^ You can throw it in my face, I’ll just start drinking it! Sweet tea is god’s gift to humanity!
I miss getting tea that’s so sweet your teeth hurt while drinking it.
As promised, some pics and descriptions of various Middle Eastern favorites. Obviously a lot of these dishes will vary based on the region (Lebanese food will differ from Persian cuisine, which will differ from Palestinian, etc.) but many of the overall concepts carry across borders.
This is one of my favorites - rolled grape leaves, stuffed with rice, lamb, garlic, and spices like cumin and coriander. (These look like yalangi, the vegetarian kind…which are often served cold. Gross.)
This is kibbeh - ground lamb or beef with pine nuts, bulgur wheat, and spices. My family generally serves it baked in a pan (shown below), but it’s often fried in small croquettes or eaten raw. 
Of course, kebabs - cubed meat (chicken, beef, or lamb) marinated and grilled with vegetables. Outside of falafel, probably the most well-known Middle Eastern dish.
And yeah, falafel - ground chick peas with spices, pine nuts, and bulgur wheat, fried into balls. Often served with hummus (and pita, shown below) or lebneh, a strained yogurt sauce.
^Pretty much the Chicago 3
For Beefs, gotta go to Mr. Beef on Harlem Ave…
But here is a true Chicago Dish found in only 1 place, The Diner Grill on Irving Park…
1635 W Irving Park Rd
(between Ashland Ave & Marshfield Ave)
Chicago, IL 60613
THE SLINGER!!!
The Slinger is, in its own greasy way, a masterpiece and it comes on a large oval platter. The foundation is a massive portion of hash brown potatoes covered with grilled onions. On top of that is 2 side-by-side cheeseburgers, topped with a couple of fried eggs, sunny-side up. The whole thing is covered with several ladles of chili. Two pieces of toast come on the side.
QUOTE FROM SIGN INSIDE:
“Slinger–Don’t Ask/Just Eat–$7.50”
Garbage plate Rochester NY Nick Tahou
or
Oooooh! Great thread, Miss Katie!
Alright kiddos. Whether I’m here in Nawlins or back home stuck inside of Mobile, I grew up on the Gulf Coast! Home to the greatest seafood on the planet. Pacific northwest can have their salmon and the Northeast can have their lobster, clam strips, and chowdah! 
I grew up on Acme Oyster House, Wintzell’s Oyster Bar, Magnolia Cafe, and Domilici’s. Big, fresh raw oysters, pounds and pounds of peel-and-eat crawfish, GIGANTIC gulf-raised big reds (also known as the largest shrimp known to man), etc, etc . . .These waters produce some of the finest food you’ll ever gorge yourself on!
A cold Abita amber, corn on the cob with sauteed potatoes and onions, a big bowl of grits (NO SUGAR YOU DAMN YANKEES), and 3 pounds of crawfish?? Sounds pretty tasty right? It is.
My family is middle-eastern too, and from se michigan. Don’t forget Biryani. im sure the lebanese recipe varies, but ours is basmati rice, chicken, ground beef, spices (garlic, curry, cloves, cardamom, coriander), onions, nuts, and fried hard boiled eggs for garnish.
I stuck with just the central NY area, since we have so many great dishes that are only found here. I only found out about and tried the garbage plate about a year or so ago. For those not familiar, it’s fries or hashbrowns and macaroni salad lining each half of a large plate, topped with 2 burgers or 2 hot dogs, covered in “hot sauce” which is not spicy and basically just a meat sauce. Diced onions on top too.
I love the cold, rice only grape leaves! Not as crazy about the meat ones. We have a couple of good middle eastern places. I’ve been hooked on the kibbeh sandwich from one lately w/all the fixins, including yogurt sauce and hot pepper relish. I take mine cooked.
It’s soda.
I miss salt potatoes from Syracuse. Nobody here has ever heard of them. Oh and Dinosaur BBQ…Yum!
^I am always surprised to hear things like that. I would never imagine salt potatoes to not be everywhere. Your post reminded me that this week’s episode of the Man v. Food show on Travel channel was going to be in Syracuse (surely featuring Dinosaur!) and I forgot to watch it.
What in the world are salt potatoes?
Because… I like some salt on my baked.
Goddamn that looks good. I’ve never had that dish, but I’ve heard of it. Time to add it to the list. 
Nothing beats a nice Pat’s steak after a Concert/Sporting Event in Philly!
Word. There is nothing and I mean nothing like a good Philly Cheesesteak from Pat’s. Classic. Delicious.
I watched a Kitchen Nightmares the other day where chef Ramsay was in India or somewhere, and he was out in the middle of the desert, and they had this goat or lamb and dug a hole in the desert, put some charcoal in the hole, threw the goat in there, and then filled the hole back in with sand and let the thing cook for like 4 hours. I had never seen someone cook something that was underground and buried before. pretty cool I thought
My friends from Puerto Rico have a huge family party, where they wrap an entire pig in banana leaves and leave it under ground for hours. It was excellent!
^^ Never heard of a luau hey?
That’s how they cook that whole pig…there’s a link somewhere in there explaining it. I’d love to try one of those whole pigs one time. Hawaii has some really f’d up cuisine. Have any of you ever tried Poi?
You take small potatoes whole and boil them in water with 1 1/2 cups of salt. Drain and let dry so they have a perfect coating of salt on them then dip in melted butter.
Invented by Irish immigrants in the nineteenth century that worked in the salt mines in the area. If you go to the Syracuse Salt Museum you can learn all about these tasty potatoes 
Ahhh OK, never heard those referred to as that.
What do you call them?