# Restaurants that don't serve essential dishes/items **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [February 18, 2025, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451 "2025-02-18T13:21:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/41 "2025-02-18T17:04:07Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Here in SoCal, egg rolls are scarce at Chinese places. What you will find is eleventy-jillion kinds of Spring roll, which I like much better anyway. Ah I always thought when americans talked about egg rolls they meant the same thing as spring rolls. I was about to say I’m not surprised if a restaurant doesn’t necessarily have spring rolls because, as the name suggests, they are a dish associated with the spring (new year) festival. I had to google the distinction and yeah, I’ve never had egg rolls. Neither in the UK nor in 8 years in China. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/42 "2025-02-18T17:06:36Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#): > > For one thing, queso dip is white! Often, but not always. Our favorite local Central American place serves both a white queso and a yellow queso. Every so often, they are unable to source their preferred yellow cheese to make their yellow queso (I understand that it’s not just regular ol’ American cheese). When they can’t get the right yellow cheese, they stop making the yellow queso and tell customers that only the white queso is available. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/43 "2025-02-18T17:07:03Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Some here may come to a surprise if they visit Gene and Jude’s (or "Gene’s and Jude’s) hot dog stand asking for ketchup. They literally do not have any ketchup on premises, not even for your fries. On a similar note, when you look at the Yelp reviews for Parker’s Barbecue, generally considered one of the best places for Eastern North Carolina style barbecue, you will find a few one star reviews from Yankees who are apparently unfamiliar with that style of barbecue and are angry that they don’t have any “barbecue sauce” on the premises. Eastern North Carolina style barbecue simply isn’t served with that generic sweet/smokey condiment; it’s served with a vinegar sauce. The vinegar is literally the defining element that makes it Eastern North Carolina style. Don’t get me wrong, if you want to mix pulled pork with some sweet/sticky/smokey barbecue sauce, knock yourself out. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with that per se, it’s just that that’s not Eastern North Carolina style, and IMO it would be silly to expect that at a place that specializes in that style of barbecue. Yet some people not from that region seem to think that’s an “essential” part of barbecue. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/44 "2025-02-18T17:13:28Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#): > > You’ll find it in the Midwest… What part of Mexico is that, again? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/45 "2025-02-18T17:17:54Z")
Cheese dip often is made with cheese treated with sodium citrate. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/46 "2025-02-18T17:19:51Z")
I mean, if you want it runny & smooth, it does help. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/47 "2025-02-18T17:22:45Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I tend to think of tamales as an essential Mexican dish but they’re missing from the menu in some of my favorite places. Perhaps they’re too labor intensive? Yes, the only proper tamales are the ones you make yourself and then eat the same day, or that you buy from a Mexican store that only sells them on weekends. They must be fresh to be “proper” tamales. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/48 "2025-02-18T17:32:48Z")
Seriously, the issue is the assumption inherent in the thread title: **Restaurants that don’t serve essential dishes/items** What’s perceived as “essential” is so very, very regionally, culturally, or economically driven. I’m not going to tell someone who is opening a restaurant what is “essential” to their business. Of course, if the owner/chef’s preferences don’t match, or don’t win over their potential customers, it is likely to cause the business to fail. I guess the only time I’d share the feelings of the OP would be if I called my restaurant “Chicken and Biscuits” and didn’t serve either that I might feel like a bait and switch were pulled. Even then, maybe they do something like “deconstructed” chicken and biscuits (or chicken deep fried in a biscuit batter onna stick, or something else novel) which would still qualify? Anyway, the OP’s feelings are a part of why so many chain restaurants are successful, no matter my opinion of said places. If you want to be able to go anywhere in the US and have the same dishes available to you, be it for comfort, because you’re not adventurous, or just don’t want to spend the effort, you go to a chain place. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s borderline arrogant to assume that your definition of essential is shared by all. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/49 "2025-02-18T17:51:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Note, by the way, that nachos are less than a century old. They were invented in 1943 by a restaurateur named Ignacio Anaya, hence the name (“Nacho” is a nickname for “Ignacio”). In the 1950s my uncle was transferred to Mexico City to oversee the Firestone tire plant start-up. When grandma would visit him she always brought back a couple of bags of tortilla chips. They were absolutely unknown in Ohio and we tried to conserve them for a few days but, damn, they were tasty. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/50 "2025-02-18T18:50:35Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > ‘Mexican food’ is a diverse array of very different regional cuisines This. But also valid substituting “Chinese”, “Italian”, or any of a number of “ethnicities” in for Mexican. “Essential” would depend on the particular region the restaurant’s owners/chefs got their recipes from. Spaetzle isn’t “essential” for a German restaurant - spaetzle is a regional specialty from the Schwabian area of Germany. > [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#): > > But it is neeeeeews to me that queso is just Tex-Mex. Tex-Mex is a perfectly valid regional cuisine. It’s just not the same as Sonoran cuisine (probably the most recognizable to Americans as “Mexican” food) or Oaxacan cuisine or Mexico City cuisine. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/51 "2025-02-18T19:07:06Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > In the 1950s my uncle was transferred to Mexico City to oversee the Firestone tire plant start-up. When grandma would visit him she always brought back a couple of bags of tortilla chips. They were absolutely unknown in Ohio and we tried to conserve them for a few days but, damn, they were tasty. Tortilla chips are very old, at least in Mexico. What’s new is specifically selling them with melted cheese and other toppings. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/52 "2025-02-18T19:22:42Z")
Chipotle offers queso but it’s only sort of recent. They held off for noble & idealogical resons for a while but it was no match for the needs of the American diner. The rapid consumption of a 1500 cal burrito demands a level of lipids and salts so high, it needs to be lubed down with a few hundred extra calories of more lipid salt slurry. Cheaper 'n lettuce. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/53 "2025-02-18T19:27:43Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > They held off for noble & idealogical resons for a while but it was no match for the needs of the American diner. Really? Someone at Chipotle actually thought queso was a bridge too far? “Oh no! Someone might think we don’t serve authentic Mexican food!” ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/54 "2025-02-18T19:48:59Z")
No butter for waffles? The savages! I always put butter on waffles and pancakes. I can’t imagine not providing it. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/55 "2025-02-18T19:51:33Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > The whole point of waffles is to hold more butter than pancakes. > Talk about not understanding their primary product. Butter, and maple syrup, which they also lacked the last time I had a waffle from them a few decades ago. I’d bet that they still, despite their name, do not serve butter and maple syrup. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/56 "2025-02-18T20:03:02Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Oh, and has anybody else noticed the slow disappearance of the fortune cookie in Asian restaurants? Fortune cookies are only authentic to the US market. They were invented here. In fact, there in one company in NY, Wonton Foods that supplies the majority of fortune cookies used by Asian restaurants around the world that give out fortune cookies. For 30 years, Donald Lau, Wonton Foods, CFO wrote all of the fortunes used in their cookies. In 2017 he retired due to writers block and passed along the fortune writing duties to the company’s head of IT, James Wong. The Company has kept a database of all of the fortunes that Lau wrote over the years and can continue using those as well…_in bed_!!! ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/57 "2025-02-18T21:17:57Z")
real butter and real maple syrup, no they dont have those. “buttery spread” and maple flavored pancake syrup, they have tons of that. In fact the tables here seem to be covered in the syrup. I only eat at Waffle house a couple of times a year. Holidays when many restaurnts are closed and on a yearly trip I go on. Waffle House is pretty much always the same. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/58 "2025-02-18T21:33:16Z")
Oh,god. I hate those sticky tables. 😣 ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/59 "2025-02-18T21:36:46Z")
> [@adhemar](#): > > real butter and real maple syrup, no they dont have those. “buttery spread” and maple flavored pancake syrup, they have tons of that. In fact the tables here seem to be covered in the syrup. I only eat at Waffle house a couple of times a year. Thank you. I only eat at Waffle House infrequently, but they have that buttery spread and syrup both of which they are happy to provide when you order waffles. I think when most Americans think of Mexican food they’re actually thinking of Tex-Mex which is what the majority of Mexican restaurants serve throughout most of the United States. And I’ve been to California, and didn’t have any trouble finding queso at Mexican places, so let’s not get too snobby. The first time I went to New Mexico I was pleasantly surprised. I love Tex-Mex, but I didn’t know anything about the regional differences and was happy I got something that I wouldn’t normally have gotten in Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/60 "2025-02-18T21:47:09Z")
There’s dish in New Mexico called _carne adovada_. Chunks of pork in a spicy red sauce. I’ve been craving it since I ate at Tomasita’s in Santa Fe last Fall. Apparently, nobody in California has ever heard of it. I also picked up the habit of putting green chilies on my cheese burgers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451.md?page=4)