"Mark D" > wrote in message
...
> Hi Donna, I had Gyros once In Durango, CO, but naturally, not anywhere
> as good as Gyros in Greektown, Chicago.
>
> The Tzaiziki (sp) sauce is a blend of Sour Cream, and finely chopped
> Cucumber I believe. Nothing much more than this, and perhaps thinned
> with a bit with Milk, or 1/2+1/2. You should be able to find the proper
> recipe by googling for it.

Actually it's yogurt and cucumber, but I can't get it exactly right. The
online recipes usually include oregano or mint, which isn't what I remember.
Sometimes lemon or oilive oil, usually some salt. I usually add some sour
cream to it, because it seems closer to what I remember, but I'm still
missing something. And I'm sure it's not mint. Maybe it's just the yogurt I
use...

> The one hard part about Gyros, would be the cost of a Professional Spit
> to make/cook them on. (Same with Al Pastor Tacos)

That's what I thought, until I saw an episode of Good Eats where he made the
meat on a grill rotisserie. Okay, it's horizontal instead of vertical, but
the result it pretty darned close.

> Another very hard item to exactly duplicate, is Italian Beef Sandwiches.
> (And also finding the good French Bread like Gonnella's, or Turano.

Just had beefs a couple nights ago. I bake my own bread, so that's not as
much an issue. Sure, it's not exactly the same, but it's closer than
anything I can find here.

Make my own pita bread, too, for the gyros.

And Cuban bread, for Cuban sandwiches.

> Sure, one could have a shipment of Buona Beef, or Scalas shipped
> basically anywhere in the US, but the prices will stagger you. Try
> about $60 for a small order of Beef. I looked.

Last year for Christmas, I ordered from Taste of Chicago, and got beef,
Vienna dogs, pizza, and Eli's cheesecake. It was pricey, but good. Carson's
ribs will ship, too, if you like them. Ordered those for Thanksgiving one
year.

Sadly, I can get frozen White Castle burgers at the grocery store. I can
live without those, no problem. I'd rather see a package of Vienna dogs or
Vienna beef....

> I know how to make homemade Giardeniera, but can't find the correct
> Chile peppers to make it here. Traditionally, a pepper called the Sport
> Pepper was used, but I've had good success using Cayenne, or Fingerhot
> Peppers/Chiles.

I just scored about a pint of them from a New York style deli here. The
brand is Marconi, which is the right one. He buys the stuff in gallon jugs
for the "Chicago-style" beef sandwiches he makes, but he sold me a container
of the peppers, so I'm good for a while now. Those things go a long way.
Maybe one of these days, I'll try one of beef his sandwiches - he cooks his
own beef but says he buys the gravy from Vienna.. Other places have had
them, but they always mess something up - one place was close, but the beef
was sliced way too thick.

The New York deli also has the whole sport peppers used for hot dogs,
although I saw similar ones at the grocery that I might try.

> Here in New Mexico, of all places, the so called "Haven of Chiles", you
> cannot find numerous varieties, which is surprising, considering the
> large percentage of Latino folks who live in New Mexico.
>
> All you basically find is Jalapenos, NM Chiles, Anahiems/Cubanelles on
> occasion, Bell Peppers, and Poblanos, Serranos, and usually Habaneros.
> Half these peppers probably don't even come from NM, but from Mexico.
>
> I've never seen Fingerhots, CayennesArbols, Sport Peppers, Thai Peppers,
> or anything else unusual here. I'll have to order some seeds next year,
> and grow my own, as the Pepper Plants I've gotten from places like
> Wal-Mart all wind up being NM Chiles, no matter what the label says. Of
> course, dried Arbols, which are easily gotten here won't be suitable for
> Giardeneria.

Peppers are pretty easy to grow, but I have no idea what those peppers are
in the Marconi Giardeneira. They aren't the same ones other brands use,
that's for sure. If you've got room for them inside, and enough light, you
can grow peppers all year long, too. I've got a couple of odd plants that
I've had in containers for going on three years now, and they bloom and
produce all year. Better in the summer, of course, but if you're intent on
one type of pepper, at least you wouldn't be starting over each year.

> I suppose one must remember that there are more latinos living in the
> city of Chicago, than all the people in NM combined. (NM's population is
> about 1.5 mil)

I used to work at Cermak and Ashland, more or less, which is predominately
hispanic, but with a pocket of old-time Italian places just to the west.
Lunches there were always interesting.

A couple of those hole-in-the-wall type hispanic places have opened here,
which makes for some interesting eating. One is a combo grocery, meat market
and restaurant. I've never seem so many selections of meats for tacos.

> Fresh Shellfish is another difficult item to get here (Clams/Oysters) I
> found fresh Bluepoints in Farmington some months back, and found fresh

I'm not all that crazy about clams and oysters. When we lived in Chicago, we
used to order lobsters and steamers from a place in Maine, though. We'd take
orders from everyone we knew, and we'd end up with hundreds of lobsters to
divvy up.

> Clams in Las Cruces at Albertsons which were good, but here in Southern
> NM, things like that don't sell, as the majority of the population only
> know one thing, and that's Tacos, and just basically Ground Beef at
> that. I don't think anyone in the area knows what a real Steak Taco Is.
> (Unless they get it at Taco Bell)
> No one here even knows what Al Pastor is?

There are a couple of places here that sell Al Pastor tacos that are really
good, and there's a meat market that sells the marinated meat. Not the same
as the stuff as what you'd get carved off a spit, but it's pretty darned
tasty. Those places are pretty new here, though. When we first moved here,
there was one good place with a limited menu, and then Taco Bell and Taco
John's. At least now we're getting decent Mexican places.

> Also, forget about finding a decent Bakery, or a Deli-Cheese Store here.
> Finding real "English" Cheddar, real Roquefort, any any other quality
> Blue Cheeses is an impossibility. A few stores did carry pre-packaged
> Society Brand Roquefort for awhile, which is very good, but stopped
> carrying it, as no one down here will spend the money on this type of
> Cheese ($6.49 for a small wedge). It's too expensive for thier tastes.

There's a cheese warehouse here, which is odd. Huge refrigerated warehouse
with all sorts of imported cheeses. But I still can't get some of the stuff
that I used to pick up in Wisconsin. Or in the grocery stores in Chicago,
for that matter. I've given up on finding bread. I bake all of my own. I'm
still trying to perfect pizza crust though. I think the altitude is a big
part of the problem.

I also miss some of the other ethnic foods that were so common in Chicago. I
used to go to a couple of Polish deli's where I could buy fresh pierogi and
sausages and all sorts of things. I found a two polish stores about 45 miles
from here, and some of the stuff is imported from Poland and some is
imported from Chicago. Like frozen pierogi. It's better than nothing, but
it's a long drive, and still not as good at the plentiful places in Chicago.

> There is a Trader Joes in the State, but it's in Santa Fe. Figures, as
> many Movie Stars live in this town, and can afford, and appreciate the
> finer foods.
>
> Where I live in Alamogordo, NM, a Trader Joes wouldn't last two weeks.

Never been to a Trader Joe's.

> We once had an Albertsons I understand. They packed up, and fled over 3
> years ago, because people are basically just too cheap to patronize
> establishments such as this.. (Thanks to Wal-Mart in part) Mark

We've got an Albertson's and it doesn't seem all that expensive to me; no
more than the Safeway or King Soopers, which are the other chains here.
Albertson's has a bigger Hispanic section and they've got some different
cuts of meat that you can't get at the other places.

Ever been to Russell's on Thatcher in River Grove? (I think it's River
Grove....)

Donna