I forgot how wonderful that blog is! I've been wandering around on it all afternoon, making myself hungry and a teensy bit homesick.
Not for Texas, of course, but for the kinds of foods you don't realize are strictly local until you move away and cannot get them!
Real-deal magnificent handmade flan, pescadillo con pappas fritas, platanos fritas con refritos y crema, conch fritters, ten inch high key lime pie, turtle (mock!) red chowder with sherry, black beans like they're supposed to taste, REAL BAGELS AT PUMPERNICK'S, mango fresh off the tree in the back yard, ditto little bananas, carambolas, and avocados, (oh god guacamole made from avocados still warm from the sun!) good cuban coffee so strong it could kill an Anglo from 30 feet, a cuban sandwich with the REAL bread...
Fresh, warm flour or corn tortillas made by hand, velvety refried beans made with lard, cornbread with a shattery-crisp crust made with a tablespoon (not a cup) of sugar and cooked in a cast-iron skillet older than I am, Rotel dip at every social gathering imaginable, biscuits and gravy for a "stick to your ribs" breakfast, amazing breakfast tacos from a gas station, banana pudding, 7-up cake, pecan pie (pronounced correctly), peach cobbler, What kind of coke do you want? I'll have Dr. Pepper, Dewberry shortcake, Nancy's Fried pies, black-eyed peas and greens for luck and money in the new year (and fighting over who gets to drink the pot liquor), fried catfish, frito pie, barbequed brisket served with the sauce on the side and a slice of white bread, macaroni and cheese listed in the vegetable section of the menu next to the fried okra, king ranch chicken, fried dill pickles, lemon chess pie, sweet tea that will make your teeth ache, fruit kolaches from New Braunfels, sausage kolaches from the bakery a block from my alma mater, cornbread dressing to go with the turkey, homemade fried chicken with pan gravy, real chili, gumbo, red beans and rice, Mississippi Mud Cake, and chicken fried steak with cream gravy.
I think I felt my arteries harden a bit just typing all that.
Yeah, but I'm learning some of it, mostly through the magic of food blogs. And some things are barely worth making in your own kitchen. (If there is a shred of a hope that I can buy good chicken fried steak or non-fast-food fried chicken, I'm not covering my kitchen in grease splatters.)
I haven't made it over there yet, but my new neighborhood has a Picadilly cafeteria. It's not Luby's, but I'm hoping it's as good as the Picadilly in my mom's home town.
I had forgotten that I had been dragged there years ago at 3 am, but I somehow remembered and away we went. Pink and Orange torn naugahyde seats with inlaid matching table pieces.
If you get a chance, you should try the BBQ at Willie's Taste of Soul on Beacon Hill. You walk through the door and you pass from the PNW to somewhere in the Gulf States.
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 09:24 pm (UTC)Now if you'd said 'bacon', it'd be a different story! :-)
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Date: 2010-06-10 09:27 pm (UTC)Sometimes, you just NEED grits.
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Date: 2010-06-10 09:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 09:45 pm (UTC)*grin*
Those are the two Calle Ocho Heavyweights.
Yum!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 10:00 pm (UTC)Any suggestions for local places?
Also, I'm weird, I like my grits sweet with butter.
Or make into a patty and fried in butter, sprinkled again with some sugar.
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Date: 2010-06-10 10:11 pm (UTC)I haven't found anywhere that does it better than I do in my own kitchen, but I'm hopeful!
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Date: 2010-06-10 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 10:16 pm (UTC)LOL. That reminds me of when a reader asked the blogger at Homesick Texan where to find good Tex-Mex in NYC. Her answer was, "My kitchen."
no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 04:47 am (UTC)Not for Texas, of course, but for the kinds of foods you don't realize are strictly local until you move away and cannot get them!
Real-deal magnificent handmade flan, pescadillo con pappas fritas, platanos fritas con refritos y crema, conch fritters, ten inch high key lime pie, turtle (mock!) red chowder with sherry, black beans like they're supposed to taste, REAL BAGELS AT PUMPERNICK'S, mango fresh off the tree in the back yard, ditto little bananas, carambolas, and avocados, (oh god guacamole made from avocados still warm from the sun!) good cuban coffee so strong it could kill an Anglo from 30 feet, a cuban sandwich with the REAL bread...
Why is the room spinning?
no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 06:54 am (UTC)Fresh, warm flour or corn tortillas made by hand, velvety refried beans made with lard, cornbread with a shattery-crisp crust made with a tablespoon (not a cup) of sugar and cooked in a cast-iron skillet older than I am, Rotel dip at every social gathering imaginable, biscuits and gravy for a "stick to your ribs" breakfast, amazing breakfast tacos from a gas station, banana pudding, 7-up cake, pecan pie (pronounced correctly), peach cobbler, What kind of coke do you want? I'll have Dr. Pepper, Dewberry shortcake, Nancy's Fried pies, black-eyed peas and greens for luck and money in the new year (and fighting over who gets to drink the pot liquor), fried catfish, frito pie, barbequed brisket served with the sauce on the side and a slice of white bread, macaroni and cheese listed in the vegetable section of the menu next to the fried okra, king ranch chicken, fried dill pickles, lemon chess pie, sweet tea that will make your teeth ache, fruit kolaches from New Braunfels, sausage kolaches from the bakery a block from my alma mater, cornbread dressing to go with the turkey, homemade fried chicken with pan gravy, real chili, gumbo, red beans and rice, Mississippi Mud Cake, and chicken fried steak with cream gravy.
I think I felt my arteries harden a bit just typing all that.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 04:51 pm (UTC)The sad part is that so many of things I love from back home I simply don't know how to make correctly.
Family secrets, professional techniques, the works.
SIGH!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 05:04 pm (UTC)I haven't made it over there yet, but my new neighborhood has a Picadilly cafeteria. It's not Luby's, but I'm hoping it's as good as the Picadilly in my mom's home town.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 05:28 pm (UTC)I had forgotten that I had been dragged there years ago at 3 am, but I somehow remembered and away we went. Pink and Orange torn naugahyde seats with inlaid matching table pieces.
Airplane models hanging from the ceiling.
And the food?
Mel's Diner.
SRSLY.
YUM!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-12 12:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 06:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 04:55 pm (UTC)I refer to them as "That big pickle jar on the counter at 7-Eleven" pickles, and can't get 'em!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 01:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 04:56 pm (UTC)Little Havana, especially Calle Ocho (Eighth Street) is where the action is, Cuban food-wise. La Carretta, Versailles, Latin America Cafe...
YUM!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 09:44 pm (UTC)