# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/121 "2025-02-20T01:53:12Z")
That’s even crazier than no butter at Waffle House! Was their soda machine broken? ---
**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 20, 2025, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/122 "2025-02-20T02:01:43Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I asked on r/chicagofood after my trip and was told the burrito I described isn’t uncommon in the Midwest. I’m sure it’s not uncommon, but I also don’t think it’s particularly Midwestern. Don’t Tex-Mex burritos often have lettuce on them? When I google up videos or pictures of burritos in Houston or Dallas, I see quite a few with lettuce on them. ---
**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 20, 2025, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/123 "2025-02-20T02:07:35Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Don’t Tex-Mex burritos often have lettuce on them? I’ve never been to Texas, and I don’t think we even have any Tex-Mex places near me in Olympia, so I couldn’t tell you. The only Tex-Mex cooking I do at home is ground beef enchiladas with chili gravy, because I haven’t been able to find an enchilada sauce recipe that tastes like the stuff they use in San Diego. Well, and fajitas once in a blue moon. FTR, I wouldn’t say the lettuce in the burrito I got in Chicago was “wilted”, but if I hadn’t eaten the whole thing at once I doubt the leftovers would’ve been very palatable. ---
**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 20, 2025, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/124 "2025-02-20T02:10:44Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The only Tex-Mex cooking I do at home is ground beef enchiladas with chili gravy, because I haven’t been able to find an enchilada sauce recipe that tastes like the stuff they use in San Diego. I can’t speak for San Diego enchilada sauces, but if I’m not making stuff from scratch, my go to (as I mentioned upthread) is 505 brand. > **[505SW™ Hatch Valley Red Chile Enchilada & Tamale Sauce 16oz - MEDIUM -](https://store.505southwestern.com/products/hatch-valley-red-chile-enchilada-tamale-sauce)** > > Hatch Valley Red Chile Enchilada & Tamale Sauce | 6 Pack Case of 16oz Jars Certified Non-GMO | Gluten Free | Vegan | With 505 Southwestern® Hatch Valley Red Enchilada & Tamale Sauce, the possibilities are limitless. It tastes good, has a lot less _stuff_, and 505 is normally available in my local Kroger or Safeway, though not always all flavors/variants. Though unsurprisingly, I am more prone to using various salsa verde options. 😉 ---
**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 20, 2025, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/125 "2025-02-20T02:11:35Z")
Actually, I just noticed that you said “on them” and not “in them”. If you’re talking about the kind of burrito that’s served on a plate and covered with sauce and cheese and what not, then yeah, lettuce is pretty usual on those. They’re pretty ubiquitous in sit-down restaurants, and in most fast places in San Diego you can order a “wet burrito” served enchilada-style, but I’m mainly thinking of handheld burritos. ---
**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 20, 2025, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/126 "2025-02-20T02:12:55Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > my go to (as I mentioned upthread) is 505 brand. 505 is good. Unfortunately the store I work at discontinued it about a month after I discovered it. San Diego enchilada sauce, at least the kind they use at Berto’s style places, has a slightly gravy-like consistency and is only mildly spicy, but I’m almost 100% sure that (unlike most store-bought brands) there’s no tomato in it, just chilis and spices with probably a broth base. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/127 "2025-02-20T02:13:39Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > They used to have one in Sacramento. I don’t know if they used to have others. There’s currently three, all in SoCal. As a NorCal person I never even knew this chain existed until this thread and I’ve been in CA for…a very long time now. Nope, never seen queso on a menu in CA. I like queso. But to me it is exclusively a dip you make at home once or twice a year when you’re young for shit like the superbowl. I’m not shocked a chain restaurant would have it on an appetizer menu, but I’ve literally never seen it. And although I don’t eat at many chains, I don’t despise them with the intensity of a thousand suns either. I’ll even eat at Taco Bell once or twice a year, even though vastly better, more authentic taquerias are actually closer to me. But it’s its own thing, like getting a craving for cheetohs or similar junk food. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/128 "2025-02-20T02:14:43Z")
The Waffle Houses around here serve the waffles with margarine and syrup. Are y’all saying your WH doesn’t even do that? I have lived in Fort Worth all my life. I don’t recall seeing queso at restaurants when I was young, but that could have been because my parents didn’t order it. Rotel cheese dip has been around forever though at parties. My parents also made nachos the proper way - a cookie sheet covered in tortilla chips, with shredded cheddar cheese and jalapeño slices on, stuck in a hot oven long enough to melt the cheese. I ws appalled the first time I saw a restaurant spooning cheese sauce on a basket of tortilla chips and calling that nachos. When I was in middle school, we took a trip to Mexico City. Mom explained to us that what we would get there was not the Mexican food we had grown up on. Traveling to New Mexico and points west were also a bit of a culinary shock. ---
**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 20, 2025, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/129 "2025-02-20T02:16:01Z")
I mean, isn’t part of visiting other places NOT getting food exactly the way you’re served back home? I know it is for me. I don’t want hot dogs in Seattle or New York to taste like hot dogs from Chicago. What would be the fun in that? ---
**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 20, 2025, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/130 "2025-02-20T02:17:33Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > Traveling to New Mexico and points west were also a bit of a culinary shock. Yeah, New Mexico is its own (_very delicious_) thing. Even next door in Arizona, it doesn’t quite taste the same, and I’m not sure I can find New Mexican cuisine here in Chicago other than my attempts at it. ---
**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 20, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/131 "2025-02-20T02:18:13Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I don’t want hot dogs in Seattle or New York to taste like hot dogs from Chicago. You may not know this, but Seattle-style hot dogs are a thing. It’s a grilled dog with cream cheese, brown mustard, grilled onions, and hot peppers. ---
**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 20, 2025, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/132 "2025-02-20T02:19:02Z")
Of course I know that. I’m a total food nerd! ---
**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 20, 2025, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/133 "2025-02-20T02:19:29Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > 505 is good. Unfortunately the store I work at discontinued it about a month after I discovered it. You are cursed. Talk to the evil genie/wizard that shows up in MPSIMS about once a week! ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/134 "2025-02-20T02:36:01Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > Getting back to the OP’s question, I’ve been to quite a few hamburger places that don’t serve fries. They’ll have chips (crisps) and other sides instead. Makes perfect sense to me. Makes absolutely no sense to me, unless maybe the place doesn’t have a fryer, in which case I’d either order something else or, more likely, leave. Chilis doesn’t appear to promote, or even really put effort, into their signature dish. Many years ago you could could get a bowl that was enough for a meal and was pretty damned good. At some point it got relegated to the soup category, which is just as well since it really has become watered down meat soup. Now I don’t even see it on the menu. I’m also surprised / annoyed by ice cream shops that only offer waffle or sugar cones. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/135 "2025-02-20T03:04:57Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > I had to google the distinction and yeah, I’ve never had egg rolls. Neither in the UK nor in 8 years in China. The Chinese father of my brother’s Chinese-American wife makes egg rolls. They are small, not the big ones most restaurants sell. But the wrapper and the filling are more like “egg rolls” then like spring rolls. And an old Chinese-American lady i used to work with told me that Chinese mothers make egg rolls to get their kids to eat vegetables. So maybe it’s a fusion food that caught on with some Chinese-American communities. > [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > I’m also surprised / annoyed by ice cream shops that only offer waffle or sugar cones. What are you hoping for? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/136 "2025-02-20T03:06:31Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > What are you hoping for? Cake cone ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/137 "2025-02-20T03:09:33Z")
I find that amusing. I actually prefer cake cones, too, but at least around here, they are considered the cheaper, less desirable option, and the waffle cones often cost extra. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/138 "2025-02-20T03:13:35Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > 505 is good. Unfortunately the store I work at discontinued it about a month after I discovered it. So order it on Amazon and get it delivered to your door. I just looked it up. ---
**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 20, 2025, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/139 "2025-02-20T03:15:51Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > But the wrapper and the filling are more like “egg rolls” then like spring rolls. How do they differ? What you’re describing sound like Chinese spring rolls to me. The spring rolls I’ve had at Chinese places are pretty much like smaller egg rolls with a thinner exterior. (At Southeast Asian places, they are a completely different thing, made with a translucent rice paper wrapper and served cold.) ETA: Something like this: [![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51q8UkW9qpL.jpg) ](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51q8UkW9qpL.jpg) ---
**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 20, 2025, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451/140 "2025-02-20T03:19:35Z")
Of course, you can further add to the confusion. A place near me called [Spring Rollin’](https://springrollincos.com/) offers both varieties you mention. The thin, hand rolled then deep fried spring/egg roll with the smooth wrapper, and the transparent, rice paper wrapped cold spring rolls, but none of the big, heavy-skinned, fried eggrolls, that normally have the more bubbly exterior texture. For reference, example of the last style I mention: [![](https://tarasmulticulturaltable.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/egg-rolls-6-of-10.jpg) ](https://tarasmulticulturaltable.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/egg-rolls-6-of-10.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-dont-serve-essential-dishes-items/1014451.md?page=8)