Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I slowly slowly lowly cook thin slices of garlic and sliced almonds in olive oil and butteruntil they are just barely browned, and finish the last few minutes with a good shake of seasoned salt and sugar.

They are the perfect delicious yummy crunchy topping to any mixed green salad. That, plus a sweet element, like grapes or berries or diced apple, makes a good salad great for me.

I realize that I'm going to upset a lot of people, but I ate here last week, after reading the slew of favorable reviews and truly believe that this place is a triumph of hype over content. I'm from out of town, out of state, in fact out of country, but I've been coming to your fair city for almost thirty years now and I used to rate the burgers at the late lamented McHale's as the best in town, so was interested to try this company's much-lauded offerings. I ordered a cheeseburger, medium, with fries, a root-beer and retired to wait for the pager to buzz. (Side note to the owners: when there's a long line, it doesn't sit well with the other customers when a friend of the serving staff wanders in off the street, goes up to the counter, engages three of the staff in conversation and gets his burger almost immediately while people waiting on line are ignored.) By the time I got my order, I was pretty hungry and found a place to sit and eat. What I encountered was a mouthful of heavily salted greasy sludge in a cheap bun, with the cheese as a fatty and tasteless covering. The fries were also smothered in salt, but otherwise tasteless and if I hadn't already guessed that they were frozen, the guy wheeling the piled-high cartons labeled "Frozen Potato Products" or something similar around the kitchen would have given me a big clue.

The root-beer, despite far too much ice, was actually rather good, but the rest of the meal made me feel decidedly queasy. If this is really what you consider to be a great burger, then I fear for your nation's health. A better name for this place might well be Heart-Attack Shack.

(I should mention that I also find the burgers in Le Parker Meridien's Burger Joint to be overrated, but they don't seem to suffer from the same sort of mania that this place generates and they're far, far less greasy.)

The organic farm is drowning us in huge quantities of broccoli, lettuce, boc choy, kale, spinach, Kale, collards, radicchio and escarole! I'm not complaining, but I'm trying to keep things interesting while we eat all these greens.

Current fave: any combo of lettuce, sliced strawberries, chopped red onion, walnuts, chevre and poppyseed dressing thinned with a little milk - don't like it too thick. You can throw in some white beans, too, if you like.

Also: lettuce or greens of any kind, thinly sliced pears, craisins, and a good-sized slice off a log of chevre, rolled in chopped pecans and baked until warm. Dijon mustard dressing - heaven!

My favorite chopped salad: lettuce, onions, tomato, avocado, walnuts or almonds and any type of vinegarette. Love, love, love tomatoes and avocado together.

When I lived in France for my job, I desparately missed the all-American backyard burger! They seem to think that a burger was what passed as a burger at McDonald's (which were even a poorer quality than in the US)! Even the restaurants served poor-quality beef. I also missed the quality of meat in general at the local grocery stores. I went to a local grocery store in Behoust France with some collegues from the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. They were amazed at the quality of the meat at the market. I looked at it and thought in the US we wouldn't even sell it to the jails! I have said it before and I will say it again, you don't appreciate what we have in the US until you have traveled to other countries! However, I have spent a lot of time in Australia - and their grocery stores and meat rock!

I was born in Texas and when I was six we moved to St. Louis. It was during the depression and my mom was a wonderful cook. Because of her Texas upbringing, chili and tamales were a good part of our diet.
Making tamales was a family affair, on a weekend, my brother and sister and I would help my mom and dad roll the tamales and put them a cooker and it would take most of Sat. and Sun. to complete that job. Than we would eat em and share them with family and friends.
Breakfast, growing up was quiet different than breakfast today or even when my kids were growing up. Biscuit, (homemade) were everyday- Than we would have American cheese melted in butter to spoon on top of the biscuits or cream gravy with chicken fried steak with the biscuits. It's a wonder that my brother, sister or myself did'nt end up weighing a jellion pounds. I guess it was because we walked, rode our bikes or rollerskated everywhere- played baseball and swam all summer each year.
I still have my mothers recipes for her chile and tamales.I've changed them a bit and have won several awards for chili. I must say I make some of the best. Dave Johnson

Venezuelan missing ..... las panaderias = venezuelan bakeries where you can find all kinds of delicious and fresh products anytime of the day!

Speaking as an American who's traveled extensively:

I miss Knoppers, cheese toasties, sticky toffee pudding, real ale pubs, White Castles, In N Out's and Houston Tex Mex and Texas barbeque.

And since I no longer live in Tampa, FL, I miss Cuban food - it's the greatest there!

MiraFoto - Please send me some Knoppers!!! I was also surprised when my veal I ordered was the consistency of round steak!

@elvinwei:

Have you tried shopping in Asian markets? Many an import there. Maybe not quite as good as what you remember, but I know they sell several brands of cuttlefish balls at most of them.

If you're near a Chinatown, maybe there's a restaurant or an individual who makes them.

from la belle suisse....
zweifel paprika chips and migros ice tea!!!
that stuff is addictive!
ahhh and chocolat chaud.... mmmm

I've never lived in Iran but I did spend some time there back in the late '90's and discovered an awesome dessert called "Sohan," produced primarily (though not exclusively) in the holy city of Qum. I've never found it here in the States, not even a simulacrum of it and not even at the few Persian restaurants in New York. Nor have I found anything here resembling abgusht, an interesting and (if properly prepared) excellent stew made from lamb, chickpeas and moistened dough.

Do I count as an expat? I moved from upstate NY to rural NC. I miss spiedies. When home or when friends visit they are commanded to bring a bottle. There is a bar in Fayetteville that serves spiedies since the owners are from Binghamton. Although they admittedly don't serve it properly. No Roma's Italian bread.

I know the question was directed at expats, but moving to a different US city can sometimes feel like a different country.

I'm from Seattle and now living in SF. I miss the hell out of Pagliacci Agog Pizzas. If only they would open a chain in San Francisco!