Your City's Signature Dish

[JManc]

Originally Posted by McBane

That's because it's not really pizza - maybe you can call it a cousin but it's not pizza. For one thing, the traditional tomato pie is sold strictly at bakeries and it goes straight from the oven to the rack and you eat them room temperature, not exactly cold (though some people do heat them up). The crust is thick but different from Sicilian pizza. The sauce is more assertive and used in greater quantity than on a pizza. Being room temp and without a coating of melted cheese, tomato pie is very light and perfect on a hot summer day.

We have that in Utica and is it so good. I'm curious as to how Philly does theirs. and RI.

[10023]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

also, dayton style pizza is basically the same as st louis pizza, except it doesn't oddly use provolone, it uses fake mozzarella as god intended. and the salt bottom. i like both tho, they are great, shareable party pizza styles.

more:
http://www.daytoncitypaper.com/its-hip-to-be-square/

Eww. This looks like a school lunch.

[Centropolis]

lol...school lunch pizzas are such a food-truck trend right now. better tasting, of course.

[mrnyc]

oh the naive — bet ya can’t eat just one!

[shappy]

Because of this thread I've had this for lunch 3 days in a row... complete with a slathering of Dijon mustard:


source

[dc_denizen]

That thing looks... Weirdly anatomical.

[mrnyc]

better check in with your cardiologist!

but yeah who could resist?

those are tasty and addictive.

[10023]

It looks like a bacon butty with some superfluous cornmeal on the bacon.

[cannedairspray]

I think we all know what it really looks like...

Anyway reading this thread made me want a real hot dog (expected) and spam musubi (unexpected).

[giallo]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

That thing looks... Weirdly anatomical.

Haha!

[montréaliste]

Any city have the soda cracker for an effigy type meal?

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Los Angeles has a couple for sure.

We got the French Dip sandwich, invited in LA.



We got Spago's Smoked Salmon Pizza



We got Kogi Korean Tacos



But LA's signature dish may very well be the hamburger - but not just any hamburger - the In-N-Out Double Double.

I was thinking of an old school classic, invented in LA: A Cobb salad.

I love Cobb salad. Sometimes that's all I'll have for dinner. Different restaurants make them slightly differently, too, somehow. I often get a Cobb at Shaker's in South Pasadena.

[Serenade]

For Toronto it's definitely the 'peameal bacon sandwich'.

LOL, Toronto is so multicultural, so here's a dish that excludes most of its multicultural population from eating.

[Wattleigh]

Originally Posted by JManc

Someone else can do Houston (does it even have one? BBQ? tacos?).

Originally Posted by Double L

I believe stuffed jalapeño poppers were invented in Houston. If not that, definitely Texas Cheesesteak.

I wouldn't classify any of the above as signature dishes for Houston.

What I think would make sense are some elements of Tex-Mex, more specifically fajitas (as a purist, I'd say you're referring to beef alone, but hey...) and the derivatives tied to them.

Thank you Ninfas and others.

For example, if I order "Enchiladas al Carbon" pretty much anywhere in the area - it will basically be the pieces of meat wrapped in the tortilla with sauce and generally no other filling.

It will also probably be on the menu as one of the options.

Elsewhere in much of the state or country, I've had to either ask for this version as a special order or be disappointed when I get an enchilada filled with tiny pieces of meat and more of the vegetables from a platter than anything else. Just sad.

Green sauce, though I've always enjoyed Red sauces more. I prefer my reds to be closer to a puree, but YMMV.

Vietnamese cuisine, from the large immigrant community that has been in the area for a couple of generations. More specifically the Vietnamese-Cajun crawfish and other fusion dishes that have emerged in recent years.

Fusion, however, is not uncommon in the region. Several of the higher-profile restauranteurs have mixed cultural backgrounds and this led to a different take on established dishes. There was a great piece on this in the Houston Press a few years back and it's definitely worth the read.

[HurricaneHugo]

San Diego has 3: California Burrito, Carne Asada Fries, and the Fish Taco

Cali Burrito (carne asada burrito with french fries inside)



Carne Asada Fries: (carne asada on fries with cheese and sour cream/guacamole)



Fish taco: (Rubio's started in SD)

[dubu]

i love food in cali. i had good chinese food and mexican food when i was up there (or down there if you go by the mainstream map). we need more asians and mexicans here, theres a couple good places to eat at thats like what california has.

[McBane]

Reading some of these posts, I have to wonder if these are all legit.

What is the criteria for a signature dish? In my personal opinion (and this certainly is a matter of debate!), a signature dish is one that is either:

1) synonymous with the city/region, e.g., Philly Cheese Steak, Nashville Hot Chicken, NY bagels

and/or

2) found almost exclusively in that region, e.g.,St. Louis style pizza, loose meat sandwiches in Iowa, or Alabama style bbq

and (this is important!)

3) often times difficult to be made correctly outside of the home region, which can be super frustrating when you're jonesing for Nashville hot chicken and you're nowhere near Tennessee.

So I can't really get on board with fish tacos being a SD thing, even if they were invented there. Fish tacos are everywhere but I've never once seen them on a menu as "San Diego style" and when I went to SD last year, nobody mentioned it as a must-order dish (though coincidentally, I did have them there). I'm not picking on SD or anything - it's just one example of what I've seen on this thread that left me wondering.

[mrnyc]

what about buffalo wings?

anchor bar or duffs?

i dk if there is a difference? anyone from buffalo?

we just got an anchor bar chain in nyc in times sq so its in the news here lately.

[iheartthed]

Detroit-style pizza is apparently the new cronut:

Artichoke Pizza’s New Detroit-Style Pizzeria Nails the Genre

...

Lions & Tigers & Squares is a project of Francis Garcia, owner of Artichoke Basille’s, a local pizza chain that turns out some awful pies as far as I’m concerned — especially its vaunted artichoke slice, which tastes like someone poured cream of artichoke soup in its canned and concentrated form on the pie. The Detroit pizzas at Lions & Tigers, at 268 West 23rd St., are much better, even memorable — the result of a reverent and detail-oriented recreation of another city’s primary pizza style, one that’s become increasingly popular across the country.

...

https://ny.eater.com/2018/5/11/17339...-what-to-order

I haven't been yet but the pictures I've seen of the pies look awful.

[Steely Dan]

if i were to travel to detroit to immerse myself in detroit style pizza, what are the 3 places that are "must-go"?