I’ve traveled around and seen some "Texas style" BBQ that would make a grown ass man cry. It’s usually just drenched in sugary sauce to hide the fact that the meat is dry.
What is the one dish from your home state that you refuse to eat anywhere else because no one else gets it right?
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Nothing really. People make things differently and that’s okay.
I wont eat a Hot Brown outside of Louisville. I dont even trust the rest of KY.
I haven’t really had them anywhere else but I’ve seen memes about “Maryland style crab cakes”
Crab Cakes
Everywhere else that advertises Maryland-style crab cakes ends up being disappointing. They never get the proper filling to meat ratio correct.
Crab cakes.
They always cheap on the crab, add to much crap (dear Cod, lay off the bell peppers), or completely blow the seasoning.
(Honorable mention because I lived there a few years a while back before the dish was a trend…I’ve never had good Nashville hot chicken outside of Nashville…at least I’ve had one or two good crabcakes outside of Maryland)
Carolina/eastern/lexington/any local style bbq. Liver pudding
Cheesesteaks are the most obvious answer to me. Any place calling it a “Philly” or a “Philly cheesesteak” is already wrong. Bread is always wrong. Steak never shaved thin enough. Wrong cheese, wrong toppings, random sauces (mayo is wrong).
Wildcard though, nihonbashi Philly in Tokyo makes a super authentic cheesesteak and the owners are awesome people! Best cheesesteak outside of Philly!
Crab cakes. If they have good crab they just don’t fry it.
Mumbo sauce.
I live in Louisiana, and could say pretty much all of it, but most importantly they all confuse Cajun Food with Creole food, which are 2 very different things, also the vast majority of the food found in New Orleans is Creole, not Cajun.
Crab cakes – Maryland, though coastal Delaware gets an exception – shoutout Woody’s in Dewey Beach. Anywhere else and you’re asking for trouble.
Came here to say crab cakes just to realize that’s over half of the comments so far lol
A cheesesteak or a hoagie. The bread is just never right.
NY – bagels
I’ve had good pizza in so many places outside of NY, but I can’t think of one good bagel. I can barely find a decent bagel upstate.
Its hard to ruin things that are already ruined. Dont google lutefisk if you are queasy
Utah says stop selling thousand Island as fry sauce. Fry sauce doesn’t have relish
I don’t know if “everyone else ruins” them, but whenever I get a burrito outside the SF Bay Area, it disappoints.
Haven’t tried any Texas versions, tho. That might be an eye opener.
Chicago style hot dogs outside of Chicago are embarrassing. Usually because they can’t get the combo of toppings right.
The type of Mexican food made in taco shops in So Ca.
Deep dish pizza.
Gulf coast – pretty much anything seafood. Even on the east coast their stuff just doesn’t taste right to me. Especially shrimp.
pork roll either they know what it is or they don’t. If they do know what it is, they utterly destroy it to the point it’s inedible.
Lobster Rolls and Roast Beef Sandwiches. What state am I? lol
“Italian Beef”
Go to Chicago, otherwise don’t get it. End story.
Chicken fried steak. Only good in Oklahoma. Even Texas gets it wrong.
Almost anything labeled “California ______” is unrecognizable to Californians.
Crabcakes or crab anything outside of the Maryland area
Anyone who has Buffalo Wings on their menu is lying.
Jewish style deli outside of the greater new york metropolitan area
Chicken wings.
To be fair, there’s a lot of good chicken wings outside of Buffalo. And there’s a lot of sub-par wings *in Buffalo*.
But man I don’t trust Buffalo wings anywhere besides my trusted sources in Buffalo.
Originally from MI – coneys. If they’re not in MI, they’re not right.
Coney dogs or olive burgers
KC style bbq, the only times I’ve eaten it outside of KC, has been dry meat and sugar sauce with none of the smoke and richness that you can get here. Of course I’ve also had terrible KC style bbq IN KC, so maybe it’s not the location that makes it 😂😂
Chile rellenos – every other state makes them with poblano peppers instead of Hatch Green Chiles
I’m from Key West and hate most people’s shrimp (key west pink shrimp are different), and most Key Lime Pie.
Fish tacos are also really different when people are using grouper or yellowtail vs farm tilapia or whatever.
Wings. I’ve learned just not to order them. I ordered “Buffalo wings” once down south and apparently the default dipping sauce was ranch. It was horrifying. The Buffalo sauce was off and weird. Prob a different base hot sauce? Idk, but it’s not the first time.
Beer cheese soup. Just hits harder when you’re home. Have had some decent stuff in Iowa though, in fairness.
Cuban sandwich, it’s nearly as always way off anytime you get it outside of Tampa.
I have had a lot of tasty sandwiches that happen to be called Cubans, but they aren’t Cubans.
Wisconsin- people keep screwing up cheese curds.
Bizarrely, Seattle is well known for a specific kind of teriyaki that’s hard to find outside Seattle.
We also have killer salmon but that’s more of a PNW thing rather than just WA.
Crab cakes. MD style is not even close.
Cheese curds of any kind, and bratwurst.
North Carolina does barbecue its own way, from pork, with some regional variations. There’s a lot of jokes about how Texas BBQ is dumb and mediocre. They’re two different things and both are good – just don’t tell anyone I said that.
I don’t understand what’s so hard about deep frying chicken wings and mixing them with franks and butter. You can get wings from any pizzeria in Buffalo and they are better than the best places anywhere else.
It’s honestly astounding.
Tex-Mex.
Grits. My god it’s cornmeal and water how hard is it to get right?
Key lime pie