Define "Texas Lunch"

Cafe Society
1

I know what it is. It is a a plate of a certain kind hot dogs with a thick skin split down the middle and filled with chopped onions and some sort of meat chili dressing served in a steamed bun. I enjoy this when I am in the US and for some reason Googled the term.

Not one hit for the correct thing.

I know a place in my Maryland hometown that serves them under that name. I know a place in Gettysburg with the words painted on the glass.
Have you heard of this term? What do you call such a meal?

===eta===
I found it.

“Texas Tommy” is from the general Philadelphia/New Jersey area.

2

No, I take it back. A “Texas Tommy” is not quite what I mean by “Texas lunch.”

3

Here’s a place in Lock Haven PA. There’s also a place in Chambersburg PA named the New Texas Lunch Restaurant.

The Texas lunch appears to be chili dogs, available at the best restaurants nationwide. It’s hard to tell but some of the pictures seem to show the chili has been adulterated with beans, so it certainly has nothing to with real chili which even Texas doesn’t screw up.

4

More advanced Googling shows a number of such places in Pennsylvania. What you have to understand is the weird thick casing on the hot dog that makes it realistic.
You know what I mean? Perhaps it is regional.

5

[Moderating]

Since this is asking for personal experiences, it’s not the best fit for GQ. Since it’s asking about food, it’s a good fit for CS. Moving.

6

I just can’t believe I’ve never heard of this. I’m in S.Arkansas. next door to Texas. I’ve spent a bunch of time in Texas hill country. I have 2 sibs who live in Texas.
Sounds good, though.

7

I’ve not heard of it, in fact when I saw the thread title I assumed it was a euphemism of some kind.

8

Yeah, I assumed it was some kind of ‘beat-down’.

9

Are they just natural casing hot dogs?

10

I assumed “six-pack of Lone Star.”

11

No man, Pearl Light!

(According to my Sister:))

12

They might be. I simply do not know. In fact, my mind was wandering in the direction of “What kind of hot dogs do they use?” when I started this.

13

So far it sounds like this is a dish known only in Pennsylvania, and doesn’t actually occur in Texas.

14

Yeah, that’s what my thought was since I’d never heard of it. Plus, it seems like it’d be weird to call a specific lunch a “Texas Lunch” when you’re in Texas.

Two quarts of Fallstaff! Mmmmmm, I miss Fallstaff. Yeah, a St. Louis company, but they had two breweries in Texas.

15

or a disturbing sex act.

16

True. And if I had to guess at a “typical” or “classic” Texas lunch, I’d be putting my money on one of three things:

  1. Some kind of taco
  2. Some kind of barbecue- probably a chopped beef brisket sandwich.
  3. A bowl of chili (no beans or other extraneous vegetables).

Man, you’ve got a few years under your belt! I’m 47, and I’ve only ever seen/heard of Falstaff as (mostly) old ads/signs that were still around in Houston/Galveston when I was a boy.

The latter-day “classic” Texas brews are Pearl Light, Lone Star, and Shiner Bock. You used to see more straight Pearl and un-modified Shiner, but I haven’t seen Pearl in years, and what used to just be “Shiner” is now Shiner Blonde, which doesn’t get a lot of sales traction from what I can tell.

17

In my experience, many foodstuffs that take the name of a location are not actually from there, and if they are, they don’t take that name in the location they’re named from. For instance, I expect a cheesesteak to be more authentic if it’s called just a “cheesesteak” but if they have to emphasize how much they represent Philly by calling it a Philly cheesesteak, they will generally not be all that great.

18

I’m now trying to figure out what a typical ‘Arky Lunch’ would be. Hmmm?
(If anyone says Possum and greens, I may get offended:))

19

Maybe you can find some ideas here:

There, I think that satisfies my “offensive stereotype” quota for the day.

20

God, that show!! I’ve cooked a few of those things.