Do certain major cities really have better food? (Chicago pizza, NY bagels, etc.)

In My Humble Opinion
1

All my life, I’ve been hassled by cocky New Yorkers, Chicagoans and the like.

“Oh, you’ve never tasted pizza,” say the denizens of the Windy City. “Back in Chicago, we have real pizza.”

Those hailing from the Big Apple aren’t any less irritating. “They don’t make bagels outside of The City. Oh, you mean this crap that passes for bagels everywhere else but New York? Forget about it!”

To a lesser extent, the same is said for Philadelphia and cheesesteaks, and a hell of a lot of cities lay claim to the pretzel. Thing is, I’m increasingly unsure how much of this talk is reality-based. I have gone, for example, to Chicago, only to be disappointed by the selection of what pizza snobs continually swear by. It’s not that Chicago pizza is bad, but it’s not strictly better than Anytown, USA. Still, I must listen to how I “don’t know pizza because I haven’t been to [yet another hole-in-the-wall Chicago place].”

Is any of this “certain cities have better snack food” rumor actually true?

2

Yup, it’s true. Montreal smokies or poutine. Winnipeg peroghies. Victoria, BC, vegan anything. I couldn’t even start on this topic. Yes. Of course.

3

Ooh. I forgot about all the non-American dopers out there. Now I’m going to have to hear about how the “chozwozzers are better in South Wellington” and whatnot. Guess I brought it on myself…

4

I have yet to eat “Chicago Style Pizza” that is as good as Giordano’s or Carmen’s. OK, or Edwardo’s in a pinch.

5

I’m from Florida where pizza is good, but not incredible. I mean there’s Papa Johns and a few local pizza joints and buffets that are the greatest around, but I can say that nothing I’ve ever tasted can compare to one of those Chicago deep dish pizzas that they cook for an hour. Every bite is incredibly tasty (as opposed to the greasy pizza we normally get in Florida) and one piece feels like an entire meal. You can actually get this pizza at chains in Florida (like Unos), so I guess technically the pizza isn’t specific only to it’s original city.

6

I generally find such claims overrated. Sure, there are good bagels in New York, but I prefer the Montreal style ones. I’ve had good pizza in Chicago and better pizza in London, Ontario. Good food requires good ingredients and a good recipe, nothing more.

7

I used to work at Cicero’s Pizza in California and it was NY style pizza. People from NY said it was just as good or better than NY pizza. But i’m pretty sure that the founder moved here from Niagra Falls in NY. Maybe that explains it.

Scotcho

8

I think it’s safe to say that it’s easier to find good foods of certain types in specific cities. Sure, you can get good chowder in SF, but not as easily as you can in Boston. And you can get good sourdough bread in Boston, but not as easily as you can in SF.

Internationally, of course, it’s even more pronounced. If you like beer, there’s no denying that most beer in Germany tops the best you can get in the US. Etc, etc, etc.

9

Here’s a list of some of my favorite Chicago eateries.

Billy Goat 309 W. Washington St. 312-899-1873 (Cheezborgers) - Of Saturday Night Live fame. Original is located on lower Michigan under the Wrigley Building. A basically good greasy cheeseburger on a kaiser roll. Amenities are in the “dive” category, rowdy and noisy. Good quick lunch place downtown.

Mama Falco’s 7 N. Wells St. 312-782-6576 (Quick Itallian) - Great quick lunch Itallian downtown.

Mister J’s 822 N. State St. 312-943-4679 (Pork Chop Sandwich) - Mmm Mmm Mmm. Typical Chicago-style hot dog joint with great specialty sandwiches.

Mr. Beef 666 N. Orleans St. 312-337-8500 (Beefs) - Chicago Itallian beef. Is there such a thing as an Italian beef sandwich outside Chicagoland?

Perry’s 180 N. Franklin St. 312-372-7557 (Huge Deli Sandwiches) - Better be hungry. Deli sandwiches as big as your head.

Portillo’s 100 W. Ontario St. 312-587-8930 (Sandwiches, Pasta, Ribs) - Local Chicago chain, throw a dart at the menu, you can’t go wrong.

Chicago Chop House 60 W. Ontario St. 312-787-7100 (Fancy, Steak, Chops) - Gangster era motif. Top of the line midwest beef.

Leona’s 3215 N. Sheffield Ave. (Casual, Itallian) - Walk from Wrigley Field. Big portions, very tasty. Perhaps my favorite thin crust pizza in Chicago.

Original Pancake House 22. E. Bellevue Pl. 312-642-7917 (Casual, Breakfast) - If you’re a breakfast kind of person, this is the place.

Su Casa 49 E. Ontario St. 312-943-4041 (Casual, Mexican) - Fairly standard Mexican fare, but it kept me coming back.

Lou Malnati’s 439 N. Wells St. - My favorite Chicago deep dish pizza. Several locations.

Pizzeria Due 619 N. Wabash Ave. 312-943-2400
Pizzeria Uno 29 E. Ohio St. 312-321-1000 - Located almost kitty-corner from each other, this is where Chicago deep dish pizza was invented. Both places are very good. Don’t even think about getting in near prime time though.

Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinders 2020 N. Clark - Unique pizza and specialties. Across the street from the St. Valentines Massacre site … LOL. A must-visit in my book.

Bonappetit :slight_smile:

10

I haven’t been to Chicago in 15 years, but I still remember eating at Su Casa. Yeah, it’s fairly standard fare, but quite yummy!!!

11

I had had some “Philly” cheesesteaks before here in Iowa and elsewhere. But last year, I went to Philly and got a cheesesteak sandwich at Pat’s and it was 10x better than any other that I had ever had. Part of it might of been pschyological, but it did taste a lot better…

12

…cannot be made anywhere else. I don’t know waht it is…maybee tje unique combination of fog,humisdity,etc., but you cannot get good sourdough bread like the stuff in San Francisco.
Anyway, Chicago pizza is good, but it cannot hold a candle to PEPE’s Pizza (New Haven, CT).

13

Bingo.

I’ve had excellent chicken wings in Kansas City, but they’re much easier to find in Buffalo. Likewise, I’ve had great barbecue in New Mexico and Florida, but it seems like it’s impossible to find bad BBQ in Kansas City.

A New York style pizzeria, owned and operated by ex-Brooklynites, using recipes from NYC, but located in Phoenix, isn’t going to produe a product that isn’t as authentic as a pizzeria in NYC itself, just because it’s located a few thousand miles/kilometers away.

14

My Hypotheses:

  1. Different cities/regions developed their special cuisine based on a variety of reasons, e.g., ingredients available, ethnic population coming in, pure dumb luck, etc…

  2. That city/region has a “head start” for that special cuisine - other places may have difficulty bringing together the unique combination of ingredients, prep/cooking process, etc. that go into the special cuisine. Local ambience may also be a factor, but not always.

  3. With today’s technology - for sharing information, shipping food, tuning marketing to meet the needs of people in a given area, the world is getting smaller. It is getting easier to: a) identify that folks in one town want the special cuisine of another area (“Hey, research shows that Singaporeans would love Chicago deep dish pizza!”), and b) to replicate the special ingredients and process required to replicate the cuisine. Maybe not 100%, but closer than ever before…

My $.02

15

Many years ago I took a cross-country trip by bus, eating bagels all the way. You could clearly tell where good bagels came from.

I’ve eaten good bagels in Boston and Rochester (NY) as well as in NYC, but I despaired of getting good bagels when I lived in Salt Lake City. The local bagel places didn’t make them at all right.

One day, they held an “international” festival in Liberty Park in SLC, and one stand had Bagels.
“Oh, Yeah,” I said. “Salt Lake Bagels”

“Oh, no,” I was told, “These were airlifted in from New York.”

They were. Only time I had a good bagel in Salt Lake.

Now that companies and restaurants are expanding and franchising elsewhere, I suspect that the OP’s assertion is becoming less true. Most places don’t make Chicago-style Deep Dish pizza (which I’ve had in Chicago), but the frncxhising of Pizzeria Uno (and the copycat Numero Uno on the West Coast) has been proselytizing the cause for many years now.

16

If te owners are from Niagara Falls, they’re probably not making NYC-style pizza. It’s probably Bufffalo style, which has a thicker crust, spicier tomato sauce, and somewhat different ingredients; Margherita pepperoni, for instance, which is smaller in diameter and sliced thicker than typical pepperoni pizza topping.

17

Junior’s cheesecake is simply the best! Whenever anyone goes to Brooklyn, we make them bring back Junior’s.

18

Chicago certainly has better pizza than what they have here in Ottowa, Canada, I’ll tell you that!

Some of it is purely a matter of taste. If you’ve been born and raised on, say, New York style pizza, a Chicago stuffed pizza may not immediately appeal.

19

You can’t find better Cuban food than in Miami, and that includes Cuba. It makes sense though, the city has a large Cuban born population, which means that ingredients for traditional Cuban dishes are likely to be more available and fresher. Combine that with the large pool of experts in preparing the food, and the very discriminating and knowledgeable consumers and you’re going to end up with the best end product.

Time to schedule that next trip to Miami now…

20

One thing that I can assure you of, you can NOT get a proper philadelphia style cheesesteak outside of the greater Philadelphia area, and believe me I tried. At one point I got desperate while living in Ohio (have they ever actually seen a cheesesteak there!?) and tried to make my own…it was close but no contendor for the prize. Part of the reason is the bread…the bakery that distributes the right bread dosen’t sell outside the area. I highly doubt that Chicago has better pizza than Philadelphia too. There are places here you have to call in the morning and reserve your dough if you want to eat there, thats how popular it is. And we have the best pretzles too.