Yes, that would problematic if you’re trying to eat a beef-on-weck.
From my current mid-South home: catfish. I don’t have issues with the occasional catfish brought in with a catch (provided I’m not the one cleaning it), but the near adulation of the overbreaded bottom feeder here escapes me.
From my childhood home in Indiana’s Amish country: Amish food in general. Yeah, some of it is comfort food (my grandmother was PA Dutch), but the main flavors are grease, salt and starch and restaurants specializing in the cuisine are usually rated by the gigantic size of the portions.
Chili is just like barbecue: it’s chauvinism expressed in culinary terms. There’s only one good kind, and it varies with your locale. Everything else is crap, and nothing is negotiable.
I’m being a bit playful, of course. There’s lots of good barbecue…as long as there’s actually wood involved somewhere in the process. Don’t boil it or bake it, slather it in sauce, and call it barbecue. That’s where my chauvinism starts and ends. From the brisket and links of Texas, to the mutton of Owensboro, to the shoulder or whole hog of the Carolinas, as long as it’s cooked with fire in some way slowly over low heat, I’m game.
But, yeah, there’s nothing like a discussion of barbecue or chili to get the arguments going–all in good fun.
Moxie is great, but isn’t strong enough.
I spent a lot of my time in New Orleans feeling vaguely ill because the food was so rich and the vegetables were essentially nonexistent.
And for the Seattle-area contribution: Aplets and Cotlets are…well, they’re not interesting enough to reach the level of “vile”, so I guess they’re best described as “kinda gross”.
Oh, and actually a lot of Washington apples are pretty overrated. If you go to the right farmer’s market stand you can get very good ones, but the mass-market ones are kind of underwhelming.
Local foods:
-Grits are great when done right, as mentioned above. Cheese grits are fanfuckingtastic, and I don’t know of any other grain that supports cheese so well as grits.
-Fried fish is one of the things that the South does beautifully, especially with vinegar hot sauce.
-Hushpuppies. Meh. A good hushpuppy is pretty rare; I’ll take a good french fry any day.
-Pecan Pie. Way too sweet, way too little flavor.
Daniel
I used to live in Maryland, but I never got the gist of why people loved crab cakes so much. They’re usually mostly breading mixed in with one gram of crab meat. Sometimes they come with this nasty sweet mustard-type sauce on them also.
Chicago-style hot dogs rule. No other style of hot dog is acceptable.
I feel ya on this one. All the local papers vote this disgusting abomination #1 steak sandwich in Pittsburgh every freaking year. I’ve been to Primanti’s a half a dozen times, at 4 different locations, and was disappointed every time. Take away the runny cole slaw and greasy fries, and the meat itself isn’t that great either. #1 my arse. I can think of a ton of places that make a better steak sandwich without even trying.
My secret shame: I love scrapple, but I haven’t had it in years.
What bar? Never mind. It’s a recent arrival into the ecosystem and I left 32 years ago. Back then we had It’s Greek to Me, which had the last gyros I had that were not made of conical hamburger but from stacked slabs of beef and lamb, and a hot dog stand that my lady friends wouldn’t patronize because the ginormous dogs looked like a porn star’s penis.
Most Chicago hot dogs are made from dogs that have sat in hot water until the flavor has leached from them. The buns are steamed to the consistency of pudding. Buy a pack of Hebrew National or Vienna Beef dogs, heat them only until hot, put them on fresh buns, and you can reach Nirvana. Oh, and stay away from “Chicago-style” relish that has been dyed the color of a Christmas tree.
Multiple fightin’ words in one post :mad:
Country ham is not how I would start every day, but fry up a slab of it every now and then…served with grits, eggs, biscuits, and red-eye gravy (which, BTW, has nothing to do with blood)
seconded. Used to make our own when we butchered a hog. pork trimmings, corn meal, spices…mmmm
I was waving my hand and yelling Loose Meat Sandwich. Which, sorry Maid-Rite, IMHO sucks.
Blasphemy
The winner - hands down 
No shame at all: done right, it is up there with goetta (q.v.) and haggis as an awesome combi-meat.
Fried goetta or scrapple with eggs is tremendous for a hearty breakfast.
I am not a huge starch-by-itself-fan. But hominy and its derivative grits have a certain pure value as the distillation of starchy goodness. Of course, both are great when dressed up. But try the vehicle itself (either hominy or grits), unadorned, one day when you have a big starch craving. Much like plain tortilla chips (salted or un) or white flour tortillas straight from the wrapper, there is an obvious appeal to pure corn meal flavor.
Sacrilege. Especially if fried up in the grease used to fix the fish (the bacon, the whatever), the hushpuppy has an entirely different, sweeter, more evocative appeal than the fry (the fry is separately awesome, especially back in the days when McDonald’s used tallow).
I am partial toward raw unsalted pecans, and love their flavor, so I am biased here – but wow do I disagree (certainly, the corn syrup takes on a perhaps-too-dominant note in the pie – but boy do I sure taste the pecans).
Cincinnati chili is one of the very few things I’ll miss when I leave this town. In fact, I’ll probably have to figure out a way to get myself a fix now and then–I’ve heard that there’s a bar in Manhattan that imports it and has weekly/monthly/? Cincinnati nights. I will admit that it’s got very little to do with the tex-mex style that most people are familiar with.
IMO, the overrated thing here is Graeter’s ice cream. It’s not that it’s not delicious–it is. I’m always happy to stop in to Graeter’s for a dip or two. But it pales compared to the true regent of Cincinnati ice cream: Aglamecis Bros. From the marble soda counter with Tiffany lamps to the mind-bogglingly tasty mint chocolate chip, they’re just a finer institution all around. I’ll miss them too.
Oh, and one more thing: goetta. Just… eww.
Sure it does. Blood cooked out of the ham gives it the red tint. Where else would the red tinge come from?
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.
How about Snap, Snap, Snappy Tomato Pizza!?!?
My hero!
The funniest thing I’ve read on this board in ages… I’ll be looking for more of your posts, Marmot.
Am I the only one who thinks “loose meat sandwich” sounds absolutely filthy? Like it should be described after “Cleveland Steamer” and “Dirty Sanchez?”
Color me among the expats that think da beef on da weck der is overrated. It’s okay, but it’s not like Charlie the Butcher’s, Schwabl’s or the 1000 other neighborhood taverns that serve it are must-see destinations when I’m back home.
White pizza really isn’t a Buffalo thing, but there is a unique regional pizza that dominates; a thicker crust with no “handles”, thick Margherita pepperoni (which, when cooked, curls into small grease-filled bowls), and a sweeter sauce than what most people are used to. Buffalonians love it, but the lack of Buffalo-style pizza outside the region – except in expat-heavy regions like Charlotte and parts of Florida – seems to be evidence that the style doesn’t travel well. I love Buffalo-style pizza, personally.
There’s a ton of other indigenous foods in the Buffalo area (Catholic-style Haddock fish fry, Chiavetta, charcoal-broiled hot dogs with several local brands of weiners, etc), but don’t go there expecting cutting-edge New American cuisine or much in ethnic food outside of the basics (Italian, Greek, Indian, Greek, Italian, Italian, Greek, Thai, Italian, Greek, Italian, Greek, Greek, Greek, Italian). The city is an old-school blue-collar gourmand’s paradise, but not the place for fine dining.
Yep. Whenever my mom or my friend from NYC visits, they insist that we eat at least once at the pizzeria down the street that has stuffed pizza. As far as the style goes, this restaurant is better than average, but still – slab o’ bread, slab o’ cheese. Bleurgh. Not something I ever seek out without tourist company. I never eat there otherwise.
Not a fan of the pizza-on-a-cracker, either, but I really miss New York style. There are a few pizza places here which attempt a fascimile, and it’s better than crackers or slabs, but it just ain’t quite there. (I haven’t been to Coalfire yet, though, so maybe…?)
So I’ll be your exception to prove the rule… I never had grits until I moved to Chicago (oddly enough), and discovered a local restaurant that serves them as a breakfast side. I luuuuurves them, especially doused with butter and real maple syrup. Yum!