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2fs - 2004-04-21 21:12:29
I think what's likelier than food one can only get somewhere (unless that "somewhere" is way out in the middle of the Sahara or something) is food that aficionados claim is only done right somewhere. I don't think there's a place in town that does Cincinnati-style chili anymore, although there was - but everyone has an opinion about how you can't get a real Philly cheese steak anywhere else, etc. So I'm sure you can get bratwurst boiled in beer and covered in sauerkraut elsewhere than Milwaukee and environs - but I guarantee plenty of Milwaukee expats would claim they're just nowhere near as good.
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pop, soda, coke, seltzer - 2004-04-21 21:51:02
Danish kringles are a specialty of Racine, WI, and Racine alone. There are one or two pretenders out there in suspect places like Mount Dora, FL, but kringle is genuinely a regional specialty. The best is O&H. I don't know if I can embed html in here, so cut-n-paste http://www.ohdanishbakery.com/ for details.
In other news, I cannot purchase Pennsylvania Dutch brand (owned by Coca-Cola, I think) birch beer as far west as Columbus. Alas. Birch beer is the best flavor of pop around, but no one who gets to drink it would call it "pop".
Oh, and there's Moxie, of course!
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Dan - 2004-04-21 23:56:20
I'm with you on the birch beer, Janet. In my home town of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., birch beer was omnipresent - it took me a good 10 or 15 years to realize that it had gone missing from my life when I moved away. Pennsylvania Dutch is indeed one of the best brands; Birchola is pretty good, too. Among national brands, Canada Dry is better than you'd think.
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Adam, Garry, & Gus - 2004-04-22 09:35:47
It would be a crime against nature if scrapple were available outside southeast Pennsylvania. I don't know for sure, but other Penna. Dutch specialties -- shoofly pie, funnel cake (!) -- are probably limited to the range of the people themselves (Penna. to Iowa or so).
Also, I used to be able to find Dr Brown's Cel-Ray soda all over downtown, but haven't seen it in years.
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I wombat - 2004-04-22 11:02:17
You know I really can't find nice tender eucalypus leaves anywhere in the up over.
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Paula - 2004-04-22 11:19:57
OK, now we're talkin'.
I'm fairly sure the ecstasy of Tast-E-Kake products are chiefly a NJ/NY/PA phenom, too. Butterscotch Krimpets are one of my favorite non-chocolate taste experiences on the physical plane.
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Paula - 2004-04-22 11:23:12
Hey, Garrigus: what is scrapple?
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I wombat - 2004-04-22 12:20:02
Isn't that a kind of mess of apple pie? "scrapple from the apple" is a tune by Charlie Parker
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Tim Walters - 2004-04-22 13:10:19
Cel-Ray, Moxie, and several brands of birch beer, along with many other "regional" sodas such as Blenheim super-fiery ginger ale, are now available nationwide at Beverages & More.
I haven't had scrapple in about twenty years, but when I did, it was in D.C., not Pennsylvania. Canned, from Safeway. (It's a meat product, by the way--one of those "what do we do with the innards" things.)
I've had Tast-E-Kake and funnel cake, probably in D.C. as well.
More candidates: cioppino (an SF seafood-stew specialty), peanut soup (western Virginia), carne adovada (New Mexico). But I think Fortissimo is basically right.
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erica - 2004-04-22 14:07:50
teaberry
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Paula - 2004-04-22 14:11:45
Ya mean this?
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My east PA roots are showing - 2004-04-22 14:44:05
Scrapple is a loaf made of pork parts and corn mush. My dad and my sister love scrapple, which forces me to muse, politically-incorrectly, on whether perhaps I'm adopted. Thanks to the Internet, nothing is only available regionally anymore, but I cannot get Parfait Amour imported into Ohio unless I leave the state and go get it myself.
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Rhode Island Tourism Board - 2004-04-22 16:44:06
The littlest state boasts New York System's hot wieners -- butter-grilled hotdogs nestled in a steamed bun and enrobed in mustard, meat sauce, chopped onions, and celery salt. You can have this with a coffee cabinet (a sorta milkshake made with Autocrat, Eclipse, or Coffee Time coffee syrup) and follow it up with a Del's Frozen Lemonade or a doughboy (a.k.a. funnel cake, elephant ear, etc.).
Why can't I think of any native Hoosier or Boston treats? Because I'm tired, is why.
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2fs - 2004-04-22 17:54:25
I love it when Amy talks about hot wieners.
Oops, this is a public forum? Damn - now Doug's gonna hire someone to kill me...
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Joe - 2004-04-22 18:37:23
TastyKakes are available in California now. Where? At the Phillly Cheese Steak place, of course! The best cheese steaks ever are from
Dalessandro's in Roxborough.
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tronca - 2004-04-22 23:10:55
You can get baked chicken anywhere but none are like the kind made @ Zankou Chicken, a small fast food chain in and around Los Angeles. Crispy outside and moist in, served w/ a creamy (but somehow dairy-free!) garlic sauce the consistency of toothpaste -- all served on a pita, w/ pickled radishes. Just writing about it makes want to go there now!
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erica - 2004-04-23 09:42:03
Yes, teaberry.
I have a pack of teaberry gum on my bulletin board here.
In central PA you can get teaberry ice cream.
I love teaberry.
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Adam, Garry, & Gus - 2004-04-23 10:06:34
Joe is correct about d'Alessandro's, although props are in order for the good people of Jim's on South Street. And thanks to Roots for covering me on scrapple. And I can't believe I punted on Tastykakes. Philly's gonna take away my passport!
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Paula - 2004-04-23 10:51:51
Well, is it not the city of brotherly love, and unconditional forgiveness?
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Adam, Garry, & Gus - 2004-04-23 11:54:28
Funny you should mention. City of brotherly love. The name goes back to one of two cities of antiquity (one of which is now Amman). These were in turn named for Ptolemy II Philadelphus, Alexander's second successor in Egypt. And he was called "Philadelphus" (Greek, "sibling-lover") because he was the first Greek ruler to follow the native Pharaonic custom of marrying his sister to keep the royal blood royal.
Ick. So much for 17th century Welsh education.
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Paula - 2004-04-23 11:57:26
It's OK, Jesus married his sister, too. Or somethin'.
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Flasshe - 2004-04-26 13:52:55
For a long time, you could only get Chipotle Burritos in Denver, since the chain started here. I submit they are a unique foodstuff and competitors like Qdoba don't quite match up. Since teaming up with the evil McDonalds, Chipotle has of course spread far beyond the bounds of our fair state, but the chain is still highly regarded on its home turf. They got the "Best Burrito" (both editor's and reader's choice) in the latest annual Best of Denver issue of our alternative weekly tabloid Westword (http://www.westword.com/issues/2004-03-25/bestfood93.html/1/index.html).
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