Local Cravings

[OhMissScarlett]

I will add an endorsement of Ted Drewe's, especially the shake called a Concrete. Italian on the Hill is as good as you can get anywhere in the U. S. and fried ravioli is much better than it sounds - and it sounds very good.

The Concrete is a thing of beauty. It's even better if you stand outside in sub-zero temperatures to buy it. Ted Drewe's is one of the very few things I miss about living in the city.

 

[Recidiva]

Okay, what's a Concrete shake?

I see a recipe for vanilla ice cream, bananas and peanut butter cookies. Is that it?

 

[Huckleman2000]

(I'm not "local" enough in Milwaukee yet to know anything about the local good food here... however, I'm a huge fan of Spotted Cow. Does that count?)

In Milwaukee, there used to be a Serbian restaurant called "Three Brothers" or something that was excellent. I have to assume there are several good German places, as well. For good sausages, Sheboygan was the town for that, at least back when I was a kid.

 

[trysail]

The recipe for Maryland beaten biscuits calls for use of an axe and a tree stump. Maryland beaten biscuits are scrumptiously mouth-watering with a little butter and a couple of slices of Smithfield ham; in fact, the very thought makes me drool.

-Crabcakes and hard crabs.
-Terrapin soup at the Maryland Club.
-"She-crab" soup served up at Ewell on Smith or Hooper Islands.

When in Virginia Beach, do not fail to have a meal at Chick's; there's nothing quite like a mid-summer ( 90° F. and 95% humidity ) eve spent 'midst the smell of creosoted pilings, the unmistakeable smell of Old Bay, salt water, the sun setting o'er the marshes and the serenade of seagulls.

Same deal at The Crab Claw in St. Michaels.

Too much Smithfield ham will kill you but you'll die pleasantly.
___________________

"The city into which I was born in 1880 had a reputation all over for what the English, in their real-estate advertising, are fond of calling the amenities. So far as I have been able to discover by a labored search of contemporary travel-books, no literary tourist, however waspish he may have been about Washington, Niagara Falls, the prairies of the West, or even Boston or New York, ever gave Baltimore a bad notice. They all agreed, often with lubricious gloats and gurgles, (a) that its indigenous victualry was unsurpassed in the Republic, (b) that its native Caucasian females of all ages up to thirty-five were of incomparable pulchritude, and as amiable as they were lovely, and (c) that its home-life was spacious, charming, full of creature comforts, and highly conducive to the facile and orderly propagation of the species.

There was some truth in all these articles, but not, I regret to have to add, too much. Perhaps the one that came closest to meeting scientific tests was the first. Baltimore lay very near the immense protein factory of Chesapeake Bay, and out of the bay it ate divinely. I well recall the time when prime hard crabs of the channel species, blue in color, at least eight inches in length along the shell, and with snow white meat almost as firm as soap, were hawked in Hollins street of Summer mornings at ten cents a dozen... And there blazes in my memory like a comet the day when she [ Mencken's mother ] came home from Hollins market complaining with strange and bitter indignation that the fishmongers there— including old Harris, her favorite— had begun to sell shad roe. Hitherto, stretching back to the first settlement of Baltimore Town, they had always thrown it in with the fish. Worse, she reported that they had now entered into an illegal combination to lift the price of the standard shad of twenty inches— enough for the average family, and to spare— from forty cents to half a dollar. When my father came home for lunch and heard this incredible news, he predicted formally that the Republic would never survive the Nineteenth Century.

... For the same price it was possible to obtain two wild ducks of respectable if not royal species— and the open season ran gloriously from the instant the first birds wandered in from Labrador to the time the last stragglers set sail for Brazil. So far as I can remember, my mother never bought any of these ducks, but that was only because the guns, dogs and eagle eye of my uncle Henry, who lived next door, kept us oversupplied all Winter."

-H.L. Mencken
"Baltimore of The Eighties"
Happy Days
New York, 1940.

Chesapeake Bay has, unfortunately, been nearly destroyed by pollution from the plague of job-holders and job-seeking immigrants who have descended upon the public feeding trough known as Cancer On The Potomac ( a/k/a "The District of Confusion" ).

 

[Recidiva]

Trysail, I love Maryland for the little shacks that have nothing but butcher paper rolls to cover school-cafeteria-style tables, rolls of paper towels, squirt bottles of butter, mallets and crabs.

Heaven.

Okay, they have beverages. But the minimalist approach to "This is good. If you don't like it, you may leave and give up your place in the really long line behind you" appeals to me.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

Okay, what's a Concrete shake?

I see a recipe for vanilla ice cream, bananas and peanut butter cookies. Is that it?

I guess it's closest to a Dairy Queen Blizzard, except it's made from frozen custard, not ice cream. You can get any ingredients in it you want and it's super thick so that your spoon stands up.

 

[Recidiva]

I guess it's closest to a Dairy Queen Blizzard, except it's made from frozen custard, not ice cream. You can get any ingredients in it you want and it's super thick so that your spoon stands up.

Oh YUM

 

[OhMissScarlett]

I guess it's closest to a Dairy Queen Blizzard, except it's made from frozen custard, not ice cream. You can get any ingredients in it you want and it's super thick so that your spoon stands up.

Oh, some of the flavors are listed here: Ted Drewe's

 

[Recidiva]

Oh, some of the flavors are listed here: Ted Drewe's

Oh wow, thank you. What a great place

 

[NoJo]

This thread is as good a reason as any to come back

I'm reading it with interest as I'll be in many of the places mentioned herein, this summer, as part of my month-long road trip. I'll be heading down from NY to Florida along the coast, along the deep south to Los Angeles, then twisting my way back East on the little highways.

I enjoy eating local dishes in the U.S. -- I particularly love very spicy food, so I'm looking forward to the deep south.

Although I've had some great Indian food in Los Angeles and in New York, it really doesn't compare with London, which has a massive Indian population. Particularly good here are the vegetarian bhel-poori places in Wembley and Hounslow to the West of London, where the community is almost entirely Hindu -- and vegetarian.

I recommend a trip to "real" London: Sakonis in Ealing Road, Alperton, for a Saturday buffet lunch. Be prepared to be stared at if you're not Indian.


London gets a lot of wealthy European visitors, especially since the strengthening of the Euro. Italians, who tend to miss their unique espresso and sfoglietelle when they travel, now have a couple of great and very authentic Italian dining halls/rosticeria, which with their long communal tables, brisk Italian staff and fantastic arancini manage to capture the true feel of Italian fast-food.

The Milanese dining hall chain Princi is one of the best of these, and it has a branch in Wardour Street in London, in the Film and TV district. Its clientelle are mainly wealthy Northern Italians in hideous olive green and ochre corduroys, and young runners and production assistants working in the local TV companies.

 

[Huckleman2000]

[...]Although I've had some great Indian food in Los Angeles and in New York, it really doesn't compare with London, which has a massive Indian population. Particularly good here are the vegetarian bhel-poori places in Wembley and Hounslow to the West of London, where the community is almost entirely Hindu -- and vegetarian.

I recommend a trip to "real" London: Sakonis in Ealing Road, Alperton, for a Saturday buffet lunch. Be prepared to be stared at if you're not Indian.

London gets a lot of wealthy European visitors, especially since the strengthening of the Euro. Italians, who tend to miss their unique espresso and sfoglietelle when they travel, now have a couple of great and very authentic Italian dining halls/rosticeria, which with their long communal tables, brisk Italian staff and fantastic arancini manage to capture the true feel of Italian fast-food.

The Milanese dining hall chain Princi is one of the best of these, and it has a branch in Wardour Street in London, in the Film and TV district. Its clientelle are mainly wealthy Northern Italians in hideous olive green and ochre corduroys, and young runners and production assistants working in the local TV companies.

Whatever you do, though, don't eat the British food.

 

[NoJo]

Whatever you do, though, don't eat the British food.

Actually it's hard to come by here, which suits me fine

 

[OhMissScarlett]

Actually it's hard to come by here, which suits me fine

Seriously? No beans and disgusting fry-ups for breakfast?

 

[voluptuary_manque]

For a taste of Olde Los Angeles and a local tradition, you absolutely must get to Felippi's. They claim to have invented the French Dip sandwich and the ambience of elderly ladie's throwing the sandwiches together in your choice of beef, chicken, lamb or pork with sawdust on the floor is not to be missed. Nearly a hundred years old, it's not to be missed.

 

[shereads]

This thread is as good a reason as any to come back

<pulls cord to drop net>

I particularly love very spicy food, so I'm looking forward to the deep south.

I wouldn't describe typical southern cooking as spicy. (N'awlins and Cajun country, certainly, and barbecue of course.) Southern cooking has its own charms, none of them approved by cardiologists:

Fried chicken. Fried seafood, esp. oysters and scallops. Fluffy-crispy-buttery biscuits. Cornbread (it should not be sweet, and if it is the baker should call it a corn muffin or go to jail). Carbohydrates in all their glory.

Cheese grits.

Sweet iced tea with a squirt of lemon.

Pecan pie. Better yet, chocolate pecan pie.

Chess pie.

Fresh peach or blackberry cobbler.

Fresh peaches, period, when they are in season and haven't seen the inside of a shipping truck. (A tree-ripened peach should have a super-sweet fragrance and not a hint of green; any other kind is not worth eating. Smallish South Carolina peaches trump Georgia peaches in my opinion.)

Fresh blue crabs, steamed or boiled. These are likely to be spicy/peppery, depending on the cook. Some people like them without the spice.

Peel-your-own boiled shrimp. (Don't look at their faces).

My mom's carrot cake with cream cheese icing. Unfortunately, my mom doesn't bake cakes anymore. But her cake won a ribbon at a fair once, so it deserves a mention here anyway.
Cajun and Creole food are a whole different topic. There is some spillover into the other South. Just last weekend some friends and I bought gumbo at a roadside stand in greater metropolitan Frogmore, South Carolina, near the gorgeous little town of Beaufort. Frogmore consists of a gas station, a post office, a couple of seafood joints, and a tiny gem of an art gallery called the Red Piano which sells the work of Low Country artists and helps keep Gullah culture alive.

...Which brings us to Frogmore Stew. Known elsewhere as a Low Country Boil. Cook together some small red potatoes, corn-on-the-cob, chunks of spicy link sausage and Old Bay seafood seasoning. When the potatoes are soft, dump in some fresh shrimp. They'll be done by the time you've opened your beer.

Tourists to Savannah are herded to TV cook Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady & Sons. These tourists are not stupid. Paula Deen knows her way around Southern-style comfort food. Locals think it's silly to stand in line for Paula Deen meal, and will offer up their lists of better places (no tour buses). But I'm still new here and haven't developed the requisite anti-Paula Deen snobbery.

Sure, she's gone all commercial and sells a barbecue spice called Butt Rub. Good for her.

 

[SeaCat]

Okay and now for food from where I spent most of my time growing up. (Cape Cod)

Ice Cream- 4 Seas Ice Cream in Osterville.

Steak and Cheese Subs- Pizza One Subs Two in Marstons Mills.

Crab Cakes and Pan Fried Flunder- Baxters Warf in Hyannis.

Now for a true taste of traditional Cape Fare you have to watch for someone doing a Clam Bake and join in. Clams, (Quahogs) Scallops, Lobster, Crabs and several kinds of fish all wrapped in Seaweed and baked in a sand pit for several hours. Nothing better on a warm cape evening.

For a taste of pure heaven find someplace serving grilled stuffed Lobster Tail.

Blue Fish grilled with Mayo and Dill.

Tautog breaded with Garlic and Bread Crumbs then roasted.

In the fall, Pumpkin Custard made in the Pumpkin. (A Wamponoag Dish.)

Beach Plum Jelly

Rose Hip Jelly

Smoked Tuna Steaks

Shall I go on?

Cat

 

[xssve]

I must have done something really horrible in a past life to be born in NM instead on the coast somewhere.

 

[cloudy]

Sweet iced tea with a squirt of lemon.

otherwise known as "sweet tea." Ask for sweet tea up north and you get a cup of hot water and a tea bag. *shudder*

Pecan pie. Better yet, chocolate pecan pie.

Chess pie.

Fresh peach or blackberry cobbler.

Fresh peaches, period, when they are in season and haven't seen the inside of a shipping truck. (A tree-ripened peach should have a super-sweet fragrance and not a hint of green; any other kind is not worth eating. Smallish South Carolina peaches trump Georgia peaches in my opinion.)

Blasphemy! Of course, part of my family are peach farmers, and we get all the peaches we want all summer - by the crate - absolutely free.

Cobbler is beyond wonderful. My favorite is wild blackberry. Very easy to make, if you know how.

You forgot boiled peanuts - either salted or cajun style. They're sold at corner stands every few blocks once the peanut crop comes in. They're best hot, right out of the barrel. Yum.

 

[kendo1]

We have some old local carvings on a little used road near here.

 

[shereads]

We have some old local carvings on a little used road near here.

How do those taste?

 

[NoJo]

Shall I go on?

Cat

yes!!

 

[JagFarlane]

otherwise known as "sweet tea." Ask for sweet tea up north and you get a cup of hot water and a tea bag. *shudder*

LOL at least in the NorthEast its quite accepted to put sugar in and restaurants will put a wedge of lemon on the edge of the glass unless specified otherwise. From what I hear of the Northwest...they don't...yuck.

 

[Recidiva]

LOL at least in the NorthEast its quite accepted to put sugar in and restaurants will put a wedge of lemon on the edge of the glass unless specified otherwise. From what I hear of the Northwest...they don't...yuck.

Northeast it's just "iced tea" and usually it'll be specified sweetened or unsweetened.

The lemon thing is an issue though. It's really hard to find iced tea not made with lemon. Sweet tea doesn't have lemon.

And I think in the south it's overbrewed to the point of bitter and then the counterpoint to that is the sugar. It's unbelievably fucking strong, so in the northeast, it's weaker and lemonier, resulting in an entirely different thing.

The components at least are there. But getting it served at a restaurant is gonna be near impossible. Even making it yourself is tough because by the time you brew the tea for 20 minutes, meal's probably over.

 

[JagFarlane]

Northeast it's just "iced tea" and usually it'll be specified sweetened or unsweetened.

The lemon thing is an issue though. It's really hard to find iced tea not made with lemon. Sweet tea doesn't have lemon.

And I think in the south it's overbrewed to the point of bitter and then the counterpoint to that is the sugar. It's unbelievably fucking strong, so in the northeast, it's weaker and lemonier, resulting in an entirely different thing.

The components at least are there. But getting it served at a restaurant is gonna be near impossible. Even making it yourself is tough because by the time you brew the tea for 20 minutes, meal's probably over.

Had a friend of mine from Tenn who loved sweet tea...and found Hooters did an alright job with it [though its just as easy to say he was distracted lol].

Back home we usually made our tea whilst making dinner.

 

[xssve]

I used to get bulk tea leaves from a little Chinese grocery here, it made a really strong tea, almost like coffee, I had to add a little half and half to cut the acidity - glorious.