# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/61 "2025-02-18T21:48:10Z")
And if I recall, he referred to the sauce as gravy ---
**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:** [February 18, 2025, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/62 "2025-02-18T21:55:01Z")
Funny-- this just came up in my YouTube the other day, and Paulie was asking for “macaroni and gravy” to the befuddlement of the Italian waiter. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/zqaVuig7fuE/maxresdefault.jpg "Macaroni and Gravy!🍝🇮🇹 #sopranos #scenes") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqaVuig7fuE) ---
**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, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/63 "2025-02-18T22:00:27Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > They get upset when they end up somewhere where pasta is a separate course, and where the main course is served with scarole or some other vegetable as a side dish. That’s comes up in the movie _Big Night_, which I highly recommend. The two main main characters run an authentic Italian restaurant on the Jersey Shore in the 1950s. Early in the film two white Americans come into the restaurant and are like “What’s _risotto_? What do you mean it doesn’t come with a side of spaghetti? What kind of Italian restaurant is this?” Meanwhile their competitor down the street is doing a huge business serving Italian-American food like spaghetti and meatballs. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/64 "2025-02-18T22:01:19Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > And I’ve been to California, and didn’t have any trouble finding queso at Mexican places, so let’s not get too snobby. I was born and raised in the L.A. area and have eaten at more Mexican restaurants than a lot of people. I can only remember seeing queso once (didn’t order it). Most restaurants when I was growing up were Sonoran style with an American gloss. Not Tex-Mex. I don’t think I’d even heard the phrase until I was in my 20s. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I also picked up the habit of putting green chilies on my cheese burgers. The late lamented Dinah’s Pancake House in Culver City (it’s where the anarchists in _The Big Lebowski_ ate) had what they called a Relleno Patty Melt, basically a patty melt with a whole Ortega chili in each half of the sandwich. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/65 "2025-02-18T22:01:36Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Apparently, nobody in California has ever heard of it. #18 combination plate at the family-owned place down the street. Delicious! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/66 "2025-02-18T22:03:35Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > 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. In our area, fresh tamales come from hand carts that are walked through neighborhoods. An Igloo chest in a red wagon is a hand cart, right? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/67 "2025-02-18T22:05:09Z")
Fresh tamales were always a fund raiser where I used to work. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/68 "2025-02-18T22:07:52Z")
[Duffy’s Tavern](http://www.duffystavernami.com/) in Holmes Beach, FL, which was rated one of the top 10 ‘hamburger heavens’ in America by USA Today, doesn’t serve fries. Their brie and caramelized onion cheeseburger is the best burger I’ve ever had. We eat there at least once every time we visit Anna Maria Island. I don’t give a damn that they don’t have fries, just so long as I can have that burger! ---
**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:** [February 18, 2025, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/69 "2025-02-18T22:14:26Z")
I’ve seen this with Neapolitan pizza places, too. People expecting an American style of crispy pizza or something like that, loaded with cheese and pepperoni and often an aggressively spiced sauce, and they get something more delicate with very lightly spiced tomato sauce (often just crushed tomatoes with a bit of garlic), a restrained amount of cheese, no pepperoni on the menu, etc. And it will blow their minds when they see pizza without a red sauce or even served without any cheese (excepted for some grated parmesan or romano, like in a pizza marinara.) And blistered edges sometimes even surprises them. Like, do a little research as what you’re getting into before complaining about it on Yelp. (Actually, those types of negative reviews really help me, because then I know the place is doing it as a proper Neapolitan style pie and not trying to capitalize on just the name in marketing.) ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/70 "2025-02-18T22:27:44Z")
becuase traditionally you only make tamales between Thanksgiving and New years in the us … if mama, tia or Abuletia loves you you might get some for your birthday that’s why a lot of restaurants put out signs when they make them for the holidays ---
**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, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/71 "2025-02-18T22:30:21Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Queso is Tex-Mex. I’d never expect to see it at an “authentic” Mexican place. > [@silenus](#): > > You aren’t eating “Mexican.” You are eating “Tex-Mex” or some other variation. As much as I’ve become a snob about Mexican food since moving to California, I do have to admit that the idea that Tex-Mex food is inauthentic, or that it’s just some lower quality bastardized version of Mexican food isn’t entirely correct, either. [Tex-Mex food has it’s roots in Tejano cooking](https://www.history.com/news/tracing-the-history-of-tex-mex) dating back to when Texas was part of New Spain and later Mexico. So it could be argued that Tex-Mex food is in fact another regional Mexican cuisine, just one from a region that ended up on the other side of the border in 1845. It has of course evolved since then, and become adapted to American ingredients and American tastes. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/72 "2025-02-18T22:33:28Z")
Oh, definitely. Recognized sub-styles exist everywhere and are wonderful. They just need a little “qualification.” Not a judgment, just a classifier. ---
**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, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/73 "2025-02-18T22:37:17Z")
Yup, and Mexicali is another regional Mexican cuisine variant that ended up on the other side of the border. Really, with any “authentic ethnic” restaurant, it’s almost always going to be relevant what part of the country it came from, because national borders usually don’t correspond to culinary borders, and “authentic” cooks are naturally going to make the dishes from wherever their family came from. ---
**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, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/74 "2025-02-18T22:45:59Z")
> [@Orville\_mogul](#): > > And if I recall, he referred to the sauce as gravy Spaghetti sauce is frequently called gravy amongst Italian-Americans in the Philly area, especially in South Philly. ---
**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, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/75 "2025-02-18T23:00:03Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Spaghetti sauce is frequently called gravy amongst Italian-Americans in the Philly area, especially in South Philly. Same among Italian-Americans in the New Orleans area. ---
**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, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/76 "2025-02-18T23:01:22Z")
Back when I was going to school in the Philadelphia area, the priest at church was telling the congregation about some minor change in the liturgy, and trying to make the point that some changes were a big deal, but others weren’t. His analogy was “If I asked everyone in this church for your gravy recipe, they’d all be different, but all of them would include tomatoes”. I almost stayed back at the end just to tell him “Um, my recipe for gravy is meat juices with a starch thickener”. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2025, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/77 "2025-02-18T23:03:17Z")
Same in New York, New Jersey, and I occasionally hear it here in Chicago among some Italian-Americans, especially older ones (especially as “Sunday gravy” and “neckbone gravy.”) ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/78 "2025-02-18T23:04:01Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Waffle House does not have butter for their waffles. IKR? What the heck is the use of a waffle with no butter? They would triple their following if they just added it. A few days ago I went to lunch at a Greek-type “Family” restaurant. You know the formula, gyros, and chicken gyros, pizza, burgers, and good salads and lots of hot subs. The weird thing for me was they didn’t put bread on the table. Not even on the side with my salad. This particular type of restaurant for me is just synonymous with good house-baked bread that hits the table before your butt is settled in the seat. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2025, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/79 "2025-02-18T23:06:22Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > IKR? What the heck is the use of a waffle with no butter? They would triple their following if they just added it. I am one of these weirdos who’s never realized people put butter on their waffles. I’ve only ever put syrup on mine, and even with pancakes I’ve never used butter (nor does anyone in my family, but they come from Poland.) I mainly remember butter on pancakes from syrup packaging and that one Chilly Willy cartoon where he gets lots of syrup and butter on his flapjacks. ---
**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, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/80 "2025-02-18T23:09:36Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > 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. Won’t find it in a “regular” Mexican restaurant. You need to go to a restaurant that specializes in New Mexican food. There are a couple in my general area, carne adovado and lots and lots of Hatch chilis. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451.md?page=5)