# What is the best food you ever found in unexpected places? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728 "2016-09-12T00:35:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [September 12, 2016, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/41 "2016-09-12T20:50:00Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Check Caputo’s; usually about $9/lb for a PISMO (whole tenderloin Peeled, Side Meat On) Sweet. My local Pete’s had filet steaks at $9.99/lb (I swear I had never seen them there before). No grading was marked on them, so I’m assuming they were select but, like I said, with filet, they’re all pretty tender. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/42 "2016-09-12T21:01:14Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > When I was a kid I learned to cook Indian food from my mother who was English. This was back in the 60s when you couldn’t buy Indian sauces but had to make everything from scratch. I was quite a novelty back then when I started sharing homes with friends as most Aussies had no idea what a real curry was or how to make one. I assumed all English mothers cooked Indian food. > > My mother in turn had learned to cook Indian from her family’s cooks while her father was posted in Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika after WWII. Apparently all the kitchen staff where always Indian. That would be very rare these days, as the Indian population are the richest people in the country. We’ve been referring to them as “Indian” for simplicity’s sake, but they’ve been there for generations and consider themselves Ugandans with Indian ancestry. ---
**Author:** ![Tara57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Tara57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tara57)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/43 "2016-09-12T22:04:57Z")
Very good barbecue out of a small restaurant inside a Shell Station [http://tipsypigbbq.com/](http://tipsypigbbq.com/) ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/44 "2016-09-13T05:02:48Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Not quite what the OP was looking for, but I was at Whole Foods the other morning and was surprised to see biscuits and gravy in the hot food section. The gravy was a little thin, but the cheddar biscuits more than made up for it. Yum! The Whole Foods in Wauwatosa has a bar at the entrance ([The Tosa Tavern](https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/service/tosa-tavern-wauwatosa)) and they actually have a quite tasty Walleye snack basket with some deep fried tater tots that are out of this world. Drinking and grocery shopping. It’s a winning combination! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/45 "2016-09-13T09:12:49Z")
> [@Kelevra](#): > > I had a BLT at the Oasis Good Time Emporium (strip club) in Atlanta. I admit that having a naked girl bent over 3 feet away was a bit off-putting. Never ate at a strip club again. > > My best unexpected meal was a place called Chicken Chicken in Grand Cayman. They served… wait for it… chicken! It had a Jamaican Jerk spice and was cooked on a rotisserie. My wife and I at there twice in the week we were on the island. Back in the late 80s Wednesday night at the enlisted club at Fort Story Va Beach was quarter beer and 10 cent wing night. mrAru and I used to go and hang out for the wings and beer, strippers were just sort of an interesting distraction. I surprised the hell out of one of the strippers when she strutted out and spotted me at one of the tables. _shrug_ I never got the reason for being upset that my husband was going out to see strippers with the guys in his division, I was the one that had his bank account and he came home to at night. [well, except when he was deployed] ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/46 "2016-09-13T13:04:42Z")
> [@Haunted\_Pasta](#): > > So, where did you find the best beer you’ve ever had? Germany? The Czech Republic? Alamogordo, New Mexico? The Pacific Northw. Belgium, the town of Ghent. I’m almost certain it was at a place called “Het Waterhuis a/d Bierkant,” but looking at their menu I can’t seem to find the beer. It was their own house beer, though. I really enjoy Affligem when I can find it, though, which reminds me of the aforementioned beer. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2016, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/47 "2016-09-13T16:01:29Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > The Whole Foods in Wauwatosa has a bar at the entrance ([The Tosa Tavern](https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/service/tosa-tavern-wauwatosa)) and they actually have a quite tasty Walleye snack basket with some deep fried tater tots that are out of this world. > > Drinking and grocery shopping. It’s a winning combination! 🆒 You had me at “walleye snack basket.” I’ve never had such a thing, but if it’s what I imagine it to me (nuggets of deep-fried battered or breaded walleye) I am there! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/48 "2016-09-13T16:01:59Z")
My MIL was in the hospital in Brandon, FL for two weeks recently. Across the main drag from the hospital was a place called [Jimmy Hula’s](http://jimmyhulas.com/food-menu/). One night before we headed back home to Maryland, I had two of the best fish tacos I’ve ever eaten - by far! - and a hell of a bargain at only $3.89 a pop. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/49 "2016-09-13T16:17:20Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Two come to mind for me. > > The first was a ham and cheese sandwich at a highway rest stop in northern France. The ham and cheese were really, really good, but the real key was the baguette – not too airy, crispy but not too thick crust, and perfectly seasoned. When assembled this simple concoction was perhaps still the single, best sandwich I’ve eaten in my life. > > The second one is a hamburger (actually “lamb-burger”, given the country) at the Marriott Hotel restaurant in Ahmedabad, India. It surprised me because (a) India, where presumably a hamburger is a rarity, and (b) hotel food isn’t usually very good (unless you go to the “fine dining” restaurant inside hotels). I’d been living in China at the time, and in my five years there I’ve never had a good hamburger, and so this wonderful, awesome, lamb-burger was even doubly delicious. If only beer has been legal, it would have been a perfect meal. Actually, both your replies remind me: the first, I was at a hotel in Paris staying one night back in '96. Just some cheap place we found after being picked up by some bus in the train station. Anyhow, I woke up to just a boring continental style breakfast. Baguette. Butter. I’m not even sure there were cold cuts and cheese, but there must have been. I buttered the baguette and took a bite, just expecting calories and nothing else. Holy shit. I never knew bread and butter could taste SO good. I’m sure part of it must be my lowered expectations coupled with the romance of travel but, seriously, that was an epiphany for me. I’ll never forget that baguette and butter as long as I live, and that’s pretty much what started my journey to appreciating culinarily simple things. The second was a vada pav in Mumbai. All the locals advised me against eating the street food and I managed to do so for a day. The next day, though, I couldn’t resist. I wasn’t going to have pani puri (as much as I love it) or anything involving fresh water, but I figured I couldn’t go wrong with deep-fried potato cutlets served on a bread roll with some chutney and fried chili peppers on the side. Maybe I took a little risk with the chutney, but holy shit was I blown away by this dish that cost me maybe a quarter. It was just absolutely perfect: a fried potato slider with hot peppers and chutneys. Beautiful contrast of textures from the pillowy roll to the crispy deep fried potato to its mushy interior, with the starch flavored by the coriander/cilantro, tamarind, garlic, sweet and sour of the chutneys, accented by the crispness and heat of the fried chili pepper. Good god. It stands out as the best street food I’ve ever eaten. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/50 "2016-09-13T20:42:38Z")
I had heard that the doughnuts at the summit shop on Pikes Peak were good, but I was surprised at how much better they tasted than I expected. Something to do with frying at above 14000 feet. If you want some, arrange it before a tour bus shows up, because it seems like everyone makes a beeline to order. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/51 "2016-09-14T01:13:34Z")
One of the two best Italian restaurants I’ve ever eaten in was in Grafenwohr Germany. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/52 "2016-09-14T04:34:34Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > You had me at “walleye snack basket.” I’ve never had such a thing, but if it’s what I imagine it to me (nuggets of deep-fried battered or breaded walleye) I am there! It’s delicious! And they actually know how to make a proper Old Fashioned by muddling the fruit, not using (GASP!:eek::mad: ) bottled mix! Sacrilege! Kind of weird to think the wife and I have gone to a grocery store on some of our “date nights”. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/53 "2016-09-14T15:57:34Z")
On the subject of grocers: [the Harris Teeter here](https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8426585,-77.0524414,3a,60.5y,152.12h,97.38t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sc_xpFPqp0uE5z0yVrtBhzg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Dc_xpFPqp0uE5z0yVrtBhzg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D56.266605%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656) had some good paninis for seven bucks when I worked nearby. Huge, too! I’d pick up one on my lunch hour, eat half, and save the other half for dinner. Sometimes I could only eat a quarter for lunch. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/54 "2016-09-14T16:40:04Z")
A hole-in-the-wall Korean breakfast stand in Honolulu Hawaii. They only opened for breakfast until about 11:00 or so. It was basically American greasy-spoon diner dishes repurposed with with Korean-style ingredients and cooking. The “omelet” was a sort of egg-pancake on top of rice, with a slice of BBQ beef on top, drizzled in yummy mystery sauce. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/55 "2016-09-14T20:13:42Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > It’s delicious! And they actually know how to make a proper Old Fashioned by muddling the fruit, not using (GASP!:eek::mad: ) bottled mix! Sacrilege! > > Kind of weird to think the wife and I have gone to a grocery store on some of our “date nights”. I have been going round and round with my boss on this one… I work at an “Old Money”, private city club. Our members drink xxx on the rocks or xxx straight up or xxx neat. On the occasion someone orders an Old Fashion it has been our practice to muddle and orange slice, cherry and sugar (or simple syrup) add booze and top w/ a splash of club soda…he wants us to use booze, simple syrup and just orange bitters. He states the way I/we all make it is a “mid western” old fashioned. I just want to shake his and say…MOTHERFUCKER, we are in St Louis! How much more mid wester do you fucking wanna get. /end of rant aka threadjacking ---
**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:** [September 14, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/56 "2016-09-14T21:05:04Z")
> [@ThisSpaceForRent](#): > > I have been going round and round with my boss on this one… > > I work at an “Old Money”, private city club. Our members drink xxx on the rocks or xxx straight up or xxx neat. On the occasion someone orders an Old Fashion it has been our practice to muddle and orange slice, cherry and sugar (or simple syrup) add booze and top w/ a splash of club soda…he wants us to use booze, simple syrup and just orange bitters. He states the way I/we all make it is a “mid western” old fashioned. > > I just want to shake his and say…MOTHERFUCKER, we are in St Louis! How much more mid wester do you fucking wanna get. > > /end of rant aka threadjacking Huh. I actually thought that style of Old Fashioned was not Midwestern, but specifically Wisconsin (although they will also top with 7-up or Squirt). Had no idea it extended down to Missouri. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/57 "2016-09-15T03:27:07Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Huh. I actually thought that style of Old Fashioned was not Midwestern, but specifically Wisconsin (although they will also top with 7-up or Squirt). Had no idea it extended down to Missouri. Wisconsin, specifically Wisconsin super clubs. But I’ve seen them in a few other places but they usually f\*ck them up. We spent New years weekend in New Orleans this year and the Ritz Carlton was serving them. An old man (no idea where he was from) tossed the bill back at the bartender and exclaimed “_ **THAT** , sir, was the worst goddamned old fashioned I ever had and I am not paying for it_!” and walked out. True story. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/58 "2016-09-15T03:42:41Z")
a.v. hospital has one of the best chili cheese fries plates in town… (after crazy ottos open face chiliburger/fries combo) ---
**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:** [September 15, 2016, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/59 "2016-09-15T04:09:34Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Wisconsin, specifically Wisconsin super clubs. > > But I’ve seen them in a few other places but they usually f\*ck them up. We spent New years weekend in New Orleans this year and the Ritz Carlton was serving them. > An old man (no idea where he was from) tossed the bill back at the bartender and exclaimed “_ **THAT** , sir, was the worst goddamned old fashioned I ever had and I am not paying for it_!” and walked out. > > True story. Yeah, the “official” Old Fashioned is pretty much just rye (or bourbon) + bitters + sugar/simple syrup and perhaps a splash of water or seltzer. That’s it. No muddled fruit or anything like that. Maybe cherry & orange garnish. It’s a pretty alcoholic tasting drink, quite different from something like a “brandy old fashioned sweet” you’d get at your supper clubs, so if that’s what the customer was expecting, I could see his shock. 🙂 That said, I’m not really much for classic old fashioneds – I’d rather have the whiskey neat. But when up in Wisconsin, I can’t help but order a brandy old fashioned press or sour when I get the chance. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728/60 "2016-09-15T04:29:37Z")
I was in Madison Wisconsin over labor day, and I ordered an Old Fashioned at a bar. Bartender asked if I wanted it sweet, sour, or something else (pressed, maybe). I was perplexed. I just wanted a damned Old Fashioned. Muddled orange and cherry, a _little_ sugar, bitters, whiskey, and maybe a splash. It’s a simple drink. Maybe that’s the “Midwestern” version, but I’m in St. Louis, too, and that’s how Ray at Dressel’s made them back in the 90s when I started drinking them, and by god, if Ray made them that way, that was the right way to make a goddamned Old Fashioned! Anyway, what I got in Madison was a sickly sweet concoction that bore no more than a passing resemblance to an actual cocktail. Don’t know what kind of candy ass drinks Old Fashioneds like that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-food-you-ever-found-in-unexpected-places/765728.md?page=4)