Has the restaurant/food scene been meeting your expectations?

Have you ever had a craving for a particular food, with particular ingredients at a particular time, at a particular price, within a particular distance, and you found yourself empty handed?
My wife and I have been in this situation several times where we live, and would like to know if others have as well.
 

Not in the Los Angeles area.  Well except for Ipswich Clams and Lobster Rolls.
 
Welcome to Roadfood.  There are several here in the Arizona area that might solve your food desires.

Welcome FoodE,
Since you're down by Ft. Huachuca I'm assuming you're in the Military?? If not please correct me.
My Bride & I have moved 17-20 times, (I lost count).
We've survived those moves, some good, some bad, by following 2 rules:

1. Bloom where you are planted, and
2. Don't try to duplicate, substitute.

Since you're in a rather remote area, it's sometimes tough to satisfy that craving when it hits. We're from PA and also lived in NJ and worked in NYC. When we started moving South & West we missed all the ethnic foods from back there. I would kill for a good pastrami sandwich!
So, when we lived in TN, I started learning how to cook Southern food. I make a mean biscuit & gravy, grits and collards plus other stuff.
When we moved to Pensacola, I became a terrific Seafood Chef and being close to Louisiana I also learned how to make gumbo, jambalaya, deep fried turkeys and other good stuff.
The point being, wherever you are, imbrace it and take the best the area has to offer. Down there, you should be able to get some Mexican food.
If you are in the military, you'll probably have opportunities to try all kinds of foods when they move you around. Make the most of the adventure!

mar52

Not in the Los Angeles area.  Well except for Ipswich Clams and Lobster Rolls.
Welcome to Roadfood.  There are several here in the Arizona area that might solve your food desires.

MAR,
I'm consulting with a Snowbird lady from Maine, "The Lobster Lady". 
She has a concession trailer and does Lobster Rolls and other Maine Treats.
http://mainelobsterlady.com/
Her rolls are the best I've ever eaten! The food is exactly as pictured on the web site.
She will be at the Scottsdale Arts Festival this coming weekend.
http://www.scottsdaleartsfestival.org/arts_festival_geninfo.php
I guarantee you it would be worth your while to jump in the car and come over this weekend just for the Lobster rolls, Atlantic haddock chowder, shrimp puffs.
 
 

 
Foodbme...Whats the price of the lobster roll ??????????
 
I have to agree with Mar, Fried clams and Lobster rolls. There are 100's of more food items, sometimes I can get close replacements, but some things can't be duplicated, I just need to wait for the real thing. My wife has never had New York style pizza, she grew up on the local pizza and national chain restaurants. We had a NY Pizza restaurant open a year ago, she is now a believer and now understands what good pizza is all about. It was like pulling teeth to order pizza in our house, now it's a well accepted meal that she looks forward to eating........................pnwc

C'mon, pnwchef! You can get great lobster rolls out there. All you have to do is buy a couple of lobsters and make your own. Some lobster meat drizzled profusely with  melted or clairified butter, hot dog buns buttered and toasted, and then fill the buns with succulent lobster meat.
 
Just like Jimmys.

NO!!!
 
I can't find a Bolivian saltena to save my a$$, nor can I find any Eastern Carolina minced whole hog 'cue down here in the Metroplex. 
 
Other than that, the 7,000,000 of us here are pretty well served by more restaurant seats per capita (and that's a passel of "capitum(s)") than any other major metro-area in the USA. 
 
We have everything from fine dining to wonderous tacos served at gas stations.  Hell, we even have pizza that makes NYC transplants weep for joy. 
 
Oh, and beef, too.
 
YEE-HAW!!!!
 
Welcome to Roadfood.
 
With regard to my desire for saltenas and Eastern Carolina 'cue: I guess that's what that REALLY big airport is for. 

pnwchef
 
Foodbme...Whats the price of the lobster roll ??????????

She has to charge $18.00 at an event because "The Man" takes 30% right off the top of her sales. If she has no "Man" the price is about $15-16. It's a humongius roll with 100% claw and leg meat. First quality stuff.
www.mainelobsterlady.com

Foodbme... in another time or life I'd be on my way to Scottsdale.
 
You have to talk her to making that 2-tank (really 4 if you include going home) trip to Los Angeles!

Just looked at the lobsterlady's webside.  I'll have one of everything!

Her next venture is to flash freeze, pack in dry ice and to do overnight shipping.
 

It's frustrating. I tried to get a Sonoran hot dog in Minneapolis but couldn't.

Seafood here. It's available, but in order to get something that's even remotely fresh it requires that I pay the equivalent of a day's wages for dinner, and I simply can't justify it. Luckily, I travel to larger cities and the south and west coasts often enough that I can manage to wait.

I moved to Syracuse NY from Chicago 27 years ago. I learned to cook much of what I missed from Chicago...now the local restaurants have really upped the game and about the only I can't find is really good Greek food...and yeah, I'll say good seafood is hard to come by.  As it is, if I get a whim and taste for something...I find a recipe and cook it.

What really gets me is you move to a place that should have good seafood (like where I am) and it either costs a left one or is some prepackaged crap from the freezer section.

Davydd

It's frustrating. I tried to get a Sonoran hot dog in Minneapolis but couldn't.

It's only 1677 miles from Minneapolis to Tucson! Jump in that deluxe vehicle of yours and head South. (PS-It's warm down here!) I know you know AZ from your previous posts. The only remaining question is, "When are you moving out here?"
I've been researching Great West Sprinters and ran across your post in classbforum.com. Platinum Member? I'm impressed!
http://www.classbforum.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1749

 
Michael Hoffman: Mr H, I'm not worried about the Lobster, I can't find the New England Hot dog buns. I'll be in NYC and Boston this summer, I have a few places picked out to fill the needs. I'll wait for Boston for the Fried clams, Cherry stone clams and Chowder. You take care of Connecticut, I'll take care of NY and Mass............Take care..........Bill
 
Foodbme: $15 to $18 isn't bad at all, I looked at her web site, they look good. I would buy one in a heart beat..........I remember buying a Lobster roll as a kid in Connecticut, they made it more like a Lobster salad on a New England bun, the cost was only a few dollars......I think the Lobster with drawn butter will give a person a real sweet succulent Lobster flavor................Bill
 

pnwchef


 
Michael Hoffman: Mr H, I'm not worried about the Lobster, I can't find the New England Hot dog buns. I'll be in NYC and Boston this summer, I have a few places picked out to fill the needs. I'll wait for Boston for the Fried clams, Cherry stone clams and Chowder. You take care of Connecticut, I'll take care of NY and Mass............Take care..........Bill

Heck, Jimmys never used New England-style buns. They used regular hot dog buns. So did most of the places from Branford west along the shore. But, if you want to "make" your own buns just slice off the round part, take a sliver off the other side, and then widen the sliced open part from the fat side. Voila! Now you have the New England-style bun.

pnwchef
 
Foodbme: $15 to $18 isn't bad at all, I looked at her web site, they look good. I would buy one in a heart beat..........I remember buying a Lobster roll as a kid in Connecticut, they made it more like a Lobster salad on a New England bun, the cost was only a few dollars

When you were a kid you could buy a bucket of beer for a nickel and carry it home for the old man!!! 

Even in 1965 hot lobster rolls cost 75 cents at Savin Rock.

in 64 I was 13, had a 125 customer paper Route and had money to burn. We would hang out at the boys club and on the way home stop at the local clam shack and buy some Stuffed and baked clams. Life was easy, life was good, we was poor and didn't know better........... pnwc

Cosmos try The Clam Bar on route 11 in North Syracuse @ Sweetheart Corner. Looks like a dive (which it is!). Give it a try or head to Hinderwadel's just up Taft road for fresh seafood to take home & cook yourself. 
www.hinderwadelsinc.com
www.theclambarresturant.com
 

kman160


Cosmos try The Clam Bar on route 11 in North Syracuse @ Sweetheart Corner. Looks like a dive (which it is!). Give it a try or head to Hinderwadel's just up Taft road for fresh seafood to take home & cook yourself. 
www.hinderwadelsinc.com
www.theclambarresturant.com

 
I don't eat seafood, but if I had to judge Clam Bar solely on the steak (that's what I eat when I go there), I'd still recommend it. That's where my friends go when they want good seafood.

Thanks I checked out the Clam Bar menu...looks good, I'll have to give it a try...I'd thought I heard bad things about it but maybe was confusing it with the Crazy Clam which is in Sylvan Beach. Been to Hinerwadel's for clam bakes in the past and really (really) enjoyed it. While I enjoy shellfish, I don't cook it too much.
 
My brother-in-law had a great fish shop near his house in Albany. I loved going in there and getting a nice hunk of tuna to grill. The fish seems just that much fresher 2-1/2 hours closer to the seashore. Sadly they closed. I've been in the Fish Cove in my neighborhood for fresh haddock (they always double check to make sure I don't want it fried) but they don't have much variety. They fry a mean haddock but I don't eat a lot of fried things.

Last clam bake I went to at Hinerwadel's, I had to waddle out of there to my car, and go home and take a nap. I must have eaten half my weight in salt potatoes, Hofmann hots, and sausage. And cold draft beer.