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What’s your disgustingly good local dish?

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I’m smack dab in the middle of my Gen Con preparation week (which will likely bleed over into the next one). This means that whatever I post here is going to be very light in relevant content.

Since I can’t shut up and I hate silence, I put up little texts just to let you know I’m still there.

For a few weeks I’ve been pondering the sheer global aspect of the readership here.

As you may know, readers come from all over the world and that’s just so cool. Thinking that I could find someone to have a drink with in Tokyo, Nokia, Oslo, Paris, Jakarta, Sydney and pretty much all United States is mind blowing.

So to celebrate the globalness of the Minions believers in the Rule of Cool, I want to have an open and frank discussion about food!

More specifically our local, junky meals that we have a guilty love affair with but that are probably downright disgusting for other cultures.

I’ll start with our very own, Quebec Born Poutine!

From Wikipedia:

Poutine (Quebec French pronunciation puts?n (help·info)) is a dish consisting of French fries topped with fresh cheese curds, covered with brown BBQ chicken gravy and sometimes other additional ingredients. [1] The freshness of the curds is important as it makes them soft in the warm fries, without completely melting. It is a quintessential Canadian comfort food, especially but not exclusively among Québécois.

Yup, French Fries (the greasier the better), Cheese Curds (Soft, unripened cheddar-type cheese) and BBQ Chicken Gravy.

Disgusting? Probably. Good? Hell yeah! A Gazillion calories… Our nutritionist Nazis keep reminding us that it’s got as much fat content as a block of butter.

So what’s your local disgustingly good meal? I want to hear from as many countries/states/counties as possible!

Comments

  1. Mmm, curd…
    I’m from Saint Louis, Missouri, so we don’t have a whole lot of local foods…
    The only thing I can think of is Imo’s Pizza, which is like a big, crunchy cracker with sauce and cheese.

    SeiferTims last blog post..Worldbuilding Thoughts

  2. I love poutine. tho here in halifax, we use beef or just regular chicken gravy. Awesome.
    Here we have the Donair, think a wrap with spicy(not that spicy) beef and a sugary sauce with veggies. Not my favorite. Pizza is our Gaming choice or Sushi..
    Back to Poutine, I have had the KFC’s and actually got their taters with it. YUM. gotta see if I can get popcorn chicken in there as well.

  4. Maryland Blue Crabs (many of which that we eat don’t actually come from the Chesapeake Bay) are the first food that comes to mind from this area. Steamed crabs that require special training to dissect are the primary way to eat them, though crabcakes and crab soup are a staple as well.

    But if you want disgusting AND good, that honor has to go to the Soft Shell crab. Blue crabs grabbed when their hard shells have been molted, then deep friend and seasoned, sometimes served as a sandwich (yes, we put a whole crab between two pieces of bread.) Delicious.

    Dave T. Games last blog post..Let’s Talk About Fluff

  5. From England, I’ve got a couple of delicious local delicacies:

    Black Pudding
    Marmite
    Liver and Bacon
    Cornish Pasties

    And if I’m writing to represent the UK instead of England, then I can include the Haggis as well, although I’ve only tried it the once.

    They’re all on wikipedia apart from Liver and Bacon, which is just lambs liver, bacon and gravy. And normally mashed potato.

    I don’t know if these are disgusting to other cultures or not, but I think they’re all gorgeous.

  6. Connecticut, USA, here..the first one that comes to mind is the Red Potato Pizza: http://www.willingtonpizza.com/images/redpot.jpg

    “A plain crust with sour cream, sliced red potatoes, sharp cheddar cheese, chives and your choice of bacon, broccoli or both.”

    I’m also a fan of the Widowmaker (no picture):

    ” A meat lovers dream. Pepperoni, sausage, hamburger, bacon, Canadian bacon, cheddar and mozzarella cheese, all topped of with Caribbean jerk space.”

  7. Michigan, at least in the lower peninsula, is fairly mundane. However, if you head on up to the Yoop, you enter into a wonderland of cuisine. The pasty, a kind of meat turnover originally brought to the region by Cornish miners, is extremely popular among locals and tourists alike.

    But for a real treat, you need to have korppu, hard slices of toasted cinnamon-bread, traditionally dipped in coffee. Or villi… which I shant describe here, least it provoke to many SAN checks.

  8. I forgot beer! I know it’s not a food, but still, a proper pint of ale, just slightly below room temperature, not this cold fizzy lager stuff. For me, a good pint is possibly the greatest comfort ‘food’ of all.

  9. This is so awesome! Thanks for answering.

    @Tim: What sort of toppings do you put on your pizza. I’m sure we’ll find some deliciously disgusting stuff.

    @Chad: I was on Vacation in Halifax a few years ago (we want to go again!) and I loved Cod FIsh and Chips! I had some Doner too… yummy and greasy all right. In Montreal, we call those Gyros… but in fact we see more the Lebanese Shish Taouk which is a marinated grilled chiken breasts.

    @Marcel: Vive la poutine calisse! 🙂

    @Will: I was expecting Haggis to come up eventually (and Vegemite from our Aussie readers). Canadian Cuisine has been influenced by the British and the French. I’m painfully aware of Liver and Bacon, as well as Black Pudding (that’s pig’s blood in a sausage right?, We call this boudin).

    As for beer… I’m more of the fresh, cold Pilsner/Lager crowd (with the occasional Irish Cream Ales) than the ‘Steak in a Glass’ that is Guinness type beers.

    @Mike: I wanna try that Red Potato Pizza!

    What, pray tell, is Caribbean Jerk Space? I’m afraid to Google it…

    @Ish: I find it funny that mid-land Americans find their cuisine mundane. I’m sure there are things you take entirely for granted, is good wholesome (if junky) food and could be looked as atrocious by others not used to it (The Parisian French don’t count… I’m wiling to bet they find everything atrocious)

  10. No no no! Forget the Marmite! for England, it’s all about the potato. Bangers and mash is a dish of mashed potatoes with sausages. Very very yummy sausages. Or there’s the old classic fish and chips. Those two are what I consider classic English cuisine.

    Now if we’re talking about desserts, then OMG the cream cakes in this country are to die for!

    Back in the good old Southern USA where I’m from though, there is all kinds of delicious soul food. Especially in the autumn when you can find fresh produce stands scattered at random along the highway. Corn on the cob, green beans, home grown tomatoes…. mmmmm!

  11. I currently live on the coast, where seafood, particularly crab legs (bleck) reign supreme. In general, southern cuisine includes grits and anything you might think to put into grits (bleck). My favorite local food is this grilled turkey sandwich made with cranberry, cream cheese, and fried turkey, served with sweet potato fries.

    PS. Quit apologizing for the current content of your posts goofball!

    Heathers last blog post..Life: Tonight’s Reeeely Big Show

  12. Good to see another poster from the Land That Good Food Forgot, Will 🙂

    I love haggis and black pudding too – and I’ll submit Bread and Butter Pudding too. Not on the same plate, obviously.

  13. I must try poutine now.

    If you’d asked me this a while back, I couldn’t have answered. However, on a lark last week I checked the Wikipedia entry for fluffernutters and was shocked– shocked, I tell you!– to discover that apparently fluffernutters are predominantly a northeast US delicacy. I’d always kind of assumed that they were just as popular as PB&J.

    It’s also worth noting that in the talk page for that article, a lot of people are disgusted by the idea of fluffernuters, which absolutely baffles me.

    Asmors last blog post..Friends & Foes: The Renegade Reaper

  15. I’m from Central California, which has a lot of Armenian and Greek immigrants who’ve been here for a century. They’ve contributed great snack foods (like hummus), Tabbouleh (bulghur wheat and vegetable salad) is tasty, and Yalanchi (a meat stuffed grape leaf) is tasty finger food. I think Kebabs are everywhere now, but they’re one of my favorite ways to eat meat and veggies. [Though darn this topic– I’m getting hungry!]

  16. Woot! Success! If I show up in your hometown, I want to get whatever you are all talking about. (Chances are I will start traveling to the US and Europe on a regular basis soon… more on this in the following weeks).

    @Happyturtle: A Southerner in England? Talk about fish out of the water! Bangers and Mash eh? I gotta try this!

    @Heather: Fried Turkey? As in fried slices or deep-fried Whole turkey Martha Stewart Style?

    Okay, Okay, Sorry for apologizing all the time, it’s a Canadian thing.

    @Greywulf: That Jamie Oliver fella is starting to turn the old “English Cuisine is a Joke Trope on it’s head… I think my wife is secretly plotting to have me killed so she can marry him.

    @Asmor: You know what, make me a Fluffernutter with Crunchy peanut butter and I’m going to make this the official sandwich of this blog. It’s literally a Crunch and Fluff sandwich!

    Peanut butter is this strange strange food that some cultures get and others don’t. It’s cheap, wholesome and very healthy (in limited doses) but it’s also a child killer (allergies) and, unless I’m mistaken, not actually popular in countries where Peanuts are grown.

    My family is on the no sugar, no hydrogenated oil type and I like it a lot on baguettes with homemade jams.

  17. this might not be the place to mention but what they hey, we are talking about it. I am still yet to find a Toronto Poutine that matches the ones I had in Mtl. Even the fastfood versions at Belle Provence were pretty yummy.

    Now about Donairs. There is no comparison between the halifax donairs and most of the rest of Canada. They are a fastfood unlike the others. The only place you can find a halifax-style donair is in Vancouver and Edmonton. All others are pale doners or gyros that suck suck suck. Why you ask? And you did ask, didn’t you? 😀 Because the guy who invented King Donair in Halifax went to Vancouver and started them up there. And then someone from that branch went to Alberta and started Queen Donair. Thus a legend is born!

    Does Toronto have it’s own local fastfood? Nah, we just steal them from everyone else… My favs include lebanese style burgers (flast and spicy), streetmeat sausages and japanese okinomiyaki !!

    p.s. started reading you recently and enjoying the DMing goodness. Wish I had had the nerve to join one of the games at La Donjon when I lived in Mtl.

    cheers

  19. Mmm, deep fried whole turkey…. I have a cousin who does that (and we’re in New England…)

    Anyway, I’ve lived my whole life pretty much on the Massachusetts/Rhode Island line… and I can’t think of anything *too* specific to the area… I know that Rhode Island has an official drink (Coffee Milk, which I do love), and they have one style of pizza that I’m not sure of the regional nature of… I’ve always called it “Cranston Pizza”, but I’m sure it has a more official name. It’s basically just a large, rectangular pizza without cheese (really just pizza crust with tomato sauce spread over it). I’m not really a huge fan of tomatoes, so I don’t much care for it…

    I know I used to spend at least a week each summer in Maine (Old Orchard Beach area) and there was an Ice Cream place that had Root Beer ice cream… which is pretty much the most awesome-est flavor of Ice Cream I’ve ever had.

    Fall River (city in Massachusetts more towards the coast than anywhere I’ve lived) has (or had, I’m not sure what the percentages are now) a large Portuguese population, so we get a few of their influences in this area, especially the bakeries. They tend towards very sweet baked (or fried) goods, like “sweat bread”, which is very good for breakfast, and malasadish (I’m sure my spelling is off), which is like a very sweet Dough Boy. They also have Portuguese Muffins, which are like English Muffins, but bigger and sweeter (and no “nooks and crannies”).

  20. Oh man, I had lunch like 2 hours ago and I’m hungry again!

    Best non-RPG comments evar! I can’t wait for the Down Under and Asian based readers to get up and chime in!

    @Scott: Yum, I love Mediterranean food!

    @Tbit: Exiled Montrealer eh? Yeah, forget about decent Poutine in Toronto.. New York Fries has them, but I never tried them. Welcome on the Blog BTW!

    @Felonius: That Pizza exists in Montreal too. I think it’s an Italian Sidedish.

  24. As a native Michigander, I have to second Ish on Upper Peninsula food. I have fond memories of my time in Hancock in the Keweenaw Peninsula. However, having been born in Detroit, I can tell you that the Lower Peninsula is not devoid of tasty stuff. If you’ve never had Vernors Ginger Ale, you don’t know what ginger ale is. Wimpy concoctions like Canada Dry fear the zingiber officinale, Vernors revels in it. The taste is sharp enough that there are persistent (untrue) rumors that Vernors contains Tabasco sauce. A related treat is the Boston Cooler, named after Boston Street in Detroit, not the rhotically challenged coastal city. It is a simple but very tasty ice cream float made with Vernors. Detroit is also the home of Stroh’s Beer, Faygo Soda (Red Pop, Rock and Rye, and many other flavors), and Better Made Potato Chips. Elsewhere in the Lower Peninsula, Pinconning cheese has its partisans. Between the Upper and Lower, Mackinac Island fudge is justly famous. Of course the Coney dogs and saganaki in Greektown and the plethora of middle eastern foods available in Dearborn deserve mention too. Dammit, now I’m hungry and there is nothing but rice and beans in the house.

  25. In Spain we have the best food in the planet ;), but some friends of mine from across the globe thinks otherwise… speacilly when we eat… “Callos”:

    * “Callos” (typical from Madrid): Main ingredient of “Callos” is beef “Tripe”, (stomach lining of beef), but it also has pig’s foot or veal knuckle, onion, garlic (if it hasn’t garlic, probably is not a Spanish recipe), “chorizo” (pork sausage), and as many parts from pigs and beef as we can afford :).

    We have plenty of disgusting food, but my non-Spaniards friends usually find Callos specially disgusting :D.

    But everyone thinks “Jamón Serrano” (Spanish Ham) is great ;).

    Best regards,
    Carlos

  26. I was in Madrid for work in November of 2005 and I had a lot of nice Tapas, Spanish Ham, and those Potato Omelets.

    I like Chorizo, and I’d gladly try Callos… I think a lot of people forget that tripe is a staple ingredient (if only to fill sausages) of all cultures associated to cattle.

  27. Some of these need writing up as D&D encounters. It’s been a while since my players have battled a Black Pudding. Mind you, they’ve joked enough about battling a Kobold Mignon that I plan to feature one asap 🙂

  29. I’m from Bakersfield, CA, which is home to lots and lots of almonds. If you’re eating an almond, there is a high probability that it came from our dust-swept wastes. We also have a lot of really good, authentic Mexican food (and some really bad, authentic stuff, too).

    Also, Weinerschnitzel. Best fast food chain ever.

    Kavondes last blog post..Ed’s Review: Hancock

  30. Oops. Caribbean Jerk Spice is what it’s supposed to say. It’s red pepper, black pepper, and a bunch of other things. Definitely got a lot of kick to it.

  31. I hail from Virginia’s Northern Neck, home of the aptly-named Northern Neck GInger Ale. Now that’s strong ginger ale- not like that wimpy Canada Dry. 😛 The bottling plant is about 25 minutes down the road from me.

    Beyond that, the popular food is prety much the same as Dave T. Game’s, I’d assume. Pity I don’t go much for seafood…

  32. @Greywulf: Kobolds, it’s the new, shifty, white meat…

    @Jeff: That sandwich has some affinity with our Poutine it seems. I HAVE to try that some day.

    @Kavonde:

    Also, Weinerschnitzel. Best fast food chain ever.

    Awesome name too. This reminds me that I saw this restaurant in Boston named Fudruckers. I kept reading “Food Fuckers”… I guess I know where my mind lies.

    @Mike Danger: Gotcha!

    @Tangent128: So that’s the second to dis on my beloved Canada Dry here… I think I’m going to have you guys mail me some Virginia and Michigan Ginger ale so I can compare and write a review! 🙂

  35. Fuddruckers rocks the casbah. The secret is, don’t order cheese fries… Order regular fries, then drench them in the molten cheese available at the toppings bar. So good you can feel your arteries hardening with every cheese-drenched bite.

    Asmors last blog post..Friends & Foes: The Renegade Reaper

  36. Ha! The English have taken our vegemite, only five posts in! 😉

    So I guess you can tell I’m an Aussie… from Brisbane, Queensland, actually. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything overly disgusting that people would eat here, though (I’m sure there’s something, but I’m at a loss. Sorry!) However, I do know a couple of local recipes that you just can’t go without…

    1: Lamingtons. I’m always shocked when I meet someone who hasn’t tried one, as they’re one of the most delicious things on earth! Basically, it’s old sponge cake dipped in chocolate ganache and covered with coconut. Absolutely scrumptious; I get such cravings for them at all sorts of odd times.

    2: Lemon Lime Bitters. I think this came from Melbourne or something, but it’s still from Australia. Perhaps the best bar drink ever invented, and it can barely be called alcoholic. If you haven’t had this, try it! If your local bartender doesn’t know how to make it, you can easily teach him; the ingredients are pretty standard. 🙂

  37. @Faelcalad –

    I think the best Aussie cuisine I’ve tried has to be Tim Tams. Sooooooo gooood!

    Lessee… Manitoba…

    Well, we don’t have all that much unique to us. We have a lot of Ukranian food. There are lots of little shops who sell homemade perogies, and they’re so very good. And we’ve got some of the best poutine outside of Montreal (big french canadian population).

    I’d say the unique part, though, is that you can go to a restaurant and get both fried perogies and poutine together. And you can do this at sporting events, which makes it all the better.

    And now I need to invent the soon-so-be-world-famous dish:

    The Peroutine!

    (Take one poutine recipe. Remove french fries. In their place, substitute deep fried perogies! Oh god, I’m getting hungry now.)

  38. I live just outside of Old Forge, PA, which likes to fancy itself the pizza capital of the nation. And there is pizza, oh yes. And to be fair, it’s often very, very good. The best is indeed better than I’ve had anywhere else.

    There’s also plenty that’s not so good, mind you.

    As far as other local delicacies go, though, the area had a rather large population of Polish immigrants at one time, and so such occasions as local picnics offer a selection of foods such as pierogi (large dumplings filled with meat, cheese, and/or vegetables) and golabki (cabbage rolls filled with minced pork or beef, rice, onion, carrot, and egg).

    And, naturally, pizza.

    Personally, I have never had a taste for most of the Polish food. (I do enjoy gofri — waffles topped with fruits, nuts, whipped cream, jams, and bunches of other stuff.) But even that which I like, I cannot comprehend eating in the same meal as pizza. They just… don’t go together, for me. At all.

    Some people feel otherwise, though.

    Ninetails last blog post..Class Design for 4th Edition

  39. @Chatty: It isn’t that Midwestern food is bland, bad, or poor quality. It just doesn’t have much by way of exotic flair. Consider the humble meatloaf, roast beef, or cassarole… You’ll find five star chefs serving them in their restuants, and Alton Brown has built a career on teaching people how to make them. They’re still, y’know, not exotic.

    Now, my personal favorite Michigan dish is our abundant free-range, orgainc, artifical hormone free, fair trade, vegan diet, cruelty free venison. Good eating.

  40. DUDE! You rock! POUTINE! Oh man, that is my most favorite food ever since James introduced me to it a couple of years ago. *mmmm…squeaky cheese and gravy over deep fried goodness…*

    *ahem*

    Ok, under control now.

    Lacking poutine down here in Vegas, I have to say that breakfast burritos from Roberto’s have to be my local favorite. Listen, they deep fry the bacon! I’m telling you, it doesn’t get much better than that.

    When I was in Wales, it was steak and kidney pies. In Philly it was cheesesteaks on South Street. In Maui, it was haupia (coconut pudding). And from my home state of New York, it has to be bagels.

    I didn’t read through all the comments, but Graham? Pierogies and poutine? You’re killing me here. That would be heaven.

    Harrison McLeods last blog post..What Constitutes a Good Role Playing Game?

  41. Now I want to go to Australia. Lamingtons just sound great, and since no one I know likes coconut it would mean more for me.

    I am also from St. Louis and, believe it or not, we do have more local artery-clogging indulgences other than just Imo’s Pizza, which nonlocals have been known to refer to as “brutal and weird”.

    For one, we have Gooey Butter Coffee Cake, which essentially has the consistency of an underdone sticky goopy mess of a cake with a yellow cake crust if it’s done right. It’s kind of like cake that was made with way way too much sugar in it so it couldn’t set up properly but that you want to eat anyway because it’s just that good. Sugar buzz city!
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gooey_butter_cake

    From a historical standpoint, the ice cream cone supposedly started here at the 1904 World’s Fair because some ice cream vendor ran out of bowls.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cream_cone
    That’s up for debate, though, since good ideas can come to several people at once.
    http://www.idfa.org/facts/icmonth/page8.cfm
    Regardless, it really gained popularity here at the World’s Fair.

    We eat pork steaks here, slathered in BBQ sauce. A lot of people elsewhere won’t touch them – they’re pretty fatty and gristly… And toasted raviolis also supposedly originated here, I guess under the premise that anything’s better if you dip it in breading and fry it, but I’d personally rather just have raviolis.

    Chaotic Black Sheeps last blog post..Claude Finds a July 4 Friend

  43. First time posting here, found this blog by wandering over from Shamus’ site.

    I live in South Central Indiana, about an hour south of GenCon. Nothing really special here. However… I am originally from Pittsburgh, and when I saw this thread, I had to bring up two of my favorite meals. These are the two things that are unique and special to me, and what I go for whenever I am back in town.

    1. Primanti’s sandwiches. A meat based sandwich, available with various meat types; french fries, tomatoes and cole slaw (vinegar based, not mayo based) ON the sandwich, under the top slice of bread. A meal in you hand. I know it sounds weird, but it is in fact, delicious!
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primanti_Brothers_Restaurant

    2. Hot dogs at “Jim’s”. A little place tucked away in the hills of West Mifflin. The hot dogs are nothing truly special, just good beef dogs, on a regular hot dog style bun, finished off with a few seconds under the broiler. What rocks is the sauce!! It’s a thinnish, tomato paste and mstard based sauce. I cannot describe it in words, but it perfectly complements the taste of the dogs and bun!
    http://www.post-gazette.com/food/19990812mailbox.asp

  44. I haven’t had it in 20-25 years and it comes from Eastern Europe, not where I live now. But my grandmother used to make P’tcha, a garlic flavored jelly made from boiled cows feet.

  45. I can’t keep up on individual comments and I don’t think I should try… but if and when I meet any of you (apart at Gen Con) I want to go out and eat these…

    Apart maybe David’s P’tcha…

    I used to date a Guyanese girl and for X-mas the morning meal was Garlic marinated pork that you would down with Gin…

    It was actually better than I thought…

  46. I recently moved back down to Texas after living in Indianapolis for a little over a year. I would kill for a Tenderloin, with yellow mustard, so large that you have to fold it twice to fit on the bun. You’ll also be near Shapiros deli, you are missing out if you don’t have their Reuben sandwich. Brace yourself, it is rather large and incredibly delicious.

    Here in Texas, however, we like to fry everything (save pork) in the fashion of Chicken. Chicken Fried Steak, Chicken Fried Chicken, smothered in gallons of gravy. We also apparently use a horrific amount of mayonnaise, and ranch dressing seems to be a rather ubiquitous condiment on pizza or mixed with BBQ sauce for dipping of fried pickles, green tomatoes, etc.

    My contribution for disgustingly local from my area of the South would have to be Frito Pie though. Bag of Fritos brand extruded corn snacks, covered in chili and cheese, devoured with a fork.

    ktreys last blog post..RC Hacks and House Rules: Page 226 – More Treasure!

  48. Fermented rye cake huh?

    I am, academically speaking, a microbiologist… So I know that Cheese is basically soured milk gone solid and alcohol is microbial piss and I’m way fine with that. Same goes for Yogurt and all kinds of fun stuff we eat all the time.

    Yet somehow, I balk at the thought of eating a fermented cake (even though everything gets killed when you bake it).

    As for the blood sausages, I’d taste them (Along with a full Jar of Ligonberry jam, which I can buy at Ikea over here)…

  49. So, what you’re saying, Tommi, is that you essentially make Rye Whiskey in Cake form…

    While it may be “special” to you, I think it would go over exceptionally well here in Canada.

    Hell, I’m drinking a glass of sweetened, fermented rye right now (Rye Whiskey and Coke)! It’s a Canadian staple!

    Gimme! 😀

    (Though I could do without the “laxative properties”…)

  50. Hum, I live in southern Indiana, so sort of like lower Michigan without the ready access to decent cheeses. I’m afraid that our local foods are rather like late sail age British home grown. Dull boring and bleah. Fortunately, also like late sail age Brittan, we have a fairly decent selection of fusion cuisines from around the globe. (Our small/medium towns tend to have absolutely awesome ethnic resturaunts. Especially Mexican and Chinese. Our larger towns have pretty good Japanese (we have something like the 5th largest investment by Japanese corporations in the US) and the town I am in right now has an incredible array of Tibetan restaurants, including one run by the Dali Lama’s brother. Lots of german background so, along with the dustbowl/great depression canned and boiled to death foods, we also have gravy. Lots and lots of gravy. I’m a west coast boy myself, I like my vegetables crisp, my meat recognizable, and my sauces light and clear. This doesn’t mix well with the locals. Seriously, I’ve had fish served with heavy cream gravy. Fish! (No, not bitter.)

    Alas I am too far south to get squeeky cheese that still squeaks, something I was actually introduced to in Oregon. I usually like my cheeses aged, but cheddar curds that are still squeaky are a delight.

    One thing I can praise this region for is the lack of Okra. I moved here from Tennessee, so not finding chopped up bits of green vile nastiness hiding in all of my food was a pleasant surprise.

    Also, tenderloin here means a piece of meat battered and fried, not the good cut of a cow. Those ridiculously cheap tenderloins? Not what they sound like.

  53. Here, in Albany, NY I have found a thing they call a Boston Shake (no idea why) which is a thick ice cream milkshake (usually chocolate) with a generous amount of vanilla custard (soft-serve ice cream) floated in it like an ice cream float. Often it has chocolate syrup drizzled over the vanilla ice cream, topped with whipped cream and a cherry. It is like a sundae on top of a shake. While a large one runs almost $7, it is well worth it.

    When I lived out near Rochester, NY there is a place called Nick Tahou Hots, which is known as the “Home of the Garbage Plate”. I won’t even try to explain the Garbage Plate (many of those nights I was not really fit to be judging what I was eating), but suffice it to say the article can’t even begin to explain how incredibly awesome that food was.

    When I lived in Los Angeles, I worked near Pasadena, where there was a place that served a “Heart Attack Special”, which was a double cheeseburger topped with hot pastrami and two (not one, but two) fried eggs, served with french fries (no gravy, surprisingly).

    Also, my wife and I visited Prague and discovered a wonderful, horrible, awesome, terrifying late night snack in Wenceslas Square – street vendors selling Fried Cheese. This was about a 2 inch thick by 5 inch square slab of cheese, breaded and deep fried. It was served on a white roll, slathered in mayonnaise. I do believe I could feel my heart slowing down as I ate it.

  54. While the shake sounds like it might be pretty good, Skelly, custard is most definitely not soft-serve ice cream.

    I mean, custard has eggs in it! Eggs in ice cream? Madness, I tell you!

    (From what I can tell, Frozen Custard seems to be a dish relegated to the eastern and midwestern US. We don’t get it in Canada, and whenever I see the commercials for a US place, it makes my arteries clog.)

  55. One of my favourite foods is from a street vendor stall that specialises in Hungarian cuisine.

    Langos, a deep fried potato/flat bread. Topped with garlic, salt, a sour cream and yogurt sauce and cheese, and served piping hot – absolutely to die for.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langosh

  58. Graham, correct you are. Calling soft ice cream custard is one of my many bad habits – my family always used ‘frozen custard’ interchangeably with ‘soft serve’. The local ice cream place where I grew up was named The Custard Stand, even though they didn’t serve frozen custard at all, but rather soft serve. Having recently sampled actual frozen custard (yes, with eggs and milk) at another local place trying to make a name for itself, it is rich beyond imagining and only to be enjoyed by the health conscious in small amounts. I had a little on a spoon (followed by about 50 more servings of a little on a spoon).

  60. Never could bring myself to eat one but NJ’s most famous sandwich the Fat Darrell deserves a mention. Created at the (in)famous Grease Trucks at Rutgers University the Fat Darrell consists of chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, french fries, marinara sauce and/or mayonnaise, lettuce, tomatoes and onions on a submarine roll.

    Other “fat” sandwiches exist as well including the Fat Cat: two cheeseburgers, french fries, lettuce, tomato and onions on a single sub roll.

    visit fatdarrell.com if you really feel the need to read up on the history of the gem in New Jersey history.

    Mike Ferrantes last blog post..Animated Buffy clip

  61. I live in the Los Angeles area so there is alot of health conscious food round here so in order to get delightful artery killers i have to create them myself or go to specific restaurants. but i have to say one of my favorites that some folks may find nasty is the monte christo sandwich. essentially a ham and turkey sandwich with swiss cheese deep fried and served with fruit preserves and powdered sugar… mmm… also legends chili fries, greasy chilly on specialy seasoned fries with pastrami, red onions and cheese on top… delicious. i dunno if that seems nasty to others but it is a delightully unhealthy dish…

  63. There’s a french fry cart in my town that has Vegan Poutaine! When i have visiting friends that can’t eat any dairy, I take them there and they can eat it. It’s so good, I’ve never actually had regular poutaine.

    Diet Blogs last blog post..Low Carb Diets And Muscle Loss

  64. VEGAN poutine!! You mean like without the cheese!?!? It’s like calling a piece of bread a vegan hot dog. I mean the cheese is the defining factor of what is a poutine you remove it, it’s fries with sauce… 😉

  66. Ah! It makes more sense… 🙂

    Sheese you say. I wonder what they use to make it… Soya?

  68. Man! Talk about thread necromancy!

    Yeah, I’m pretty sure that Vegan Poutine is made with soy Cheese and vegetable-based gravy. Not my type of junk food dish that’s for sure.

    What’s next? Whole Grain simulated bacon?

  70. I hope we never see whole grain simulated bacon… But it is worth noting that Baco Bits (not sure if they have those every where, but whatever) are actually Soy, and therefore vegetarian friendly. I’m not sure if they’re Vegan friendly…

  71. I was on business in Montreal this past July and walked off the sidewalk into this burger joint that had a pic of this awful looking mess of a dish scotched taped at an angle over the greasy grill hood. I asked what the cook thought of this french frie mess and he stated its the best thing Montreal had to offer in terms of originalty……..Really! I said…give me an order so that I can laugh a bit more at these backwoods Quebecois…after 5 fork fulls I imediatly went to the canadian conselate and applied for citizenship…..God bless celin dion (I’m not that stupid) but certainly god bless poutines at La Belle Provience….

    Aloha from Hawaii,
    Mike,

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