My Unending Quest for Comfort Food

Since I've gotten down here, I've been trying to find the foods from the states that label themselves as "American" food.  I should wise up, but anytime there is a glimmer of hope.  That balloon eventually gets popped.

You can probably see where this is going.  I found a pizza place in my neighborhood that advertised a "Chicago Style Deep Dish."  Not just that, but an italian sausage deep dish.  I think my brain translated the description into the perfect Gino's East pizza.  The pizza fully covered in a layer of sausage and slices of cheese topped by chunky tomato sauce.  Well, that's not what was delivered.  Sure it had a high crust, but the pizza toppings looked like a regular pizza.  Imagine taking a regular pizza, not putting the toppings to the edge and just propping that extra crust up into a cup shape.  Well, that's about what this looked like.  Once I got past the appearance, I tried a slice.  And boy was it waaayyyyyy off.  The italian sausage was precooked links that were sliced.  And there certainly was no fennel in the sausage.  The cheese was grated and not nearly stringy enough and the sauce was basically chopped cherry tomatoes.  I don't know who thinks that can pass for Chicago Style Deep Dish, but I'll certainly let everyone know if I find out.

I did have a hot dog at Harry's Cafe de Wheels last weekend.  And it was as close to a hot dog as I've come, but it doesn't come close to a Ball Park or Herbrew National and certainly not a Vienna Beef.  I would probably liken it to a good dirty water dog (at best).

And what worries me is that I've made it my mission to find something that closely resembles the US version of something.  I have two items on my list to try.  A pub across the street from me just opened up a restaurant.  One of the items on the bar menu is chicken wings.  Now they make no mention of buffalo wings, but (as usual) I've played it up in my mind as buffalo wings.  Because who would really eat just chicken wings?  There's also a restaurant opening a few blocks away called the Jazz City Diner.  Normally, I probably wouldn't have even noticed (unless it starts getting good reviews), but it's billing itself as "New Orleans influenced modern American cuisine."  Remember the restaurant name has Diner in it.  This aught to be interesting.  I haven't seen any sort of a menu, but I'm game to try it once (maybe twice), but if those two experiences are let downs, it's off.  I'll just have to expand my search to the suburbs.

But there is an upside.  I'm headed to Tetsuya's tonight which is probably the first fine dining restaurant in Sydney that put this city on the map.  I have high hopes, I hope I'm not let down.  Fingers crossed...