# Under-Rated Items From Your Local Cuisine. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 16, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594 "2009-01-16T14:52:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/1 "2009-01-16T14:52:51Z")
A spin-off, as requested, from the [Over Rated Items from your Regional Cuisine thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10701254) > [@Over Rated Items from your Regional Cuisine](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/195): > > Can I go against the flow and recommend an UNDERrated regional cuisine? It looks disgusting, and there’s no way I’d go the mint sauce route, but [pie floaters](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_floater) are actually really pretty tasty. > > Not that I can convince any tourists of this fact. ☹ > [@Over Rated Items from your Regional Cuisine](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-rated-items-from-your-regional-cuisine/480940/196): > > Ooh! I think I’d love that! I’d try it for sure. What’s not to love? It’s pie and pea soup! > > For a local underrated favorite, I nominate tongue tacos\*. Can’t even get most of the (white) locals to try it, let alone the tourists. But oh, so much tastier than ground beef! > \*Okay, that just sounds dirty. So what’s your local delicacy that you can’t convince the tourists to try? ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/2 "2009-01-16T15:10:54Z")
I would like to nominate [Zuurvlees](http://www.the-dutchess-of-cookalot.com/2006/10/zuurvlees.html)_, a Maastricht **speciality, traditionally made with horse meat, but now everyone uses beef, It’s a sweat and sour beef dish, that goes great on top of Frieten** _, In Holland and Brabant they have a similar dish called Stoofvlees\*\*\*\*but that tastes like dog food \*(sour meat) \*\*(city in the south of Holland) \*\*\*(French fries, but thicker) \*\*\*\*(simmerd meat) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/3 "2009-01-16T15:34:54Z")
Pittsburgh’s underrated items are the steak salad, heaped with veggies, a quartered hard cooked egg, sliced steak and french fries. I dress mine with oil and vinegar - just the right complement to the potatoes. My wife is still creeped out by fries on salad and thinks it is unnatural. Add to this the Devonshire sandwich - [recipe here.](http://www.post-gazette.com/food/20020704devonp9.asp) This you can get people to try, but it isn’t much known outside of the 'Burgh. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/4 "2009-01-16T15:40:09Z")
As always, sauerkraut balls. Oh, and buckeyes. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/5 "2009-01-16T15:42:22Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Oh, and buckeyes. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/6 "2009-01-16T16:05:20Z")
Connecticut style lobster rolls. Not that greasy seafood salad in a hot dog bun, but the lobster meat, warm, drizzled with butter in a toasted New England style bun. No mayo, celery, anything but lobster and butter. No one realizes how much better our lobster rolls are. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/7 "2009-01-16T16:16:07Z")
Mr. Moto already hit it for my area. ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/8 "2009-01-16T18:50:41Z")
Cabrito. (baby goat) It has to be milk-fed only, so no more than a month or so old. Once the kid starts to eat other foods, it turns a little gamey. That just sounds weird. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/9 "2009-01-16T19:01:26Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Mr. Moto already hit it for my area. **Scumpup** , I’ve been hittin’ it for years! ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/10 "2009-01-16T20:26:28Z")
English food. I’ve found so many fantastic things that I enjoy. Lemon curd on crumpets, real black tea, treacle tarts, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes (crispy on the outside and fluffy inside), sticky toffee pudding, black pudding (never thought I would say that!), ale that is not ice cold, thin British pancakes, uniquely flavored pasties (chicken curry, christmas dinner, and many others) and so on and so on. I really have no idea why people think British cooking is bland or yuck…I can only assume that they haven’t actually tried any, or just weren’t adventurous when they were here. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/11 "2009-01-16T20:30:09Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Connecticut style lobster rolls. > > Not that greasy seafood salad in a hot dog bun, but the lobster meat, warm, drizzled with butter in a toasted New England style bun. > > No mayo, celery, anything but lobster and butter. > > No one realizes how much better our lobster rolls are. Oh, yes, my goodness. Now I’m hungry for lobster rolls. **shakes fist** darn you! ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/12 "2009-01-16T20:49:03Z")
In the last threat, I expressed my ambivalenance with respect to the Kentucky Hot Brown. In this thread, I will state that I have come to believe that Bourbon is not only the greatest avatar that whiskey might take, it is the single greatest drink–alcoholic or otherwise–known to mankind. Beer cheese is pretty good, too. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/13 "2009-01-16T20:54:45Z")
> [@Elysian](#): > > uniquely flavored pasties (chicken curry, christmas dinner, and many others) You have pasties which are “christmas dinner” flavored? Why do I have visions of Willy Wonka and giant blueberries all of the sudden? ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/14 "2009-01-16T21:01:57Z")
Christmas dinner pasties are filled with chunks of turkey, chopped sprouts, potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing and onions, all wrapped in delicious pastry. Oh so good, and you can walk around with one stuffed in a fist while it’s hot and steaming, nomming away, while Christmas shopping! ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/15 "2009-01-16T21:28:58Z")
> [@Elysian](#): > > Christmas dinner pasties are filled with chunks of turkey, chopped sprouts, potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing and onions, all wrapped in delicious pastry. Oh so good, and you can walk around with one stuffed in a fist while it’s hot and steaming, nomming away, while Christmas shopping! _whimper_ I think I just died of envy! ---
**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:** [January 16, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/16 "2009-01-16T21:42:53Z")
Not underrated in the sense that people won’t try them, but underrated in the sense that a lot of people don’t even know about them, since we’re overshadowed by the popularity of deep dish, hot dogs, polish sausages, and Italian beef. Another great Chicago creation is the [jibarito](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3257/2556810683_2fa7f699ae.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/danebrian/2556810683/&usg=__R50OktxwdiFpV2hb403JwZtKfxM=&h=375&w=500&sz=160&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=y7C7uyF-uNjorM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpapas%2Bjibarito%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG) sandwich. Think of a cheesesteak, except instead of a bun, you substitute two fried flattened plantain halves, and top it with tomatoes, lettuce, onion, and garlicky mayonnaise. It will eventually kill you, but oh so good. [And here’s a more flattering picture of the sandwich.](http://www.nicegraphics.com/chow/papas/jibarito.jpg) ---
**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:** [January 16, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/17 "2009-01-16T21:48:53Z")
One more is the standard Chicago barbecue fare of [tips/links combo.](http://www.eatchicago.net/img/Honey1Western5.jpg) Quite a few people don’t like rib tips, because of all the bone, but I think they’re better than spares (my choice of cut when I want full ribs) and baby backs (which I generally don’t like that much.) For those who don’t know, tips are the part that gets trimmed away when making a St. Louis cut of spare ribs. In other words, it’s the tip (last two inches or so) of a full spare rib. Hot links, in Chicago parlance, are a pork sausage which basically tastes like a spicy breakfast sausage, and is smoked along with the rest of the barbecued meats. It can be coarsely or finely ground (I prefer coarse ground), and it generally served cut into inch long pieces. They most resemble Mississippi hot links, not Texas style hot links. ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/18 "2009-01-16T22:37:13Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Another great Chicago creation is the [jibarito](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3257/2556810683_2fa7f699ae.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/danebrian/2556810683/&usg=__R50OktxwdiFpV2hb403JwZtKfxM=&h=375&w=500&sz=160&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=y7C7uyF-uNjorM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpapas%2Bjibarito%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG) sandwich. Think of a cheesesteak, except instead of a bun, you substitute two fried flattened plantain halves, and top it with tomatoes, lettuce, onion, and garlicky mayonnaise. It will eventually kill you, but oh so good. [And here’s a more flattering picture of the sandwich.](http://www.nicegraphics.com/chow/papas/jibarito.jpg) Ho. Ly. Crap. WANT!!! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/19 "2009-01-16T22:43:42Z")
The only thing I can think of off the top is cheddar on apple pie, and being a flatlander, I haven’t tried it yet either!! ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594/20 "2009-01-16T23:21:48Z")
“Local” as in where I live now? Probably Rocky Mountain oysters. Tourists just will – not – try these, but a couple of local restaurants do them quite well. For those who don’t know, Rocky Mountain oysters are cattle testicles, typically taken from bull calves when they’re turned into little steers. “Local” as in my heritage? Definitely haggis. Wonderful stuff. When I was in Scotland this summer, I had bag haggis, pan haggis, haggis with neeps in a tattie, haggis-stuffed chicken breast, haggis pie… Yum. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-rated-items-from-your-local-cuisine/481594.md?page=2)