Maybe I’m missing your point here. I’ve found Reuben sandwiches to be pretty common (it’s my default choice when I don’t see anything special I like on the menu). Do you feel that the Reubens being served in most places are not authentic Reubens?
[quote=“Fenris, post:19, topic:545486”]
" Chinese dish called “Crispy Shrimp With Walnuts”. The way it’s supposed to be made is shrimp dipped in egg-white/cornstarch and flash-fried (which gives it a crispy coating), served with steamed broccoli, walnuts that have been rolled in sugar and fried until the sugar is almost burnt and served with a spicy brownish sauce. Nowdays, if you can find it, it’s heavily battered shrimp served with a hot mayo, soy and orange-juice (barf!) sauce with raw walnuts. It’s disgusting."
This reminds me of something else I used to see in Chinese restaurants but haven’t seen in many years: Fried Three Kinds (sometimes Fried Two Kinds). It consisted of fried shredded chicken, pork, and beef, not mixed together, but served in the middle of the plate like three pie slices surrounded by rice. I loved it.
I find that Reubens are not even OFFERED around here. Your location is listed as New York, and I expect that the food culture is vastly different than Fort Worth. I can get a chicken fried steak at most places around here, and most of the time it will actually be good. But Reubens are not even on the menu here.
Good point; IME just about every diner in the Northeast has Reubens on the menu, but chicken fried steak is pretty rare unless your at Cracker Barrel or someplace specializing in Southern food.
I just checked and Ft Worth has several Arby’s and Applebee’s. Both serve Reubens. Maybe not your taste in restaurants but in case you are cravinging one.
Huh. I’ve traveled a lot in Texas and I never noticed the lack of Reubens. But admittedly I’d be more likely to order something more local when I’m in Texas (like chicken-fried steak, which is very uncommon in New York).
One thing I have noticed about Texas vs New York is that you can’t buy seltzer in Texas.
It’s still common in New Orleans restaurants. It’s odd how something that was once universal in now regional.
Carshon’s Deli might be a good source for Reubens in Fort Worth. Maybe in the old days, more Texas places had good corned beef on hand–but times & fashions change.
Might be worth a visit.
(But it’s not Lobster Thermidor.)
My boss is from Chicago; he calls “seltzer” what we call club soda. (I work at a bar in Texas.) When he’s sober he orders vodka soda; when he’s drunk he starts calling it vodka seltzer.
Is there an actual difference between club soda and seltzer water? I didn’t know…
On quick Google review: apparently club soda has a higher sodium content than seltzer, but the difference in flavor is apparently negligible. When I buy club soda I generally buy the low-sodium kind anyway…
Yeah, my daughter just finished up a two week visit here, and we hit some local restaurants so she could get some CFS, biscuits&gravy, real Mexican food (cooked and served by real Mexicans), and TexMex (also cooked and served by real Mexicans, or people who were born in Mexico and became Americans). She enjoys some restaurants where she now lives, but when she comes back to visit, she wants the local specialties. And I have to admit, if I visited NY, I probably WOULDN’T order CFS or typically Texan food, I’d want to sample the stuff I can’t get in Texas.
And I have to laugh about seltzer…my father’s family lived near Boston, and when we went to visit, my cousins and I sometimes couldn’t understand each other. I called denim pants “blue jeans” and they called them “dungarees”, for instance.
That sounds totally yummy. AND it has bagels. Thanks! It’s pretty close to my home, too.
And I don’t eat shellfish.
Does anyone else remember the “Malibu Chicken” dish that was popular in the 70s or 80s? Not that I want it again, I was just thinking of dishes that were popular back then, but are rarely seen now.
Chicken Panache- which was essentially Veal Oscar made with chicken and bacon. Hollandaise, King Crab Chunks, with bacon wrapped chicken breast.
Veal Oscar certainly seems to be fading in culinary popularity.
Think there’s any soda jerk anywhere in the country who’d know how to make a black-and-white sundae anymore?
Surprisingly, you can get authentic Mexican food in parts of New York. The Hudson Valley region has several sizable Mexican communties.
But I now live in western NY. The only established ethnic cuisines we have around here are Greek, Indian, and Polish.
They’re both mostly just carbonated water. Club soda has a little mineral content but it’s subtle. Like the difference between an Aquafina and a Dasani.
And while seltzer water is in theory just carbonated water, in reality you’ll often see flavored seltzer (I’ve never seen flavored club soda). Lemon and lime are the most common flavors but you can find orange, rasberry, cherry, and cranberry without too much trouble. The flavorings are light not syrupy - about what you’d get if you squeezed a wedge of fruit into a glass of water.
I’m not all that surprised. And I’m sure you can get all kinds of cuisines in various parts of NY. There are parts of Texas that have (or had) a sizable German population, and there are a few German restaurants in Fort Worth.
It’s on the menu at Fenton’s Creamery in Oakland, CA.
I can get Reubens at any number of restaurants, but I can only get corned beef at certain grocery stores. If they happen to have it in that day.
I used to LOVE this dish. I haven’t noticed it on the menu in a long time. I hate the mayo version.
I’m not familiar with this. What was it?
Speaking of sundaes I’m reminded of when a banana split came with real whipped cream AND chopped nuts AND not one, but three, whole maraschino cherries on top. One for each scoop of iced cream. A chocolate scoop, a strawberry scoop and a vanilla scoop.
Then there was that variety of toppings. Usually it was chocolate, strawberry and pineapple but some places used marshmallow topping instead of the pineapple.
And do they still serve Veal Cordon Bleu?
Apparently the Sizzler chain serves it as one of their signature dishes. Unofrtunately, the closest Sizzler to Fort Worth is in Albuquerque.
Or try this:
Ingredients:
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (pound them thin)
6 slices cooked ham
6 slices swiss cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup fine dry breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon mustard
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Directions:
1 Stir egg and 1 tablespoons water together with a fork.
2 Combine flour, salt and pepper and coat each chicken piece, dip into egg mixture and then coat with breadcrumbs making sure to press crumbs in firmly.
3 Heat oil and butter in large skillet over medium heat.
4 Brown chicken 4 to 5 minutes on each side.
5 Place browned chicken on cookie sheet or oven proof platter, top each piece with a slice of ham and slice of cheese.
6 Bake at 350 degrees, until cheese melts.
7 For the dipping sauce combine mustard and mayonnaise.
What are you talking about? It seems like every non-national chain sandwich place in the area serves a Reuben. Sure, you can’t get one at Subway, but plenty of other places have them.
Jason’s Deli has 2 kinds- a regular and a turkey pastrami one, and they’re pretty ubiquitous (I looked up the menu at the Hulen one)
Cindi’s Deli in Dallas has good ones, so does Kuby’s near SMU.
Quite a few bars have them - Old Monk and Barley House in particular come to mind.
Most of your NY/Jewish style delis will have them as well.
They’re far from uncommon, at least in Dallas.