[Nickcooks]

Hello guys, would you happen to know what dishes can be attributed to New York and Chicago city cuisines? Thanks.

[David]

New York -----giant pretzels

Chicago--deep dish pizza!
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[KYHeirloomer]

Hot dogs, in both cities. Only they're served differently.

In New York, mustard, saurkraut, and, sometimes, grilled onions.

In Chicago, a whole garden worth of produce, highlighted by neon green relish.

Why do you ask?

[Nickcooks]

thanks a lot, I'm compiling the dish list for these cities at mycitycuisine org website, it's fun and I get to learn so much... eventually ending up in the kitchen trying to cook it all

[Urbanaught]

Hi, in addition to above, New York is famous for the following:

Pizza. This is probably the most famous export. NY Pizza is usually hand tossed and thin in crust compared to the other commercially available pizzas.
Bagels. New York bagels are known as the "best" across the US.

For Chicago, the previous posters were right on with the deep dish pizza. Good luck!

[ErinT]

I forgot about bagels. I love freshly made New York bagels. I would also add steak and in particular the New York strip for New York. I think the pizzas are what makes them both famous especially for Chicago. New York is also famous for their Coney Island hot dog which has chili on it.
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[deniseka]

Contrary to common belief, Chicago pizza is not as great as it's proclaimed. I'd choose cheese stake pizza from Pennsylvania or New Jersey over it any day.

[Griffin]

Hmm, I think, as a European... that it would be difficult to say what is specifically US City food just because so much of it comes from er, Europe via immigration in. Pizza is much better in Italy, but Italian immigrants have taken it with them to the US.

Bagels I would have thought, tho' again so many Jewish communities do bagels everywhere.

I would say any food that uses native foodstuffs. Turkey springs to mind because it came to Europe from America as did the potato.

In modern Britain similar problems abound... Leicester for example is good for Indian cooking because there's a huge Indian community, but native Leicester food would probably involve something native to it, like Red Leicester cheese for example.

An interesting idea... maybe also, American versions of immigrant food would be nearer to specific US city food.
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Confusion comes fitted as standard.

[KYHeirloomer]

Contrary to common belief, Chicago pizza is not as great as it's proclaimed.

Amen! to that, sister.

The problem isn't with the dish. It's with calling it pizza in the first place. Chicago Deep Dish pizza can be a delicious meal. But it's a casserole, not a pizza.

Pizza is defined many ways. But, at base, the definitions all are based on the idea of covering a flatbread with various toppings. Deep Dish Pizza is as far from that idea as you can get.

I once spent the longest ten years of my life in the greater Chicago area, and found even the real pizza to be all but inedible. Then a friend explained the problem. "Your trouble," he said, "is that you think of it as bad pizza."

"Well, yeah. What else would it be?"

"If you think of it as cardboard, with some sauce on it, it's ain't really bad," was his response.

[KYHeirloomer]

Griffin, I wonder how valid you basic point is? Because of various influences affecting human migration (war, famine, pestilence, tourism, global business---the list goes on) one could argue that all cuisines are fusions.

At what point does Venetian food stop being "Italian" and become "Turkish?" Or, more to the point, look at the cuisine of Malta, prhaps the ultimate fusion food.

So what we have to look at is how various basic dishes are adapted, modified, and made unique.

One could say, using your argument, for instance, that sausages are not American, because they came from Europe. And that would be true. But a particular type of sausage served on a bun (i.e., the hot dog) is uniquely American. Even more to the point, various cities and locales take that basic concept and handle it differently. The New York dog and the Chicago dog are different, due primarily to the kind of toppings used. And in New England they use a completely different sort of bun, resulting in yet another regional identity.

Same is true for grilling a beef patty and putting it on a roll. Many European cultures have ground beef patties as part of their cuisines. But there are only two claiments to the origination of the hamburger, and both of them are American.

Chicken wings are eaten all over the world. But Buffalo Hot Wings originated in that city. Same goes for Philadelphia and the cheesesteak sandwhich.

There are no geographic borders to barbecue. But nowhere else is is made the way it's done in the American south.

And so on.

Another aspect of this is that certain foods may have originated elsewhere, but, over time, become associated with certain areas. If I say X and you immediately think of Y, it doesn't matter that X actually came from Z originally.

Did cheese melted over bread with beer (well, in fact, wine originally) truely originate in Wales? Is a pudding made with bread and pan drippings actually from Yorkshire? The answer to both questions is probably "no." But I submit that it doesn't really matter. Those are the locations we associate with those dishes.

[David]

Elegantly stated KYH! Hee, french fries, gravy and cheese curds all exist in many parts of the world, but it took a Quebecois to throw them all together and call it poutine!

Oh a regional French Canadian dish--sugar pie!
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[The Quest For Zest]

[dory]

If we are going Canadian, I know Montreal is famous not only for poutine, but also for its bagels, which are different from any others that I know of.

Dory

P.S. I live in Wisconsin but Montreal may be my favorite city. Someone should find me a job, housing and some quick friends in Montreal so I can move immediately!