Local Eats

[jkid101094]

So here in Chicago there is at least one restaurant on every street corner. There is a Subway within' walking distance of my house with about 17 Mexican restaurants sitting right next to it. There's also these places over by my house that sell Greek food items, one of which being gyros.

I was telling Wind about how I just had one and surprisingly he had no idea what one was, which lead me to create this topic. What are your favorite local dishes that none of us have been able to try?

[Hakudamashi]

UUhhhhh, the closest place to me that sells food is a gas station...

[Elija2]

I live in a university town so there are a lot of diverse restaurants around me but I don't go to them much.

A gyro isn't a local dish. You made it sound like this thread was about specialty menu items, not things you can get anywhere.

[jkid101094]

You can't get them anywhere though. Places like Jamacia don't have Tacobell much less Gyros.

[Elija2]

So you consider Taco Bell to be a local eat?

[jkid101094]

Yes. As many of them as there are there are places you can't find them. That makes them exclusive to the places they're at, no?

[Elija2]

Yes, exclusive to the thousands of Taco Bell locations around the world.

[jkid101094]

Except in places like Jamacia that don't have them.

[Elija2]

The point is that it's not local if you can get it somewhere else.

[jkid101094]

Then what would you call it?

[Ioshyriku]

There is a restaurant in my home town, called Lordinu, who has really great pizza dood.

[Elija2]

Then what would you call it?

Uhh...just food? Unless you're talking about food from a specific culture or ethnicity like Greek gyros (even though you can get them outside of Greece, that's where they originated from and they are a part of that culture) then I guess you could call it ethnic cuisine.

When I think of local eats, I think of a food from a local restaurant that you can't get anywhere else (like some kind of specialty dish).

[Hakudamashi]

Ackee and saltfish is Jamaica's speciality dish, but you can get that elsewhere.

[Elija2]

Ackee and saltfish is Jamaica's speciality dish, but you can get that elsewhere.

When I said specialty dish I meant something unique to a specific restaurant.

[Hakudamashi]

Tacos aren't unique to Taco Bell.

[Elija2]

No but Doritos Locos Tacos are.

[jkid101094]

Anyone remember Buffalo Grillers?

Of course they don't. They were so good that they had to discontinue them. ;~;

[Elija2]

Have any of you guys had poutine before? It's not really a local eat but it's considered to be a Canadian food and is hard to find anywhere else.

[Hakudamashi]

Do you guys have jerk chicken?

[Elija2]

I don't even know what that is so maybe?

[Hakudamashi]

Jerk meat is essentially cooking meat with special "jerk" seasonings, but the meat is cooked to the point of being burnt/charred.

So it's more or less burnt food that doesn't taste burnt.

[Elija2]

Well it's probably something that you can get in Canada depending on where you live but I haven't had it before.