Western Cuisine
Western cuisine? What’s that? A chuckwa gon dinner served on a fancy plate? Mmm, not really. The term western cuisine is a misnomer because food served in the western part of the United States can’t be slotted into one neat category. Regional specialties abound, and half the fun of any trip is digging into a dish that has cultural and agricultural ties to a region, from hearty steaks in southern Arizona to green chile enchiladas in New Mexico to grilled salmon in the Pacific Northwest. And let’s not forget San Diego’s messy but delicious fish tacos.
STAPLES & SPECIALTIES
Breakfast
Morning meals in the West, as in the rest of the country, are big business. From a hearty serving of biscuits and gravy at a cowboy diner to a quick Egg McMuffin at the McDonald’s drive-thru window and lavish Sunday brunches, Americans love their eggs and bacon, their waffles and hash browns, and their big glasses of orange juice. Most of all, they love that seemingly inalienable American right: a steaming cup of morning coffee with unlimited refills.
LA’S MOVEABLE FEASTS
In 2009, Korean-born, LA-raised chef Roy Choi began roving the streets of LA in a food truck, selling Korean grilled beef inside Mexican tacos and tweeting the locations, and a trend was born. His Kogi truck spawned some of LA’s most creative mobile kitchens – Brazilian to Singaporean, southern BBQ, Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches and grilled cheese sandwiches topped with short ribs and mac’n’cheese. Now hundreds of gourmet food trucks plough the city streets (standouts include Kogi, the Grilled Cheese Truck and the Dim Sum Truck). Check out www.trucktweets.com for each day’s locations.
Lunch
Usually after a midmorning coffee break, an American worker’s lunch hour affords only a sandwich, quick burger or hearty salad. The formal ‘business lunch’ is more common in big cities like Los Angeles, where food is not necessarily as important as the conversation.
Dinner
Usually early in the evening, Americans settle in to a more substantial weeknight dinner, which, given the workload of so many two-career families, might be takeout (eg pizza or Chinese food) or prepackaged meals cooked in a microwave. Desserts tend toward ice cream, pies and cakes. Some families still cook a traditional Sunday night dinner, when relatives and friends gather for a big feast, or grill outside and go picnicking on weekends.
Quick Eats
Fast-food restaurants with drive-thru windows are ubiquitous across the West, and you’ll usually find at least one beside a major highway exit. Eating a hot dog from a street cart or a taco from a roadside truck – delightfully referred to as a ‘roach coach’ – is a convenient option in downtown business districts. Despite the nickname, health risks are small. These vendors are usually supervised by the local health department. At festivals and county fairs, pick from cotton candy, corn dogs, candy apples, funnel cakes, chocolate-covered frozen bananas and plenty of tasty regional specialties. Farmers markets often have more wholesome, affordable prepared foods.
BREAKFAST BURRITOS
There is one Mexican-inspired meal mastered far and wide in the West: the breakfast burrito. It’s served in diners and delis in Colorado, in coffee shops in Arizona and beach-bum breakfast joints in California. In many ways, it is the perfect breakfast – cheap (usually under $6), packed with protein (eggs, cheese, beans), fresh veggies (or is avocado a fruit?), hot salsa (is that a vegetable?) and rolled to go in paper and foil. Peel it open like a banana and let the savory steam rise into your olfactories.
California
Owing to its vastness and variety of microclimates, California is truly America’s cornucopia for fruits and vegetables, and a gateway to myriad Asian markets. The state’s natural resources are overwhelming, with wild salmon, Dungeness crab and oysters from the ocean; robust produce year-round; and artisanal products such as cheese, bread, olive oil, wine and chocolate.
Starting in the 1970s and ’80s, star chefs such as Alice Waters and Wolfgang Puck pioneered ‘California cuisine’ by incorporating the best local ingredients into simple yet delectable preparations. The influx of Asian immigrants, especially after the Vietnam War, enriched the state’s urban food cultures with Chinatowns, Koreatowns and Japantowns, along with huge enclaves of Mexican Americans who maintain their own culinary traditions across the state. Global fusion restaurants are another hallmark of California’s cuisine scene.
North Coast & the Sierras
San Francisco hippies headed back to the land in the 1970s for a more self-sufficient lifestyle, reviving traditions of making breads and cheeses from scratch and growing their own everything (note: farms from Mendocino to Humboldt are serious about No Trespassing signs). Hippie- homesteaders were early adopters of pesticide-free farming, and innovated hearty, organic cuisine that was health-minded yet satisfied the munchies.
On the North Coast, you can taste the influence of wild-crafted Ohlone and Miwok cuisine. In addition to fishing, hunting game and making bread from acorn flour, these Native Northern Californians also tended orchards and carefully cultivated foods along the coast. With such attentive stewardship, nature has been kind to this landscape, yielding bonanzas of wildflower honey and blackberries. Alongside traditional shellfish collection, sustainable caviar and oyster farms have sprung up along the coast. Fearless foragers have identified every edible plant from Sierras wood sorrel to Mendocino sea vegetables, though key spots for wild mushrooms remain closely guarded local secrets.
San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco’s adventurous eaters support the most award-winning chefs and restaurants per capita of any US city – five times more restaurants than New York, if anyone’s keeping score – and 25 farmers markets in San Francisco alone.
Some SF novelties have had extraordinary staying power, including ever-popular cioppino (Dungeness crab stew), chocolate bars invented by the Ghirardelli family, and sourdough bread, with original gold rush–era mother dough still yielding local loaves with that distinctive tang. Dim sum is Cantonese for what’s known in Mandarin as xiao che (small eats) or yum cha (drink tea), and there are dozens of places in San Francisco where you’ll call it lunch.
Mexican, French and Italian food remain perennial local favorites, along with more recent SF ethnic food crazes: izakaya (Japanese bars serving small plates), Korean tacos, banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches featuring marinated meats and pickled vegetables on French baguettes) and alfajores (Arabic-Argentine crème-filled shortbread cookies).
SoCal
Los Angeles has long been known for its big-name chefs and celebrity restaurant owners. Robert H Cobb, owner of Hollywood’s Brown Derby Restaurant, is remembered as the namesake of the Cobb salad (lettuce, tomato, egg, chicken, bacon and Roquefort). Wolfgang Puck launched the celebrity-chef trend with the Sunset Strip’s star-spangled Spago in 1982.
For authentic ethnic food in Los Angeles, head to Koreatown for flavor-bursting kalbi (marinated barbecued beef short ribs), East LA for tacos al pastor (marinated, fried pork) and Little Tokyo for ramen noodles made fresh daily.
Further south, surfers cruise Hwy 1 beach towns from Laguna Beach to La Jolla in search of the ultimate wave and quick-but-hearty eats like breakfast burritos and fish tacos. And everybody stops for a date shake at Ruby’s Crystal Cove Shake Shack south of Newport Beach.
SLOW, LOCAL, ORGANIC
The ‘Slow Food’ movement, along with renewed enthusiasm for eating local, organically grown fare, is a leading trend in American restaurants. The movement was arguably started in 1971 by chef Alice Waters at Berkeley’s Chez Panisse (Click here). Recently, farmers markets have been popping up all across the country and they’re great places to meet locals and take a big bite out of America’s cornucopia of foods, from heritage fruit and vegetables to fresh, savory and sweet regional delicacies.
Pacific Northwest
The late James Beard (1903–85), an American chef, food writer and Oregon native, believed foods prepared simply, without too many ingredients or complicated cooking techniques, allowed their natural flavors to shine. This philosophy has greatly influenced modern Northwest cuisine. Pacific Northwesterners don’t like to think of their food as trendy or fussy, but at the same time, they love to be considered innovative, especially when it comes to ‘green,’ hyperconscious eating.
Farmland, Wild Foods & Fish
The diverse geography and climate – a mild, damp coastal region with sunny summers and arid farmland in the east – foster all types of farm-grown produce. Farmers grow plenty of fruit, from melons, grapes, apples and pears to strawberries, cherries and blueberries. Veggies thrive here too: potatoes, lentils, corn, asparagus and Walla Walla sweet onions, all of which feed local and overseas populations.
Many wild foods thrive, especially in the damper regions, such as the Coast Range. Foragers seek the same foods once gathered by local Native American tribes – year-round wild mushrooms, as well as summertime fruits and berries.
With hundreds of miles of coastline and an impressive system of rivers, Northwesterners have access to plenty of fresh seafood. Depending on the season, specialties include razor clams, mussels, prawns, albacore tuna, Dungeness crab and sturgeon. Salmon remains one of the region’s most recognized foods, whether it’s smoked, grilled, or in salads, quiches and sushi.
The Southwest
Diners, grab your steak knives and unbutton your fat pants because the food in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, southern Colorado and Las Vegas doesn’t have time for the timid. Sonoran hot dogs, green chile cheeseburgers, huevos rancheros, juicy steaks and endless buffets – moderation is not a virtue.
Two ethnic groups define Southwestern food culture: the Spanish and the Mexicans, who controlled territories from Texas to California until well into the 19th century. While there is little actual Spanish food today, the Spanish brought cattle to Mexico, which the Mexicans adapted to their own corn-and-chile-based gastronomy to make tacos, tortillas, enchiladas, burritos, chimichangas and other dishes made of corn or flour pancakes filled with everything from chopped meat and poultry to beans. In Arizona and New Mexico, a few Native American dishes are served on reservations and at tribal festivals. Steaks and barbecue are always favorites on Southwestern menus, and beer is the drink of choice for dinner and a night out.
For a cosmopolitan foodie scene, visit Las Vegas, where top chefs from New York City, LA and even Paris are sprouting satellite restaurants.
Steak & Potatoes
Have a deep hankerin’ for a juicy slab of beef with a salad, baked potato and beans? Look no further than the ranch-filled Southwest, where there’s a steakhouse for every type of traveler. In Phoenix alone the choices range from the old-school Durant’s (Click here) and the outdoor Greasewood Flat (Click here) to the family-friendly Rawhide Western Town & Steakhouse (see the boxed text, Click here). In Utah, the large Mormon population influences culinary options. Here, good, old-fashioned American food like chicken, steak, potatoes, vegetables, homemade pies and ice cream prevail.
Mexican & New Mexican Food
Mexican food is often hot and spicy. If you’re sensitive, test the heat of your salsa before dousing your meal. In Arizona, Mexican food is of the Sonoran type, with specialties such as carne seca (dried beef). Meals are usually served with refried beans, rice and flour or corn tortillas; chiles are relatively mild. Tucsonans refer to their city as the ‘Mexican food capital of the universe,’ which, although hotly contested by a few other places, carries a ring of truth. Colorado restaurants serve Mexican food, but they don’t insist on any accolades for it.
New Mexico’s food is different from, but reminiscent of, Mexican food. Pinto beans are served whole instead of refried; posole (a corn stew) may replace rice. Chiles aren’t used so much as a condiment (like salsa) but more as an essential ingredient in almost every dish. Carne adobada (marinated pork chunks) is a specialty.
If a menu includes red or green chile dishes and sauces, it probably serves New Mexican style dishes. The state is famous for its chile- enhanced Mexican standards. The town of Hatch, New Mexico, is particularly known for its green chiles.
Native American Food
Modern Native American cuisine bears little resemblance to that eaten before the Spanish conquest, but it is distinct from Southwestern cuisine. Navajo and Indian tacos – fried bread usually topped with beans, meat, tomatoes, chile and lettuce – are the most readily available. Chewy horno bread is baked in the beehive-shaped outdoor adobe ovens (hornos) using remnant heat from a fire built inside the oven, then cleared out before cooking.
Most other Native American cooking is game-based and usually involves squash and locally harvested ingredients like berries and piñon nuts. Though becoming better known, it can be difficult to find. Your best bets are festival food stands, powwows, rodeos, Pueblo feast days and casino restaurants.
DRINKS
Work-hard, play-hard Americans are far from teetotalers. About 67% of Americans drink alcohol, with the majority preferring beer to wine.
Beer
Beer is about as American as Chevrolet, football and apple pie. While alcohol sales in the USA have soared to record highs in recent years, only about 20% of Americans drink wine on a regular basis; beer is far more popular. American lager is by far the most popular beer, with a relatively low alcohol content between 3% and 5%.
Craft & Local Beer
Today, beer aficionados sip and savor beer as they would wine, and some urban restaurants even have beer ‘programs,’ ‘sommeliers’ and cellars. Microbrewery and craft beer production is rising meteorically, accounting for 11% of the domestic market in 2010. In recent years it’s become possible to ‘drink local’ all over the West as microbreweries pop up in urban centers, small towns, and unexpected places. They’re particularly popular in gateway communities outside national parks, including Moab, Flagstaff and Durango.
BEER GOES LOCAL
In outdoorsy communities across the west, the neighborhood microbrewery is the unofficial community center – the place to unwind, swap trail stories, commune with friends and savor seasonal brews. Here are a few of our favorites:
San Diego has so many good ones that we’ve prepared a separate list (see the box, Click here).
Wine
According to the LA Times, 2010 marked the first year that the US actually consumed more wine than France. To the raised eyebrows of European winemakers, who used to regard even California wines as second class, many American wines are now even (gulp!) winning prestigious international awards. In fact, the nation is the world’s fourth-largest producer of wine, behind Italy, France and Spain.
Wine isn’t cheap in the US, but it’s possible to procure a perfectly drinkable bottle of American wine at a liquor or wine shop for around US$10 to US$12.
Wine Regions
Today almost 90% of US wine comes from California, and Oregon and Washington wines have achieved international status.
Without a doubt, the country’s hotbed of wine tourism is in Northern California, just outside of the Bay Area in Napa and Sonoma Valleys. As other areas – Oregon’s Willamette Valley, California’s Central Coast and Arizona’s Patagonia region – have evolved as wine destinations, they have spawned an entire industry of bed-and-breakfast tourism that goes hand in hand with the quest to find the perfect Pinot Noir.
There are many excellent ‘New World’ wines that have flourished in the rich American soil. The most popular white varietals made in the US are Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc; best-selling reds include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel.
Margaritas
In the Southwest it’s all about the tequila. Margaritas are the alcoholic drink of choice, and synonymous with this region, especially in heavily Hispanic New Mexico, Arizona and southwestern Colorado. Margaritas vary in taste depending on the quality of the ingredients used, but all are made from tequila, a citrus liquor (Grand Marnier, Triple Sec or Cointreau) and either fresh squeezed lime or premixed Sweet & Sour.
Margaritas are either served frozen, on the rocks (over ice) or straight up. Most people order them with salt. Traditional margaritas are lime flavored, but the popular drink comes in a rainbow of flavors – best ordered frozen.
Coffee
America runs on caffeine, and the coffee craze has only intensified in the last 25 years. Blame it on Starbucks. The world’s biggest coffee chain was born amid the Northwest’s progressive coffee culture in 1971, when Starbucks opened its first location across from Pike Place Market in Seattle. The idea, to offer a variety of roasted beans from around the world in a comfortable cafe, helped start filling the American coffee mug with more refined, complicated (and expensive) drinks compared to the ubiquitous Folgers and diner cups of joe. By the early 1990s, specialty coffeehouses were springing up across the country.
Independent coffee shops support a coffeehouse culture that encourages lingering; think free wi-fi and comfortable seating. That said, when using free cafe wi-fi, remember: order something every hour, don’t leave laptops unattended and deal with interruptions graciously.