Regional Foods MIA in Chicago...

I've been a lurker for awhile now, and have been amazed at the awesome, off-the-beaten path places that this board has hunted down. Having only been a Chicago resident for 2 years now, I'm still amazed at the wide variety of ethnic, regional and other varieties of cuisine available at our fingertips here in this great city. Dare I say it? Chicago is the best food city in the US. Seems like we've got everything...well, almost everything.
There's a few VERY regional American foods I have yet to find here in Chitown.
I'll list them here in hopes that you foodsleuths will have an answer for me. Feel free, as well, to add your own "Missing in Action" Foods so that maybe you too can be saved by the SherlockHolmes-like skills of the boards resident experts.

Before Chicago, I lived for 5 yrs in Upstate NY and developed a fondness for the following foods that I seem unable to find:

1) "weck" buns or "weck" sandwiches. The technical name for a "wick" bun is kummelweck. It's a kaiser roll, essentially, that's topped with an egg wash, lots of coarse salt, and caraway seeds. It originated in Buffalo NY but has spread throughout upstate NY. Traditional weck sandwiches involve the roll, some sliced warm roast beef, a little jus, and some horseradish sauce. A favorite drive-in of mine in Saratoga Springs NY serves a "chick-wick" sandwich with pulled bbq chicken on a weck bun. good god, I miss it. Yes, I could make my own but, well, I am busy as well as lazy.

2) Close to Italian-quality gelato. If the banana gelato is yellow, turn back. I have yet to find a gelato place as good as some in NYC or Upstate NY.

3) Need I even say anything about NY style Pizza? Closest I've found is Cafe Luigi on Clark in between fullerton and diversey (closer to diversey).

Before living in NY, I grew up in south FL. These are the foods from my youth that I miss:

1) Boiled Peanuts. I've contemplated making my own but have no idea where to get raw peanuts.

2) Conch fritters.

3) Gator tail-- deep fried, dusted with powdered sugar.

4) East Carolina Style BBQ-- slow-cooked,pit-style with a vinegar based wet-mop. No dry rub, no tomato-based sauce. Preferably pork, of course! My husband recently had a laughing fit when I asked if the renovations to our deck we're making this spring could somehow incorporate a large smoker.


Share your own MIA foods. The foods of your youth, foods you've found and loved in your travels. I bet if we all put our heads together we can find some of what we're looking for.

buttery rolls from The Village Bakery on Belmont and Oak Park. (long gone)

bananasandwiches wrote:
Before living in NY, I grew up in south FL. These are the foods from my youth that I miss:

1) Boiled Peanuts. I've contemplated making my own but have no idea where to get raw peanuts.

2) Conch fritters.

3) Gator tail-- deep fried, dusted with powdered sugar.

4) East Carolina Style BBQ-- slow-cooked,pit-style with a vinegar based wet-mop. No dry rub, no tomato-based sauce. Preferably pork, of course! My husband recently had a laughing fit when I asked if the renovations to our deck we're making this spring could somehow incorporate a large smoker.

Share your own MIA foods. The foods of your youth, foods you've found and loved in your travels. I bet if we all put our heads together we can find some of what we're looking for.

1) Sources for raw peanuts so you can boil your own.

2) Conch Fritters were made with conch bought at Chicago Food Corp.

3) Captain Porky's has gator on the take-out menu. What part of the gator, I don't know. I'd call in advance and ask for Dino to check if it meets your expectations. He may fry it for you and you might have to supply the powdered sugar.

4) You don't need a big pit if you have a Weber Smokey Mountain and follow the Wiviott 5-Step. The 5th step is smoking a pork shoulder, which I happened to do last weekend. I then made mustard sauce, a vinegar sauce and a red BBQ sauce to accompany the pulled pork at a party.

Just about everything you wish for has a do-it-yourself component, however it is better than not at all.

Regards,

bananasandwiches wrote:1) "weck" buns or "weck" sandwiches.

The beef-on-weck situation in Chicago wasn’t so great when I wrote this report on Chowhound a couple years ago and I’d be surprised if it has improved much since. According to Keefer’s website the sandwich is still on the Kaffe menu. There’s even a picture of it.

Thanks, ReneG. I'm really glad to know that beef-on-weck exists here, since I'm going to be putting together a list of dining establishments for a group that has met in Buffalo for over 50 years, but which, this year, will meet in Chicago. I imagine that some of those who pine for the good old days will miss the beef-on-weck and Anchor Bar wings. I can see it now, a "Nostalgia for Buffalo" Outing. What kind of beer should we drink with the Buffalo fare?

Molson Canadian
Black Label

I come from Niagara Falls & I think the pizza there beats NYC ... the stuff at my last high school reunion was from a place on either Pine Avenue or Hyde Park Boulevard (I've been away from home a long long time)

another regional WNY specialty is White Dogs -- small hotdog sized bratwurst hotdogs (at Pages f'rinstance) with an amazing variety of relishes

and then there's diCamillo's biscotti and specialty pizza -- thick square sicilian crusts with epicurean topping like dandelion greens ...

Pitcher of Genny Light?

Going back to the OP, plenty has been said here about boiled peanuts. Again, all of the Viet markets have raw peanuts. I boil them in beer with cayenne and garlic salt. Gelato and NYC pizza have been beaten practically to death. You might like Massa in Elemwood Park near Johnnies. In a pinch, there are two Lavazza espresso bars in the Loop that are near-clones of the Italian places with very respectable gelato and coffee. Some people like Caffe Gelato in Ukie Village. Many others from Bittersweet to the still-open Penguin to Caputos have been documented. You're on your own for the pizza. The Florida stuff, apart from the peanuts, is strictly novelty (at best) to this ex-Gator, though conch fritters show up at Belizean and other Afro-Caribbean spots. A steady source of real grouper sandwiches is what I want from my home state. As for beef on weck, I know folks love 'em, but I've not had a good one in Buffalo or elsewhere. (Same for pit beef, the somewhat similar Baltimore sandwich. Could be me.)

OK SGFoxe and JeffB, Molson and Gennessee it is. Thanks.

SGFoxe wrote:

"another regional WNY specialty is White Dogs -- small hotdog sized bratwurst hotdogs (at Pages f'rinstance) with an amazing variety of relishes. . .and then there's diCamillo's biscotti and specialty pizza -- thick square sicilian crusts with epicurean topping like dandelion greens .."

SG--I'm not too hopeful about finding the Sicilian slices with dandelion greens here, but please clarify if Page's is in WNY (as I assume) or whether you are referring (dare I hope?) to a Chicago place to get White Dogs?

JeffB wrote:A steady source of real grouper sandwiches is what I want from my home state.

Yes, real fresh grouper sandwiches at one of the Frenchy's joints near the beach in Tampa, with the fish fresh off the boat that same day. As has been pointed out on CH, if not here more recently, one of the very few places with a real fishing fleet where one gets fresh, locally caught fish.

Personally, the main thing I would like to see added to the Chicago cuisine scene is one or two really good Portugese restos, but for a lot of this stuff, they really are regional specialties, and you will rarely find them well done in the correct style outside of the region. Sometime this is because the ingredients are not readily available (such as the fresh Grouper), and/or because there just is not a sufficiently large market to support a place that really does it right. Certainly, I understand that the reason I can only choose from Ameri-Thai places out in my suburb is because the Thai community is so small that a place that used fish sauce as the base and chiles in anywhere near proper amounts would have little or no clientele.

Having said that, there are tasty options for a lot of this.

Here are some threads that offer places to try. This one starts on conch, and ends up on Carolina barbecue, not that I am suggesting there are great options for either around here. http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=8672#8672.

Personally, I reserve the right to view boiled peanuts, and gator tail as nothing more than sentimental favorites, as opposed to genuine good food. But I have held that feeling about other things for a long time (including pulled pork) and finally discovered that the main issue was that I had not tried a really good version of it. (Which may or may not be the case with pulled pork - I have had one really good version, but other experiences, including some at supposedly top notch places in the Carolinas left me wishing I had skipped the pork and saved more room for more peach cobbler. And I like the Vinegar and Mustard-based sauces, strangely enough, just not the pork.). So maybe I have never had really good gator and boiled peanuts, always fallng for the mediocre, tourist-focused version.

VI created an extensive ice cream list last year that included many gelato spots. My feeling is that one can get very good Gelato in Chicago at a number of spots (food color, BTW, seems rather beside the point, if the ingredients and preparation are right. One can view it as a lack of integrity, I suppose, but the mere presence of food coloring does not mean the product is flawed as far as I can tell, other than visually). http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=31023#31023.

While I do think Gelato is wonderful, the limited selection of world class Gelato is more than made up for by the amazing selection of Mexican frozen confections here, which may lack the rich creaminess of an excellent gelato, but offer a range of flavors and types and a style of their own that holds up well to any other, IMHO.

Here is EC's specific list of gelato spots (I am rather partial to Freddy's, but I have not tried all the others). http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=35284#35284

And here is an entire thread about the best NY pizza in Chicago:
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=25133#25133

In this particular area, bananas, I am in complete agreement - NY style is my preferred pizza, even though I was born and raised here. Not sure how that happens, but I do find Chicago Deep Dish way over the top (more a fondue in greasy crust than a pizza), which I do eat two or three times a decade, and enjoy, but that is enough. So I go for thin crust, and try NY style whenever I see it. Though I have spent a fair amount of time in NYC, and even more up in the Albany/Saratoga area of late, I am not at all doctrinaire about NY-style. I am just looking for good quality ingredients cooked properly on a good, simple crust.

Which brings us back to the eternal debate about whether food is about authenticity, where each dish should be compared to some ideal or idealized version, and whether that ideal should be true to the historical roots or the remembered ideal from one's own life, or whether it is just about tastiness. I think the ideal is a useful tool for comparing styles and different versions, but failing to match that ideal does not mean the food in question is not damned tasty.

The best food I have had is its own paradigm, if you will. Excellence does not come from it being the most authentic and faithful rendition. So, I respect the search for authentic versions of food you enjoyed elsewhere, but for me it seems like it tends to get in the way of enjoying what one is eating.

Sure, I dislike oversauced, ovecooked angel hair pasta dishes, but not because they are untrue to Italian tradition. If the dish was in balance, and the pasta cooked to perfection, I would be happy to wallow in pleasure in the bowl, even if it flies in the face of a thousand years of Italian tradition.

Surprised no one has added really good bagels, corned beef and pastrami to the list. Sure, Manny's, Schmaltz and a few others do a decent job, but they hardly compare to the world class places in NY, Miami or Montreal.

No -- white dogs are Niagara regional ... Page's (could be Paige's) is out on Military Road w/old 1950 table jukeboxes -- I think they claim Marilyn Monroe ate there when she made Niagara

-- they do basically hot dogs, what is known here as a francheezie, but in NF as a Whistle Pig and white dogs

I think Rochester lays claim to the white hot dog. I've tried them. They're white. Let Rochester have the white hot dog, Niagara Falls has the timeless vaudeville bit.

And Dickson, you'll like this:

A seafood shop/restuarant in Tarpon Springs that has its own grouper boat, shrimp boat, and crab boat. This in a tiny town that is likely the Greekest place in the US with plenty of excellent Greek food:

http://sptimes.com/2006/01/26/Weekend/O ... new_.shtml

You can find boiled peanuts at Trader Joe's!!!

Funny, I've always thought of "white hots" as a Rochester item. Maybe they migrated down the Thruway. Boy do I miss 'em. Nothing like it here.

You can find an interesting discussion with excerpts from some papers going back to 1933 (!) discussing their origin and provenance at here There is also a fascinating table of local variations (worldwide) that's worth a minute or ten of your time at this Wikipedia article.

There are those who credit the Zweigle family in Rochester for their invention but there are enough challengers to make your head spin. Who knows? Who cares? Just need a good white hot!

PS Matter of fact, there was a great article in the Rochester paper a few years back about local-boy-makes-good, Rick Tramonto. It was about all the little joints he was eating at on a trip back home to Rochester. White hots played a not insignificant role in that article.

bananasandwiches wrote:
1) "weck" buns or "weck" sandwiches. The technical name for a "wick" bun is kummelweck. It's a kaiser roll, essentially, that's topped with an egg wash, lots of coarse salt, and caraway seeds. It originated in Buffalo NY but has spread throughout upstate NY. Traditional weck sandwiches involve the roll, some sliced warm roast beef, a little jus, and some horseradish sauce. A favorite drive-in of mine in Saratoga Springs NY serves a "chick-wick" sandwich with pulled bbq chicken on a weck bun. good god, I miss it. Yes, I could make my own but, well, I am busy as well as lazy.

Does Buffalo Wild Wings even serve weck anymore since they removed that W from their name?

The only food I miss from Upstate NY is the french bread pizza from Bob's Hot Truck.

I'm sure there are places in Niagara Falls that offer white hots, but I'd be shocked if they are as ubiquitous there as they were (and I assume still are) in Rochester. I was so confused the first time I ordered a hot dog and wasn't asked if I wanted red or white.

I miss rare roast beef deli sandwiches, which I haven't found in Chicago but have found most other places I've looked. And I miss Wegman's peanut doughnuts.

On the other hand, I'm pretty thrilled about giardinara, which I never encountered before moving here.

Fraggle, you mean you haven't had one of the downright gory rare roast beefs at Manny's or Perry's? It's like a slasher movie watching Rob eat one.

JeffB,
I ordered a rare roast beef sandwich from Perry's about 6 months ago and it was nowhere near rare. It was arguably medium but I'd call it medium well. I tried to pick out the rarest parts but ended up so disappointed I threw out the entire sandwich. I need to try Manny's, thanks for the suggestion.

being from the st.louis area, I miss St. Louis / Imo's style pizza... Its very unique and unlike anything else... the cheese is Provel, which is a mixture of provolone, white cheddar, and swiss, with some smokeyness. the sauce and crust are unique as well... i have a receipe, which gives a pretty good replication, if anyone is interested..

I've looked and looked, and I just can't find Provel cheese here in Chicago. You can order it on the Internet, but you need to spend $25 or something to get it. I asked Niles the cheese guy, and I think he came back and said he found a source but it required buying a lot too? ...but you can come fairly close following a recipe that involves mixing the 3 mentioned cheeses and adding in smoke sauce .. Interestingly (to me at least... ), I was in Orlando this past weekend and found Provel cheese for sale in a gourmet food shop.

As to the beef on weck thing... good find from Kaffe. and I was at Buffalo Wild Wings about a month ago (unfortunately--see the "wings" thread) and beef on weck wasn't on the menu..

Another buffalo staple that we always have is weber's mustard.. its in a little jar, a deep yellow colored... its unique i guess because it has a strong horseradish flare... and when we (i'm not from buffalo--the other half is though) visit we also bring back Salen's hot dogs (natural casing) that we buy by the 2 or 3 dozen at wegman's (which by the way is better than ANY grocery store we have in Chicago)

How about Southwestern? It seems over the years that there have been one or two places that feature Southwestern food, but they never seem to last. I used to love Blue Mesa way back in the day, but alas that too is gone? I can't get out to New Mexico as often as I'd like and I'd really love to find a place that serves green chili, sopapillas, blue-corn & pinon pancakes and pozole. mmmm.

Anyone know of any places?

KM, my husband, who's from SE New Mexico, really likes Zia on Armitage. I don't think there's pozole, but there are definitely sopapillas. (And not the crispy fried cinnamon stuff that all the Tex-Mex restaurants in Cleveland list on their menus as sopapillas.)

Edited because I found their carry-out menu with web address: http://www.ziacafe.com

Ah! I think somone had mentioned Zia to me before but for some reason it didn't stick! I am looking forward to trying Zia this week! Thank you for the suggestion Betsy!

JeffB wrote:And Dickson, you'll like this:

A seafood shop/restuarant in Tarpon Springs that has its own grouper boat, shrimp boat, and crab boat. This in a tiny town that is likely the Greekest place in the US with plenty of excellent Greek food:

http://sptimes.com/2006/01/26/Weekend/O ... new_.shtml

I am more than ready to go. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, all the business conferences are in Texas not Florida this year - either hurricane reflex or just normal rotation I suppose. Still, I will make it to Tampa one way or another in the next year, and that place is on my list.

Are there any white dog places in the Albany area, so I can check this out next time? I do not see any upcoming runs thru the Niagara/Buffalo area but maybe the Capitol has coopted this regional delicacy?

Not sure if this is MIA or not as this will be my first Crawfish season in Chicago since moving back from Texas. We had a small place near my home that served hot boiled crawfish by the lb. to go. My son and I would usually knock off around 5-6 lbs once a week (along with the boiled potatos, corn onions, and andouille that came with it) during crawfish season.

The only place I've seen that purports to serve NY-style pizza is Santullo's on North just east of Damen in the Flat Iron building. I like it, especially the crust, though it sits like a brick in my stomach and I feel a bit off as I'm walking home.

I consider myself one lucky gal, because I am soon to once again become a true 'Buufalo Gal'. After 22 years here in Chicago, I am finally moving home...and I must say Buffalo has some of the very best regional food in the country...Duff's on Sheridan Drive is the wing queen! That is the place that Saturday Night Live used for their infamous skit with John Bulushi and hot, hotter, hottest wings so much more to tell...anyone have a fav Buffalo eatery?

My favorite airport food in the U.S. is the beef on weck at the Buffalo airport. Kinda like I remember Arby's being in the early 70's -- that is, real (not pressed) beef, nice & juicy. And in Buffalo, you have the added bonus of the caraway & just the right amount of salt. Other than that, I've been mostly confined to institutional food at SUNY and the Hilton (now the Adam's Mark) when I was there for work. Did get out to the Anchor Bar a couple of times, though, back in the day when wings were not widely known in the rest of the country. BTW, has someone done a history of wings?

Rene G wrote:the sandwich is still on the Kaffe menu. There’s even a picture of it.

i meant to update... i finally made it to keefers kaffe for the beef on weck (i tried once prior but they were closed for a private event). it was very good. i think in buffalo the beef would be a little more rarer possibly and the horseradish a little more plentiful (on the side too) and maybe stronger... but def worth having. and pretty reasonably priced place.

home-made chips and the new england clam chowder were both very good too... too much food for me in one sitting though(!)

You can get any sandwich at Buffalo Wild Wings on a weck, FYI!!!

One thing I've been unable to find in Chicago is Detroit style Coney Dogs. Yuuuummmmmy!

greygardens wrote:One thing I've been unable to find in Chicago is Detroit style Coney Dogs. Yuuuummmmmy!

Can you please describe a Detroit-style Coney Dog for those of us who are not familiar with the particulars?

Best,
Michael