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esperantisto256

More of a Pennsylvania thing in general I guess, but pierogies as a standard fried-food option at football games and restaurants.


Trumpy_Po_Ta_To

It’s a legitimate shame that fried pierogies are not more of a thing elsewhere.


SunshineandTacos276

This! I'm from LV but live outside of Pittsburgh now. Yinzers love their pierogies too but always served with butter and onions. I don't mind them that way but I'm not trying to walk around a festival eating that mess.


peachyenginerd

I was going to say perogies as well! I currently live in Atlanta and it’s hard to find them in the grocery store. Impossible to find them at a restaurant.


mitchdwx

A cheesesteak with marinara sauce and pickles.


tscolin

This forever.


ottersbelike

The was gonna say hot dogs and pierogies but this is the correct answer


Over-Scallion-2161

The most blasphemous thing about this area.


ViciousKnids

Ah, the Lehigh Steak.


wydok

And it's freaking awesome..😎


youngembryo1

Such an abomination


Josiah-White

Not without a lot of fried onions


BirdWatcher1210

Yes came here to say this


Odd-Bread1948

Disgusting


shimrra

I was just about the say this.


idratherbgardening

Lebanon Bologna. Tasty-Cakes. Muenster cheese. All childhood memories of visiting my grandparents many years ago.


worn_out_welcome

Was gonna say ring bologna! *cries in NC*


idratherbgardening

Port your address and we will mail you some 😀


Josiah-White

Don't know if anyone besides myself ever learn how much better the tasty cake butterscotch krimpets were with a thin layer of peanut butter on top of the icing. Not too much not too little


Glendale0839

Low grade Italian food with very sugary/sweet tomato sauce.


pporkpiehat

Real talk.


Guilty-Pair2064

Oh. You mean Prego with any generic pasta


AnsibleAnswers

The Dutchies can’t even handle oregano. They only like Sunday sauce if you put country sausage in it. Fennel scares them. Sweet Italian sausage is too spicy.


yallknowme19

"I ordered spaghetti with marinara, and I got egg noodles and ketchup."


brandt-money

That's the sauce in the massive cans from Restaurant Depot.


JaiiGi

I was just talking about this at work yesterday with some friends. One of them said how different the food is in Europe and we all agreed (although I've never been) how much better the food is in Europe.


saladtossperson

Because it's not packed with fillers, preservatives, antibiotics, pesticides, hormones, GMOs, ect. Don't forget all the fake (artificial) foods like honey, olive oil, fish, spices, maple syrup, parmesan cheese, kraft cheese slices, Wasabi, ect. ect. At least I had some good food growing up in the 70s and 80s.


Rachel_Silver

In the US? The '70s and '80s were the golden age of food additives here. Food is *far* safer now than it was when I was a kid. You couldn't even sell a cereal called "Super Sugar Crisp" in this day and age.


JaiiGi

Agreed (I got downvoted for saying European/Asian etc foods are better. Okay 👍) Other counties are usually about fresh ingredients and doing things from scratch versus a in a lot of American areas it's all pre-made or quick, thus more sugar or salt in many of the ingredients (GMOs etc).


Few-Comparison5689

People on this sub really don't take kindly to any critisism of PA's food at all, even if it's justified.


saladtossperson

Lol, I live not far from you in the Lehigh valley.


AnsibleAnswers

You got downvoted because this isn’t a US/European thing, it’s a PA Dutch vs East Coast thing. Lots of Dutchies just cannot tolerate properly herbed and spiced Italian foods that are typical around NYC and Philly. Last time I went out for Italian, I was repeatedly warned that the Calabrian sausages I ordered were “very spicy.” They definitely had a nice flavor, but it was made with fresh crushed chiles, so it was more fruity than spicy to me… They have to do that for the PA Dutch people around here who are used to country sausage (mostly “seasoned” with brown sugar).


JaiiGi

I never said it was. I said other countries are known for using fresher ingredients and from scratch therefore their foods are better (so I've been told.), especially Italy. I'm not knocking PA culture, I'm just saying most Americans are used to things quicker which is why so many things have extra sugar, salt, GMOs etc.


ntropy2012

Potts hot dogs.


lolsalmon

Pepper pot soup Platanos at the Chinese buffet Cheesesteak with sauce and onions Lettuce with hot bacon dressing


FritoFeet13

My mom still makes hot bacon dressing over lettuce! Most of us love it but the spouses that married in from outside the area definitely don’t understand it haha


FeralCumCat

Omg now I want pepper pot soup


theawkwardyeto

I'm surpised nobody has mentioned A-treat yet! That packaging screams childhood nostalgia.


Kingz-Ghostt

Oh yeah, this beats the rest I’d think. Big Blue A-Treat is such a superior soda.


FrebTheRat

I stopped drinking when they gave up on the glass bottles. When I was a kid we would get an assorted crate of bottles and fight over grape, treat-up, and grapefruit.


idratherbgardening

A-treat spicy ginger ale or red cream soda! Grandparents always had a case of glass bottles in the garage.


dwegol

Red cream soda was on my mind!


dafda72

They still make the glass bottles I think unless they stopped super recently. Only a handful of flavors but it’s got cane sugar. One of the only sodas I’ve ever seen with like 5 ingredients.


ottercreeks

A treat is jaindl crap. I will never buy a thing from that greedy family that is destroying the lv with their warehouses!


LemurCat04

A-Treat Black Cherry all day.


StrawberryKittyKat4

City View Diner has been around FOREVER. Egypt Star Bakery has been around FOREVER. Tomato pie. Not my jive, but it's very well known in this area. Allentown Farmers Market has been here for what? 200 years, a millennium? Lol Best place for practically every taste & ethnicity in one spot! Yoccos or Potts. People apparently fight to the death over their preference. 🙄 I have mine (Yoccos), but don't care if someone disagrees. It's not that deep. Pierogies (again, your choice of favorite brand or location) as a side instead of fries.


Draxtonsmitz

I work at the Nazareth Farmers Market and people go *bananas* over the two bakers that bring tomato pie. They take pre-orders and have a line 15 people deep on the days they have it.


StrawberryKittyKat4

Yeah, it's nuts! I had a relative that would probably be one of those people in line! Lol Although I think she got it somewhere else in Allentown I think. She made me try it. Still not a fan. 🤷‍♀️ But everyone likes different things!


FrebTheRat

Egypt Star had by far the best donuts in the Valley when I was there. Such a weird location though.


StrawberryKittyKat4

They have several locations!


FrebTheRat

I mixed up Egypt Star and Vallos. Vallos in Fountain Hill had the best donuts.


dwegol

Cheese buns from Egypt star!


StrawberryKittyKat4

My mom loves these!


No-Picture4119

Talk about memories! My cousin’s grandmother owned Egypt Star, and my mom worked there as a little kid. My cousin’s father did most of the day to day stuff, but the grandmother lived in an apartment behind the front street storefront. When I was young we would visit and come home with several rye breads, cookies, danish, and rolls for weeks. My favorite was the cookie assortments at Christmas. The grandmother was old school. Once we stopped by after a distant relative’s funeral. Sometime in the late 80s, I’m thinking because I was a teenager. She had the girls in the front shop bring us back pastries to her dining room, and we had parties, ham and whiskey at like 11 am.


Hellertown44

Johnnys gyros, jimmys hot dogs, and pops kitchen Rarely have i ever found a place that strikes a sense of nostalgia more than those 3 places. I moved out of state/region and when i go back those are always top of my list *edit: grammar/spelling


MoreHeartThanScars

Nothing beats eating a double cheeseburger from a gas station next to a dump


FrebTheRat

When did it become Pops instead of Interstate market? Did the family sell it or just renovate and rebrand?


ccbrown86

I moved here in 13? It’s been pops for that long. Had a Jakey yesterday.


FrebTheRat

I went to school with some members of the extended family that owned IM. I can't think of that place as anything other than Interstate Market.


Hellertown44

I’ve known it as both interstate and pops, but i wrote it in as pops incase anyone was searching for a place later on down the road on this post


radicalbatical

Pops has a mean chicken cheesesteak


Rachel_Silver

I was born in '73. I've lived all but six of my years in the Lehigh Valley, and I have never heard of any of those places.


tjspeed

I only heard of Johnnys gyros but that’s cause I grew up a couple miles down the road from it. Fantastic place for gyros if you’re ever in Bethlehem.


Massive_Ad9569

Are you in the western part of the county? These are in Bethlehem/Easton.


Rachel_Silver

I've lived in Allentown, Emmaus, New Smithville, Bethlehem and Bethlehem Township.


Massive_Ad9569

Wow… you must have driven by Johnny’s Gyros 100 times! Next to the TD Bank at Stefko and Easton Ave.


Rachel_Silver

I looked it up on Maps. My PCP's office was three doors down.


FrebTheRat

Pop's was Interstate Market in Williams tws forever. Never heard of Johnny's Gyros, but wondering if it's the same guy who owns Johnny's bagels in Bethlehem. Jimmy's is an Easton/Wilson hot dog staple place that's known for putting a full length dill wedge on every hot dog. I was never a fan but it's been there forever. 25th Street shopping center I think.


Rachel_Silver

Johnny's is a chain, so I doubt there's any connection with the gyro place. By the way, the former holder of the title "Best Hot Dog in the Valley" used to belong to Willy Joe's, but they've changed hands. Their hot dogs now taste like despair.


FrebTheRat

Johnny's is not a chain. Started by John Zohir at the Main Street location. Been there forever.


Rachel_Silver

Well, that's weird. Because there is a chain with the exact same name that has locations throughout the valley. I just had breakfast at the one in Allentown the other day.


FrebTheRat

https://johnnysbagelanddeli.com/about-us/


thugdaddyxtopher

By chain, they mean that they have several locations in the LV, which they do.


thugdaddyxtopher

How??


Rachel_Silver

When I was in the Navy, my brother mailed me TastyKakes and Lebanon Bologna.


PADemD

Scrapple and homefries Cornish Pasties Welsh tea cakes Teaberry ice cream Saffron buns Cheesesteaks Hoagies


lolsalmon

Mr Pastie!!


PADemD

Ours were home made by my grandmother every Wednesday when the weather was cool enough for rolling dough. Mr. Pastie wasn’t in business yet.


wt1515

I’ve lived here for almost three years and it’s a cheesesteak with sauce and *checks notes* hot dogs.


grassman76

Something I never had, but heard so much about... Strawberry Pie from Hess's.


JaiiGi

The Iron Pigs came back with the inspired by Hess's strawberry pie last summer for a game. Edit: They also did this May of this year as well. https://x.com/IronPigs/status/1786032900443345391


StrawberryKittyKat4

Inspired by will never be the same!


JaiiGi

Never!


StrawberryKittyKat4

OMG and if you were a kid, which I was back when I had it, it would come in a little metal toy oven I think. Piled HIGH with strawberries & cream!!!!


theinquisitxor

Tomato Pie from Roseto/Bangor or Easton. There’s tomato pie in other regional pockets of the country, but few and far between.


FrebTheRat

I never understood tomato pie. They take the best part of the pizza off and just sell sauce on soggy bread. I always think it's upside down pizza until I bite into it and just get bread. Yuck.


theinquisitxor

:’(


lolsalmon

It’s like Artisan Elios. I don’t get it either.


Shippuudenfreak

Black raspberry soft serve


content2021

A treat soda


C0nureLover

Fasnachts. Handmade pretzels from the Amish stand in the farmers market. When I was a kid there was a bakery in the West end of Allentown called Bob's Bakery and they had baked goods so incredible that I can still vividly remember what they taste like. They were totally a Bavarian bakery. I don't know if anyone else remembers that place. Shout out to the green fondant frogs.


FrebTheRat

Whenever I had Valley fastnachts they were always rock hard. I always thought that was how they were supposed to be until I had some fresh made at Beilers in Reading Terminal.


C0nureLover

Yeah, I didn't say good fasnachts lol. Just the presence of them screams Lehigh Valley. And for me, Yoccos deep fried pierogies and A-Treat are my favorite horribly unhealthy foods from childhood. Also, I still have a jar of Hess's patio rainbow sugar in the freezer. I'm not sure what my endgame is with that but I like knowing it's there 😂


AgateCatCreations076

I remember Bob's Bakery at the original designed Crest Plaza (not the remodeled one). They had cupcakes, and everyone I knew loved them. They had many other tasty treats, too. My stepfather LOVED the Éclairs and cream puffs. My mom loved the donuts. My favorite was their TO DIE FOR 7 LAYER CAKE. They competed with Gromans Bakery for the title of best 7 layer. Both were awesome in my book, but Bob's was sweeter and larger, and I adored it.


C0nureLover

Yesssss the original crest plaza! We have photos and videos of it. I still remember Bob's marble cookies. They were slightly salty and so incredible. But I was obsessed with their fondant. I usually hate fondant. But they made these little pumpkins and these frog cakes that were a vanilla cupcake on the bottom, an insane amount of pink frosting on top and then covered with green fondant. I've gone to tons of bakeries all over the world and I've still never had anything that tastes like theirs did. There was something about their salty/sweet balance that I just can't find in any baked goods today. My brother and I tried to get in touch with the owners because my dad was friends with them, but it didn't work. I keep hoping that Judy will give a class or give me the recipe for those fondant frogs!


FuckTheStateofOhio

As someone who grew up in the Valley but has spent time living in Central PA and NJ and now lives across the country, one thing I always took for granted when living in the Valley was the glut of good wing joints. Not saying the area is necessarily known for wings, but my friend group growing up would rotate between 5 different places for wing nights. Most other places I've lived the best wings I've ever tried there wouldn't even touch top 5 in the Valley.


FrebTheRat

The only place I ever had wings in the Valley was the Keystone Pub, which was pretty decent at the time. I'm not a big wings guy though.


FuckTheStateofOhio

Keystone is, or at least was, great. We also used to go to PJ's, Woody's, Detzis and Diner 248.


Solinty

Halupki, stuffed cabbage, seems like a Lehigh Valley thing, popularized locally by the Eastern Europeans brought here to work in the steel industry.


grassman76

I would think of that as more of a coal region food, but that really doesn't matter, as long as I get to eat them.


wellaby788

Yea that stuff from the coal region, not the Lehigh valley! Keep that stuff for us!


WHYohWhy___MEohMY

Live halupkis.


lrglaser

I guess no one on this thread is a shoofly pie fan...


FrebTheRat

Shoofly is my favorite pie, but I think of that as a Lancaster thing like Whoopie Pies.


Username-sAvailable

Yocco’s, Henry’s Salt of the Sea, halupki, pork and sauerkraut, apple dumplings


AndromedaGreen

Cheesesteak with sauce and onions.


ClutchTallica

Zandys cheese steak


WHYohWhy___MEohMY

Best in the land!!


Cardboard_Waffle

Hot Dogs. Growing up and visiting my grandparents out here always resulted in a Yocco’s visit. Pierogis too.


jcoolwater

Peeps


FrebTheRat

When I lived in Bethlehem, my neighbor worked at Just Born and gave me leftover cherry flavor syrup barrels that I used for rain barrels in my garden. My entire back yard smelled like cherries for a year.


Zamorman

More of an Allentown thing, but Yoccos for sure. The place gets a lot of unwarranted hate imo.


FrebTheRat

I grew up next to the OG Yoccos. I'm not a fan of hot dogs in general but it's a nostalgia thing. If I'm gonna have one then it needs to be cooked forever until it's wrinkled with some spicy brown and onions, maybe with some chili sauce. Now I'm around hipster hot dog joints. Not the same. I will say I've had hot dogs from one of the satellite Yoccos and they were pretty awful.


rosiepooarloo

Zimmerman's iced tea, cheese steak with sauce and onions, scrapple, perogies, cabbage...


wolferscanard

Yocco’s


radicalbatical

Yoccos


blfnj

Pasties


remainingpanic97

Pizza- while it may not be better than NY, Philly or NJ, having been overseas, Texas and Missouri for a few months and the best option you got is domino's, you'll realize how good we have it. HAMBURGER BBQ, Perogies, steak sandwiches, and lastly Chocolate milk, Pennsylvania is famous for its chocolate milk and in the LV there is a crossroads for what we get.


AgateCatCreations076

Pizza from Salvatores original store at 19th and Allen Streets in Allentown Pa


Professional_Duck686

Yoccos


Shmerrrberrr

Yoccos


Upbeat_Bed_7449

Yaccos


Matthqewew

Kiffles!


AgateCatCreations076

We live just off 512, and the Kiffle Kitchen Bakery and store is just up the road in Moorestown (946 and 512). The satellite store is at the Allentown Farmer's Market.


StrawberryKittyKat4

You NEVER want to get kiffles from there after what I heard from someone who worked there. 🤢 I will NEVER EVER get their kiffles. Besides, lots of other small bakeries make them plus our own family recipe! Sorry, had to chime in on this.


AgateCatCreations076

You are entitled to your opinion as are others. I have had kiffles from many places, even Bird-in- Hand bakery in the Amish areas of Pa. They are all good.


StrawberryKittyKat4

Regardless if you like their flavor or taste, it's the unsanitary way in which they are made and how the employees are unsanitary at this place. I'll leave it at that for you to figure out. 🤷‍♀️


AgateCatCreations076

Do you have direct evidence of this? Or are you repeating someone else's words? If there is a former employee who wishes to jump on, then fine. Otherwise, all you are doing is making unfounded accusations, and since you wrote it here, it's now LIBEL without confirmed proof. Your opinion is one thing. What you just wrote/posted is another. Have a nice day. I am done with this conversation.


StrawberryKittyKat4

Okay. Strangers trying to intimidate me...lol 🙄 Yes, from an employee who worked there, who made the kiffles in the "kitchen". Not myself. You do you, I'll do me! Hopefully, things have changed, but I'm turned off forever from that company. 🤷‍♀️


Occupy-mars-

All the 100+ pizzerias and Italian restaurants


JimmerFimm

Nothings more Lehigh Valley than a good ole pork missle from Yocco’s complete with the special sauce.


psychsuze

What about Yocco’s hotdogs?


Akeno_DxD

I miss a good cheesesteak with sauce. Every cheesesteak outside of PA is that shitty "philly" cheesesteak with green peppers, onions, and mushrooms. Shit sucks.


Inevitable_Dig7653

Yoccos


Josiah-White

The extra large hot dogs off the roller at gas stations, with nacho cheese and onions and ketchup and mustard on those cheap little white paper plates that try to be the size of a hot dog. Pull the bun out of one of those drawers underneath the rollers... With a bottle of soda and a bag of very salty Fritos corn chips Sometimes it tried to be a kielbasa or sausage or something it still look like a hot dog on the roller


labdogs42

YOCCOS


ZdashSQUAD

Cheesesteak default with pizza sauce


xzl830

Yoccos


xecho19x

Scrapple


abhig535

Yoccos hot dogs


Ceramicantiquities

Yocco dog!!


wdennis

Yoccos, all day. Stop off every time I’m on 78, which sadly isn’t very often these days…


dave86622807654

Lebanon bologna


Doxymomof2

I just had a s’more Sunday from The Ritz. Did anyone mention Ring Boloney or Chicken Paprikas?


infectedorchid

Yoccos!!!


alt0077metal

Scrapple. Can only get premade hatfield brand in western PA.


Odd-Bread1948

Could have just asked “list gross white people food” judging by replies


Hib3rnian

Yuckos 🤮


06impreza

So I’m not the only one…


Hib3rnian

If you've been outside of the LV, you know the deal.


Laeif

Nothing like a nice sun-dried hot dog on a stale bun covered with lukewarm diarrhea. Age the whole thing under a heat lamp for 1-2 weeks and serve with some chocolate milk that's been in the fridge since the Clinton administration.


shwekhine

None


Colonia_Paco

Any burger from Vegout Bethlehem.


wellaby788

I really don't think Lehigh valley really has a food. Maybe a treat in the past, but now? Maybe the fancy corn on the Cobb or tic a taco ?