I’m skeptical of gyros from outside the region as well. Although, out east I guess it’s all about the donair.
Would you like your coffee regular, or would you rather have a tonic?
I’ll be in Ithaca this weekend, and I believe Wegmans carries Zweigel’s. PM me if you need me to pick some up and can meet me somewhere at a Red Line T-stop for the drop.
Done!
In Oklahoma, typically at fairs, concerts, and sporting events, one can find the Taco in a Bag. A bag of Fritos (or Doritos) with a scoop of that greasy orange taco meat and several squirts of pump cheese dumped in it.
Also from OK is the Onion Burger. It’s a hamburger cooked on a griddle alongside (or on top of) grilled onions. Not exactly revolutionary or unusual, but lots of people there think it’s some kind of unique regional thing.
Strangely for its generally good food, the Dallas TX area does not seem to have any unique cuisine.
In North Central West Virginia we have pepperoni rolls. They were originally created by Italian immigrants to take for lunch in the coal mines.
Isn’t that poutine? French Canadians would argue with you about how unique that is to your area.
The caesar or bloody caesar cocktail was invented in Calgary. I keep trying to get you Americans to try it - it’s one of the few drinks I miss since I stopped drinking.
More generally from Canada, there is Hawkins Cheezies,Nanaimo bars, and butter tarts.
For Nashville we have Hot Chicken/Fish, the GooGoo Cluster, Rinderbraten and we have a special place for the Meat’n Three.
Here in the little town of Fayetteville, where I live now… the main thing seems to be the Slaw Burger
Cuban sandwiches are from Ybor City area of Tampa, of course. In addition to the above we also have Grouper Sandwiches. Gator tail is not unique to Florida but is more common here than most places.
San Antonio: Barbacoa & Big Red Big Red is a red cream soda and barbacoa is beef from parts of the cow you’d probably rather not think about too much.
Pittsburgh is the home of the Primanti’s sandwich: Primanti Bros. - Wikipedia
I was very surprised a few years ago to find out that Half-Smokeswere a DC-area thing and unknown elsewhere.
My mother lives close to the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina and there are several places that have the Indian taco. Per the website, it’s also popualr in Arizona, so there are probably a lot of places where you can get it though it doesn’t seem all that common.
The Lickety-Spllt Ice Cream truck. From April through October we get the best goddam soft ice cream on the planet. The stuff is so good people will stop their cars to get it when they see the truck. I have neighbors that I only see at the truck. It’s like old home week every time the truck shows up.
I am also surprised, doesn’t everyone have half smokes?
An easy one I am surprised hasn’t been mentioned (unless I missed it): I live in NJ and every Diner serves Taylor Ham (AKA Pork Roll). That is definitely a regional dish.
Although they grow in other parts of North America, huckleberries are generally associated with the Pacific Northwest east of the Cascades and the Northern Rocky Mountain region.
they’re getting harder to find in the DC area, too. People keep trying to pass off a Kielbasa as a half-smoke, but it just isn’t.
Its the same family of dishes, but poutine is made with curds–it’s kind of a central defining factor of the dish, although I hear there are parts of Canada that do use grated cheese in their poutine.
It’s not my area anymore, but fry sauce is mostly just a Utah thing.