# Over Rated Items from your Regional Cuisine **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940 "2009-01-12T17:31:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/161 "2009-01-14T21:39:48Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Weird. I love cheese in desserts. My latest favorite treat is Norwegian gjetost cheese (it’s sort of like cheese made from caramel) on slices of tart apple. See, that’s another thing that was not included in my upbringing, this cheese + apple thing. I never saw it until well after I reached adulthood, and I was instantly suspicious of it as a result. You still won’t find me doing it (apple or apple pie, either)…it’s not necessarily that I find it distasteful but that it’s just not something that spontaneously occurs to me to do. It’s like putting mayo on fries…if you didn’t grow up with that, it’s not something that tends to find its way onto your default menu. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/162 "2009-01-14T23:33:35Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > My latest favorite treat is Norwegian gjetost cheese (it’s sort of like cheese made from caramel) > Daniel Acutally it’s cheese made in part from goat cream. I had some when I came home from work today. Yum. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/163 "2009-01-15T01:22:45Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > No offense-but why do people rave about “Philly Cheesesteaks”? It is just a sandwich , and I’ve had better outside of Philly. The really weird thing-devotees claim you have to make a “real” cheesesteak with Cheezewhiz-that orange plastic-like substance that comes in cans-eeew!:smack: The only trouble with the cheesesteak (aside from treating Pat’s and Geno’s like sacred shrines–you can get perfectly fine steaks all over town, and even out of town) is that some Philadelphians take it way too damn seriously. It’s a damn delicious sandwich, but as you say, it’s a sandwich. People who roll their eyes when out-of-towners ask for sprouts or Swiss cheese or mayo on their steak need to lighten the hell up; these things aren’t toxic or sacreligous, they’re just not customary. And Wiz, which IS customary, is an abomination. I love cheesesteaks and I’ve eaten exactly one in my life with Wiz, at a crap food-court stand that offered nothing but Wiz. Provolone or American for me, and hold the onions, too. My neighborhood pizza & steak shop adds bacon for an extra dollar; delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/164 "2009-01-15T03:29:29Z")
> [@Leiko](#): > > Any of the food at [Dick’s Drive-In](http://www.ddir.com/), except the milkshakes, is overrated. (That doesn’t mean I don’t still eat there maybe once every five trips to Seattle.) The fries especially- the website makes a huge deal about them being fresh cut, but what they really are is grease in a potato disguise. > > I can’t find the sketch from Almost Live, but there was a “Which bag of fries came from Dick’s” scene once- and while completely greased stained paper bag identified as Dick’s fries was an exaggeration, it was only slightly so. :mad: Hey! Limp-n-greasy is a perfectly valid style of fry. But yeah, Dick’s is kinda gross if you’re sober. OTOH, if it’s two in the morning and you’re broke, shitfaced, and deaf after just getting out of a show, it’s the best food ever. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/165 "2009-01-15T03:45:39Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Acutally it’s cheese made in part from goat cream. I had some when I came home from work today. Yum. Definitely true–but the stuff I’ve had tastes much more strongly of caramel than of goat. Which makes sense, since [the milk is caramelized in production](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geitost#Production), unlike most cheesemaking processes. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/166 "2009-01-15T04:52:27Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > You are just wrong about goetta. The only genuine (not surprisingly, because originated by the actual native German culture in So. Ohio, not lame-ass German or Greek attempts to duplicate S.W. chili or Italian pizza) culinary legacy of the Ohio/Kentucky border. > > You can nonetheless order (nasty, soupy, sugary/cinnamony/watery) Skyline chili online very readily. Or for that matter nasty sugary Montgomery Inn ribs. Or Graeters ice cream or boring Red Baron-style La Rosa’s pizza, for what it is worth. > > [http://www.cincinnatifavorites.com/skylinechili.php](http://www.cincinnatifavorites.com/skylinechili.php) Sorry–goetta is some exceptionally foul stuff, in my admittedly limited experience. I tried it once. A lovely shade of sickly grey, it was slimy and bland. I’d give it another try if someone else was buying, though. I think much of the bile directed at (delicious, heavenly, sublime) Cincinnati chili is due to its unfortunate name: it has almost nothing to do with tex-mex chili, and ought probably to have a different name, perhaps based on whatever ‘traditional stew’ the recipe was derived from. …of course, now I want a 3-way… And I forgot all about La Rosa’s. It’s a thin smear of tomato sauce with cheese served on cardboard. I’d prefer Red Baron (or almost any other grocery brand) to it. I cannot understand what the rest of this city sees in it. No, the only things I’ll be importing are Skyline and the occasional pint of Aglamecis. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/167 "2009-01-15T12:45:16Z")
[Moon Pies](http://www.moonpie.com/) in the South, particularly Tennessee. There is even a local [festival](http://www.bellbucklechamber.com/rcmoon.html), which is kinda fun, but I don’t like marshmallow much so that takes Moon Pies out of the running. I’m not a big fan of [Goo-Goo clusters](http://www.googoo.com/) either, for similar reasons. Plus, the name is dumb and sounds vaguely dirty. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/168 "2009-01-15T13:09:54Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Shoo-fly pie. It’s basically crumb crust soaked in molasses. It’s too sweet for me. Blashphemer! :eek: As for my adopted homeland, I don’t know whether any Norwegian food can be considered _over-rated,_ as most people outside Scandinavia only know about what they can (and should) make fun of. But I will say this, based on 18 years of experience in this country: There is so such a thing as Too Much Salmon. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/169 "2009-01-15T14:41:58Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Sorry–goetta is some exceptionally foul stuff, in my admittedly limited experience. I tried it once. A lovely shade of sickly grey, it was slimy and bland. I’d give it another try if someone else was buying, though. > > I think much of the bile directed at (delicious, heavenly, sublime) Cincinnati chili is due to its unfortunate name: it has almost nothing to do with tex-mex chili, and ought probably to have a different name, perhaps based on whatever ‘traditional stew’ the recipe was derived from. …of course, now I want a 3-way… > > And I forgot all about La Rosa’s. It’s a thin smear of tomato sauce with cheese served on cardboard. I’d prefer Red Baron (or almost any other grocery brand) to it. I cannot understand what the rest of this city sees in it. > > No, the only things I’ll be importing are Skyline and the occasional pint of Aglamecis. Three four seven, one one one one, LaROSa’s! It’s as bad as 588 two three hundred, Empire! I love Skyline chili! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/170 "2009-01-15T16:25:31Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Definitely true–but the stuff I’ve had tastes much more strongly of caramel than of goat. Which makes sense, since [the milk is caramelized in production](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geitost#Production), unlike most cheesemaking processes. > > Daniel I did not know that! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/171 "2009-01-15T16:56:47Z")
I HATE YOU! Ok, not really. (Please mods don’t kick me.) First you make it sound as if there’s some kind of ham in the US that’s actually properly cured and then it turns out it’s not… bah! (I do like Virginia ham, but it’s definitely not my idea of “cured ham”) I hate Scottish sausages. Sorry. I have no idea whether they’re supposed to be good, but I do know I hate them. And churros. Chocolate a la taza is indeed the drink of the gods, but I find churros way too sweet (dough fried in vegetable oil and smothered in sugar). I prefer to dunk toasted old bread in my chocolate. Hmmmm, chocolate! ---
**Author:** ![masterofnone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@masterofnone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/masterofnone)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/172 "2009-01-15T19:31:12Z")
I suppose it’s not just the recipe then - I tried to make cincinatti “chili” once from the betty crocker cookbook. It was vile, so much so that even I would not eat it, and I don’t throw food away, ever. I’ll never watch those food network shows where they sample regional cuisines again since trying Lou Malnati’s (sp?) way-overpriced deep dish pizza. Pie crust filled with flavorless processed cheese, greasy sausage, and unflavored crushed tomatos? That’s not pizza, that’s disgusting. There’s a reason people cook the sausage before putting it on a pizza. The predominant flavor was grease. We got the Eli’s cheescake sampler with it, and it was decent, but no better than an average cook could make at home. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/173 "2009-01-15T19:47:04Z")
> [@masterofnone](#): > > I’ll never watch those food network shows where they sample regional cuisines again since trying Lou Malnati’s (sp?) way-overpriced deep dish pizza. Pie crust filled with flavorless processed cheese, greasy sausage, and unflavored crushed tomatos? That’s not pizza, that’s disgusting. There’s a reason people cook the sausage before putting it on a pizza. The predominant flavor was grease. > > We got the Eli’s cheescake sampler with it, and it was decent, but no better than an average cook could make at home. You got it mail order, I presume? I’ve never tried it mail order, but delivery from the restaurant ain’t half bad. And they have the only “gluten free pizza” I can find that delivers. (The “crust” is molded sausage, with sauce and cheese on top; my daughter loves it.) It’s not the best pizza in Chicago, but it’s not nearly the worst! And people cook the sausage before putting it on the pizza? I’ve never heard of such a thing! Doesn’t that dry out the sausage, cooking it twice like that? ---
**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:** [January 15, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/174 "2009-01-15T19:48:13Z")
> [@masterofnone](#): > > Pie crust filled with flavorless processed cheese As I said above, I’m not a big fan of deep dish, but as far as I know they don’t use processed cheese in their pies–it’s an all-natural Wisconsin mozzarella. I could also understand not like the “sausage disk” that Lou’s pizza is, however the sausage is not supposed to be cooked. I don’t cook my sausage when I put it on a pizza, and I can’t think of a single place here in Chicago, thin or deep dish, that does it that way. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/175 "2009-01-15T20:01:16Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > I love Skyline chili! You know, I’m extremely guilty of badmouthing Cincinnati chili (the pumpkin pie comment upthread was horrifyingly spot-on), but \*\*LawMonkey \*\*is right - 'Nati residents would behoove themselves if they just stopped referring to it as “chili”. Because on a dog, the stuff is fantastic. On spaghetti, it’s great. But it just ain’t chili. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/176 "2009-01-15T20:01:48Z")
Agreed, I don’t see the cheese or sausage complaints about Lou Malnati’s. I’ve had their deep pizza within the last year, and the cheese was fine to me (Wisconsin born-and-raised). And I can’t fathom cooking sausage before putting it on any pizza, either. As for Eli’s, I can’t defend their cheesecake as being anything amazing. I make homemade cheesecakes with the long slow baking and water bath methods, and Eli’s is serviceable but not OMG amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/177 "2009-01-15T20:49:49Z")
Bloody [Poitin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poit%C3%ADn). We used it twice (note, not drank, _used_.) Once to clean dried ink off some printer cartridges and then again to act as painkiller/anasthetic for my sister’s b/f who had an agonising toothache. Dad and I tried a little taste, just a drop. Bleuch. Whiskey might taste like wood, but its a damned sight better than whatever the hell Poitin is supposed to be. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/178 "2009-01-15T21:02:48Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > I actually don’t care for it so I don’t have a recipe. Hopefully someone that does will post a good one, but in the meantime, the kind with ricotta is often called “Italian style cheesecake” if you decide to google it. Big tub of ricotta, eight eggs, cup of sugar. Tablespoon orange juice tablespoon lemon juice. A little rind from each. beat. Poor into pie crust (pan is a cake pan though). Bake 350 degrees til done. I don’t have a recipe though - this is from memory. If I actually did it I might end up doing something a little different. So I have no idea how long done is - 40 minutes? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/179 "2009-01-15T21:08:30Z")
> [@masterofnone](#): > > I suppose it’s not just the recipe then - I tried to make cincinatti “chili” once from the betty crocker cookbook. It was vile, so much so that even I would not eat it, and I don’t throw food away, ever. I can see how someone might eat Cincinatti Chili based on a recomendation or just because they like chili and don’t realize that the Cincinatti version isn’t the same, but how anyone can look in a cookbook at the ingredients and think “that looks good, I think I’ll make that” is beyond me. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/180 "2009-01-15T21:14:54Z")
What’s throwing people off Cincinnati Chili? It’s different, I’ll grant you that, but it’s not bad. Is it the cinnamon? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940.md?page=10)