43 Comments
Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

Every strip mall in New Jersey has a bagel spot that if moved would be the best bagel in Chicago. Chicago bagels are bready and have a sweetness to them that shouldn't be there. Haven't found one here that competes with the glossy, crunchy, crusty, chewiness of any bagel made in the NJ/NY area.

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

a Jewish deli that has the really good New York potato knishes. The flat square kind. I’ve tried to reproduce it myself but not very successfully. Do you have a recipe for that?

I’ve traveled a lot of the world and most of the US and never found anything that compares.

The other thing is New York Bialy bagels.

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Go to Cross Roads Deli in Minnetonka, Minnesota and order a thin sliced double portion hot fatty corned beef on caraway rye with Russian Dressing and fries with a Dr. Brown cream soda or Cel-Ray. It comes with a cardiologists telephone number.

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

No decent Jewish Deli?! Check out Cecil’s Deli in St. Paul! I’ve grown up eating there…

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

Andrew- How can we suggest a new thread topic? I'd love to hear from people about their unexpected hidden gem experiences from their travels. I would trust your subscribers over other travel sites, and I would personally hunt such places down. Here's one: The amazing Italian food served at the Pecora Nera in the middle of the jungle in Costa Rica. It's a small standalone restaurant run by an expat chef from Italy.

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

I think if I could open anything, I would love an actual honest to goodness Vietnamese Pho shop. There was an incredible place in Nashville years ago, but there's not been anything nearly as impressive in the Memphis area. My area needs a good anything honestly, too big a town to only have Mexican restaurants and BBQ joints (nothing against either, I love both styles).

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

In the Twin Cities suburbs, I would love a real whole hog bbq.

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I live on Saint Simons Island, off the Georgia coast. We have some of the best seafood restaurants on the entire East coast, including South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and all of New England. But what we do not have, to my great regret, is a good Chinese restaurant. We actually have only one on the island, and it's far from good. My favorite food is seafood, but a close second is Chinese food. If I had to choose a last meal, it would be Peking Duck. A few times a year, I can get that in Orlando, Florida, a 3-hour drive from my house, at the 'Morimoto Asia' Restaurant in Disney Springs. Chef Morimoto, the accomplished Iron Chef, puts out an amazing Peking Duck and the best spareribs of anywhere in the country. Every time we visit Disney World, I get my Chinese food fix from Morimoto.

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

I grew up in PA and NJ but am now living in VA. I would give anything for a good corner pizza place with decent prices. To get anything remotely close to NY or Philly style pizza here requires driving and paying a fortune (pushing $30).

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

I live in a town in the West of Ireland and we have no proper Italian Restaurant just pizza takeaways 😭

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On the bagel front, I have resorted to making my own. I still can’t replicate all the flavors available in the artisanal shops, but I can make a decent plain or rye bagel. What can I do at home to take them over the top???

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Feb 26, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

I would love a great, even a good, bakery in the Phoenix area. I am originally from Wisconsin and they had great ones there.

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Feb 26, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

Absolutely and without question, a Jewish Deli! We have a good population of Jewish people here in Columbus, Georgia and I really don’t understand why we don’t have one. I truly feel like it would be very successful here!

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Feb 25, 2022·edited Feb 25, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

I live in North Saanich, BC, Canada. While Victoria has a pretty good food scene, for me, everything is at least half an hour away and will be cold when I get it home. What do I wish we had in nearby Sidney? Really good Pho. Korean Fried Chicken. Good Szechuan. And yes, nice bagels with a really good chew - the place I used to buy those is gone.

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Feb 25, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

A real Jewish deli ala Katz's or Carnegie,here in Tennessee. But not in my life time.

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Feb 25, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

My hometown is Reno, you've been there, and while the food scene has chanced in the several years since I left (apparently I hear for the worse) what I wish it had growing up was a good kosher deli and a good Italian-American bakery.

What I miss from there? A Chicken Fried Steak & Eggs breakfast. At least I can get a good west coast apple fritter. Only place I found that has them on the east coast are all in the Research Triangle area.

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Feb 25, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

Well, I'm a CT native living in west central MN and there are moments I would give my right arm for an honest to God bakery. One with real bagels, of course, babka bread and a jelly donut covered in powdered sugar. Not a roll, not a bun, but a jelly donut!

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

Ha! We live in Elephant Butte, New Mexico next door to a cute LITTLE tourist town called Truth or Consequences. We actually have a few small gourmet quality restaurants here, but cuisine is still limited. I'd love to have a restaurant close by that serves anything Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, and absolutely....a great bagel/lox/cream cheese!!!!

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

Here along the IL/WI state line there is no traditional Japanese food. Sure, you can get sushi at a few places, and there is a teppanyaki style restaurant for the Benihana crowd, but I would kill for a bowl of Oyaku Donburi or a plate of Katsu curry rice. Maybe in Chicago, but it's 90 minutes from here.

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

If only Buffalo had an authentic French bistro with the standard, simple fare such as duck confit, perhaps cassoulet, roast chicken, entrecote of beef, great frites, some good pate, etc.

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

I honestly have to say there’s not much I can’t get in Philadelphia but while we have some good barbecue it tends not to be traditionally regional. I’d love a good eastern NC barbecue - pulled pork with vinegar sauce!

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

Andrew, how about some VEGAN or plant-based eateries? That would be fantastic! I live in Roanoke, VA and lets just say there is next to NOTHING here for my type of diet. Thanks!

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

Cecil's in St. Paul is okay... for here. Anyone used to New York delis isn't going to find it a 100% substitute. But the kosher delis that have opened over the years last a little while and then they close. Not sure if serving authentic deli food is too off-putting to Minnesotans or too expensive, but they all seem to follow the same arc: open, promising a real NYC experience; adjust the menu after a few months to what sells; and then either dumb it down some more or close. You'd think we could keep one (better than Cecil's) open.

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

Really good Okonomiyaki and/or Yakitori. I live within the vicinity of Seattle, but despite the presence of places like Uwajimaya, finding those two made decently in the area...well...still looking, not finding. I have to resort to making them myself.

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

I live in the Iowa City / Coralville / Cedar Rapids Corridor in Eastern Iowa and honestly I feel like we have an amazing array of delicious, legit food to choose from! From vegan to Indian to Middle Eastern to sushi to gigantic steaks raised on Iowa corn to real deal soul food at a place you love - Vivian's Soul Food, I feel pretty darn lucky! I guess my one wish would be for fresh caught seafood!

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

Yup…good bagel hit a nerve, I’ve actually been craving a decent bialy. Other wishes to magically appear in my neighborhood?? A proper hot pot, real boba tea, our ramen place is ok….it scratches the itch….but since were wishin…I’d like better. And what I reallllly want? Not a restaurant, but a farmers market as amazing as what’s available on the west cost, or In Paris. I want a farmers market I can eat my way thru while I shop.

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

I live in West Kendall, Miami Florida we don't have a good beagle but I make some killer pork with very crispy chicharrones on top in the oven, but I would like to eat a good beagle specially for breakfast

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

A legit butcher shop/deli in alexandria va. Where you can get high quality cuts on one side or a sandwich on the other.

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

A San Francisco style burrito joint in central NY. That's are a few chains but they just don't get it

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

We have great bagels where I live, but no good sushi, bahn mi sandwiches or Korean BBQ!

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Feb 24, 2022Liked by Andrew Zimmern

I live in Savannah and we’re really missing some authentic Chinese and Singaporean food. Specifically I’d like some Chinese hotpot and Roti Prada or Nasi Goreng from Singapore.

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Just north of one of the best asian communities offering Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thai you name it (Buford Highway in Chamblee, Norcross, and Duluth) and several Latino restaurants overing Spanish, Mexican, Central and South American , we need a good authentic Jewish Deli.

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what about cecil's deli in st paul on cleveland?

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