The Food New Orleans, it is frequently observed, is a gumbo of a town, a useful shorthand reference to its mix of French, Spanish, African and Caribbean influences as well as to its single most characteristic dish.
During that turbulent era of civil rights upheaval and war in Vietnam, he exploded from the launch-pad of "chitlin circuit" stardom (named after the characteristic dish of boiled pigs' intestines), playing the chain of "safe" black venues in the south and east, to become a national spokesman for black America.
In fact, it means "served with rice", although that's by no means the defining characteristic of dishes on offer.
Even better was a bizarre-seeming but characteristic Hong Kong dish, deep-fried shrimp smeared with mayonnaise and served with deep-fried milk custard.
Lao cuisine, which one chef described to me as "Thai for Europeans" (meaning less spicy and complex), shares some characteristics and dishes with its Southeast Asian neighbors but reflective of a much poorer country–is somewhat less varied and vibrant.
The features were characteristic of DISH or Forestier's disease.
They included a traditional Polish pasta dish, kasha varnishkes, a cucumber salad called miseria, sweet and sour red cabbage, and carrot dishes characteristic of Austria and southern Germany.
But a fried sea bass fillet with lemon grass ($13.50) is too dry, and fillet of sole amok ($11), a Cambodian preparation in which the fish is bathed in coconut milk and steamed in a banana leaf, never achieves the satiny soft texture that is characteristic of the dish.
The wine's racy acidity supplies harmony for marine dishes, a characteristic of other early North Fork successes with viognier, at Macari, Martha Clara and Pindar.
Standard case hardening of the disks led to a characteristic shape change called "dishing".
