# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/81 "2025-02-18T23:13:54Z")
Growing up with Atlantic coast seafood restaurants (specifically NC), I assumed hush puppies were an essential side dish for seafood. Turns out that is strictly regional. ---
**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, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/82 "2025-02-18T23:20:49Z")
Ha! I grew up in North Carolina and moved to California when I was in my mid-20s. I grew up thinking fried shrimp meant Calabash-style shrimp, since that’s what was served at most seafood restaurants there. I was greatly disappointed whenever I ordered shrimp at a seafood restaurant here until I realized the style I grew up with is strictly a regional thing. I did eventually broaden my horizons and discovered seafood dishes unique to the West Coast that I like. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/83 "2025-02-19T00:10:37Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Fresh tamales were always a fund raiser where I used to work. In LA, there was always one person on campus that made Christmas tamales and sold them. In Colorado that is apparently not a thing. > [@pulykamell](#): > > 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 Mods, isn’t that an instaban? ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/84 "2025-02-19T01:06:54Z")
> [@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 lived in California the first 34 years of my life, and I don’t recall cheese sauce being a thing in Mexican restaurants. ---
**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 19, 2025, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/85 "2025-02-19T01:07:08Z")
[Reminded me of this guy.](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bQC_hDRK30U?feature=share) ---
**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 19, 2025, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/86 "2025-02-19T01:10:46Z")
My broken assumption, after living in Southern NM from 6-18, and trying to find “Mexican” food in the early 90s outside of the state was the utter lack of any perceptible heat, and, worst of all, the whole “rolled” enchilada. Yes, I know the stacked variant is largely unknown outside New Mexico, but I always found it superior. And of course, it allows a perfectly over-easy egg on top in a stable platform. 😉 ---
**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 19, 2025, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/87 "2025-02-19T01:14:39Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > I lived in California the first 34 years of my life, and I don’t recall cheese sauce being a thing in Mexican restaurants. You guys have On the Border. I promise you they have queso. ---
**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 19, 2025, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/88 "2025-02-19T01:39:00Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > My broken assumption, after living in Southern NM from 6-18, and trying to find “Mexican” food in the early 90s outside of the state was the utter lack of any perceptible heat, and, worst of all, the whole “rolled” enchilada. Methinks you are just bitter about the lack of green chiles in every damn thing. > [@Odesio](#): > > You guys have On the Border On The Border is to ‘Mexican food’ of any variety as Wild Irish Rose is to a well-aged Tempranillo. Stranger ---
**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 19, 2025, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/89 "2025-02-19T01:50:41Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > On The Border is to ‘Mexican food’ of any variety as Wild Irish Rose is to a well-aged Tempranillo. I should have realized everyone here at the Straight Dope has rarified taste when compared to the hoi polloi and would never eat at a chain. All of us eat at an authentic, pardon me, auténtico restaurante Mexicano, where the tortillas are made by someone’s abuelita using the same recipe and method passed down to her from her Aztec ancestors. I get it. I’m the same way with BBQ. ---
**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 19, 2025, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/90 "2025-02-19T02:21:52Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I should have realized everyone here at the Straight Dope has rarified taste when compared to the hoi polloi and would never eat at a chain. All of us eat at an authentic, pardon me, auténtico restaurante Mexicano, where the tortillas are made by someone’s abuelita using the same recipe and method passed down to her from her Aztec ancestors. I don’t mean to suggest that an On The Border might have reasonably cromulent food product; I mean, I don’t personally know because I’ve only considered it in desperation during a layover, and it is one of those restaurants which seems ubiquitous in airport terminals, but people seem to patronize it, and I’m sure it has its devotees. But if you have multiple options of truly good Mexican food (of a variety of styles) within a mile radius, why would I chose a mediocre chain? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/91 "2025-02-19T02:23:13Z")
A traditional restaurant in Italy has cuisine from only the region it’s in. Locally-sourced ingredients and all that. The vast majority of Italian immigrants came from il Mezzogiorno. Red sauce cuisine became the norm in America because it’s shared by Sicily, Calabria, and Campania. The only regional cuisine most Americans have ever seen represented is Campanian i.e. Neapolitan. If your restaurateur is from Tuscany, for sure you’re getting white sauce. Lombardy or Piedmont, brown sauce. Liguria, green sauce, etc. Growing up Sicilian-American in Ohio, nobody ever called it gravy. I never heard of that until many years later. To us it was pasta sauce. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/92 "2025-02-19T02:50:29Z")
Mexico has several regional cuisines and many delicious salsas. If you are eating nachos at all, then it is highly likely you are in a tourist place. If you are eating them with cheese salsa, then you are probably not in Mexico at all. From cheesesteaks to delicious antojitos, Velveeta disgraces everything it touches and is never a good substitute for proper cheese. I’m sure there are great Tex-Mex places or private parties where they have a tasty cheese sauce. But I’m guessing few native Mexicans would consider that “authentic”. ---
**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 19, 2025, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/93 "2025-02-19T03:07:04Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Methinks you are just bitter about the lack of green chiles in every damn thing. When even Burger King and MacDonalds have green chile burgers where I grew up? Less than an hour from Hatch NM? That’s probably part of it, yes… Thank god in recent years that 505 brand chile options are available in even the local megamart! And I can live with roasted Pueblo chiles, even if they aren’t _quite_ what the heart craves. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/94 "2025-02-19T03:36:09Z")
No we don’t. I just checked and the nearest On The Border to my location in California is 400 miles. ---
**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 19, 2025, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/95 "2025-02-19T03:37:43Z")
They used to have one in Sacramento. I don’t know if they used to have others. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/96 "2025-02-19T03:47:05Z")
Queso was definitely not a thing at the Berto’s-type Mexican restaurants I ate at in San Diego from the late '80s to early 2000s (and which I eat at again today now that they’ve finally made it to the Pacific Northwest). Cheese was almost always shredded sharp cheddar and/or jack cheese, possibly with a sprinkling of cotija. Never in sauce form. Taco trucks don’t do queso either, but they usually use more authentically Mexican white cheeses like Oaxaca or queso fresco. ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/97 "2025-02-19T03:54:02Z")
I’ve been eating Mexican food for over 50 years, the more authentic, the better. I’ve never seen queso dip on any menu other than Taco Bell, which is about as authentic as On the Border. They are the Olive Garden of Mexican food. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/98 "2025-02-19T05:03:22Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Pie is ethic? When I was living in California, they always promised [100 pies](https://www.flickr.com/photos/joshdamon/2247731188/) at every polling booth but I guess I always got there too late because there was never a sign of any pies at the polling booths I went to :(. ---
**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 19, 2025, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/99 "2025-02-19T07:49:40Z")
Ha ha. I was going to say that would not be allowed because of electioneering laws and then saw the photo. Love it. ---
**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 19, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/100 "2025-02-19T20:29:36Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > All of us eat at an authentic, pardon me, auténtico restaurante Mexicano, where the tortillas are made by someone’s abuelita using the same recipe and method passed down to her from her Aztec ancestors. Actually, two of the restaurants I go to regularly _do_ have abuelas making tortillas on the big round plancha. Nothing better! But, yes, it’s not terribly common. > [@suranyi](#): > > No we don’t. I just checked and the nearest On The Border to my location in California is 400 miles. Thanks, I’d never heard of or seen one of these places, so I was confused. Not here. Not surprised. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451.md?page=6)