What food is your town/region/country famous for?

JeffInChi

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Aug 20, 2009
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232
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Chicago, IL
Just reading another thread over here and I couldn't decide if I would rather have some pizza or a italian breaded steak sandwhich.

Then I thought how great it was to have an option of both. At least thats one good thing about living in Chicago.


Chicago is known for pizza, super thin crust and deep dish. Thin crust is usually cut up into squares here, which some people think is odd (I guess they've only seen the triangle slices).

Chicago also has great beef sandwhiches, I like the combo (beef and sausage) with mozzarella cheese and hot giardiniera.

Also something that we're not too famous for (maybe?) but I can only find here, Italian breaded steak sandwhiches. Fairly thin italian beef breaded and deep fried and served with marinara sauce, cheese and choice of hot or mild peppers on soft french/hoagie type bread. Anyone have something like this anywhere else?

The last Chicago style food is the Chicago style hot dog. 100% pure beef (usually vienna beef) with just cooked onions and yellow mustard, not the dijon mustard thats on a New York hot dog. To add ketchup on this style hotdog is an insult, and they'll even cuss you out if you order a dog with ketchup from one joint on the northside of the city, I've been there and have seen it firsthand.

So what food/dish/style is your city/state/country known for?
 
Toasted Ravioli
Gooey Butter Cake
Pork Steaks
Provel Cheese
Slingers

We also have very thin pizza sliced into squares.


EDIT: I found a link describing some of those I mentioned.
http://stlplaces.com/stl_foods/
 
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Texas BBQ!! If you've had it anywhere else, it (*ahem*) AIN'T BBQ!!!
 
New Haven: Pizza (first made in the US at Pepe's Pizza on Wooster St.). The clams casino or sausage and peppers pies are to die for. There has been a line outside this place continuously for as far as I can remember. Even though New Haven is a small city, it has fantastic food of a great many nationalities because of the international presence of Yale University.

Connecticut: Great seafood, esp. clam chowder (don't even think about asking which kind!) and lobster rolls (the kind where the picked lobster meat is sauteed in butter and served hot in a toasted/grilled hotdog roll (not the kind where the lobster is mixed with mayo and served cold like a chicken salad).

Man, now I'm hungry, too!
 
Porkroll...sliced about 1/2inch thick cooked on the grill with cheese on a fresh roll.... YUM
 
Now, Sourdough Bread, Acme Bakery is the best IMHO and Crab Cioppino.
Before, Soft Pretzels and Cheesteaks from Pat's.

That's San Francisco and Philadelphia for those that don't know.
 
Texas BBQ!! If you've had it anywhere else, it (*ahem*) AIN'T BBQ!!!

Let me ask you a question, I've heard people from the south call pulled pork, like on a pulled pork sandwhich "BBQ", is that what you mean? Or do you mean anything that you put on a barbeque grill?

Up here its a pulled pork sandwhich, either soaked in BBQ sauce on a thick bun or louisiana style with a mustard/bbq style sauce on an onion roll.

French fries n gravy, didn't know it had a french name to it, interesting.

Toasted Ravioli? lobster meat that is sauteed in butter and served hot in a toasted/grilled hotdog roll? Those sound real good to me.

A lot of stuff I've never heard before, I'd like to try a lot of these.:thumbsup:

Keep the foods comin!
 
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Your northern neighbor, Milwaukee.

When I think Wisconsin, I think of three things I really love: beer, brats, and cheese. And frozen custard too. You can't get the same variety of those things in a lot of other places; I feel bad for those who only have ice cream, no custard, or only a couple kinds of cheese in the grocery store, or no microbreweries nearby. We have whole stores devoted to cheese. And you could drink a different beer brewed in this state every day for the rest of your life and probably never drink the same one twice. Delicious!

I'm sure some other Milwaukeean will say 'oh we have such and such, how could you not mention these things', but those are staples in my opinion.
 
New Haven: Pizza (first made in the US at Pepe's Pizza on Wooster St.). The clams casino or sausage and peppers pies are to die for. There has been a line outside this place continuously for as far as I can remember. Even though New Haven is a small city, it has fantastic food of a great many nationalities because of the international presence of Yale University.

this makes me miss CT, I love Pepe's, its worth standing in line for an hour, have you tried the one in Fairfield yet?

speaking of Fairfield CT, my home town, Rawley's drive-in is a landmark, with the best hot dogs ive ever eaten. deep fried then grilled on a buttered roll with the works!

but where i live now is famous for LOBSTAH!

man, im hungry thinking of all this good food, good thing i just finished a batch of moose chili!
 
New Orleans is probably most famous for Cajun Food but IMO that's a product of poor advertising trying to capitalize on how hot everything Cajun has been for the last 20-30 years. The food in N.O. is far more complicated than that.

For my money the best that the city has to serve is a combination of traditional Italian style foods twisted with a more modern Cajun bent. This might not be obvious to outsiders but it's everywhere when you start looking for it.

Remember, the reason that the French Quarter is so "quaint" is because for the first half of the 20th century it was an Italian slum. That's why it wasn't bulldozed and rebuilt like so many old parts of other cities. It is also why the Italian cuisine is such a big part of the food here.

A good example would be crawfish tasso linguine. It is a classic Italian cream reduction sauce made with two Cajun favorites and a different set of spices. Tasso is a type of smoked, spiced pork (not ham) that is only made in this region. I know a bar that makes their own tasso in their courtyard.

The point I'm trying to make is that it's very easy to go into a joint and order a burger or the calamari and totally miss items on the menu that may actually be world class and good enough to be able to 'carry their own weight' anywhere on earth. There are many of these twisted Italian/Cajun dishes lurking all over the city. They are some of the best we have to offer.

It's made me a better cook.

Let me ask you a question, I've heard people from the south call pulled pork, like on a pulled pork sandwhich "BBQ", is that what you mean? Or do you mean anything that you put on a barbeque grill?

Up here its a pulled pork sandwhich, either soaked in BBQ sauce on a thick bun or louisiana style with a mustard/bbq style sauce on an onion roll...
Where I live a pulled meat is one that has been pulled from the bone, usually referring to pork or smoked chicken. Not to be confused with debris, which are chunks of meat that fall to the platter while carving, as in debris sandwich.
 
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MD = Blue Crabs, Rockfish and Oysters (though these are becoming rare now).

Regarding the quote below... I wish you hadn't mentioned this! Nowhere to get this around here.

A good example would be crawfish tasso linguine. It is a classic Italian cream reduction sauce made with two Cajun favorites and a different set of spices. Tasso is a type of smoked, spiced pork (not ham) that is only made in this region.[/B]
 
+

Johnsonville Brats is just down the road.
Sargento Cheese is even closer. + there are many producers to mention
Half the US beer is brewed an hour away in Milwaukee {Beer City USA:}

bratwurst, beer & cheese...
naughty.gif



Ya'der;)

Add: I almost forgot the Friday Fish Fry

 
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