I pity poor anu-la, so close to ? – so far from Zankou Chicken.
I just got back to Florida from a trip to St. Louis (for my parents’ 50th anniversary). I took my Florida-raised husband to my favorite pizza place (Two Nice Guys, in Kirkwood) for some genuine St. Louis pizza. You either love it or hate it - I love it, and so did he! I miss it, too. You can get decent St. Louis-style ribs here, and many Chicago pizzas, but I’ve never found St Louis pizza anywhere else. 
Oh- and toasted ravioli, although that’s starting to be seen in other parts of the country.
I’ll have you Chicagoans know that after you posted about a hot Italian beef sandwich here, I looked it up in Wikipedia and elsewhere on the 'net. Then I purchased the ingredients and made them yesterday for lunch, and they were outstanding. I don’t know how closely they resembled the real thing, but I bought thin-shaved roast beef, good quality beef stock from which I made a flavorful homemade au jus, and a couple of jars of pickled cherry peppers, cauliflower and carrots for garnish. I also bought a crusty, chewy baguette. I sloshed the roast beef around in the au jus, loaded it onto the toasted baguette with some of the juice, and added plenty of the picked goodies.
Yummer num num.
Having moved away from WV years ago, I do miss pepperoni rolls. All the time. We make them at home, and they’re good enough. But it’s not the same.
From here in SW Ohio, I’d miss Cincinnati-style chili. It took me a little while to warm up to it…but now I get cravings if I go a week without it.
ETA: I just had a brilliant idea to put some Skyline chili on a pepperoni roll. It may be disgusting, but I must try just in case it’s awesome.
Good Cuban food. Whenever I leave for an extended time, I really miss Cuban food. Arroz con pollo, papas rellenas, tostones, fou fou, empanadas, croquetas, pollo asado, plátanos. Ditto Puerto Rican – pasteles, arañitas, carne guisada, lechón, pernil, among other wonderful things.
Also, I find it nearly impossible to find a good Cuban sandwich out of the area. They were invented here, and for some reason those I’ve eaten elsewhere just didn’t do it for me. It’s not that hard, but it’s consistently wrong elsewhere.
I’d miss decent barbecue if I left – I’m in a border region of the South, but we do have good barbecue here.
There’s a really good German restaurant here, which I can’t always find elsewhere. They have a damn good wurstsalat and good sauerbraten.
I’d miss the smell of orange trees in the air, and the sweet smell of ripe grapefruit on the ground. Florida grows really good corn, tomatoes, and strawberries too.
If they were invented in Florida, they aren’t really Cuban, are they? Every sandwich I’ve ever had in Havana has been pretty dismal. But I’ll take your recommendation and try one next time in South Florida.
There’s this nice little healthy cafe in town with the best gazpacho.
The Cuban sandwich came out of cultural exchanges between Ybor City’s large Cuban immigrant population and Cuba itself around the turn of the century. Originally it was ham, roast pork, salami, pickles, Swiss cheese, and mustard. Most of the time now, there’s no salami.
Sometimes, there’s tomato and mayonnaise and lettuce. This is the wrong choice.
I think I could probably live the rest of my life on gazpacho alone.
Or Thai curry. Or maybe spinach lasagna.
marry me!