of jell-o salads): pizza (duh), polish sausage and bratwurst. Perhaps meatball sandwiches, but I suspect they have those other places too.
Also Italian beef sandwiches (giardina peppers optional), and traditional Vienna Beef Chicago-style hot dogs, with the tomato and cucumber slices, pickle spear, and celery salt. And the pizza has to be good and thick, like from Lou Malnati’s or at least Pizzeria Uno.
How about a New York-style deli? Bagels with cream cheese and lox, hot pastrami and corned beef sandwiches on rye or club bread, Reubens, chopped liver, whitefish salad, kosher knockwurst with hot mustard and plenty of sauerkraut, potato, spinach, and kasha knishes, potato salad, cole slaw, kosher dill pickles, tongue, brisket, stuffed cabbage, challah, borscht, matzo ball soup… I could eat deli food every day for the rest of my life and die a very happy man.
You may have missed one of Kentucky’s best dishes: Burgoo. A friend at work whose parents lived in Owensboro, KY, would bring me a gallon of it whenever she went home.
It’s akin to Camp Stew (Alabama) and Brunswick Stew (Georgia) and whatever regional variants by other names permeate the South. A blend of various meats (including rabbit in the case of Burgoo, and all sorts of veggies, and seasoned with most of the spice cabinet, it’s a fine side for BBQ of most varieties.
The best I’ve had has come from Country’s Barbecue in (and near) Montgomery.
Vidalia onions
Collards
Kale
Poke salet (I have never nor will ever eat this)
Scuppernongs and muscadines
Blackberries
Okra
Moon Pies
Goo Goo
Peanut Brittle
Pecan Pralines
Pecan Divinity
Ambrosia
Gumbo
Jambalaya
Po’boys (fried shrimp, oysters, catfish, and crawfish)
Shrimp etoufee
Boiled crawfish (aka crawdads, mudbugs)
Red beans and rice
Andouille sausage
Muffaletta sandwich (genoa salami, ham, provolone cheese, olive salad on round French bread)
Dirty rice
Smashed potatoes
Stuffed crabs
Alligator (fried, in gumbo, or made into sausage or jerky)
Zapp’s potato chips
Big Shot root beer
King Cake
Abita beer (I recommend Purple Haze and Turbo Dog)
Hurricanes (red fruity drink popularized by Pat O’Briens bar)
Hand Grenades (green fruity drink popularized by Tropical Isle bar)
