Saw a movie yesterday, and brought home what was left of my popcorn. “Nothing tastes like movie popcorn except movie popcorn.”
See, years ago, there was a commercial for some brand of orange juice that proclaimed it tasted “like fresh-squeezed!” Bull. Nothing tastes like fresh-squeezed like fresh-squeezed.
And, I’m told, nothing handles like a Harley except a Harley.
What else is either the real thing or it’s not?
From the musical, “South Pacific” …
There is Nothing Like a Dame … Nothing in this World!
My version? There is nothing like a dame except maybe … **another **dame.
Please don’t hurt me.
Horseradish.
Ambiance can be a component of something that makes it what it is. In the Middle East, I ate hummus a lot, in sidewalk cafes and market stalls, and loved it. But anywhere else, I can’t be bothered. No matter who makes it or how authentic it is, it’s just not hummus without the ambiance.
In the world of musical instruments there are a lot of examples - some were mentioned in a thread I started in Café Society about “unobtainium” - special materials that artists value in their field.
With acoustic flattop guitars, nothing sounds like Brazilian Rosewood for the back and sides. They add the rich harmonic overtones that most rosewoods do, but the way BRW does it is unique. With environmental laws becoming stricter, BRW is harder to come by and the upcharge for building a guitar using that wood vs. another can be thousands of dollars.
Y’know, you’re right. Like ballpark hotdogs. Yes, there’s a brand called that, but they just taste different when you eat one in the bleachers.
Rocket Raccoon.
As Charlie Brown put it, “a hot dog just doesn’t taste right without a ball game in front of it!”
Yeah, I was trying not to say that. 
Nothing stinks like my dog’s gas except my dog’s gas. Skunks fall to their knees in reverent awe. Dead, rotting corpses recoil in horror. One is tempted to shove durian up each nostril to cover the odor.
Sorry, he had a particularly nasty bout last night and it’s still “fresh” on my mind.
McDonald’s burgers. Sometimes you want a good burger, and sometimes you want a McDonald’s burger.
Onions, ketchup, cheese and pickles with a little bit of meat to hold it together 