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I have had some great food while living in the northeast but come on, truly you don’t believe people think of New England when claiming where the best cooks in the country live do you?

Okay, since you understand the pizza thing, I know you are just fine. Regarding Yoo-Hoo and Moxie, I was just having fun. No one tries to improve them, it's like remaking a bad movie. Moxie is important because it is so very ancient. Yoo-Hoo was actually hawked by real live (baseball) Yankees. It is skim milk with too much syrup or something in it. The New York Rheingold is also long gone, with the original formula lost. I haven't tried Shiner, but the face of Texan beer is Lone Star. That's a hard problem to shake. By the way, regarding soft drinks, if I were a Texan I'd say "We don't have to improve on anybody's sodas/pops. Dr. Pepper predates all of the ones that any one would want to drink (Moxie is older), and the original bottler still doesn't use corn syrup.

Now you used the term Yankee and Northeast before, and then changed it to New England. NYC is definitely northeast, and no one would argue with the fact that many of "best cooks in the country" are there (including Fritz Brenner). But when we are talking about chili, etc. This is not so much best cook area as it is "something special" that encompasses more than pure cooking prowess. Of course, it is easier to find exceptional seafood in Boston than in El Paso, just as one can get an eye-melting steak more easily in Dallas than in Portland, Maine.

I focus on New England, as it is what I know best. I could also understand not wanting to have a single standout restaurant in NYC representing a region.

Here's the deal with CT. CT is filled with Brits, Poles, Micks and Krauts (I am all four so I can use the nicknames). There are also a lot of Italians. It didn't take long to figure out that the Italians (I have no Italian blood) cooked better than these other groups. Italian cheeses, Italian cold cuts, Italian breads, Italian pasta, pizza derived from Italy but perfected in New Haven, Italian ices, came to dominate the local taste. My German-Irish father required my British-Polish mother to learn how to make a proper lasagna, and it became her signature dish. Friday night was pizza night (or sometimes fried dough night, with sauce, NOT powdered sugar).

Then, we move to Illinois, which had a different thing going on. Just as many Italians, but the dominant Swede population never picked up on the fact that Italians have a vastly superior cuisine (Herring as a staple ain't gonna cut it.), and the Italians got marginalized before they could bring out their best. At least I can go to Chicago for a New Haven pizza.

So, the secret of the northeast is that we are dotted with prominent, empty lovely white 300 year old protestant churches and not so empty prep schools. Underneath that British veneer is an entire ethnic subculture that is exceptional in its cuisine, as long as it stays in its place.

I should also mention that Louie's Lunch is a serious claimant to first hamburger, and CT also is one of the reputed birth places of the grinder/submarine sandwich (all claimants to the sub are in the NE). Subway, of CT is a poor representative of the species, I am afraid.

So, people might not think of New England when they think of great homespun cuisine, but it is probably better than they think. For the most part, people don't think of Texas either, even though New Orleans is not far away.

My Father was from Connecticut and I'm a pretty good mix of Eastern European and Scottish/American Mutt anchestry, so I know what you mean about the various groups in the NorthEast.

What is Moxie? You mentioned it but is it a soft drink or something more like yoohoo? I have never heard of it before. And I am laughing at you thinking Lone Star beer is the face of Texas. It is considered very low cost swill here - something you would find bums on the street drinking, not even considered in the cheaper beer variety - more like a joke beer. Coors or Budweiser is higher on the food chain than Lone Star here. lol Shiner is good - locally brewed and quickly spreading into other States - if you have a chance try it. I love trying regional beers.

And you hit on another thing done well in that area - grinders/subs - whatever one wants to call them - very well done up in the Jersey/PA area too