In my area you can find them for less than a dollar a pound during the holidays. If you get them pre sliced, which I don't they are more expensive. The last hams I bought a few months ago were $.59 lb. Same with turkeys. Still got enough of both in the freezer until the Fall holidays.

I like to get a 3 - 3 1/2 pound chuck roast, season with garlic, and place in a crock pot on low with a couple sliced up onions, in about a cup of french onion soup. 8 hours later, carefully place on a plate, along with the onions, and refrigerate over Nite to firm up.

Next day, slice thin.

2 or 3 slices, with some onion, horseradish sauce, swiss cheese, and a sliced tomato on a hard / Keiser roll makes for a heck of a lunch.

Larry

In actuality, the south is not known for good deli's. Sure, you may find a one off in a larger city here and there, usually owned/operated by a transplanted Yankee. Awesome deli's was always something I was impressed with on my occasional visits to NYC or New England, especially so since I never came across one in my neck of the woods.

I'm okay with that, though, because what you can't find there are good catfish houses and BBQ joints. Their iced tea is nasty too.

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Live long and prosper

There is a stand-alone butcher shop/deli not far from us in Coleraine, Ohio.

I go there just for the boiled tongue.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

All the Yankees who have left the Northeast hellhole for friendlier southern climes, complain about the same things: Bad food, bad water, bad teeth, bad bugs, bad pests (all types). Based on my travels, they're not wrong.

I was just in Providence for a half marathon last weekend. Had two great dinners out, and a really good bagel sammy near Brown. However, we stayed in an airbnb in Cranston and it reminded me of why I moved out of the Bronx 40 years ago. Did some shopping in Providence and I thought the town was generally grubby, worn out, subconsciously menacing and filled with aggressive panhandlers. Glad I brought a heater with me.

You win some, you lose some.

In all the whistle stops I have been to across this country I have miraculously been able to find edible cold cuts in every one.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Besides having deli meat actually taste good, a lot has to do with the refrigeration the deli is using. Also, the cleanliness of the cases and cooler in the back. Grocery stores’ deli departments mainly. I’ve worked in over 100 different stores in this area. All the ones from Lake Erie down to Wheeling, out to places in Ohio I never knew existed. But many deli departments were clean and cold, others got neglected. That seems to have a lot to do with how fast the food goes through you, literally. I have not seen a decent butcher shop in Pittsburgh since the owner ate a self-fired 357 in the cooler. Best butcher shop until you get up to Butler County. But safe temperatures trumps all, IMO.

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There's a Monster on the loose

If there's one thing to be said for a mongrel city like Vegas, it's that you can find just about every kind of cuisine here.

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Release the Kraken

I've eaten in some of the casino dining rooms. It's the only table I walked away a winner.

See if you can find REAL Va. Smithfield Ham. Since Smithfield has been sold to the “ furriners” one has to find one of the small places that makes it the real old fashioned way. Usually have to soak the whole ham in water for at least a day before cooking. Very thin slices on rye with a little spread of good mustard, good to go. For breakfast 1 thin slice on fresh biscuit(s) is hard to beat?

IDK Golddollar... does anyone outside of Pennsylvania know of Lebanon baloney?

John

Having lived about 6 miles south of "Laabnin" in the early 70's, (Cider Press Rd. just south of the Turnpike) yeah, I know what it is along with all the other wonderful cold cuts and everything else at the Lancaster Farmers market on Saturday mornings. I can still smell the horseradish!

Stu

The Green Dragon Friday's on North Reading Road in Stevens ( Lancaster Co ) had everything including dressed rabbits

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Pete
I ain't no fortunate son

Family owned and run Gino's Italian market closed a couple years ago, I really miss the place. In business for 50+ years they kept prices reasonable with a thin margin plus a catering business. Dependent on word of mouth and local trade when the road out front was rendered useless by construction for well over a year and the area transitioning Hispanic business dropped to the point they could go no longer.
MizAnna and I hit that place every week, in addition to meat, veggies and Italian delicacies the had a wonderful bakery. No matter what we found we would not make it out the door without a pepperoni loaf and sub filled with offcuts of deli meat and fresh baked roll.

I capitalized some of your comments as a deterrent to any northerners or left coasters who might be considering moving south. I'd also add snakes, we have both venomous and non-venomous snakes, lots of them. It gets real hot in the summer and the humidity is oppressive.

Plus, we don't have good deli meats.

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Live long and prosper

If twodog max hadn't said it, I was going to. Not the first time we've been invaded by uninvited Northern guests. Florida has been fundamentally and probably forever changed. Now they're coming to Georgia, complaining because things aren't the same as what they left, and voting to change it to what they left. Georgia was never a "swing state" until recent years.

We just had a thread about accepting and following the laws in other countries when traveling afar. The same applies to relocated within the US.

Nothing personal against you, Pete. You're experiencing regional changes. Major retailers sell different items and brands based on region and store location. Even WallyWorld will have a brand in one store locally and not in another- imagine the differences 1,000 miles apart.

You need to lay off prepared luncheon meats anyhow...they're slow death.

As far as the water quality, that's coastal living. If you want better water, move inland and get a well.

Find yourself a proper butcher shop

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it just needs more voltage