From the US of A and I can tell you the Midwest is a fairy tale. It doesn’t exist, it isn’t real. People who think they’re in the midwest are not, people who are don’t think they are.
You might find multiple award winning shortbread-sugar-cookie crusted apple pie recipes in the coal/bible belts, you might find world class sashimi in LA, and you might find amazing tacos for different strokes throughout, but otherwise I really don’t think you can generalize the food in such a wide and diverse nation.
For something really similar to the example you could take Banana Bread, which is cherished throughout the USA, and the secret to making it perfect and delicious is this: 1. do not use milk and vegetable oil, instead use sourcream and butter. 2. coat the pan in coconut oil or lard for a soft texture. 3. you can cook at 350 or reduce the temperature as low as 270 as long as you cook it until absolutely no batter sticks to the fork or toothpick when you poke it in the center and let cool slowly for a long time.
Where are these steps followed correctly? People with either experience or wealth, as in literally anywhere.
Can’t speak to LA, but nah. Cream cheese is the East coast trick. The Midwestern secret is “cream of [ ]” soup. Cream of mushroom is my go to, but when I ate chicken I used Cream of it a lot too. It’s useful in casserole/hotdish where a roux would be great but a real pain in the ass.
Recipes in the south: The secret ingredient is more butter.
That’s the secret in lot of really nice restaurants as well. When in doubt, add more butter.
does LA even have an original dish? afaik its only good because it hosts a lot of asian/latin food.
Sounds accurate to me.
Yes, LA food is awful.
Strongly disagree.
You mean to tell me you don’t like kbbq and tacos :(
I guess I’m used to Texas where our tacos have seasoning.
Move a little to the southeast and its just lard added for flavor.
The bit about the food in LA being delicious might not be true but the second half is 100% true.
Confirmed
can confirm. american midwest is stuck in this gross perverse 1970s style of cooking. think tuna casseroles, sour cream beef strog, and cheese broccoli
Hey now, the Midwest is at least past the jello craze of the 70s (seriously go look up some cookbooks from that era. So. Much. Jello.)
I mean, with advertising like this, who can say it’s wrong?
At the Minnesota State Faire last year, I had deep fried cheesecake batter. Yes, this is correct.
I just got a bbq pork chop on a stick and saw some local band called Slipknot when I went to the Iowa State Fair
chocolate covered frozen cheesecake is way better. but i got banned from the state fair for complaining about the awful heat so i dont go there anymore
Was it glorious?
I don’t think I’d have it again, tbh. The texture of the batter isn’t for me.
It’s gluttonous as hell, though, and for state faire food, that’s all that matters.
Agreed on the Midwest. I refuse to ever go to LA so I’m just gonna say you’re 100% objectively correct that their food sucks with all the confidence of a Chicago native, because our food is better than everyone else’s.
What’s wrong with LA?
LA native here, I’ve also traveled a lot, including to Chicago.
If we’re talking about food, then I think there are two or three legitimate complaints about LA.
-
LA is huge and spread out. If you want to get the “best” of whatever genre of food I guarantee we have it. But throw in geography and traffic and you’re talking about driving an hour or more to get it. This is fun once in awhile, but it gets tiresome. Chicago and NYC definitely have a leg up on us for accessibility, mostly due to density.
-
High end fine dining is a weak spot for us. We’ve recently started climbing up the Michelin list, but NYC and Chicago also have us beat in this category. Conversely, how often do you want to drop $500 on a meal? Michelin stars are great, but that’s not how most of us eat when we go out, so they’re sort of overrated.
-
We don’t do cheese like the Midwest, I’m convinced no one does. Do not order curds or poutine here, you’re going to be disappointed.
IMO we excel in the $ to $$ price range. Food trucks and random planchas on the street will turn out food that blows your mind, and they’re literally everywhere. We also do well in the organic/healthy and locally grown categories.
-
Best taco truck I’ve ever had was in LA.
Best taco truck I ever had was Korean cheesesteak fusion.
I haven’t found good food trucks in my new town (I’ve gone mostly vegetarian and this isn’t a very friendly city for that), its disappointing.
Part of me want to be the change I wanna see in the world and partner with a local vegan place to do street tacos or something
Yes about the Midwest.
LA on the other end has an insane variety of foods, so while they have organic, vegan restaurants where everything is super healthy, they also have southern BBQ foods, steak houses, Asian foods, Italian foods, etc.
I think there’s a heavier focus on organic, vegan restaurants up in the San Francisco area.
Honestly all the cali cities have pretty diverse food options, it’s just that the cities are known for certain foods. If you want a specific cuisine, chances are there’s still a restaurant nearby for that, granted you live in the big cali cities.
LA imo is known for korean food in ktown and street tacos but also has a lot of organics and vegan options. There’s also sawtelle and little tokyo with lots of Japanese food options. There’s even a decent strip of greek, persian, turkish food options.
Irvine (and Westminster) is known for mostly viet food imo
SD has a lot of coastal dining and surf n turf options
SJ is also known for viet food and mexican food but also has a sizable portion of cantonese banquet style restaurants and japanese izakayas
SF has a lot of chinese food (cantonese, taiwanese, mainland) due to the chinatown and also lots of fishery based restaurants near the ports. Japantown there is also pretty sizable and includes a variety of japanese foods.
Well said. Does SJ stand for San Jose?
LA on the other end has an insane variety of food
This is any city, really… At least on the east and west coasts. And Chicago.
I don’t see anything about cream of mushroom soup.
oh god the cans of cream of mushroom soup and if thats not enough to bake the cube steak in, have a pack of the instant mushroom soup powder for good measure
Don’t forget the powdered french onion soup.
That meat isn’t going to loaf itself.
If it’s in the South you have to deep-fry it as well.
