And now for the sacrilege:
Overated: Bacon!
Either too chewy or too crispy, too fatty, Loaded with sodium and it isn’t that great tasting. When it comes to unhealthy processed meat I prefer pepperoni.
Underrated: Ketchup!
It’s like tomato wine. Get the good stuff with no corn syrup and low to no vinegar content that’s graded no less than USDA Fancy.
Honestly, I never thought of beans as an entree. To me, they’ve always been a side dish. Years ago, I spent probably far too much time at a British-style pub back in Toronto, where a steak and mushroom pie with a side of beans or mushy peas (your choice) made a tasty and filling meal. Mostly, I chose beans on the side, but opted for mushy peas a few times. They’re a little unusual to my North American taste, but I found them to be actually quite good.
For me, an underrated entry would be the humble Bacon-Lettuce-Tomato sandwich. Sure, they’re what is served in every truck stop, every diner, and every sports bar; but they require so few ingredients and are so simple to make that it is difficult to mess them up. Even if they’re not on the menu, any diner etc. worth its salt can make one if you ask; and they are easy enough to make at home with the same results as any diner. Great for breakfast, lunch, or as a light dinner, accompanied by some sort of fried potatoes; they are so versatile that they can satisfy hunger at all hours.
I’ll agree with you. Well, I don’t like pepperoni, and i do enjoy some nice crispy bacon. But it’s not the food of the gods. It doesn’t improve everything. I don’t understand the esteem it’s held in.
I think the internet is largely responsible. Bacon is one of the few foods that most people like, so it was easy for it to become a meme. I love bacon, but I have to agree it is now overrated
The thing with mayonnaise is that the store-bought glop has very little to do with the home-made version. While this is true of many types of food, the difference between industrial and traditional mayonnaise is so huge that they’re almost different products.
When I was a kid, my grandmother sometimes made mayonnaise and fries when we stayed with her for the evening. Simple as it was, this was some of the best food I’ve ever had. Actually, I would eat the home-made mayonnaise by the spoon, it was just so unbelievably yummy.
So, home-made mayonnaise is my pick for underrated food.
That, and hummus. It’s supposed to be a side dish, but I can eat it with nothing else.
Yes truffles. Very overrated.
So expensive but the taste is both weird and meh to me. Sure, it’s distinctive but really nothing special, particularly at that price.
I like a good lobster dish every now and again, but it’s almost into cult territory these days. I mean, even in non tourist-trap Maine in the summer, it’s still outrageously expensive. At half the cost, it would be a good deal, but where it is? You’ve got to really, really love lobster.
I’ve also thought that steak is overrated. I also like a good steak every now and again, but at least around here, there’s a segment of the population for whom it is the ne plus ultra of fine dining. So there’s an overabundance of steak places around here in drag as fine dining places, when they’re really just old-school steakhouses with a few fine dining touches.
For my part, give me something that requires an actual chef, not some goon running a grill/broiler.
I like a good steak. My major beef (ha!) with it is that a dinner for two at a decent steak house is in the $200 range. I’d rather have a burger.
I like a good steak, and i like a good lobster. But there’s an awful lot of mediocre to bad lobster sold, and it’s very meh.
Truth be told, i like crab even more than lobster. But both are only good fresh, and i live near good lobster territory, and not near good crabbing territory. The best crabs I’ve had were dungeness, from Portland Oregon through Vancouver, BC. So my shellfish treat is lobster.
At least restaurant steak is usually very good.
I’m with the lobster crew. Never really cared much for it, and definitely don’t care for it at the prices it goes for. As much as I enjoy steak about four times a year, I find it over-rated, as well. And, also, at today’s prices, forget about it. I’d rather have beef shank or chuck roast, though I almost bought some rib roast at $6.99/lb to cut into steaks (but the deal ended yesterday. 
)
Over rated? IPAs (beer style). While the peak craze is past, shelves and tap lines are still overwhelmingly filled with IPAs. They can be fine. There are some that are excellent and I will choose over other options. But the major focus of that style, which seems to be “hop forward and juicy… as much as possible” is just… not that good.
I’m a steak lover, but the range can vary from almost inedible (cooked past 140F) to rapturous. A couple examples: I was recently treated to dinner at a very upscale Manhattan steakhouse and ordered a strip sirloin cooked rare. The cook was perfect, and it was served on a very hot plate to hold the temperature. But in spite of the significant expense and extravagant presentation, to be honest it wasn’t any better than a $20 strip at a Longhorn. On a recent trip to the grocery store I found 2 extra thick (2" plus) bone-in ribeyes at a heavy discount. I reverse-seared them on an offset smoker, i.e. smoked to 100F internal temp and then seared on direct heat. Those were probably the best steaks I’ve ever eaten, and they cost me less than $50. My p[oint being that as much as I love steak, it can border on overrated. I’ll still eat it even if it’s so-so, but not if it’s cooked past medium.
I agree. I like lobster a lot but in the category of things from the ocean that aren’t fish it’s far down the line. I much prefer a good crab or scallop dish. Lobster is good but overrated.
I think authentic is overrated. Authentic doesn’t equal good. I’ve tried multiple authentic Mexican restaurants near me run by authentic Mexican people and they are just ok. The best food I’ve found is in Tex-Mex place that’s attempting to expand into a franchise. Not authentic to what you would find south of the border but it’s really tasty.
I don’t agree that wine is overrated. I think expensive wine is overrated. I’ve had very expensive wine that was very good. I’ve also had cheap wine that I enjoyed a lot. You don’t have to empty your wallet to find something you like. At a bar I find the house wine to be enjoyable most of the time.
I think cantaloupe is underrated. I think the problem is there is a very short window where it is perfectly ripe. Outside of that window it’s not great.
Oh, absolutely agreed. IPAs are what got me into craft brews back in the early 2000s, and I do love them, but there are still way toooooooo fricking many of them. There’s just no way to differentiate them in such a crowded market, so I generally would stick to what I know when it came to IPAs and order almost anything else when I’m out because I have had enough IPAs in my life.
For underrated, I already mentioned beef shanks, though not specifically as an underrated food, but as a beef cut I mostly prefer to steak. Beef cheek also fits into this category, but is not as well-known. I actually want to shut up about this, lest what has happened to flank and oxtails happens to them.
For vegetables, I find kohlrabi underrated. I might also put rutabaga in that pile.
For the last year and a half I have been on a Turkish lebneh kick that has yet to abate. It’s like a cross between a light cream cheese and a Greek yogurt. The mouthfeel is a bit more buttery and rich than Greek yogurt, and it’s not as sour. There are many lebnehs that have that strong yogurt tang to them, but the Turkish stuff I’ve bought (Içim and one other brand) have a very muted sour kick to them that puts me more in the mind of something like a soft, spoonable cream cheese than a yogurt.
Sardines are another one for me. Also been on a kick for the past year and a half. I can’t get sick of the little fishies. Mackerel, as well.
Keep these guys in mind @pulykamell if you’re out and about at any farmers markets this summer or near the food hall in the Old Post Office.
Hummus pitas labneh carrot dip and more all excellent.
This sounds like something I’d want to try. How hard is it to find? I’m in Sacramento, CA, if it matters.
Agree. I would rather have something like short ribs or bulgogi. Even a really good cheesesteak.
There’s no such thing as licorice pizza, other than the defunct Southern California record store chain and the movie it was named after.
Sounds like my house. But the ketchup bottle would probably last two years. And end up being thrown out for being too old.
It was my favorite flavor of pudding since I was a little kid. There’s a restaurant (JAR) in Hollywood that has a to-die-for butterscoth pudding.
I also always got the butterscotch sundae (with Dutch chocolate ice cream) at the late lamented Wil Wright’s. It was real butterscotch, not the overly sweet thin stuff you get most places nowadays.
My underrated item is real butter. I love butter. Even when I was about four years old I knew the difference, and I vowed that once I was paying for my own food, margarine would never pass my lips again.
Under-rated—-a Baked Potato. It hits the spot, and is tasty.
Over-rated—Creme brulee. It’s just custard. So what?
Do you have a Muslim community? That’s where I always find it. I was specifically turned on to the Turkish type by a shopkeeper as I was perusing the five brands of lebneh they sold, in addition to their homemade product.
I see Icim lebneh is available on Amazon for me, but $40 for 1 kg total. I typically buy it at around $6-7 for 500g.