Let's go to that American place! W3

Opening an American restaurant in Germany would be tough. Because of the sheer size of the U.S., there is massive differentiation between recipes and styles of cooking. There are major flavor differences from food on the West and East, North and South, and regional differences in between. Yet, if a German were to talk into my American restaurant, I'd want to serve them only the tastiest, most unique American dishes. To do that, I'd need to get a bit of everything, from all different parts of the country.

Soul food is a high priority on my menu, because when I think of American food, my mind drifts to the South. I'd serve fried chicken, barbeque ribs, corn on the cob, corn bread, plenty of greens like okra and collards, and maybe fried green tomatoes. Of course, much of these foods are fried, but it wouldn't be American without a little artery clogging.

The East Coast has a delicious variety of seafood. To be geographically fair to the whole of the U.S., I'd certainly have a section of Maine lobster, New England clam chowder, baked clams, shrimp and fillets of salmon. I would also include Southern seafood recipes like shrimp and crawfish gumbo.

There is definitely room on the menu for Tex-Mex dishes like chicken and rice, nachos, bean dips, quesadillas and spicy, southwestern chili. Although it could be argued these dishes are from Mexican origin, America is a melting pot, and we've done a good deal to make them our own.

For dessert, my restaurant would serve hot apple pie a la mode, with a cup of black coffee. I feel a German would leave this restaurant feeling full, to say the least, and hopefully with a new impression of American food.