Finally! Mainstream press takes a realistic photo of the novelty president.

I grew up in California, I liked the pizza. It even took a few years of living on the East coast to have anything but Wordin-like disdain for the New York style. But I eventually got past my prejudice, and now think most pizza in California is just so-so.

Then again maybe it is just more people have become foodies and fetishize food. Everyone thought it was weird when hippies in California were doing that in the 60's with their whole real food and back to the land movement but what was once weird appears to now be main stream as it has spread across the country. Maybe a bit of that is even a good thing.

I don't disdain it, like I said I enjoy a slice of it once in a while when in NYC, but there is an attitude from New Yorkers that everything is better in New York even when it is obviously not the case. For instance, I like to post on Chowhound.com and a few months back a NYC transplant started a thread demanding "Authentic fish tacos like they have in NYC". Fish Tacos are kind of San Diego's regional specialty and have been since the 1950's; yeah, they were invented just south of the border in northern Baja but they quickly spread here early and became very popular. So, anyway, everyone was astonished at what this lady posted and we asked her to discribe these NYC fish tacos and she posted a picture of a grilled piece of fish in flour tortilla with a bit of cabbage and what looked like some store bought "taco sauce" on top.

Let's just say the comments she got weren't very nice. I agree people like what they're familiar with and foods really can remind people of home or childhood or what not so we seek out the stuff which reminds us of other times and other places but declaring that crap "authentic" or even claiming that NYC has more to do with fish tacos than us? That was just blasphemy of the type you only see from New Yorkers who don't have a clue.

I've never heard anyone claim fish tacos as local to New York. First I even heard of them was when my sister went off to college in California and had high praise for them.

As for pizza, while we New Yorkers do revel in the superiority of our pizza, the real disdain is aimed at the pizza chains and at anyone who thinks that deep dish is pizza. The chains are simply awful, and while deep dish might make a fine meal it's simply an entirely different category of food than is pizza. Also, putting toppings under the cheese is just plain wrong.

Heh, looks like that lady was guilty of the same thing you're doing about pizza. I will not order fish tacos in the east. They are just, so, fucking, wrong. And it's a struggle not to laugh at the people who do eat them here. Fish tacos in San Diego are kind of like pizza in New York. Yeah, you can get pretty good versions within a couple hundred miles, and then the concept deteriorates quickly.

Then there's the protocol around folding a slice. Not to mention the infidels who eat pizza with a knife and fork...

And I don't mean to bash NYC because it is clearly one of the world's best food cities and there are lots of things, especially certain ethnic cuisines, which are better in NYC than any where else in America. For instance, it's hard to find really good authentic Italian food out here which hasn't been heavily Americanized. New York and the whole NE area simply got more Italian immigrants so they naturally have much better Italian food and it can be found in just about every neighborhood corner restaurant. Jewish food, again, nothing even close to NYC caliber can be found out here and what you do find tends to be a pale imitation. There are more French trained chefs in NYC so on average the French restaurants are better even if California does have a few amazing standouts like the French Laundry.

On the other hand just about every Asian or Latin American cuisine is better on the west coast again mainly because of more immigrants from those places settling here. Different parts of the country really are better at somethings compared to the rest of the country. That said, there seems to be a ton of new NYC style pizza places opening up out here so clearly other people have different tastes and I suppose that's what makes the world go round.

That would be a great name for a band: Teleprompter Head.

I prefer him without the teleprompter though. He always manages to say what he really thinks. Unfortunately, the faithful don't listen.

Another thing I like about NYC is the specialty cheese shops. Sure, we have them out here but there are a lot fewer of them and they're just not part of the culture like they are out there. I mean, we have ~3 million people in this county but some how there are only 4-5 specialty cheese shops? There are some blocks in NYC with more cheese shops than that. San Francisco has more but I don't want to drive 8 hours for cheese.

This thread is a prime example of why I don't take you Libtards seriously anymore. You're incapable of an intelligent discussion and debate.

What kind of cheese are we talking about here? Because it's got to be pretty rare if you can't find it in your neighborhood.

I have a great cheese shop two blocks from my house. It can be habit forming. Something else in New York that doesn't get enough credit is the street cart gyro. In Boston, most gyros are preformed, frozen strips that are quickly grilled when you order. These aren't bad, especially if the tadziki is good, but they aren't authentic, carve it from the spit gyros. In New York, guys in the street are selling the real deal. It's gotten to the point where I never get pizza in New York, because I have to get the gyros.

Aww, now you're talking! I haven't had a gyro in years.

Note to self: On next trip to New York, see if your favorite street vendor is still in business...

We're just going with the thread topic. Do you have good pizza in Tennessee? What's your take on dry aged pepperoni?

Mostly the specialty cheese shops only sell cheese and it is almost always something you've never heard of or read about once but have never seen. Often times the cheese monger will fly out to the farms where the cheese is made, get indepth about exactly how it is made, how it is aged, etc... They'll then buy several giant 50 lb wheels of it and their shop will sell hundreds of different types of cheeses from small producers. These shops can be very expensive to set up too because they almost always have a basement set up with specialty equipment to keep the cheese the perfect temperature and humidity and that exact temp/humidity mix is different for each type of cheese.

I mean, yeah, most supermarkets have pretty good cheese sections here and some places like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods even have pretty good cheese counters with specialists who know about cheese but the independent cheese shops take it to a whole other level with stuff you just won't find any where else.

We just had a Fairway open up in eastern Queens. It's not just a market; it's an experience, including a fantastic cheese section where they'll let you sample pretty much any cheese you want. It may not be a cheese shop, but it's the next best thing and it's finally bringing some quality food to this part of Queens.

Ah, but you haven't lived until you've been to Trader Joe's.

We just had a Trader Joe's open too, albeit over the border in Nassau County. Haven't been there yet. From what I hear, New York's liquor laws put a crimp in the Trader Joe's experience--you can't sell beer and wine or spirits at the same retailers. With that taken into account, Fairway isn't all that different from Trader Joe's, albeit it's a much smaller chain.

Makes me wonder about Portland, as our water is from the Bull Run watershed at the base of Mt Hood. It's about a 50 mile trip down our aquaphors. Of course, claiming that Portland has any authority in the realm of pizzas would be the height of folly...

Ah, New York, New York, still clinging to the remnants of the old Blue Laws. I remember Pathmark pulling a gate across the beer aisle on Saturday night so no one could buy beer until Monday.

Totally different out here.

I wish garamet could maintain a rational discussion. Other than that, I hadn't really thought about it.

She has made cheese and grocery store recommendations, responded to my divergence from pizza to gyros, and stayed on topic nicely. But don't get me started on that folding controversy!

Oh, cheese. I thought you were talking about dry, aged pepperoni.

Awright, fess up, Boston. You're one of those people who eats it flat instead of folding it, arentcha?

No, I fold it, just trying to get some red into this green type thread. Not sure why sokar thought a pizza thread show,d go in the red room.

Just teasing you. But your first mistake was "Sokar thought."

and it wouldn't be a complete meal without:

He didn't. He posted about a novelty president who screws the pooch every time he goes off the teleprompter.

Mmm, there's something else I haven't had in a while.

Those wings look pretty good Chuck -- where do you get them?