Southern Restraunt Sightings.

[kerrisan]

Besides, why would anyone want unsweet tea? That's just wrong.

I was born and raised in Bryan/College Station, Texas, and I can't stand sweet tea. That's just the way it is.

[Greenday]

Well, I'm from New Jersey. We have a couple things you just won't find anywhere else.

A pork roll. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you AREN'T from New Jersey.

Pizza. Ok, New York can shell out good pizza too, but anywhere out of there, and the grade of pizza just isn't the same. I'm in PA now, and I've finally found a pizza place near me that just makes it decent enough. But back home, we had TONS of pizza places to choose from. I live on a college, and there are only TWO places nearby. Come on, it's a freaking goldmine!

As for the tea issue, tea is served hot in New Jersey. You get water, and a teabag. If you want it cold, you ask for iced tea. Depending on the place you go to, it may be pre-sweetened, it may be unsweetened.

And, one last thing, we have...THE WINDMILL! The best hot dogs and burgers, the BEST fries. There is no comparison to the Windmill.

[LdyJedi]

And, one last thing, we have...THE WINDMILL! The best hot dogs and burgers, the BEST fries. There is no comparison to the Windmill.

Dickie Dee's for a good Italian hot dog, followed up by Rutt's Hut and then the other place in Newark that my parents adore whose name I can never remember

(Jersey girl transplanted to Lancaster, PA here :-D )

[tacohuman]

I was born and raised in Bryan/College Station, Texas,

i'm sorry...

(born and bred longhorn here )

on topic, though, i like my tea sweet and my grits full of salt and butter. you can actually find grits all over the country, not just in the south, and quite often in finer dining establishments. just look for polenta on the menu. same thing, either way, except polenta is generally made from yellow cornmeal and instead of white hominy.

[Sofar]

Pizza. Ok, New York can shell out good pizza too, but anywhere out of there, and the grade of pizza just isn't the same.

Oh lordy, I'm so tired of people raving about their new "New York-style Pizza!" Sorry, not going to happen on the West Coast. Don't you go calling that stiff, cracker-thin FAILURE of a pizza "New York-style." Now, I like all kinds of pizza, I prefer your thinner crusts, (the proper thickness of a simple one-topping pizza is between three eighths and seven sixteenths of an inch,) and I like it to have that certain lack of structural integrity that causes it to be impossible to eat without folding it, (difficult to find in this city.) Only one topping at a time, please, I want to be able to taste the pizza underneath the toppings. Onions are good, as is pepperoni or meatballs. Impromptu poll: Goat cheese, do you approve?

[Horsetuna]

I used to live behind an almost-24-hour pizza and donair store. they knew my voice by heart. I always got pick up (I walk across the lawn and I'm there) and they always knew EXACTLY how I wanted it.

It was always yummy. Their donair pizzas were best.

I do miss it.

[Dragon_Dreamer]

Lesse... the ONE thing I've noticed no one can get right outside of my area. A good old Philadelphia Cheesesteak.

ONLY thinly sliced beef may be used, no chicken, no turkey, and certainly no hoity-toity meats like veal or venison. The bead, a good old hoagie roll. NO veggies except for onions and MAYBE green peppers. The cheese must be cooked with the meat.

And if the bag AND the paper wrapping on the cheesesteak itself isn't dripping and damned near transparent with grease, it just ain't made right. Either Pat's or Gino's is acceptable when purchasing, or made at home in a frying pan in a pinch.

Nothing less may be called a TRUE Philadelphia Cheesesteak.

Then there's the more rural Pennsy dish. Scrapple. Sometimes potatoes make an appearence, but usually, it's any meat that doesn't even get put into the sausage. I eat the rare cheesesteak. I avoid "real" scrapple unless I can confirm no bovine cerebellums went into it.

[Killer Bees]

On holiday in Canada once, I ordered lemonade and the waitress brought me this sour yellow lemony drink with fluffy bits in it

I complained to my dining companion (Canadian man) and he asked me what did I expect? I said I expected Sprite and he said, "well, you should have asked for it then."

I'd never drunk real lemonade before, but I actually enjoyed it. I was very careful from then on to ask for Sprite.

[Sliceanddice]

The only place I ever had any problems in getting regular (unsweetened) ice tea was a restaurant in Vancouver, BC. The waitress said that all their ice tea was presweetened. Okaaay. So I had a hot tea instead.

their ice tea must have sucked.

My favorite thing is trying ice cream by area. Because in arizona you can get the classic places the water stores or the interesting ice cream joints and they all have different kinds of ice cream and i love the different feel they all have.

[tollbaby]

On holiday in Canada once, I ordered lemonade and the waitress brought me this sour yellow lemony drink with fluffy bits in it

I complained to my dining companion (Canadian man) and he asked me what did I expect? I said I expected Sprite and he said, "well, you should have asked for it then."

you call Sprite lemonade????? That's the first time I've heard that one.... Lemonade is lemon juice, water and sugar. That's it (although I've been told that in the UK, it's usually carbonated).

[Catwoman2965]

Well, I'm from New Jersey. We have a couple things you just won't find anywhere else.

A pork roll. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you AREN'T from New Jersey.

Pizza. Ok, New York can shell out good pizza too, but anywhere out of there, and the grade of pizza just isn't the same. I'm in PA now, and I've finally found a pizza place near me that just makes it decent enough. But back home, we had TONS of pizza places to choose from. I live on a college, and there are only TWO places nearby. Come on, it's a freaking goldmine!

As for the tea issue, tea is served hot in New Jersey. You get water, and a teabag. If you want it cold, you ask for iced tea. Depending on the place you go to, it may be pre-sweetened, it may be unsweetened.

And, one last thing, we have...THE WINDMILL! The best hot dogs and burgers, the BEST fries. There is no comparison to the Windmill.

I'm from Jersey, and was JUST going to put in my two cents, but you beat me to it! I personally don't like pork roll, but i know what it is.

Pizza too; went to college in MD, and the best pizza there was Dominos...that was the first thing i had when i came home!

I always ask, even in Jersey, if the tea is sweetened or not; becuase every once in a while, i'll get some that is already sweetened, and i like it without sugar.

Never tried the Windmill, but again, i know of it..there aren't any near me.

And how could you forget White Castle? hahahaha - again, not a fave, but definitely a Jersey (and other states) thing.

And as far as expanding your horizons, about 5 years ago, i drove from NJ to AZ, and back again. With 2 friends who are the PICKIEST eaters i have ever known. I was looking forward to having some authentic, regional food, but no..fast food all the way..YUCK! We spent a week in AZ, and not once had any type of MExican/southwestern food...they don't like it...

And i was just in Puerto Rico after a cruise; my friend went home a day early as she was sick, so i was able to have some real Latin food...of course the name esacpes me, but it was mashed, fried green plantains, with chicken..Mofongo, that's it...and it was so good! Had my friend been with me though, nope, we would have gone somewhere that had locations in the US, as she is also very fussy.

[Catwoman2965]

Lesse... the ONE thing I've noticed no one can get right outside of my area. A good old Philadelphia Cheesesteak.

ONLY thinly sliced beef may be used, no chicken, no turkey, and certainly no hoity-toity meats like veal or venison. The bead, a good old hoagie roll. NO veggies except for onions and MAYBE green peppers. The cheese must be cooked with the meat.

And if the bag AND the paper wrapping on the cheesesteak itself isn't dripping and damned near transparent with grease, it just ain't made right. Either Pat's or Gino's is acceptable when purchasing, or made at home in a frying pan in a pinch.

Nothing less may be called a TRUE Philadelphia Cheesesteak.

Then there's the more rural Pennsy dish. Scrapple. Sometimes potatoes make an appearence, but usually, it's any meat that doesn't even get put into the sausage. I eat the rare cheesesteak. I avoid "real" scrapple unless I can confirm no bovine cerebellums went into it.

EEWWWWWW - mom's side of the family is from western pa, and my dad eats scrapple....no thank you..and then there is my favorite (NOT!) she used to make when i was a kid...creamed chipped beef on toast (otherwise known as sh... on a shingle, or v....t on toast, as i like to call it)

[FuzzyKitten99]

Lemonade here in Minnesota is just that- lemons & water & sugar. If you want Sprite, you have to say it. Same with any other softdrink. We all pretty much use the name the product was given by its' producer, so no need to translate anything. It's the midwestern KISS mentality here.

People here like to customize their food a lot, so regular coffee means not decaf and it is served w/o sugar or cream, but the little packets of each are available for your use. If you ask for just 'tea', you will be asked 'iced or hot', and 99% of restaurants serve unsweetened iced tea, because it sells better when people can sweeten it to their taste and diabetics can use the sugar substitutes. Lemon is available at most places, but you usually have to ask for it.

[tollbaby]

White Castle isn't just a Jersey thing. I was DRAGGED to a WC by a Chicago friend... gross. It's not even recognizable as food *shudder*

[Jinxy]

First a bit of backstory, I am a Lobsterman's daughter, I spent the first 10 years of my life living outside of Chicago, then moved to CT (where dad is from) so we (as in the whole family) could lobster. It was a tourist area, so tourists were always around but got way worse after the casinos opened. In January I moved to metro Atlanta area.

I had not had real pizza in 14 years after leaving Illinois, until I went back for a family wedding and got Chicago style again. In fact my bf found this out and on our first date found a local place that does the best Chicago style I've ever had outside of Illinois. It's part of the reason I packed up and moved to be down here with him.
I contantly hear when we eat at this place (Nancy's if you want to go try it) "where's the cheese?" as Chicago style has the cheese on the crust before the toppings, "How do I eat it?", well a knife and fork seem to work, as it's hard to pick up a full slice.

There there's the lobster stuff. I can crack a lobster bare handed (well not claws all the way, back and tail 100%), there's a trick to it, but when you deal with it on a daily basis for years and eat it all winter,...every winter, for years and years and years you learn it.
Lobster to a lobsterman isn't a treat either However you have no idea how many people tell me how lucky I was growing up getting to eat it all the time.

Now I'm faced with grits, which I haven't tried yet as no one who's from the area can tell me a good place to get them, Sweet tea, which is not bad if I want to end up in a sugar-induced coma, (I normally get unsweetened and add my own sugar and I'm always offered the option of sweet or unsweet locally), BBQ which is thought to be a high art apparently, I like ribs and I like a sweet sauce with some kick to it so far.

I miss fry-shacks, frappes, really good ice cream, Nissin bread, greek and portaguese pizza places and this post has not only gotten away from me but made me homesick.

Jinxy