Local foods, anyone?

I know that just about every locale has one or more type of food that is "special" to that area, that is either unique or done better than "anywhere else". With the many places that CPF members hail from, I was wondering about all of your "special" foods that you consider your own.

I live here on Maui, Hawaii, and one of the unique things we sell here is GuriGuri. It is sold in one family owned store. It is basically a frozen sherbet type of dessert made from ... soy beans! And don't even talk to me about that Tofutti cr#p. This stuff is the bomb!

We also have Shishido manju ... unfortunately, the family closed the business after many decades of service. Manju is kind of a flour pastry filled with red bean filling. The Shishido family made it rather well.

Kitchen Cooked Maui potato chips are pretty good. And the chocolate dipped ones are really tasty!

Kula onions are very mild onions; almost sweet in flavor (heard it is sometimes eaten like an apple, although I have not tried it like that). It is compared favorably against the better known WallaWalla onion (I think that's what they're called /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif).

Anyway, that's a sample of what we've got here. Would be nice to read about what you all have there in "your neck of the woods". /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Fried Mullet at Chet's.

Off topic:
My boss is leaving for Maui tomorrow AM. He's taking his soon to be wife, her kid and his two kids. I have been to Maui twice so I gave him some advice for the trip. I said, "Take two extra suitcases. One of them should be filled with all types of crackers, peanuts, and other snacks for the kids to help save money. The other suitcase should be filled with money because you're still going to spend $6,000-$8,000 on the trip." The tourist rate in Maui is brutal but what a beautiful place.

Too many to go into here....check out the link(feel free to explore the entire website) for a sampling of what's available in my neighbourhood:
Singapore Hawker Food /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Aaargh, arioch, you're killing me! All those favorites from my childhood days (except for the choco-chips - while I can consume extraordinary quantities of either chocolate or Maui chips separately, I just can't get into them when combined). I few years back I discovered Maui Gold pineapples. Yet another thing that I crave whenever I eat the sour stuff available here.

Now that I'm in CA, the beach and the food are the things I miss most about home (besides the people). I don't even know what would be considered "local food" for the Bay Area - Dungeness crab? Sourdough bread? Rice-a-Roni?

John

You can't beat a good southern Louisiana crawfish/crab boil. Or an overstuffed shrimp or oyster po-boy. I could go down a loooooooooooong list of dishes that you couldn't find anywhere else but New Orleans. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sssh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/drool.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Bar-b-que Brisket!!!! or Fajitas!!!!

[ QUOTE ]
Roy said:
Bar-b-que Brisket!!!! or Fajitas!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Man oh man do I miss that. Both are a joke here. When I went to Dallas a few weeks ago for one night I had Fajitas for dinner. Breakfast Tacos for breakfast. Fajitas for lunch and Fajitas for dinner before I got on the plane.
I brought back 6-dozen flour tortillas from Taco Cabana. (Warning) Fresh flour tortillas must be consumed within 48 hours unless you have a medicinal need for the mold.

I can't seem to stay on-topic today...or yesterday or...

Philly Cheese Steaks
Philly Soft Pretzels
TastyKakes
Scrapple

This may sound strange..
But I found out that almost no where else has Pepperoni Rolls !!!
I think alot more places have them now, but for a long time, so I hear, West Virginia, was one of the only places that had pepperroni rolls.

[ QUOTE ]
arioch said:It is basically a frozen sherbet type of dessert made from ... soy beans!

[/ QUOTE ]
You're kidding me... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif ...soy beans? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif You sure about that? Man, I had no idea.

Where I grew up in Maryland the best local food was:
Maryland fried chicken
steamed clams, mussels and blue crabs by the bucket and bushel and some Natty Boh to wash it down (heavy on the Old Bay and I don't care if you have seafood in your locale it will absolutely never compare to the Chesapeake Bay's goodies)
fried softshell crab sandwich
oyster fritters
beaten biscuits
Silver Queen corn (mmm, sweet and tender)

Nascar, we had the Tastycakes, scrapple and also UTZ potato chips too (my grandparents always had the enormous tins of UTZ pretzels and chips for us kids, still my favorites)

Here in NYC it is such a transient environment that there is a little of everything, I like some goat roti with a Redstripe beer at the West Indian day parade, fresh fish and chips or a full English breakfast from the Park Slope Chip Shop. Chicharron and great Ceviches from the Peruvian restaurant Coco Roco around the corner. Chicken mole tamales from the Mexican cafe near work. Pizza from Grimaldi's down on the Brooklyn waterfront is the best, as well as the 1 1/2 inch thick pork chops at 2Tom's (a "mobbed-up" joint in my 'hood that's very old school in both atmosphere and cuisine) So much different stuff I can't really list it all, it would take up too much space. We got great local food even if it's not completely exclusive to NYC.

TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I had forgotten about the UTZ line of snacks. They are the best.

TIN-- Scrapple!?!? Do you like it? I saw that stuff every day where I worked, but I steered clear of it. People told me how good it was sciced and fried up, but I never tried it.



Great local food here is the Mexican place down the road from work. Texas fajita platter with fresh made flour tortillas...... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/drool.gif
*yum*

-Jason

I haven't had scrapple it probably 15-years. If memory serves, it has to be cooked properly for me to like it. For those of you who are not sure what scapple is... it's a meat (well maybe not technically meat) product that is made from all the other parts of a pig that can not be used in all the other "real" food we're familiar with like bacon, ham, etc. In comparision, sauguage is more healthly than scrapple is. That's saying alot about the ingredients in scrapple.

You forgot the visual on scrapple--looks kinda like a block of headcheese but yellow and mushy... hence the me wanting to "steer clear of it" part. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

I'll eat almost anything, as long as it looks appealing.

-Jason

Here on the coast of Kali I can ride my horse down into the Brussel sprout fields after harvesting and pick up the culls. We both feast on sprouts until were full. I like them even better dipped in red wine vinegar. Fried calamari is another great dish here. It is served with tartar sauce and thin but full width slices of carrots. A glass of red wine or beer tops it off.

3 hours south is the home of Santa Maria barbeque. I do a pretty good one myself but down there it's even better. A tri-tip (tri-tip roast, cullote, or bottom sirloin) is spiced up and bbq'ed slowly WITH the fat left on. When medium-rare it is pulled off and left to sit for 20 minutes or so and then sliced across the grain. The meat is served with pinquito beans (also called Santa Maria beans), macaroni and cheese, salsa, garlic bread and a green salad. When it's summer time and it is 110o you might want to add a beer. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif I would recommend a quality beer like Coors Light.

Of course there is good Mexican food here too. I prefer the more traditional types of Mexican food, not the Americanised "Mexican" food. I have to say I make a great salsa cruda. This was my salad during the summer when I lived on the ranch.

Dang, now I'm hungry. Bill

They call this "Pittsburgh" sandwich. If you are ever around, you MUST get one.

HERE

[ QUOTE ]
tsg68 said:
...snip....
Silver Queen corn (mmm, sweet and tender)

...snip...

[/ QUOTE ]

TSG - Dif you know that Silver Queen corn is actually originally from NY? In fact, it was first grown commercially in Lamontville NY (Near Kingston)- I believe it was at Gil's Farm. They still grow some of the best corn there.

If you go down Hurley Mtn Road, you'll be passing a BUNCH of corn Farms. One of them used to be (and maybe still is) a guy who grows about 10 acres of different experimental types of corn across the road from his main fields. That is where Silver Queen comes from.

Going up there next weekend - I'll be able to get corn right from the field YUM

Primanti Brothers, that takes me back. A girl at work had visited the 'Burgh when she was younger and the only thing she remembered was the fries on her sammage.
Perogies and onions done up in butter used to be a favorite up there as well.

-Jason

Fresh whole fried clams with the bellies. Lobster boiled or steamed with butter. Yum!

I can't think of much else. New England isn't exactly the cuisine center of the USA.

Wilkey