We’re at a crossroads in which every major city has welcomed with open arms corporate-owned concepts that introduce us to dishes-from-elsewhere, whether it’s Japanese ramen, Hawaiian poke, Nashville hot chicken, Texas barbecue or Mexi-Cali tacos. Aside from what this is doing to the restaurant landscape, it’s worth asking whether any of these dishes will have staying power: When does a regional dish from another place resonate with locals for the long haul? What does it take for an outsider dish to be considered one of ours?

We can look to Buffalo wings, ubiquitous everywhere, for regional dishes that have precedent. And more specific to Pittsburgh, there’s the pepperoni roll, an Italian-American treat from the coal mines of West Virginia, that you’ll find at Jimmy and Nino Sunseri Co. and Mancini’s Bakery, both in the Strip — and beyond.