Wednesday, June 3, 2009

In the Mood for Ohio Food

For the last week or so I've had an inexplicable craving for a barbecue from the Root Beer Stand in my hometown of Defiance.

The barbecue isn't anything too special (just a regular ol' sloppy joe to everyone else in the world), but I can't get it in New York. And that makes me want it even more.

The longer I live here, the more I find myself dreaming about restaurants that just don't exist in Brooklyn or Manhattan. At the top of the list:
  • Skyline Chili (I've tried explaining the appeal, but no one here understands.)
  • Texas Roadhouse (Paul and I were excited to spot one on last summer's road trip to Portland, Maine, and made special plans to eat supper there on the way home. I hate the steak, but I could eat those rolls every day of the year.)
  • Pizza Hut buffet (Breadsticks. Just breadsticks.)
Don't get me wrong-- New York City certainly has its fair share of fast food chains. Within 15 blocks of my apartment I can walk to a McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, KFC, Popeye's and even a Pizzeria Uno. Paul and I were shocked to find an Outback Steakhouse (with a parking lot no less!) on one of our longer explorations. And supposedly there's two or three Taco Bell's lurking somewhere in the city.

Even though I sometimes do crave nothing more than a Whopper Junior or a McFlurry, I rarely partake. I truly make an effort to try new and different foods that were difficult to find in Ohio, with mostly terrific results. I'm now in love with Afghan, Thai and Scandinavian food (try finding that at a fast food joint!).

But sometimes the urge is too much. Not long ago Paul and I made a special trip to the Lower East Side ... for Chipotle.
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4 comments:

  1. GailJune 4, 2009 at 4:38 AM

    "supposedly there are two or three Taco Bells"... that's sarcasm right? A city like NY must have, like, 1,000 Taco Bells. Right?

    ReplyDelete
  2. DianeJune 4, 2009 at 7:54 PM

    Nope-- totally true. I've actually never even seen a Taco Bell in nyc.

    ReplyDelete
  3. S.B.June 6, 2009 at 5:13 AM

    my sister and I are planning a root beer stand trip to our hometown soon! we heard that the place might be closing or already closed :(

    You'd think Skyline would open up a restaurant in locations where there are bound to be a fair amount of Ohio transplants, but I actually emailed them once to see if they'd put one in NC (so I could move there), but they won't locate too far from their commissary in Fairfield (OH).

    ReplyDelete
  4. AllisonJune 16, 2009 at 1:31 PM

    I can't believe there's no a Pizza Hut. Does NYC have Papa John's?

    My FAVORITE pizza in the world is Jioio's from back home. It's not even a Pittsburgh thing -- it's only in Greensburg. IT IS AWESOME. The pizza crust tastes kind of like pie crust! My mom hates it, though, so we don't often order it at home. :(

    ReplyDelete

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