Nominate The State With The Best Cuisine

Hawkeye10 said:

I am going to guess that it has something to do with Texas and CA not getting the same Mexicans, Rick Bayless claims that the food in Mexico is very varied by region, and he should know. I lived in CA for five years so I have had some good Mexican there, but I have thought Texas better.

It might be me.

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This is true. I have traveled all over Mexico, and the Mexicans in various regions eat different foods. They're like the US in that way.

There's this little lobster fishing village south of California that we used to visit, and you could get a plate of lobster, rice and beans and a big margarita for $10. It was so great.

Hawkeye10 said:

I have been in WA since aught Four, I would kill for either, outside of a couple good places in Seattle the Mexican scene here is dreadful.

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If I could recommend a solution... ask a Mexican in Seattle where they eat. The place is likely not on TripAdvisor or Yelp. It'll be some little hole in the wall taco shop. And they'll have the real deal. Tongue tacos, tripa tacos, brain tacos.

We even have real Mexican taco shops in Mississippi. The waiters don't even speak English. You just have to search out these places.

If you see some huge sign that says "Taco John's" and it's a large place, it prolly sux. They'll have some Gringo cooking in back, and that's usually no good. Find the real Mexican spots.

Brewdog said:

If I could recommend a solution... ask a Mexican in Seattle where they eat. The place is likely not on TripAdvisor or Yelp. It'll be some little hole in the wall taco shop. And they'll have the real deal. Tongue tacos, tripa tacos, brain tacos.

We even have real Mexican taco shops in Mississippi. The waiters don't even speak English. You just have to search out these places.

If you see some huge sign that says "Taco John's" and it's a large place, it prolly sux. They'll have some Gringo cooking in back, and that's usually no good. Find the real Mexican spots.

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I actually have a story about that....food here in Olympia generally sucks, a lot of the time almost on purpose it seems, so I did not get shocked to find out that there is no half way ok Mexican here, but I sometimes find good stuff a half hour up the road in Tacoma. I got to know this waiter at Marrow in Tacoma a great place that is now gone, this guy is at least part Mexican so I ask him where the good Mexican food is in Tacoma. He gives me this place that he says "is so authentic that they refuse to serve even on request chips and salsa, because Mexicans dont do that". Well, it turned out that regardless of the truth of that statement, and I have my doubts about that, what they serve is American Tex-Mex, and not even semi well done. "we will not serve you chips and salsa" is purely a marketing ploy.

Point being, that trick has worked for me in the past, but it is not fool proof.

PoS said:

OK, since one cannot post a poll with 50 options then we ought to nominate the top ten states first.

Which state has got the best food and name the dish and why. Multiple nominations (max 3) are permitted.

Go! :2razz:

Best State Food Recipes : Recipes : Cooking Channel
The Quintessential Foods from Each American State - Celebrity Chef

I would go for Illinois- deep dish pizza, Maine- lobster roll, Maryland- crab boil

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Interesting question.

The important distinction here, I think, is what place has the best food you just can't get anywhere else?

The coasts have great seafood, but you can fly that in fresh anywhere.

Tex Mex and Cajun is good, but I can get it in Chicago- and the Cajun restaurant here is equal to any in New Orleans.

But you can't get deep dish pizza, or Pequod like pan pizza anywhere but Chicago, and most importantly, you can't really get a real Italian Beef outside of Illinois, although Portillos is starting to export.

Ethiopia

You can get about the best of everything somewhere in NYC.

DC has a great food scene.

California.

We have all cuisines plus our own Californian Cuisine.

We have all the sushi, deep dish pizza, Mexican food, Chinese, Vietnamese, Cuban, Italian, everything. Best restaurants all over. Napa, Sonoma, San Fran, LA, etc.