Food unique to your city or region that can't be found elsewhere.

[Kamikaze]

I'll start us out with an easy one. Chicago stuffed pizza. Why people order the crap from Pizza Hut and its ilk here when they have the best pizza in the world at their fingertips escapes me.

If you're going to settle for a thin crust pizza, then it has to be square cut.

[Gothic Sponge]

1. New York Pizza!

Yummy!

[lazarus]

2. Chicago pizza?

that's not pizza, that's a casserole.

We feature fish tacos here in San Diego.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

3. You can get fish tacos in Dallas or Austin or Houston, too

[lazarus]

26. yeah

but they started here. They're a San Diego original.

[shanti]

12. rubio's, yes

i love them! they were the first fish taco company to take off in california and it was introduced from baja to san diego.

[Reverend_Smitty]

4. Pork Roll...

If you know what this is, it's a good chance you are from Central NJ. It's a meat that can be eaten any time of day...on the grill, fry it up on the stove or have it on a Kaiser roll with egg for breakfast...its the best!

[The empressof all]

7. Otherwise known as Taylor Ham

It's one of the few things I still occasionally miss food wise from the East Coast. I have it shipped out to me about once a year or bring some back when I visit. I also miss kaiser rolls and real rye bread. What you get in Seattle is so piss poor in comparison I can't eat it.

[rockymountaindem]

5. Um, Rocky Mountian oysters?

Although those are probably available elsewhere and may be known by different names.

For those of you who don't know, they're not found in a shell. Nope, they come in a sack...

[Feanorcurufinwe]

6. Fresh huckleberries, thimbleberries

[Kamikaze]

8. A Southern Indiana favorite: Persimmon Pie!

I haven't lived there for 10 years, but almost all my extended family still does. My grandmother used to make the best persimmon pies.

Hah, it ranks up there with fried bologna.

[MrSandman]

9. In West Virginia...

It is Ramps.

[Mika]

10. A "Cuban" sandwich - only in Miami.

No such thing as a "Cuban" sandwich in Cuba. LOL

Like much else from the Miamicuban exile community, it is a Miami fabrication.

[shanti]

11. merlino's orange freeze

in sacramento, or used to be, should i say. it began as a family company, but they sold out. it's still good tho. it was like a slurpie but fresher, and not as sweet - yum! there were more flavors than orange too, blackberry, strawberry, pineapple. it gets very hot here in sacramento, and they were just the cure for the summertime heat!

[shraby]

14. Pickled bologna

in Michigan. Haven't found it anyplace else..great with crackers.

[SmileyBoy]

13. Knoefla soup. A North Dakota/German specialty

It tastes like crap, though.

[MrChupon]

34. The UND dining hall

actually made some pretty decent Knoefla soup. It just needed a whole shaker of pepper on it.

Of course, being a displaced Jew in North Dakota its about the only Knoefla soup I've ever had. They sure didn't know what a Bagel was up there, thats for sure.

[SmileyBoy]

42. You can get bagels in Fargo nowadays.

They opened up an Einstein Bros. here recently.

[jshafted]

15. Garbage Plates

Here in Rochester NY that's homefries mac salad, covered with two cheeseburgers, mustard onions and hot sauce (crumbled ground beef mixed with grease and spices) truly a rochacha delicacy

[HEyHEY]

16. Rolly polly fish heads!

Eat them up! Yum!

[CanuckAmok]

28. I took one out to see a movie, and I didn't have to pay to get it in!

yeah!

[elvisbear]

17. Runza's from Nebraska.

www.runza.com

[kariatari]

24. Do you actually like those? My dad does, and I can't stand 'em!

[elvisbear]

29. I love em. Even better as hand warmers at FB games.

[MrChupon]

35. They have a couple Runza shops

in Northern Colorado too. Same part of the country I suppose. I like em, but thats some overpriced fast food.

[marigold20]

47. I've tried them - it must be an acquired taste!

.

[Shananigans]

18. My cousin and I have a test for people consisting of several foods...

Many people have no clue what half of them are, but they are pretty prominant in the Iron Range (Northern) region of Minnesota. They are:

Porketta
Patitsa
Pasties
Gnowkies
Baklava

Anyone?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. Not from de range but I'll give it a shot

Patitsa--a Greek noodle dish?

Gnocchi--Italian potato dumplings

Pasties--Cornish meat pies

Baklava--pretty common anywhere Greeks live. A flaky honey pastry.

[Shananigans]

21. Not bad!

You got 3/5 right!

You missed Porketta totally. And in reality, Patitsa is actually a scandinavian desert. It's very thin layers of dough rolled together with all kinds of yummy seasonings such as cinnamon and cloves mixed in. It's so good, but very complicated to make.

[Zomby Woof]

20. Navajo Burritos

A collusion of two dominant cultures in my region.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

22. Minnesota has some Scandinavian specialties that aren't well known elsewhe

such as

lefse (potato tortillas)
rømmegrøt (sour cream pudding)
limpa rye bread
sandbakkelse (sugar cookie-like dough formed into a small shell)
krumkakke (buttery dough flattened, fast fried, and rolled into tubes while hot)
rosettes (crispy confections made by dipping a specially shaped iron in batter and then in hot oil)

Then there are the locally-made candy bars:
Nut Goody
Pearson's Salted Nut Roll

And miscellaneous:

Old Dutch Potato Chips

And in "family restaurants" and diners:

grape jelly omelets

[kariatari]

23. Black Walnut Saltwater Taffy

Great stuff sold in Okoboji, Iowa.

[AntiCoup2K4]

25. The Olympia Oyster

Unlike the "Rocky Mountain" variety, it is an actual oyster. Unfortunately, they're an endangered species :(

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/ark/olympia.html

[shanti]

43. is that the same thing as the

gooeyduck? (i spelled it phonetically) very strange food, that is in coastal washington!

[frylock]

27. in-n-out burger

[onebigbadwulf]

30. Oh sweet Jesus I miss them the most...

Ever since I moved to NZ i've been dreaming about a double double, fries, and neopolitan shake...

god please kill me now!

[Fridays Child]

37. They're comin' to my town! Oh, yeah!

[flamingyouth]

31. Can you get geoduck anywhere but Seattle or the NW?

(Note: This is shellfish, not a sex thread!)

[lazarus]

32. The better question is

would you want to get a geoduck anywhere else, or even there? And why?

[flamingyouth]

33. It's rather tasty in a chowder

Just chop it up and don't think about what it looks like. That's my motto. ;)

[lazarus]

36. I'd try it

If we manage to get up to Seattle anytime soon to visit Haele's parents, I'll try to find a place that serves them.

I'll eat anything that won't kill me, twice. That's my rule, I give everything two tries.

[Fenris]

41. Good lord! What the hell is that!

:D

[shanti]

44. you don't wanna know..

:eyes:

[GingerSnaps]

38. Q

BBQ that is.

[Swamp Rat]

39. Seafood gumbo, alligator jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, shrimp creole, etc

You might be able to find food outside Louisiana called by those names, but it's not the same thing.

My favorite:

[neuvocat]

40. Poma's Deli in Ocean Beach, San Diego

on the same street as the pier. Get the pizza. The peperoni is mixed with a little chorizo to give a very different, seriously awesome taste.

[DemWitch]

45. Upstate New York

Pierogies- yeah you can buy Mrs. T's almost anywhere, but they aren't real Pierogies. Real pierogies are made by little tiny old Polish ladies. They're stuffed with cheese, or cabbage, or meat and cabbage.

Kapusta- Drained and rinsed saurkraut fried in brown butter.

Chruschiekies- fried polish cookies, sort of like Italian bowties but sprinkled with sugar instead of drizzled with honey.

Gwumpkies- Stuffed cabbage rolls. Filled with pork, beef, cabbage and rice.

Griddle Dinner- Summer only. Sliced summer squash, dipped in egg and bread crumbs, fried on a cast iron griddle, along with thinly sliced Spam fried on same griddle.

[ScreamingMeemie]

46. Pasties...from Up North Michigan-preferably from Albie's

Nothing can be so good and yet so sickeningly filling at the same time. :hi: