# Most out-of-place dishes you've seen on a restaurant menu **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2013, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-out-of-place-dishes-youve-seen-on-a-restaurant-menu/653803 "2013-03-24T06:25:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-out-of-place-dishes-youve-seen-on-a-restaurant-menu/653803/81 "2013-03-26T13:08:51Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Apparently a fair number of Russians ended up in China - and besides, borscht is tasty 😛 Which reminds me of my first trip to NYC and coming across several restaurants with both Chinese and Cuban/Latin-American menus, which struck me as utterly bizarre, until someone explained to me about Chinese Cubans. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-out-of-place-dishes-youve-seen-on-a-restaurant-menu/653803/82 "2013-03-26T14:58:06Z")
There is a restaurant in Atlanta GA called The Colonnade, which is supposedly the oldest restaurant in the city. The clientele is elderly and the food is your typical southern fare. Then there was the ostrich. It was featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. My brother used to work there and said, “oh, they took that off the menu before the show even aired.” Also, never order fried calamari from a Chinese takeout place. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-out-of-place-dishes-youve-seen-on-a-restaurant-menu/653803/83 "2013-03-26T15:19:15Z")
Spaghetti and red sauce at an Ethiopian restaurant. Clearly the “You don’t like ‘weird food’ but your friends dragged you here anyway.” option. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-out-of-place-dishes-youve-seen-on-a-restaurant-menu/653803/84 "2013-03-26T17:53:12Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > Spaghetti and red sauce at an Ethiopian restaurant. Clearly the “You don’t like ‘weird food’ but your friends dragged you here anyway.” option. Ethiopia used to be an Italian colony. It’s possible that the chef has Italian roots, or at least has been influenced by Italian cooking. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-out-of-place-dishes-youve-seen-on-a-restaurant-menu/653803/85 "2013-03-26T18:17:32Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > The solution of Chinese restaurants in Italy to the question “Chinese or pizza?” is to serve both. It surprised us foreigners at first but hey, it makes choosing a restaurant a lot easier. There’s a Chinese restaurant here that also serves pizza. The pizza is much better than the Chinese food… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-out-of-place-dishes-youve-seen-on-a-restaurant-menu/653803/86 "2013-03-26T18:50:19Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > Spaghetti and red sauce at an Ethiopian restaurant. Clearly the “You don’t like ‘weird food’ but your friends dragged you here anyway.” option. In addition to **Jeff Lichtman** ’s reply, see post #26 in this thread for an explanation. Although, it may also be for the less adventurous. ---
**Author:** ![AlohaBear32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@AlohaBear32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlohaBear32)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-out-of-place-dishes-youve-seen-on-a-restaurant-menu/653803/87 "2013-03-26T19:09:42Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > There is a restaurant in Atlanta GA called The Colonnade, which is supposedly the oldest restaurant in the city. The clientele is elderly and the food is your typical southern fare. > > Then there was the ostrich. It was featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. My brother used to work there and said, “oh, they took that off the menu before the show even aired.” > > Also, never order fried calamari from a Chinese takeout place. Speaking of Atlanta, you have the famous “Abdulla’s house of Ribs & Chinese Food” owned by the famous (or imfamous) ex Pro Wrestler Abdullah The Butcher, right? Heard its quite good… And yes, The McDonalds in Hawaii have several things not on mainland menus such as: Saimin, Spam & Rice, Portuguese Sausage and Rice, McTeri(yaki) Burgers, Haupia and Taro Pie and most importantly, Fruit Punch. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-out-of-place-dishes-youve-seen-on-a-restaurant-menu/653803/88 "2013-03-26T19:18:43Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > The solution of Chinese restaurants in Italy to the question “Chinese or pizza?” is to serve both. It surprised us foreigners at first but hey, it makes choosing a restaurant a lot easier. As I’ve said in other threads, there is hardly a restaurant in lower New England that doesn’t serve pizza. Alongside the pizza-centric places every 500 yards are other restaurants that invariably have a neon PIZZA sign in their window, whether they’re general Italian, Greek, American, Mexican or some form of Asian. You can’t get good pizza in any of them - yes, IMVHO. ---
**Author:** ![snowmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@snowmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowmaster)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-out-of-place-dishes-youve-seen-on-a-restaurant-menu/653803/89 "2013-03-27T07:09:08Z")
A pu pu platter. At an Irish pub. In suburban New Hampshire. What do I win? ---
**Author:** ![Phoebestar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Phoebestar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phoebestar)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-out-of-place-dishes-youve-seen-on-a-restaurant-menu/653803/90 "2013-03-27T16:58:10Z")
In WV, there’s a Chinese place that I understand does a good business in hushpuppies and honey butter and tomato cabbage soup. [The Rice Bowl.](http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/107/851417/restaurant/Charleston/Rice-Bowl-Cross-Lanes) There used to be a restaurant the next town over that served you complimentary hushpuppies and honey butter with the soup before your meal. When it closed, I guess the Rice Bowl got the recipe. I haven’t tasted it yet for authenticity. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-out-of-place-dishes-youve-seen-on-a-restaurant-menu/653803/91 "2013-03-28T14:23:16Z")
> [@Phoebestar](#): > > . . . When it closed, I guess the Rice Bowl got the recipe. I haven’t tasted it yet for authenticity. Or maybe when it closed they got the chef? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-out-of-place-dishes-youve-seen-on-a-restaurant-menu/653803/92 "2013-03-28T14:50:39Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > She never got an appetizer, she always ordered a steak, medium-well, and two baked potatoes with butter, and a dish of chocolate ice cream for dessert. Period. Every single night. She’s 58 - she’ll never change. Her loss. But it’s not “her loss”. It’s her doing what makes her happy, and clearly she doesn’t think she’s losing anything. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-out-of-place-dishes-youve-seen-on-a-restaurant-menu/653803.md?page=4)