Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: Baghdad by the Bay (San Francisco, California)
3,530 posts, read 5,136,325 times
Reputation: 3145
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by PosterExtraordinaire
We'll agree to disagree here.
Actually, it pretty much is. In the USA, the Thai restaurants tend to be more Americanized, tend to be more suacy and tangy but in Thailand the food tends to be drier and spicier. More to the the point, the biggest difference between Vietnamese and Thai food is that Vietnamese tends to use a little bit more vegetables and a little less spices. It's hard to get really authentic Thai in the USA, the best is often an authentic Vietnamese place as those have not become as Americanized.
Overall, the food gets spicier and more colorful on a gradient from Vietnam to Malaysia. Malay food is the absolute best if you can find it.
Well, I have both excellent Thai and Vietnamese options on my block and can distinguish easily between the two. I prefer the Vietnamese here in SF, but enjoyed the admittedly Americanized Thai in Houston more than their Vietnamese options.
I have no dog in this fight, since I've never been to EITHER Houston or Chicago. In addition, judging food by cities, instead of restaurants or chefs, is sort of weird IMO. Cities don't make food, chefs do.
I always feel like Chicago is sort of slept on when it comes to Mexican food, considering that Chicago has one of the highest Mexican populations in the United States.Is the Mexican food in Chicago universally that bad? No, not by a long shot...
Rick Bayless, a very well renown Mexican food chef, has his base of operations in Chicago. Not that I'd eat at his restaurant since it probably would be expensive, but considering his stature in the culinary world, I'd imagine there are at least more than a few good Mexican food restaurants in Chicago.
There are so, so many great Mexican hole in the wall joints, all with various regional favorites and at great prices; everywhere from the neighborhoods in Chicago to the nearby collar suburbs...Cicero, Berwyn, Oak Park and so on to the outlying suburbs, north, south, and west of Chicago.
For a once in a blue moon trip to his Frontera Grill, the lunch menu seems to be fairly reasonable, especially for Chicago. JMHO...wow, after looking over the menu I'm going to have to get myself down there for lunch someday.
I think people on this board don't put enough emphasis on American/regional food. People seem to only judge the quality of food by ethnic restaurants and I think that's a shame. I commend you for including this important category.
When you say BBQ in Texas, is that primarily East Texas Barbecue (chopped with a lot of sauce) or do you get a lot of Central Texas Barbecue as well? I wasn't aware of Houston's Cajun/Creole scene. That's interesting to know (and makes a ton of sense). Obviously, Houston's Tex-Mex is well-known.
For Chicago, there's the pizza (deep-dish and thin) and the hot dogs. Don't forget the Polish Sausage, another big Chicago variety of hot dog. There's also the Italian Beef, which is one of the great sandwiches in the country. Chicago also has its take on the Tamale (including a tamale sandwich that's doused in chili). Wikipedia also informs me about the Jibarito, although, having never been to Chicago, I can't say how popular it is.
Interestingly, Houstonians eat out more than any other Americans. That doesn't say anything about quality, but it's an interesting side note.
Houston's barbecue scene is complex and is essentially Central Texas meets East Texas. Brisket, chicken, sausage, pork ribs, and chopped pork are all here.
Our Tex-Mex is good, but probably not better than in San Antonio, which is really the heart of Tejano country.
Location: Baghdad by the Bay (San Francisco, California)
3,530 posts, read 5,136,325 times
Reputation: 3145
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nairobi
Houston's barbecue scene is complex and is essentially Central Texas meets East Texas. Brisket, chicken, sausage, pork ribs, and chopped pork are all here.
Our Tex-Mex is good, but probably not better than in San Antonio, which is really the heart of Tejano country.
Agreed on both accounts. Personally, I prefer the Central Texas style of BBQ. I am not as big a fan of Tex-Mex, but have enjoyed it more in San Antonio than in Houston. One of Houston's more authentic Mexican places, Irma's was a favorite, because it wasn't Tex-Mex, but was more like the Mexican places I have found in California.
[/b] There are so, so many great Mexican hole in the wall joints, all with various regional favorites and at great prices; everywhere from the neighborhoods in Chicago to the nearby collar suburbs...Cicero, Berwyn, Oak Park and so on to the outlying suburbs, north, south, and west of Chicago.
For a once in a blue moon trip to his Frontera Grill, the lunch menu seems to be fairly reasonable, especially for Chicago. JMHO...wow, after looking over the menu I'm going to have to get myself down there for lunch someday.
Yeah, that's what I figured.
Frontera Grill looks good, but for what it is, it looks sort of expensive. That seems like a "once in a while place to eat"
However, I have a feeling since the Mexican and Latin American population there is of more recent stock than places along the border, the food up there is less influenced by American tastes. I get the impression its probably more common to find items such as birria, mole, and posole (especially this one because stews are very good during the winter) than the traditional taco and burrito style fare that can be found in a lot of border areas.
Plus, there's nothing better than a champurrado on a cold day.
It's harder to enjoy things like that when it doesn't get as cold.
Frontera Grill looks good, but for what it is, it looks sort of expensive. That seems like a "once in a while place to eat"
However, I have a feeling since the Mexican and Latin American population there is of more recent stock than places along the border, the food up there is less influenced by American tastes. I get the impression its probably more common to find items such as birria, mole, and posole (especially this one because stews are very good during the winter) than the traditional taco and burrito style fare that can be found in a lot of border areas.
Plus, there's nothing better than a champurrado on a cold day.
It's harder to enjoy things like that when it doesn't get as cold.
Just before I moved down to Atlanta (and then right after Houston), I was living in Detroit with a Mexican girl. I tried my best to take her to great Mexican spots out in Detroit, but of course she liked none of it (to compound matters, she was from Sinaloa which has some of the best food in mexico). When I left to Atlanta, she visited some friends in Chicago. I remember asking her about the food in Chicago, and her reaction was pretty much identical. Not authentic. Not good.
Who knows really, but besides my own experiences I have met a lot of people say the same about Chicago Mexican food.
Just before I moved down to Atlanta (and then right after Houston), I was living in Detroit with a Mexican girl. I tried my best to take her to great Mexican spots out in Detroit, but of course she liked none of it (to compound matters, she was from Sinaloa which has some of the best food in mexico). When I left to Atlanta, she visited some friends in Chicago. I remember asking her about the food in Chicago, and her reaction was pretty much identical. Not authentic. Not good.
Who knows really, but besides my own experiences I have met a lot of people say the same about Chicago Mexican food.
I've actually heard a lot of the same about Chicago Mexican food. However, these are the same people who didn't eat in places like Pilsen or Little Village because its really off the beaten path. If you have no reason to go to those areas, why would you?
Sinaloa, I've always associated it with seafood since the majority of people in Sinaloa live relatively near the Gulf of California. Sort of hard to get that style of food in Chicago, being far from a saltwater source. However, I believe most of the Mexicans in Chicago are from Michoacan, Jalisco, and Guanajuato. These are the more farming/ranching type areas, so more rice and bean based items with meat are more common.
Frontera Grill looks good, but for what it is, it looks sort of expensive. That seems like a "once in a while place to eat"
However, I have a feeling since the Mexican and Latin American population there is of more recent stock than places along the border, the food up there is less influenced by American tastes. I get the impression its probably more common to find items such as birria, mole, and posole (especially this one because stews are very good during the winter) than the traditional taco and burrito style fare that can be found in a lot of border areas.
Plus, there's nothing better than a champurrado on a cold day. Yes, this is far and away better than any hot cocolate drink I've had in recent years (besides what my mother would make from scratch, of course).
It's harder to enjoy things like that when it doesn't get as cold.
there are so many places where English is not spoken at all and the small grocery storefronts open as early as 4-5 am and the simple and homemade fare is sold out in very short order (and that doesn't take very long at all) and the food sales portion of the business is done for the day. Empanadas, posole (Jalisco region) an excellent soup for this time of year, scrambled eggs and chorizo...stop, I'm getting hungry. Anyway, you're spot on in your assumption about our recently arrived Latino population and it seems there is no such thing as too many great places to grab a bite.
In Cicero alone (a few short miles outside of downtown Chicago) and a population of not quite 84,000 has over 1000 listings for Mexican restaurants.
I've lived in both cities, know them both like the back of my hand (besides the Westside & most of the Southside of Chicago). I'll have a post in an hour or maybe two about them but for now I just got back home from a trip and need to chillax. Extensively.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You're right...
