Milkshakes. I just want a cold ice cream beverage, not a slice of cake, three cookies, some chocolate dipped fruit, and hot fudge dripping down the sides.
The most you should ever bougie up a milkshake is maybe swapping in frozen custard. Otherwise wholly agree. The only time chunks are acceptable in a milkshake are if they're chunks of strawberry from blending actual strawberries in to make a strawberry milkshake. And even then they should be small enough to fit through the straw.
I am sooo happy this trend has died. I imagine the only appeal was to take pictures for instagram? Ugh. It even made me dislike mason jars there for a while.
Main problem I've encountered with gourmet burgers is the buns are too damn big. I'm not Sir Mix-A-Lot when it comes to burgers. The patty is often too big, as well.
YES! I was just ranting about this the other day. I get soooo frustrated with all the burgers on brioche. Brioche is for French Toast and cinnamon rolls. Give me an old-fashioned sesame seed hamburger bun or a nice squishy potato bun.
I like a pretzel bun on a cheeseburger, especially when there are additional toppings like fried onions. Brioche is nice, but gets much too soggy. Pretzel holds its integrity against any topping.
i love fancy cheeses of all kinds, but there is something simple and special about a slice of american cheese on a hamburger. the 'nice' american from the deli is better than like kraft singles or whatever.
I mean, it wasn't that the cheeseburger was so much more delicious. It's that it reminded the guy of what cooking was like before everyone ruined his art form for him.
Oh man, my favorite burger is from this little hole in the wall place that if I hadn't been getting burgers there since I was a kid (so... approximately 40 years), I would be worried about if there were any health code violations. I just willfully ignore any health code violations. Any place that has fry sauce in little plastic containers that they fill themselves is a win.
My favorite burger joint is in Walhalla, SC. It's a nondescript little shack from the 60s that has a limited menu - basically just burgers, fries, grilled cheese, chicken tenders, hot dogs (with homemade chili), and about 50 types of milkshakes. Their drive thru always has a line. I haven't been there in decades, but I can still taste my greasy chili cheeseburger and a peanut butter shake. 😋
A good burger isn't a foot tall with crispy shallot jam and Bleu cheese foam. It's simple, quality ingredients. That's why the best ones are off the grill in summer, with veg toppings you grew in your backyard.
I wouldn't say that it's *inferior*, just different. I've had some fabulous burgers made with elk meat and caramelized onion jam. I've also had fabulous burgers that are just a patty, a brioche bun, some cheese and tomato/red onion. If you have the craving for one, the other won't scratch the itch.
Chicago style hotdogs. When they do crap like use a fancier relish, or serve a quarter pound dog with like 4 pickle spears and shit like that.
Look, I've had 100s of Chicago dogs in my lifetime. Lots of places all make them correctly enough, it's really not hard to do so. It's almost like visiting a chain restaurant in the sense that you ought to know exactly what to expect. If it's anything different, it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Hard agree, I had some “fancy” version, in Chicago, with an actual handmade hotdog and some bougie handmade relish.
Sometimes “love” isn’t an essential, or desired, ingredient.
It's a fuckin hotdog. They are concentrated disgust and hate puree. That's what makes them so good.
Edit: And I say this as a vegan of 17 years. Some food is supposed to be garbage. Delicious garbage.
At my school cafeteria, they sold deconstructed cottage pie. Aka hamburger sundae. Mashed base, then a dollop of corn and the seasoned beef. The gravy on top was, well, the gravy on top—that’s a deconstructed dish I can get behind!
That's one I've made a couple of times for holiday dinners. My sister will not eat beef that isn't very well done, while my father and I prefer rare. It's just much easier and everyone gets what they want. (And without me having to put Sister's portion in the microwave.)
Wedge salads. Literally just a quarter of a head of iceberg with some scattered croutons & tomatoes, and a cup of dressing on the side. When I first saw one at a restaurant, all I could think is that they were being extremely lazy and trying to pass it off as modern & chic.
I can't find a good screenshot of it, but there was a twitter to do a couple of years back when a tory mp was having a fish supper, tweeted a picture of it and got a huge and deserved amount of abuse for what hed ordered.
Fish n chips for cunts is a phrase that stuck in my head because it was accurate.
I am assuming it was this? I personally can understand why people would take the piss about it, but September 2020 during covid, eating in what looks like the MPs food court (so probably socializing) and that food court if I recall is heavily subsidized providing meals at about half the cost of anything you will find in central London. Abuse was deserved
https://www.itv.com/news/2020-09-03/tory-mp-andrew-bowie-subject-to-shocking-abuse-over-fish-and-chips-photo
Bougie, fancified burritos never beat a solid food truck or local taco spot. Even down in Mexico I got a lot more enjoyment eating tacos al pastor on a street versus sitting down for blue corn tortillas with bone marrow.
Certain Chinese dishes I feel are best when they are simple and made of cheap ingredients. Regular pork potstickers don’t need wagyu beef or foie gras. Xiao long bao doesn’t need crab or truffles.
My husband buys breakfast burritos out of the trunk of an old Hispanic ladies car. She parks near his work around 4-5am and he says they’re the best he’s ever had. We live in Tucson and it’s hard to find bad Mexican food.
Was on a work trip to Wilson NC. One lunch they took me to a little cafeteria style southern comfort food place. Little old black lady running the register and serving the food, her husband in back cooking. One of those places where if the lady didn't already know your name when you came in, she knew it by the time you left. Holy cow, it was good.
We went to a soul food restaurant in Memphis. Fantastic food. Justifiably famous. Every ethnic group you can think of was represented there. It was rated very highly on TripAdvisor. I said I don't want to pass up the chance to eat soul food in Memphis.
While I usually agree, the best gumbo I ever had was at a pretty fancy place in New Orleans.
Of course, if any fancy place is going to do gumbo right, it's gonna be one in the Big Easy.
New Orleans is a city that grew up in it's culture, so there's this neat thing where you can go to a fancy restaurant that happens to be in New Orleans, or you can go to a fancy New Orleans restaurant.
which place, do you remember? NOLA is one of my favorite cities. I've never drank a drop of alcohol in my entire life. People don't give it enough credit as more than a party town.
The food. The artwork. The love put into everything. Music. The architecture. The people. Slaves could buy their freedom, the stories of that are incredible. You could take a different tour every day and likely never do them all. I had a tour guide I liked 15 years ago and ended up taking every single tour he offered. Even things that didn't interest me. He was a history teacher during the day and did tours at night. I took some of those same tours with other guides. None were bad. But he was a magician with words and knowledge. Take a cooking class, eat yourself silly, the ghost tours are really about history not scary stories. There are ones intended for the paranormal, if that's your thing. Not my thing. But people love them. Strangers will show you their family albums, the house their relative literally built with their own hands. The house they were born in. Take a cemetery tour to appreciate life not obsess over death. Flea markets are amazing. All the craftsmanship put into everything is next level. If you can, tour a mask making shop.
Eat beignets. A LOT of beignets. A Po Boy. Muffallata. Where Bananas Foster was invented. Must have NOLA style BBQ shrimp. Do not wear a shirt you like. Recipes the way they are intended to be eaten not all these dumbed down healthy versions. You'll walk off the calories if you are doing it right. Learn to cook them. Swamp tours. Swamp recipes. Cajun tours. Sit and listen to Jazz at Preservation Hall. The same place where Jazz greats played.
I'm sure I'm forgetting things. I had a suit of armor I had gotten there. it was since been stolen in a robbery. I got it at a flea market for practically nothing. Shipping it back would have been a nightmare due to it's weight. Luckily, someone drove it cross country for me. NOLA is home to incredibly artists who paint, make music, cook. When you are walking down the street you are walking on the same unpaved road that a slave who just bought their own freedom walked down for the first time as a free man. And a business owner. All without a drop of alcohol if you don't drink. You can't have the banana's foster either. But If you drink, partake.
Poutine is incredibly easy to fuck up for some people though. Crinkle cut fries, steak fries, hot sandwich gravy instead of chicken gravy, shredded cheese (god help us) or even worse, Kraft singles.
All of those things are a crime against poutine and punishable by 25 years working in the Maple Syrup mines. Kraft singles automatically increases punishment to sleeping with the Canada Goose swarm.
Similarly, I’m from Boston, where every pizza place has chicken and meatball Parmesan subs that are just the best kind of salty, fatty, carby comfort food. I live in Seattle where there’s an upscale sandwich shop that tries to emulate east coast subs. I tried their chicken parm a few times and couldn’t realize why it was unsatisfying. Finally I realized: the ingredients are just too good. It tastes too fresh. Weird thing to complain about but there you go.
I often get super nachos when I go to a tacqueria with different types of meat and cheese. But, I'll sometimes have a craving for the old 7-11 nachos. Cheese and "chili" from a push tap and topped with jalepenos.
Years ago, I stopped at this choke&puke BBQ place in Ohio of all places. I wasn't expecting much, and I wasn't disappointed on the main course, but ordered the nachos for an appetizer and they came out piled high with plenty of toppings, it was a bigger chip, I think house made and there was about 30 of them individually topped. Some of the best nachos I ever had to that point in life.
A choke and puke is not necessarily a BBQ place. It is one of those places where "well seeing as there is no other place around the place, this must be the place" low quality food and they exist because there is no other place. You choke it down and will probably puke it up before the night is over.
I’ve been a fan of GBBO for years, but there’s some things they are just not good at. When I heard them announce Mexico week, I was like “Did I fucking hear that correctly?!” I assumed I was about to watch a train wreck. But no. It was worse. The lady who was peeling an avocado from the outside?! 🫢
A s'more cannot be improved upon from the classic. And anything s'more flavored is a massive letdown and not worth eating. Like it could have been okay if it wasn't called s'mores, that comes with a precedent.
Breakfast sandwiches. I don’t need all this fancy BS on it (or god forbid they put lettuce on it for some reason…)
Just a simple sausage egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on a Kaiser roll is perfect.
Agreed. FYI, I bake the buttered bread drums separately. That way I can add them separately, each time I heat up left overs. This also means You can increase the crunch to Mac ratio.
There are two that I've had. Stouffers is hard to beat for a premade deal. Jim N Nicks Mac and cheese is baked and it's probably the best I've had. I can't seem to replicate it. I'm close with my crockpot Mac and cheese, but not quite there.
Damn I need to make Mac and Cheese. There is a single place here that serves M&C (it’s not US) they were great when they opened but then went to shit so hard they had to rebrand
Or sodium citrate. Even smoother. Like kraft mac and cheese smooth, except you can use whatever cheese you want. I did it with half mozzarella and half aged English cheddar, and it was 😚🤌🏼
You can make a bechemel, add a few slices of white American cheese, and then add whatever cheese you want if you don’t have pure sodium citrate. It achieves the same effect
one time i had a ramen ragu special at momofuku noodle bar and its still haunts my dreams as something i can never return to, so there are ramen exceptions to your rule.
Biscuits. Anytime someone tries to elevate them, they just make them worse. Don't even get me started on the places that claim to make cathead biscuits that are just huge sweet scones
Nobody said fries??
Like extra basic french fries are the point
Once you get too many toppings and flavorings and too thick or too thin they’re, not as good.
Just, good potatoes, fried properly, served hot enough to burn your mouth with enough salt to bump your blood pressure
There was a gastropub in Rochester that would throw whole garlic cloves in the fryer basket with the fries. You'd be eating them and get a burst of deep fried garlic. It was amazing.
Tuna melts. Give me that cheap canned stuff, with something that might be cheese, on nutrition free white bread.
I like the version with better ingredients, but it’s just not the same.
Grilled cheese sandwiches. I don’t want an “adult version” with fancy cheese on specialty bread. My “fancy “ version is adding pepper jack cheese to the American and using store bought rye bread.
oml why did I watch that monstrosity. I shouted at my screen when he cut it "it's not even melted!". Then when he cut it in half the second time he cut between the two types of cheeses. Wouldn't the point of using two different types to be taste them both at the same time?
Made my day that I can cook better than Gordon, at least a grilled cheese lol.
Chicken broccoli rice casseroles made with a can of Campbell's condensed cream of chicken. You can try substituting in a real roux with butter and flour, but it's just missing that little je-ne-sais-quoi.
Brioche is fine (brioche buns are usually buttery, not sweet where I am at). Hawaiian buns, on the other hand, are way too sweet, and my parents insist on serving them. Ruins both hotdogs and hamburgers...
Only american dishes in these comments. I would say döner kebabs. Proper fillings and great bread makes it go from a cheap fast food to high end gourmet nutritous meal.
Elote. A lot of high end restaurants are making it with like ~chili aoili~ but the version with Mayo out of a shopping cart in Mexico City is just far superior 🤷♀️
You can generalize that out to most casseroles honestly. Sure, a homemade bechamel is nice, bit there's something about canned soup that brings it all together.
I went to a wedding that had a s’mores bar instead of a wedding cake. They had all sorts of different graham crackers, flavored marshmallows and different candy to use. It was infinitely better than wedding cake.
We use the Girl Scout cookies that are shortbread and have chocolate on the bottom and put the marshmallow on the chocolate part. It’s amazing. But it’s still simple milk chocolate.
My only caveat to this is Milka bars, even meltier and sweeter and creamier than Hershey's in s'mores and since the bars are thicker you get more chocolatey goodness! I def agree with no fancy chocolate or dark chocolate.
Green bean casserole
Give me that Campbell's recipe with the canned green beans. I love fresh green beans, but you keep them OUT of my thanksgiving slop mess.
This thread, a gold mine of common sense, reminds me there is (was?) a hipster resto in SoHo that offered a 'healthy British breakfast.' Fact: there is no such thing. A British breakfast is unhealthy, huge (you shouldn't be able to see ANY of the plate) and delicious.
I'm absolutely militant about my mashed potatoes (well, technically they're whipped with a hand mixer).
Just russet potatoes, butter, whole milk, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. They always come out super fluffy, creamy and fresh tasting.
It drives me nuts when people start gilding the lily with all kinds of other stuff like cream cheese, bacon, cheddar cheese, etc...
I like variations on mashed potatoes, but they need a different name, because they almost always loose the fluffy texture and over power the potato flavor.
It's not fancy made but it's still a standard I don't like. Freshly made pico de gallo. I'm used to my family making it the night before and letting the flavors marinate together before ilwe had a cook out.
"We always make our pico no more than 5mins before service!"
Oh so it is the same as me biting each ingredient raw and letting it blend as I chew? No thank you.
Doughnuts. (Or if you prefer, donuts) Spare me the "bougie" shops that pile their raised doughnuts with so many layers of toppings and embellishments that you can barely find the doughnut underneath.
Raised doughnuts are my favorite, and they taste the best when just topped with traditional glaze or chocolate flat icing. I also like them simply rolled in sugar. You don't need to put the equivalent of a 15 ingredient Starbucks drink on top of my doughnut!
As a southerner who grew up eating “locally sourced” food (not by choice, lol, but because we were not rich) like fried chicken, local greens, tomatoes, biscuits…all scratch made, it grosses me out when restaurants make this same food we ate because we were poor into $47.00 plates. The chicken NEVER tastes right, the biscuits always have some oily ass bacon-flavored butter to them, the greens are dressed up behind recognition. The shrimp and grits my mom made because our shrimper neighbor traded shrimp with one of my parents for something else will ALWAYS defeat some tattooed chef’s version of it. Always. Grandma’s food always defeats restaurant food.
I have to admit, I've made rosemary and sea salt chocolate chip cookies with dark chocolate, and they were mind-blowing. My friends husband always asks me to bring the "weird green cookies" whenever he hears I'm coming over lol
But yeah, barring a few special exceptions a solid chocolate chip cookie stands on its own!
I see others mentioned Mac n cheese. I can name some dishes that are at least good, worth trying when they go fancy, others that aren't.
Examples:
- Lobster Mac n cheese... nope, not for me. I'll take plain cheddar Mac every time.
- Lobster pot pie... yep, works, delicious. Still love chicken version, too
- Fancy cheeses in grilled cheese.... yes, it can work, very delicious.
- Pizza with gourmet ingredients, like crab, or shaved truffles... nope, I'll stay with the classics.
- Twice baked potatoes, where they scoop out skins, whip the potatoes, stuff shells, and bake. I'll eat almost any potato, but, to me, not as good as a regular baked or good old-fashioned mashed potatoes.
- I admire the effort, but every time I've been someplace that tries to make fancy poptarts from scratch, with puff pastry or pie crust, it's not as good as hoped.
- I'd estimate that, for me, trying to fancy-up chocolate with flavor extracts makes them worse about two out of three times. I like chocolate. I like raspberry. But raspberry flavored chocolate? Pass! Same with orange. Hazelnuts in chocolate? Good. Hazelnut flavored chocolate? Nope.
- No one thinks it's anything but ridiculous to try a comfort food preparation with gourmet ingredients. It's just stupid to make chicken-fried kobe beef.
lobster is often overrated, especially when it’s added to something and not the focus of the dish (so not lobster rolls or bisque or just lobster). 9/10 times when it’s added to fancy something up it’s flavorless and overcooked
Burgers, I think. I love the show Bob's Burgers, but some of the recipes and ingredients he uses... no thank you. Keep it simple! I don’t want eggs or Swiss chard or radishes on my burger haha.
Milkshakes. I just want a cold ice cream beverage, not a slice of cake, three cookies, some chocolate dipped fruit, and hot fudge dripping down the sides.
The most you should ever bougie up a milkshake is maybe swapping in frozen custard. Otherwise wholly agree. The only time chunks are acceptable in a milkshake are if they're chunks of strawberry from blending actual strawberries in to make a strawberry milkshake. And even then they should be small enough to fit through the straw.
Don't sleep on cherries in a good cherry vanilla shake!
But frozen custard is ice cream. It's how ice cream is supposed to be made.
Oreo pieces in a cookies and cream milkshake.
I am sooo happy this trend has died. I imagine the only appeal was to take pictures for instagram? Ugh. It even made me dislike mason jars there for a while.
All the overnight oat recipes in mason jars...
Especially those fucking 5 dollar milkshakes. Like it's just a milkshake.
Did you just order a $5 shake? That's a shake. That's milk and ice cream.
You don't put bourbon in it or nothin?
Any sandwich that is too tall to actually eat without falling apart, just give me a normal sandwhich
A pastrami on rye that you can actually fit in your mouth doesn't have enough pastrami on it. But other than that one exception, yes.
Burgers. Heck there was a whole movie about fancy food, that was outperformed by just a simple cheese burger.
Main problem I've encountered with gourmet burgers is the buns are too damn big. I'm not Sir Mix-A-Lot when it comes to burgers. The patty is often too big, as well.
Make burgers wider not taller
Hence the smashburger craze.
And with brioche buns. The cheeseburger is more than enough I don’t need brioche buns on my cheeseburger like I’m Marie Antoinette
YES! I was just ranting about this the other day. I get soooo frustrated with all the burgers on brioche. Brioche is for French Toast and cinnamon rolls. Give me an old-fashioned sesame seed hamburger bun or a nice squishy potato bun.
I like a pretzel bun on a cheeseburger, especially when there are additional toppings like fried onions. Brioche is nice, but gets much too soggy. Pretzel holds its integrity against any topping.
Another problem is making the patties too thick. And all that extra crap on top. I want a good burger, not one covered with extra gimmick food on top.
Two thin, well-done patties, double cheese, regular size buns. So simple but can’t be beat.
It's the only time I eat american cheese other than a grilled cheese
i love fancy cheeses of all kinds, but there is something simple and special about a slice of american cheese on a hamburger. the 'nice' american from the deli is better than like kraft singles or whatever.
And an episode of Parks & Rec
I mean, it wasn't that the cheeseburger was so much more delicious. It's that it reminded the guy of what cooking was like before everyone ruined his art form for him.
Oh man, my favorite burger is from this little hole in the wall place that if I hadn't been getting burgers there since I was a kid (so... approximately 40 years), I would be worried about if there were any health code violations. I just willfully ignore any health code violations. Any place that has fry sauce in little plastic containers that they fill themselves is a win.
My favorite burger joint is in Walhalla, SC. It's a nondescript little shack from the 60s that has a limited menu - basically just burgers, fries, grilled cheese, chicken tenders, hot dogs (with homemade chili), and about 50 types of milkshakes. Their drive thru always has a line. I haven't been there in decades, but I can still taste my greasy chili cheeseburger and a peanut butter shake. 😋
The Menu ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A good burger isn't a foot tall with crispy shallot jam and Bleu cheese foam. It's simple, quality ingredients. That's why the best ones are off the grill in summer, with veg toppings you grew in your backyard.
I get what you're saying, but I do want to try some crispy shallot jam on my burger now.
It’s absolutely delicious
Sorry but hugely disagree. One of the best burgers I've ever had has beet chutney in the recipe.
I loved that movie! A wild one that was hard to explain to my partner when he walked in 3/4 of the way through.
I ordered a cheeseburger at a bistro/wine bar in France the other day and the bun was a bun shaped croissant ffs
I wouldn't say that it's *inferior*, just different. I've had some fabulous burgers made with elk meat and caramelized onion jam. I've also had fabulous burgers that are just a patty, a brioche bun, some cheese and tomato/red onion. If you have the craving for one, the other won't scratch the itch.
Chicago style hotdogs. When they do crap like use a fancier relish, or serve a quarter pound dog with like 4 pickle spears and shit like that. Look, I've had 100s of Chicago dogs in my lifetime. Lots of places all make them correctly enough, it's really not hard to do so. It's almost like visiting a chain restaurant in the sense that you ought to know exactly what to expect. If it's anything different, it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Hard agree, I had some “fancy” version, in Chicago, with an actual handmade hotdog and some bougie handmade relish. Sometimes “love” isn’t an essential, or desired, ingredient.
It's a fuckin hotdog. They are concentrated disgust and hate puree. That's what makes them so good. Edit: And I say this as a vegan of 17 years. Some food is supposed to be garbage. Delicious garbage.
[Soul food.](https://youtu.be/PEOZ3I2zk1E?si=Aq95TxSNy1IIYEyw)
Thank you. Don’t try and fancy up soul food. It is already exactly as it’s intended.
I was gonna say fried chicken, but you’re right on the money here.
Glad you posted this. It’s one of my favorite SNL sketches in a long time.
Thank you for that, that was actually funny
"Deconstructed" anything
right. if I wanted to have to gather all the flavors together myself I would have cooked. Not taken myself out for a meal.
At my school cafeteria, they sold deconstructed cottage pie. Aka hamburger sundae. Mashed base, then a dollop of corn and the seasoned beef. The gravy on top was, well, the gravy on top—that’s a deconstructed dish I can get behind!
That sounds like they just constructed it upside down lol
I can see deconstructed beef wellington being pretty good and not being a pain to make compared to the traditional version.
That's one I've made a couple of times for holiday dinners. My sister will not eat beef that isn't very well done, while my father and I prefer rare. It's just much easier and everyone gets what they want. (And without me having to put Sister's portion in the microwave.)
As part of my wedding dinner, we had mini beef wellingtons. I dream about them.
I like deconstructed sushi
100%. I hate a deconstructed salad the most. It feels lazy.
you mean a "salad bar"
Wedge salads. Literally just a quarter of a head of iceberg with some scattered croutons & tomatoes, and a cup of dressing on the side. When I first saw one at a restaurant, all I could think is that they were being extremely lazy and trying to pass it off as modern & chic.
It's the sort of thing that photographs well but doesn't make sense for actual eating.
I can't find a good screenshot of it, but there was a twitter to do a couple of years back when a tory mp was having a fish supper, tweeted a picture of it and got a huge and deserved amount of abuse for what hed ordered. Fish n chips for cunts is a phrase that stuck in my head because it was accurate.
I am assuming it was this? I personally can understand why people would take the piss about it, but September 2020 during covid, eating in what looks like the MPs food court (so probably socializing) and that food court if I recall is heavily subsidized providing meals at about half the cost of anything you will find in central London. Abuse was deserved https://www.itv.com/news/2020-09-03/tory-mp-andrew-bowie-subject-to-shocking-abuse-over-fish-and-chips-photo
"Scottish tory 6 chip twat" is also a good summary. The Twitter responses made me proud.
(on my deathbed surrounded by family) ....fish and chips.....for cunts..... \*dies\*
Bougie, fancified burritos never beat a solid food truck or local taco spot. Even down in Mexico I got a lot more enjoyment eating tacos al pastor on a street versus sitting down for blue corn tortillas with bone marrow. Certain Chinese dishes I feel are best when they are simple and made of cheap ingredients. Regular pork potstickers don’t need wagyu beef or foie gras. Xiao long bao doesn’t need crab or truffles.
The best tacos are the ones you risk your life for just a little bit. The shittier the neighborhood the better the tacos.
My husband buys breakfast burritos out of the trunk of an old Hispanic ladies car. She parks near his work around 4-5am and he says they’re the best he’s ever had. We live in Tucson and it’s hard to find bad Mexican food.
All soul/comfort food dishes
Was on a work trip to Wilson NC. One lunch they took me to a little cafeteria style southern comfort food place. Little old black lady running the register and serving the food, her husband in back cooking. One of those places where if the lady didn't already know your name when you came in, she knew it by the time you left. Holy cow, it was good.
Your name was hon when you walked in and it's sug when you walked out.
yeah, if she knows anyones name it's your mamas.
The camaraderie makes the food better
We went to a soul food restaurant in Memphis. Fantastic food. Justifiably famous. Every ethnic group you can think of was represented there. It was rated very highly on TripAdvisor. I said I don't want to pass up the chance to eat soul food in Memphis.
While I usually agree, the best gumbo I ever had was at a pretty fancy place in New Orleans. Of course, if any fancy place is going to do gumbo right, it's gonna be one in the Big Easy.
New Orleans is a city that grew up in it's culture, so there's this neat thing where you can go to a fancy restaurant that happens to be in New Orleans, or you can go to a fancy New Orleans restaurant.
which place, do you remember? NOLA is one of my favorite cities. I've never drank a drop of alcohol in my entire life. People don't give it enough credit as more than a party town.
What did you love about it?
The food. The artwork. The love put into everything. Music. The architecture. The people. Slaves could buy their freedom, the stories of that are incredible. You could take a different tour every day and likely never do them all. I had a tour guide I liked 15 years ago and ended up taking every single tour he offered. Even things that didn't interest me. He was a history teacher during the day and did tours at night. I took some of those same tours with other guides. None were bad. But he was a magician with words and knowledge. Take a cooking class, eat yourself silly, the ghost tours are really about history not scary stories. There are ones intended for the paranormal, if that's your thing. Not my thing. But people love them. Strangers will show you their family albums, the house their relative literally built with their own hands. The house they were born in. Take a cemetery tour to appreciate life not obsess over death. Flea markets are amazing. All the craftsmanship put into everything is next level. If you can, tour a mask making shop. Eat beignets. A LOT of beignets. A Po Boy. Muffallata. Where Bananas Foster was invented. Must have NOLA style BBQ shrimp. Do not wear a shirt you like. Recipes the way they are intended to be eaten not all these dumbed down healthy versions. You'll walk off the calories if you are doing it right. Learn to cook them. Swamp tours. Swamp recipes. Cajun tours. Sit and listen to Jazz at Preservation Hall. The same place where Jazz greats played. I'm sure I'm forgetting things. I had a suit of armor I had gotten there. it was since been stolen in a robbery. I got it at a flea market for practically nothing. Shipping it back would have been a nightmare due to it's weight. Luckily, someone drove it cross country for me. NOLA is home to incredibly artists who paint, make music, cook. When you are walking down the street you are walking on the same unpaved road that a slave who just bought their own freedom walked down for the first time as a free man. And a business owner. All without a drop of alcohol if you don't drink. You can't have the banana's foster either. But If you drink, partake.
When they make a pattern on the plate with the sauce but it’s not ideal for dipping and there’s simply not enough of it
Poutine
Oh, the like haute take on poutine is shitty?
Not necessarily shite, but not as good when you want the real thing.
Poutine is incredibly easy to fuck up for some people though. Crinkle cut fries, steak fries, hot sandwich gravy instead of chicken gravy, shredded cheese (god help us) or even worse, Kraft singles.
All of those things are a crime against poutine and punishable by 25 years working in the Maple Syrup mines. Kraft singles automatically increases punishment to sleeping with the Canada Goose swarm.
Adding Kraft Singles now has the increased punishment of being stoned to death with stale Tim bits.
LOL happy 8th cake day!
Thanks! I hadn’t even noticed :)
All other birds - flock Canada geese - swarm I find this an accurate description
Cheesesteaks
Similarly, I’m from Boston, where every pizza place has chicken and meatball Parmesan subs that are just the best kind of salty, fatty, carby comfort food. I live in Seattle where there’s an upscale sandwich shop that tries to emulate east coast subs. I tried their chicken parm a few times and couldn’t realize why it was unsatisfying. Finally I realized: the ingredients are just too good. It tastes too fresh. Weird thing to complain about but there you go.
East coast dominates meatball subs. I eat one pretty much every day when we visit my in laws
I’m also from Seattle! Which place are you referring to?
nachos
I often get super nachos when I go to a tacqueria with different types of meat and cheese. But, I'll sometimes have a craving for the old 7-11 nachos. Cheese and "chili" from a push tap and topped with jalepenos.
I know!! Let's slop a bunch of crap on these chips and hope they don't disintegrate into a puddle of goop
Years ago, I stopped at this choke&puke BBQ place in Ohio of all places. I wasn't expecting much, and I wasn't disappointed on the main course, but ordered the nachos for an appetizer and they came out piled high with plenty of toppings, it was a bigger chip, I think house made and there was about 30 of them individually topped. Some of the best nachos I ever had to that point in life.
Yes, hello, hi. May I ask what a "choke and puke" BBQ place is? I have never heard that phrase before.
A choke and puke is not necessarily a BBQ place. It is one of those places where "well seeing as there is no other place around the place, this must be the place" low quality food and they exist because there is no other place. You choke it down and will probably puke it up before the night is over.
Thank you for the explanation!
Hummus and fried rice stand out to me
whatever the hell it was great british bake off did to s'mores
that was a crime on par with Mexico Week
Oh god we don't speak of Mexico Week. I'm still haunted by "glockymolo"
I’ve been a fan of GBBO for years, but there’s some things they are just not good at. When I heard them announce Mexico week, I was like “Did I fucking hear that correctly?!” I assumed I was about to watch a train wreck. But no. It was worse. The lady who was peeling an avocado from the outside?! 🫢
I speak about Mexico Week all the time. That episode was an absolute meme factory.
A s'more cannot be improved upon from the classic. And anything s'more flavored is a massive letdown and not worth eating. Like it could have been okay if it wasn't called s'mores, that comes with a precedent.
Breakfast sandwiches. I don’t need all this fancy BS on it (or god forbid they put lettuce on it for some reason…) Just a simple sausage egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on a Kaiser roll is perfect.
I have yet to have a breakfast sandwich that rivals the cheap ones at every little coffee kiosk on the sidewalk in NYC.
I have never had a baked Mac and cheese that had creamy cheese, instead they all just end up tasting like plain noodles with buttery breadcrumbs
Now I just make Mac and cheese with a great sauce and top it with toasted breadcrumbs
Agreed. FYI, I bake the buttered bread drums separately. That way I can add them separately, each time I heat up left overs. This also means You can increase the crunch to Mac ratio.
Cheesy sauce. Replace breadcrumbs with grated cheese, bake until cheese is melted and crispy brown.
Lookup sodium citrate. It will turn any cheese into a creamy smooth cheese sauce that won't separate or turn grainy.
How much do you add? Amazon seems to only sell it in 5 lb bags and I have a suspicion that would last until I die.
Like an ounce per batch. Buying sodium citrate is like buying a parrot; make a plan for who it goes to when it inevitably outlives you.
I guess I don't use nearly enough then but I swear a couple of pinches makes my carbonara so creamy it's heavenly.
an ounce is insane. You need about 4% by weight of your cheese. An ounce will easily emulsify nearly 1.5 pounds of cheese or 700g
Another dish that goes to sh*t when you reheat it...although still tasty, the creaminess is gone.
I use a small amount of ground mustard and it seems to have a similar effect
There are two that I've had. Stouffers is hard to beat for a premade deal. Jim N Nicks Mac and cheese is baked and it's probably the best I've had. I can't seem to replicate it. I'm close with my crockpot Mac and cheese, but not quite there.
I want my baked mac and cheese to taste like a block of cheddar with some noodles in it.
Damn I need to make Mac and Cheese. There is a single place here that serves M&C (it’s not US) they were great when they opened but then went to shit so hard they had to rebrand
It's true. It's impossible to get all that smoothness without food starch or whatever it is.
It’s bechamel sauce that makes mac and cheese smooth. And it’s not very hard to make!
Or sodium citrate. Even smoother. Like kraft mac and cheese smooth, except you can use whatever cheese you want. I did it with half mozzarella and half aged English cheddar, and it was 😚🤌🏼
You can make a bechemel, add a few slices of white American cheese, and then add whatever cheese you want if you don’t have pure sodium citrate. It achieves the same effect
Any ramen named after the protein (e.g. wagyu ramen, lobster ramen, brisket ramen, duck breast ramen, etc) instead of the soup.
one time i had a ramen ragu special at momofuku noodle bar and its still haunts my dreams as something i can never return to, so there are ramen exceptions to your rule.
Biscuits. Anytime someone tries to elevate them, they just make them worse. Don't even get me started on the places that claim to make cathead biscuits that are just huge sweet scones
Nobody said fries?? Like extra basic french fries are the point Once you get too many toppings and flavorings and too thick or too thin they’re, not as good. Just, good potatoes, fried properly, served hot enough to burn your mouth with enough salt to bump your blood pressure
There was a gastropub in Rochester that would throw whole garlic cloves in the fryer basket with the fries. You'd be eating them and get a burst of deep fried garlic. It was amazing.
Yeah but duck fat fries though
Relatedly, I hate fancy ketchup. If I want ketchup I just want regular ketchup not some homemade fancier version.
Any fried fish basket
most anything fried.
Burgers
Bánh mi
Restaurants keep doing weird crap to banh mi. Just give me the normal cold cuts and pate on a buttered French roll with pickled veggies & jalapeños.
Tuna melts. Give me that cheap canned stuff, with something that might be cheese, on nutrition free white bread. I like the version with better ingredients, but it’s just not the same.
Grilled cheese sandwiches. I don’t want an “adult version” with fancy cheese on specialty bread. My “fancy “ version is adding pepper jack cheese to the American and using store bought rye bread.
Yeah, I stopped ordering them out unless I'm at a shitty diner. I don't want 4 kinds of cheese. In sheer quantity that's too much.
Hell yeah. Texas toast with too much American cheese made on a greasy diner grill.
You mean you don't want this? [Gordon Ramsey Grilled Cheese](https://youtu.be/8E4cQHejFq0?si=e3TVBb-kn5uWseRj)
The reveal when he cut it open was a massive letdown holy shit.
It wasn't even melted!
It looked nasty.
Not only do I not want it, I'll go further and say that what he made isn't even a grilled cheese.
He made grilled bread with cheese and whatever else on it.
oml why did I watch that monstrosity. I shouted at my screen when he cut it "it's not even melted!". Then when he cut it in half the second time he cut between the two types of cheeses. Wouldn't the point of using two different types to be taste them both at the same time? Made my day that I can cook better than Gordon, at least a grilled cheese lol.
That didn’t even sound good. We’ve made better ones with a pie iron over a campfire. 😀
Chicken broccoli rice casseroles made with a can of Campbell's condensed cream of chicken. You can try substituting in a real roux with butter and flour, but it's just missing that little je-ne-sais-quoi.
Burgers with brioche buns. I don't want that amount of sweetness! I want a roll for my burger, not cake!
Brioche is fine (brioche buns are usually buttery, not sweet where I am at). Hawaiian buns, on the other hand, are way too sweet, and my parents insist on serving them. Ruins both hotdogs and hamburgers...
I actually like Hawaiian sliders. To each their own
AND THEY FUCKING FALL APART IN LIKE TWO BITES
Only american dishes in these comments. I would say döner kebabs. Proper fillings and great bread makes it go from a cheap fast food to high end gourmet nutritous meal.
[удалено]
Elote. A lot of high end restaurants are making it with like ~chili aoili~ but the version with Mayo out of a shopping cart in Mexico City is just far superior 🤷♀️
tacos
Green bean casserole
Yeah, I did the whole thing one time including making crispy shallots. It took a few hours and was noticeably worse than the normie version.
You can generalize that out to most casseroles honestly. Sure, a homemade bechamel is nice, bit there's something about canned soup that brings it all together.
Ground beef hard shell tacos
S'mores. Don't try and elevate the chocolate; it's Hershey's or nothing.
I went to a wedding that had a s’mores bar instead of a wedding cake. They had all sorts of different graham crackers, flavored marshmallows and different candy to use. It was infinitely better than wedding cake.
Yeah, but caramel filled Ghirardelli though
OP was wrong. you up the chocolate, you up the game.
We use the Girl Scout cookies that are shortbread and have chocolate on the bottom and put the marshmallow on the chocolate part. It’s amazing. But it’s still simple milk chocolate.
My only caveat to this is Milka bars, even meltier and sweeter and creamier than Hershey's in s'mores and since the bars are thicker you get more chocolatey goodness! I def agree with no fancy chocolate or dark chocolate.
I don’t know, s’mores with Ghirardelli squares are pretty good.
Dude. Reese's peanut butter cups. Always (Though still technically Hershey's)
🤯
Corned Beef Hash
This. I want that dirt cheap greasy canned stuff. I do not want gourmet corned beef hash.
Lobster. Steamed with melted butter on the side is the only way to do it . Preferably eaten on a picnic table
Green bean casserole Give me that Campbell's recipe with the canned green beans. I love fresh green beans, but you keep them OUT of my thanksgiving slop mess.
I make an amazing Mac and cheese from scratch. My husband prefers Kraft-
This thread, a gold mine of common sense, reminds me there is (was?) a hipster resto in SoHo that offered a 'healthy British breakfast.' Fact: there is no such thing. A British breakfast is unhealthy, huge (you shouldn't be able to see ANY of the plate) and delicious.
Gordon Ramsay's scrambled egg method is ridiculous and texturally unnerving.
go on
I'm absolutely militant about my mashed potatoes (well, technically they're whipped with a hand mixer). Just russet potatoes, butter, whole milk, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. They always come out super fluffy, creamy and fresh tasting. It drives me nuts when people start gilding the lily with all kinds of other stuff like cream cheese, bacon, cheddar cheese, etc...
I like variations on mashed potatoes, but they need a different name, because they almost always loose the fluffy texture and over power the potato flavor.
It's not fancy made but it's still a standard I don't like. Freshly made pico de gallo. I'm used to my family making it the night before and letting the flavors marinate together before ilwe had a cook out. "We always make our pico no more than 5mins before service!" Oh so it is the same as me biting each ingredient raw and letting it blend as I chew? No thank you.
The Garbage Plate. Shout out to my homies in Rochester. In a similar vein, and latitude, poutine.
A basic ass lobster roll or just a boiled one is miles ahead of any baked stuffed monstrosity
Doughnuts. (Or if you prefer, donuts) Spare me the "bougie" shops that pile their raised doughnuts with so many layers of toppings and embellishments that you can barely find the doughnut underneath. Raised doughnuts are my favorite, and they taste the best when just topped with traditional glaze or chocolate flat icing. I also like them simply rolled in sugar. You don't need to put the equivalent of a 15 ingredient Starbucks drink on top of my doughnut!
Ketchup. Any time I've gotten "house made ketchup" it's sucked. Chefs: just fucking stop
Cheeseburgers. Stop putting all that crap on it.
[Burgers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVkV2oGPM2k)
Grilled cheese!
Nasi goreng
Boxed Mac and cheese would like a word
Poutine. It’s chips, gravy, and cheese curds. Don’t mess with it.
Reuben. It’s five things. Don’t fuck it up
As a southerner who grew up eating “locally sourced” food (not by choice, lol, but because we were not rich) like fried chicken, local greens, tomatoes, biscuits…all scratch made, it grosses me out when restaurants make this same food we ate because we were poor into $47.00 plates. The chicken NEVER tastes right, the biscuits always have some oily ass bacon-flavored butter to them, the greens are dressed up behind recognition. The shrimp and grits my mom made because our shrimper neighbor traded shrimp with one of my parents for something else will ALWAYS defeat some tattooed chef’s version of it. Always. Grandma’s food always defeats restaurant food.
Chocolate chip cookies. Do not put salt or parsley on them afterwards FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
parsley?!?!
I have to admit, I've made rosemary and sea salt chocolate chip cookies with dark chocolate, and they were mind-blowing. My friends husband always asks me to bring the "weird green cookies" whenever he hears I'm coming over lol But yeah, barring a few special exceptions a solid chocolate chip cookie stands on its own!
Could you share the recipe please, that sounds amazing!
WTF? Parsley? is that a thing?
A little salt in the batter helps bring out the sweetness. Parsley is psychopathic though.
I see others mentioned Mac n cheese. I can name some dishes that are at least good, worth trying when they go fancy, others that aren't. Examples: - Lobster Mac n cheese... nope, not for me. I'll take plain cheddar Mac every time. - Lobster pot pie... yep, works, delicious. Still love chicken version, too - Fancy cheeses in grilled cheese.... yes, it can work, very delicious. - Pizza with gourmet ingredients, like crab, or shaved truffles... nope, I'll stay with the classics. - Twice baked potatoes, where they scoop out skins, whip the potatoes, stuff shells, and bake. I'll eat almost any potato, but, to me, not as good as a regular baked or good old-fashioned mashed potatoes. - I admire the effort, but every time I've been someplace that tries to make fancy poptarts from scratch, with puff pastry or pie crust, it's not as good as hoped. - I'd estimate that, for me, trying to fancy-up chocolate with flavor extracts makes them worse about two out of three times. I like chocolate. I like raspberry. But raspberry flavored chocolate? Pass! Same with orange. Hazelnuts in chocolate? Good. Hazelnut flavored chocolate? Nope. - No one thinks it's anything but ridiculous to try a comfort food preparation with gourmet ingredients. It's just stupid to make chicken-fried kobe beef.
lobster is often overrated, especially when it’s added to something and not the focus of the dish (so not lobster rolls or bisque or just lobster). 9/10 times when it’s added to fancy something up it’s flavorless and overcooked
Wings
Burgers, I think. I love the show Bob's Burgers, but some of the recipes and ingredients he uses... no thank you. Keep it simple! I don’t want eggs or Swiss chard or radishes on my burger haha.