What foods are considered a delicacy in your area?

[Eamonn 61]

May or much of the food here in SW PA,seems to be a delicacy in other parts of PA and the USA!!

Many of the families in the area have Polish or Italian roots.

So we have the Pierogies and Kielbasa, along with the cabbage and noddles.

Kinda strange that we don't have any Polish restaurants in the area.

The Strip District in Pittsburgh is a Mecca for great food.

Really good bread and imported cheese (Sad to say no good English cheeses!) And home to Parmanti Brothers which might be best described as a "Dagwood Type" Sandwich (Named after the Earl of Sandwich)

My Mother-in-law cooks what she calls "Depression Food" She makes a really good Ham Pot Pie, using a ham bone, potatoes and the "Pot" is some kind of a dough all this is simmered on top of the stove and really does stick to your ribs.

Not far from where I live, I'm told that the Big Mac was invented. -Not sure if I'd call it a delicacy.

One of our best selling soups when we had the restaurants was Turtle Soup.

Back home it's more like a Consomm, with tiny bits of Turtle in (Mock Turtle soup uses the meat from the head of a calf.) Here it was more like a hearty vegetable soup.

Eamonn.

[CalicoPenn 729]

I'm another Chicagoan who will exult in the delicacy of the Chicago Style Hot Dog. Most dog houses in Chicago uses the Vienna brand all beef "house dog" - Portillo's uses a specially seasoned Vienna brand dog for their restaurants. There is no finer dog in the US. Chicago style means mustard; pickle relish and/or a dill pickle spear; sliced or wedged tomato; diced onion, celery salt (can only be left off of Portillo's dogs - they're preseasoned just about perfectly) and optional sports peppers. NEVER ketchup - Chicago dogs don't need the sweetness of ketchup to give the dogs any taste - the rest of the condiments add to the flavor of the dog, ketchup overwhelms the dog and gives flavor to otherwise flavorless dogs (such as you find, in say a Nathan's).

 

Another sausage cooked Chicago style that can't can't be overlooked - the Maxwell Street Polish - a grilled, all-beef polish sausage best served on a french roll with grilled onions and mustard - sport peppers and sauerkraut acceptable options.

 

Of course, you can't go wrong with a Chicago-style Italian Beef. Kick it up a notch and have it served on garlic bread and topped with melted mozzarella cheese. Your cardiologists kids will thank you for putting them through an Ivy League school.

 

Some comments about Maine, where I went to college:

 

Stay away from their hot dogs - the first time I saw one of those glow in the dark abominations, I ended up inadvertently insulting the very nice cafeteria lady. Fortunately for me, the Dean of Students was with me and she grew up in the Chigaco area - she reminded the very nice cafeteria lady that she had the same reaction when she first saw these road flares on a bun.

 

Moxieman - sorry to tell you that I'm one of those who dislike Moxie. I did try it and then wondered (aloud btw) if I could be charged with illegally disposing of toxic waste if I poured the rest out in the sink. I think Moxie is an acquired taste and by the time I tasted it (early 20's), I was long past the point where I could acquire a taste for it. Chicago had a similar drink called Kayo that was an acquired taste too - it was some kind of chocolate soda - I never did acquire a taste for it either.

 

Can't agree more on Fiddlehead Ferns - fresh fiddleheads steamed and served with butter - fantastic. Always fresh (home blanched and frozen is acceptable) - never canned. Canned fiddleheads are like canned spinach - bleechhh.

 

Of course, I miss plucking Wild Maine Blueberries from the bushes along the trail and at the summit of a few select mountains the most about Maine. When I worked at MNHA, I dragged a couple of people up a mountain to help me pick fresh blueberries to serve the staff. Each staff member went home that summer with a jar of homemade Wild Maine Blueberry Jam that I cooked up in the kitchen.

 

Don't forget Potatoes - Maine is one of the largest Potato growing states - and they grow some awfully large potatoes too. My favorite variety is the Kennebec - great for making homemade fries or for baking. A local farmer used to bring the potatoes he couldn't sell to the commercial buyers because they weren't the right size to the local co-op to sell. Ever try to bake a 3 pound potato? (Yes - 3 pounds - I'm not kidding - and it wasn't the only one). I had that sucker in my woodstove for 2 hours before it was ready to eat. Most of the time, though, you just slice enough off the potato for making home fries and store the rest for the next day.

 

Is the McDonalds in Ellsworth still selling "McLobster Sandwiches" to unsuspecting bus tourists on their way to Acadia?

 

Calico

[CA_Scouter 11]

OK, I thought this was just a quickie response, but now the gloves come off.

 

I originally posted Dungeness Crab and Sourdough. Allow me to elaborate!

 

Dungeness crab bought directly from the boat, live, and cooked within the hour. Sourdough french bread so sour that the lymph glands in your neck tingle when you bite into it. A cube of butter, applied to either. One crab, one loaf per person.

 

Then we have ASPARAGUS. Boiled, steamed usually, but rolled in olive oil and garlic power and bbq'd is nice also.

 

Then we got us ARTICHOKES. Same preparation, but if bbq then cut 'em in half first.

 

Niman Ranch lamb, marinated for days and bbq'd. Then there is ABALONE, which you can buy for $95/lb or you can snorkle for your own while you dodge the Great Whites. Pacific Coast salmon is also excellent, and the calamari is to die for as long as you get mostly tentacles and not too much sauce - just a douse of fresh lemon is usually enough.

 

Wash it down with a nice Napa Valley vintage.

 

 

Dang I got to make me a trip into the City soon!

 

 

 

[ney_a_ti 10]

In my native land of Southern Illinois, we have a restaurant called 17th Street Bar & Grill that has the best ribs in the USA. They are fantastic. At least, that's what the Food Network thinks.

 

http://tinyurl.com/yutjvx

 

Sorry, John-in-KC.

 

I live in the Chicagoland, and nothing around here really compares.

[Trevorum 24]

CA_Scouter,

When I lived in CA, once a year we'd make the pilgrimage up to Castroville for the artichokes (almost a religious experience!) ahhhh!

[DanKroh 11]

"She makes a really good Ham Pot Pie, using a ham bone, potatoes and the "Pot" is some kind of a dough all this is simmered on top of the stove and really does stick to your ribs."

 

Eamonn, I completely forgot about PA Dutch Pot Pie. It can be made with any meat, I've had ham and green bean, chicken, turkey, beef. The dough is an egg noodle dough, rolled thin and cut into big squares. The first time I ever made if for friends up here in Boston, they wanted to know where the pie crust was!

 

But I have made a few converts.

 

Oh yeah, and speaking of libations, don't forget birch beer.

[packsaddle 753]

CA_Scouter, I nearly had a culinary orgasm just reading your post. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou.

[Vicki 11]

A true St. Louisan will crave toasted ravioli (that boiled stuff is just nasty) and strip steaks. Also tomatoes in July and August - homegrown tomatoes from here are like no others, one benefit of our particular combination of heat and humidity. We (and our S. Illinois friends, as before mentioned) also happen to have some of the best bbq in the U.S.

 

What I miss from San Francisco - sourdough bread, the best coffee I've ever had, and Northern Italian restaurants. St. Louis has some really great Italian food (we do have the Hill, after all) but I've never had a marinara prepared like I've had in North Beach (I've come close in my own kitchen, maybe it's the Gilroy garlic).

 

Now, going a little further afield, when I was in Lima, Peru, they do roasted chicken on a spit, rotated over a bed of charcoal, served with this mustard/garlic/turmeric dipping sauce that I've never been able to duplicate in my own kitchen. And then they deliver it! They are also deservedly world renowned for Pisco Sours and ceviche (both of which I have managed to duplicate at my hearth).

 

Vicki(This message has been edited by Vicki)

[OldGreyEagle 5]

So how mnay of you guys watch Top Chef?

[Scouting Mom 10]

I've lived in Maryland my entire life and have never heard of Berger Cookies... they don't look terribly appealing, either.

 

Now crabs, that's a whole different story. I learned how to pick crabs as a small child. My husband is jealous because he can't keep up.

 

We used to live within smelling distance of the McCormick spice factory, where they make Old Bay, among other things. Some nights when the breeze was blowing just right...ahhhh, like smelling heaven.

[bucabaker 10]

In the central Connecticut area, a number of places serve a steamed cheeseburger. When I first moved to the area, I was taken aback, but they are pretty good.

[DanKroh 11]

"So how mnay of you guys watch Top Chef?"

 

Every episode!

[John-in-KC 311]

Top Chef? No

 

Iron Chef Japan? YES. The overdub voices are wacky!

[dan 10]

IMHO Portillo's is not as good as it once was, it is still good but not great.

 

For a Really Good Hot Dog around here look for any little hot dog shop that ends in Red Hots, there is quite a few around the suburbs of Chicago.

 

What I have been really hungry for is a Mariska's garlic poor boy sandwich. This is in Crest Hill, Illinois. Something that I have not had in about 20 years.

 

From wikipedia

The Chicagoland variation of the Poor Boy Sandwich originated in Crest Hill at Marichka's.

[OldGreyEagle 5]

Portillo's may have come down a bit, I remember when it was the one wagon there at the corner of Mannheim and Irving

 

Mentioning Mariska's certainly took me back. I attended what was then known as St Charles Borremeo Seminary situation at Rte 53 and Airport Rd, I beleive the address has since been changed to 402 S Independence Blvd, Romeoville. One night a group of us were out with the rector and we stopped at Mariska's for a "snack" I had one of those roast beefy things and was hooked