Signature Food/Resteraunt

[tonkadtx]

Ok, since the Cheese steak came up in a couple of threads, here is a thread idea. What is your cities signature food and which local place or places in your opinion serve it best? This is especially interesting to me because:

1) I'm a fat ass.
2) my buddy works for MLB, we try to visit a different stadium every summer and enjoy the taste of the city.

Some NY signatures:

Pizza - Spumoni Gardens in Bensonhurst/Gravesend. Over hyped but really, really good. Rosa's Pizza in Maspeth. Less well known but phenomenal. There are hundreds of really good neighborhood pizza places.

Sandwiches/Hero's - Leo's Latticini (also known as Mama's deli) in Corona. Mama's special prosciuttini, salami, mozzarella, with mushrooms and peppers. They bake the bread fresh right next door. Incredible. Their hot food is really good as well.

Street Meat - There is a Kabab truck that parks on Steinway street in Astoria, called Farid Grill, that makes the best chicken, lamb, and beef kebabs sandwiches and kofta I have ever had. Slow as shit though. There is a taco wagon on 14th and 8th avenue that you occasionally see Bourdain, and other chefs in the line for. Nothing but meat and veggies, authentic mexican tacos, you season to taste.Immaculatly clean, 6 dollar tacos. El Idolo I think.

[The Ginger Beard Man]

You left out DiFara's.
The old steakhouses. Peter Lugar, Harry's, S&W, The Palm, Keane's.
And the vast array of ethnic foods. You can get anything if you know where to look.
As I type and think, I think I have to disagree with your premise. NY doesn't have a signature; that's for smaller cities.

[Blaidd Drwg]

Seattle Doesn't have that kind of stuff other than burnt coffee and overly hopped beer.

[Grandpa's Spells]

Chicago has solid pizza, even if you don't like deep dish, and the hot dogs are better than anywhere. Ethnic foods are solid due to ethnic neighborhoods with tough restaurant competition. You can get very good pho, Indian, and szechuan food.

Weird thing about the last 10 years or so is how good food is getting everywhere. I don't know if it's the Internet spreading techniques around, social media propping up/tearing down places, something else, but it's striking. 15 years ago you could not get really good BBQ in Chicago. Now there's at least two places that are very legit and making a killing.

[Shafpocalypse Now]

Houston:

Fajitas/Parrilladas (mixed grill)

El Tiempo Cantina and Grill
The Original Ninfa's on Navigation

This style of food is so common, that many places have vied for the title of 'best'. Overall, ordering Parrilladas PLUS from El Tiempo is maybe the best example of this.

Margaritas...hard as fuck not to make a good margarita...but if you want a potent one, Eduardos, a tiny hole in the wall, makes it with a kicker of everclear.

Tex Mex? A bit harder, but The Taco House in Rosenburg, a bit south of Houston is some very fine dive location Tex Mex.

Barbeque:

Killen's BBQ in Pearland, which is a eastern suburb of Houston. If someone says they don't like it, they don't know their smoked meats very well. One of the best in Texas

[tonkadtx]

You left out DiFara's.
The old steakhouses. Peter Lugar, Harry's, S&W, The Palm, Keane's.
And the vast array of ethnic foods. You can get anything if you know where to look.
As I type and think, I think I have to disagree with your premise. NY doesn't have a signature; that's for smaller cities.

This is a fair point, but I didn't want to make my list a thousand items long or be like, "Oh! NY has the best of everything." I was also thinking cheap eats. There are so many good spots. For instance, I live in Astoria which has a large old school Greek and now new school Brazilian population. There's a place on Ditmars called Taverna Kyclades, that does Greek style seafood, that people tell me is as good as eating in Greece. The whiting and stuffed shrimp are awesome. There is also a fairly recently opened Brazilian place called Pao de Queyo, that has entrees for less than 10 bucks and makes one of the best burgers I've ever had called the x burger (beef burger, Brazilian smoked sausage, cheese, corn, potato sticks, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise) they also have one with bacon and egg instead of sausage.

I think from past threads, you're a Queens guy as well. My friends and I go to Zum Stammtisch in Glendale at least once a year for German food.

[The Ginger Beard Man]

I'm in Brooklyn, and I can't resist the temptation of a good "NY has the best of everything" thread.

[Blaidd Drwg]

Oyster shooters...I think Seattle and the PNW coast probably knocks the fuck out of this one. One of the worlds biggest oyster culture ops, Taylor Shellfish is local to me and their tasting room is sick.

Smoked salmon is probably no better than AK, but we prepare it better than they do.

Southeast AK dominates Halibut burgers...best god damn non meat food I've ever eaten.

[bennyonesix]

Philadelphia:

Zahav: Israeli small plate bullshit but just fucking ridiculous. As in ridiculous. So damn good.

Monk's: Belgian Beer and Mussels.

DiNic's: Roast Pork Sandwich. Best sandwich I have ever had hands down. In Reading Terminal Mkt which is a cool place.

Nan Zhou Hand-Drawn Noodle House: I don't know what type of Chinese this is but cheap and good. The $4.75 peanut sauce noodles is go to drunk food. If you go late there is almost always paking out front. And you can eat with nerdy Jeff Med Students because it is cheap and good.

Edit

The Cheesesteak is the philly food but I hate it. It should be the Roast Pork.

[bennyonesix]

You left out DiFara's.
The old steakhouses. Peter Lugar, Harry's, S&W, The Palm, Keane's.
And the vast array of ethnic foods. You can get anything if you know where to look.
As I type and think, I think I have to disagree with your premise. NY doesn't have a signature; that's for smaller cities.

I will 100% second Lugar. I think the waiters die on the job rather than quit.

And 5 years ago there were some chinese dumpling spots on Mott that were cheap and really out of sight. I think one was Shanghai Joe's but there was one right near it that was better.

And Grimaldis in Bky. I like just cheese and anchovy. I tried to bribe the Russian Gangster doorman once and he just dead eyed me. I don't know if I was too cheap $20 or rude. If i lived there I would drop $200 every year just to get seated quick.

And there was a bagel place on Atlantic by courthouse and some BSC Orthodox Office Supply Store I doubt it had a name but the breakfast bagels were a staple.

[bennyonesix]

Vegas is FatBurger and the 4kegs and the Hawaiian joint upstairs in the California. And Cappriotti's Sandwich Shop. They are from Delaware and the Bobbie is great. Been gone to long to know anywhere new. The city changes every two years.

Forgot Robertos Mexican on Sahara and Decatur. Bulletproof glass and skull tatt cholos. But the carne asada fries and California Burritos are incredible.

[Turdacious]

The DMV isn't really known for food, except for the half-smoke sausage.

The best place to get them is at the Weenie Beanie in Arlington (it's out of the way and is only open limited hours).
Second best is Ben's Chili Bowl on U St in DC. There used to be a mural on the side of the building by DC's best mural artist Aniekan Udofia, but they took it down (Cosby was on it). It will probably be replaced soon.

Re ethnic food, there is a ton of Ethiopian and Salvadoran food in DC.
Habesha is where you'll find the most Ethiopians.
El Rinconcito has the best pupusas.

If you need late night eats, every cab driver knows about Kabob Palace-- best Paki food in the area.

[bennyonesix]

DC has Hong Kong Carryout. Ignore the bulletproof glass and make sure to get Mumbo Sauce.

[tonkadtx]

Pittsburgh has some pretty good eating.

The original Primanti bros. in the Strip district had pretty sick corned beef, roast beef and pastramii. Made with the slaw, fries, and tomatoes on the sandwich.

Pamela's. Also in the strip. Incredible hot cakes.

[buckethead]

Denver: Edibles

[The Ginger Beard Man]

You left out DiFara's.
The old steakhouses. Peter Lugar, Harry's, S&W, The Palm, Keane's.
And the vast array of ethnic foods. You can get anything if you know where to look.
As I type and think, I think I have to disagree with your premise. NY doesn't have a signature; that's for smaller cities.

I will 100% second Lugar. I think the waiters die on the job rather than quit.

And 5 years ago there were some chinese dumpling spots on Mott that were cheap and really out of sight. I think one was Shanghai Joe's but there was one right near it that was better.

And Grimaldis in Bky. I like just cheese and anchovy. I tried to bribe the Russian Gangster doorman once and he just dead eyed me. I don't know if I was too cheap $20 or rude. If i lived there I would drop $200 every year just to get seated quick.

And there was a bagel place on Atlantic by courthouse and some BSC Orthodox Office Supply Store I doubt it had a name but the breakfast bagels were a staple.

Next time you go to Grimaldi's, keep walking. About 15 years ago, the original owners sold the place to an Albanian (that wasn't a Russian gangster), and I don't know what happened but the Albanian must have fucked them over (cuz that's what they do). So about five years later they opened Juliana's about 200 feet away.

A couple years ago I was at Reading Terminal Market, waiting on line at Dinic's, and a couple of touristy looking tourists asked a cop nearby where to get a cheesesteak. Real loud, he said, "We don't eat cheesesteak here! You eat cheesesteak here! If you're asking me where you should eat, go right there to Dinic's! That's what we eat!"

[bennyonesix]

Hahahah I got suckered. Shows how much a Nevadan knows about good pizza. It was better than Pizza Hut!

[tonkadtx]

Hahahah I got suckered. Shows how much a Nevadan knows about good pizza. It was better than Pizza Hut!

Most of the Pizza in NY is made by Mexicans anyway.

[Grandpa's Spells]

DiNic's: Roast Pork Sandwich. Best sandwich I have ever had hands down. In Reading Terminal Mkt which is a cool place.

Huh, this was my biggest Philly let-down. They were crushed (had recent TV publicity), but pork was kinda dry and bland. Will give it another try next time.

[Pinky]

Re ethnic food, there is a ton of Ethiopian and Salvadoran food in DC.
Habesha is where you'll find the most Ethiopians.
El Rinconcito has the best pupusas. .

Don't forget Annandale for Korean food.

[Freki]

Baltimore has crab cakes of course. The lesser known specialty is pit beef.

[tonkadtx]

Baltimore has crab cakes of course. The lesser known specialty is pit beef.

I loved Baltimore. There was an abundance of hot black chicks who wanted to party with white dudes in the Inner Harbor. Fell's Point was great. However, my one complaint was that the food was, meh. At least where we were looking.

[Grandpa's Spells]

Baltimore has crab cakes of course. The lesser known specialty is pit beef.

Steamed blue crabs is the bigger draw, IMO.

[bennyonesix]

Baltimore has crab cakes of course. The lesser known specialty is pit beef.

I loved Baltimore. There was an abundance of hot black chicks who wanted to party with white dudes in the Inner Harbor. Fell's Point was great. However, my one complaint was that the food was, meh. At least where we were looking.

Check that black std rate.

[The Ginger Beard Man]

Hahahah I got suckered. Shows how much a Nevadan knows about good pizza. It was better than Pizza Hut!

Most of the Pizza in NY is made by Mexicans anyway.

I wouldn't say you got suckered. Patsy's is damn fine pizza. Actually it seems that most of the Italian places are now owned by Albanians.
I knew a Pakistani guy whose first job in NY was in a pizzeria in Queens in the late 80s or very early 90s. Italian owned, but a bunch of Pakistanis and Bengalis working there. The owner gave them all proper Italian sounding names like Joey, Tony, and Nicky. He said, "I can't hire blacks cuz they can't pass. You guys can pass."