I’m guessing mostaccioli, pomodoro, Italian beef and giardiniera.
Nailed it
Huh, I had no idea mostaccioli was so local. If you’ve never had Italian beef (w girdiniera), it’s worth seeking.
As stated, the Wiki article on Kosher Salt notes that name is largely US centric:
Kosher salt or koshering salt (outside North America called kitchen salt ,[1] cooking salt , flake salt , rock salt or kashering salt ) is coarse [edible salt].
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_salt
And it’s definitely available worldwide:
Global Kosher Salt Industry
Global Kosher Salt Market to Reach $1. 7 Billion by 2027. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Kosher Salt estimated at US$1. 1 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$1.
Source: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/09/11/2092500/0/en/Global-Kosher-Salt-Industry.html
Also the best salt for margaritas. Two of my friends had no idea that the salt on a margarita glass could be anything other than standard table salt.
Some restaurants as well. ![]()
My family and I used to regularly patronize an Italian restaurant in Spokane that had mostaccioli on their menu. I ordered it quite a few times. Unfortunately, the guy retired and closed his restaurant about 20 years ago and I haven’t seen it anywhere since.
I can make allowances for the fact that Switzerland is far, far away from Mexico. But Jeebus; using table salt for margaritas is just … appalling.
What surprised a member of this family, was being told (by a family of European background) that drinking water with a meal was an insult to the cook and the host.
I think they forgave his boorish ignorance.
Is tarter sauce for fried fish a common thing? I swear I’ve been in a few places that either gave you just regular mayo or shrimp cocktail sauce but no tarter sauce.
This is largely the European divide, where the continent likes their French fries with Mayonnaise (supposed Belgian origin) and British end, where vinegar is liberally splashed on it. This clearly seems to have made a French/Brit divide in Canada.
Tastykake. It was only fairly recently I learned they were not a national brand. We’ve always been able to get them in the DC area, at least since the 80s when I was growing up. Their products and packaging are very high quality and do not look like a regional product.
Conversely, I always assumed Entenmann’s was a regional product, but has been national since the early 70s. Their packaging always looked like it was from a small-time operation, intentionally I’m sure.
Unless things have changed since I left, tartar sauce is certainly standard in the US. You usually get it with your fish in a little cup on the side (or, if you’re eating at a place like McDonald’s, deposited on your sandwich).
Fish and chips shops (there are some in the US) offer malt vinegar as well, which is seen as quaint, if not eccentric.
I can’t speak of Canada, since I’ve rarely eaten out in the 12 years I’ve been living here, other than at McD’s, and the fish sandwiches there are the same as in the US. (SFAICT, they’re the same all over the world.)
I just now found out that Tastykake is a DC thing.
ETA: looks,like it’s a mid-Atlantic thing, based in Philly.
Here in the PNW, the only times I’ve seen mostaccioli on a menu is at restaurants that specifically serve Chicago-style cuisine. I’m honestly not sure what makes it different from penne.
Now that you mention it, I wasn’t either. It seems that the difference are the ridges in the tubes.
Mostaccioli, known in Italy as “Penne Lisce,” are a specialty of the Campania Region in Southern Italy, which includes the cities of Naples, Capri, and Sorrento. Penne are tube-shaped with angled ends cut to resemble a quill or pen point. Unlike Penne, which are ridged, Mostaccioli are smooth in texture.
I’ve never paid attention but I’m pretty confident I’ve had ridged pasta that was referred to as mostaccioli.
I’m super curious what else these places have on the menu.
Deep-dish pizza and/or Italian beef, mainly.
It always stuck out in my memory because their products are clearly of the snack/dessert variety, but we were allowed to have them for breakfast, and not even the cinnamon rolls, we were getting chocolate cupcakes and frosted krimpets. My dad grew up in Philly, maybe that’s why we had them.
We had them, they were less sweet than Hostess, especially their coffee cakes.
I was an adult before I realized that scrapple was regional. But my grandparents kept hogs and made it from scratch.
I’m sure you have- just as I’ve had ziti rigati many times that was referred to as just plain ziti. It might just be that the name mostaccioli is more common around Chicago- because I’ve definitely had the smooth version just called penne.