I’ve seen some very strange meals passed off as better cuisine.
A hamburger in Goa which was more like a Spam sandwich on white bread. Pork pizza with orange sauce sold at Marks and Spencer’s in 1990 England. Vietnamese soup in Mexico, served with alfalfa sprouts and croutons.
Morbo’s sign didn’t say cheesesteak. What he describes would have been perfectly normal in Spain, where it even gets its own name (pepito de ternera), although if the sandwich isn’t to be eaten immediately it’s more common to put some sort of batter on the meat. The most common meats eaten this way are pork boneless rib (lomo de cerdo, thus pepito de lomo) and second-quality beef steak (filete de ternera).
Maybe the problem wasn’t with the sandwich being inauthentic but with the mental compass being in the wrong colored blob of the map.
It’s also a THING in some pockets of Maine. It’s surprisingly tasty: barbecue sauce in place of pizza sauce, pieces of grilled chicken, small slices of red onion, and a light topping of cheese. I think the trick may be selecting pieces of chicken that are just large enough to survive the extra cooking time on top of the pizza.
Yeah, I see this a lot in Yelp reviews, and it drives me a little nuts. The main one that comes to mind is some reviewer bitching about an excellent pizza restaurant as not making “real pizza” or some such nonsense because there was hardly any sauce on it, and the sauce tasted like plain tomato sauce, and that it was too light on the cheese. (And probably complaining about the flecks of char on the crust, too.) And I’m sitting here scratching my head thinking, dude, you’re at a fucking Neapolitan-style pizza restaurant. That is exactly what they’re supposed to be serving.
I feel like I run into this all the time–somebody complaining about an aspect of a restaurant’s food and me thinking, “you know, that is actually how they make it back there, or at least one regional variation.” Lasagna in the US is another one. Most people here expect Sicilian or Southern Italian/Italian-American versions that are fairly loaded with stuff, including ricotta cheese. When they come across Northern versions (just layers of bolognese and bechamel) they tend to be confused if not outright declare “that is not lasagna!”
Oh, another odd one I remember from Budapest: when I moved there in 1998, I lived in a block of flats in a working class area in the 13th District, along the Pest side of the Danube. On the way to the subway everyday, I passed a storefront eatery that proudly advertised – partially in English, for some reason (though this is not an area you would expect tourists or English speakers) – its “authentic Chicago-style wraps.” Being a born-and-raised Chicagoan, my curiosity was piqued. What in the hell could a Chicago-style wrap be? A burrito? At the time, the only association I had with “wraps” was as a West Coast, possibly Southwest/Santa Fe kind of thing. At any rate, in 1998 (and now), wraps were not associated at all geographically with Chicago or the Midwest.
After a couple of weeks, I worked up my nerve to go in and try one of these famous Chicago-style wraps. It turned out to be a large flour tortilla (or tortilla-like flatbread) stuffed with basically just meat and mashed potatoes. No crisp fresh vegetables to be found for counterpoint; nothing like the “fresh and light and vaguely healthy” association I had with the concept of wraps at the time.
It was … interesting. I don’t know if it was terrible, it just wasn’t something I needed to have again, especially in the middle of a sweltry August. I do have to say, though, with all the meat and mashed potatoes, I could see why the word “Chicago-style” was associated with it. But, no. No such thing has ever existed here, or at least not existed to a level where it spawned an entire genre of foods called “Chicago-style wraps.”
I remember having one of the best burgers ever in a NYPD themed restaurant in Dublin. I decided to look for it and I’m sure it’s the one mentioned in this article. They were very happy to have American high school students in their place.
I found the pizza and Italian food in Germany to be excellent. I don’t think I was ever in one that wasn’t run and staffed by Italians.
I have two words for you: Soviet pizza. Blech. (Actually, I guess that’s three words.)
They often don’t cut your pizza in Italy, either, so that’s pretty standard and not an authenticity fail unless the joint is advertising American style pizzas.
Riga sprats, sour cream and caviar, with a pureed beet sauce.
don’t forget the cigarette butts!
Makes me wonder where and when you were in the USSR. I actually had some very good pizza in Moscow in the late '80s and early '90s, and not just in expat restaurants. There was one little kiosk near the US Embassy that sold miniature luncheon pizzas fresh out of the kitchen of an adjacent institute. There was also a restaurant on the third floor of a shopping mall (or what passed for one then, anyway) near my institute that offered what were basically calzones with the sauce on the side. They came with big bulbs of marinated garlic. Absolutely delicious!
The takeout pizza you can get there now is not bad either, and they have free delivery. Even the frozen pizza sold in supermarkets is acceptable, if not exactly haute cuisine.
When I was in Venice, I saw Italians just tear pieces out of their pies and fold them over so that the toppings and sauce didn’t run off.
I think you’re referring to what’s called “herring under a fur coat.” It’s actually quite tasty, if you can get past the “earthy” flavor of the beets (which took me a long, *long *time).
Never seen it made with caviar though, but I imagine that would be pretty tasty too.
That’s actually a real dish?!?
I was just trying to make a list of pizza toppings that sounded Russian and unappetizing.
I’ve seen reviews which complain about a place whose name includes the word “Bar” or “Cafeteria” serving bar- or cafeteria-style food, or having a bar or cafeteria ambience. What the fuck were you expecting, room service at the Ritz?
As others have noted, Italian pizza isn’t served cut up, and the egg is an integral part of the well-known Italian Pizza 'Fiorentina’ (the egg is cracked onto the pizza just before it goes in the oven).
Nothing inauthentic in either.
Came in here to say the same; I’ve had awesome spaghetti dishes in a few places in Japan.
Yoshoku is a whole category of food there, dishes that were adopted from foreign cultures and tweaked to suit the Japanese palate or deal with the limited availability of certain ingredients in Japan. AFAIK restaurants that serve yoshoku dishes don’t make any pretense of them being authentic “western” dishes; yoshoku is just kind of its own thing, another branch of Japanese food.
FWIW, I had tuna pizza once there. I don’t want to have it again.
The cafeteria in the office building where I used to work had a habit of making “authentic” lunch specials that, as someone upthread mentioned, appeared to have been based solely on a picture someone had seen of the food in question. The most hilariously messed up dish that I remember was the one advertised as “authentic British fish and chips” where the fish was tilapia rather than haddock or cod, was breaded rather than battered, and the “chips” were…potato chips.
Huh. Apparently I prefer Northern-style lasagna. Ricotta sucks!
New to California, I went with my colleagues to a Japanese shopping plaza in Costa Mesa for its food court. One option was called “Italian Tomato” and it seemed most likely to have something my less-than-adventurous self would find appealing, and potentially like food I’d get at home in NY. I guess I got some kind of pasta with red sauce and it was terrible.
I later asked a Japanese-American colleague about it, and she explained that it was exactly like how Italian food is prepared in Japan - which is nothing at all like what I was expecting, but what most of the patrons at this place wanted and were expecting.
Not sure if that makes it Authentic, or a FAIL - it depends on perspective. But I never went back.