Seafood and Chowder
Growing up in Rhode Island, I grew up knowing what good seafood is. From crabs to lobster or calms to scallops, I love them all. Even though I detested getting my hands dirty while eating, it never stopped me from dominating a plate of various seafood that almost always resulted in a crazy mess. The Midwest is seriously lacking excellent seafood restaurants (not surprisingly); prices for seafood is often higher there too. This also applies to sushi in the Midwest too.
My seafood dinner tonight reminded me of that one time I ordered clam chowder and received some sort of red soup. Being a polite child, I didn't complain and ate the red soup; it was very disappointing compared to the thick white milk based clam chowder served with Westminster Oyster Crackers I expected.
The lesson here: There is only one true chowder. There will always be posers like Manhattan calm chowder.