I’ll add New Orleans, I’m probably missing some as I’ve only been there 5 times.
Gumbo
Jambalaya
Beignets: a French doughnut like dessert, similar to Italian zeppoles.
Po’boys: New Orleans messy & tasty sandwiches
King Cake (I’m not a fan, but iconic)
Pralines, pecan and sugar confections.
Crawfish
Frozen Daiquiris
Muffuletta
Étouffée
San Diego:
Nothing, nothing iconic for San Diego foods. Maybe it has changed since I left, but nothing as of 1989.
Chicago thin crust pizza (might be better expanded to the general Great Lakes area; thin, crispy crust, square cut, most traditional topping is sausage, but the “special” is usually sausage, onions, green peppers and mushrooms – or at least three of the four of those – in most places around here.)
Chicago deep dish (whether traditional deep-dish or stuffed)
Italian Beef sandwich
Maxwell Street Polish sausage
Chicago style hot dogs
Jibarito (Chicago Puerto-Rican cheesesteak-type sandwich on fried plantains instead of buns)
Rib tips & hot links (South Side and West Side barbecue. Traditional served with fries and a couple slices of white bread)
Mild sauce (something akin to DC’s Mumbo sauce.)
Saganaki
Breaded Steak Sandwiches (a la Ricobene’s)
Chicken Vesuvio
Shrimp de Jonghe
Chicago-style corn roll tamales a la Tom-Tom and Supreme
Mother-in-law Sandwich (Chicago style tamale on a bun with chili and condiments)
Chicago-style giardiniera
Half smokes - although the actual sausages themselves come from Baltimore.
Mumbo sauce - although it likely originated in Chicago.
Senate bean soup - although it’s really only served at the Capitol. I’ve never seen it on a menu anywhere else.
Peripherally, crab cakes, but only because of proximity to Maryland and Baltimore, and even then, the vast majority of what you’ll get is not from Maryland or the Bay.
Crab cakes - see my post above.
Smith Island cake - it’s the “official state dessert” of Maryland for whatever that’s worth.
Pit beef - it’s basically just smoked roast beef.
Maryland crab soup - kind of like a beef broth minestrone with crab meat.
I’m not an expert on it, but I wouldn’t even really call it “smoked,” at least in the sense of barbecue. It’s more like charcoal roasted roast beef. There is a wisp of cooked-over-coals flavor to it, but it’s not really what I would call “smoked roast beef.” It’s cooked relatively quickly over high heat (an hour or so) so it doesn’t pick up too much smoke flavor and served on the rare-ish side (though you can ask for it more cooked.) It’s damned good, especially the version I’ve had at Jake’s Grill.
No, but they might be considered the “original” as far as the US is concerned, since they were common there long before they spread to the rest of the country.
[ul]
[li]Detroit-style pizza, which can beat up your NYC and Chicago pizza.[/li][li]Bad pizza, like Domino’s and Little Caesars, although Jet’s is good and comes from here, too[/li][li]The Coney Island hot dog[/li][li]Coney-x, where x can be fries, burger, etc.[/li][li]Vernor’s ginger ale[/li][li]Boston cooler[/li][li]Faygo soda-pop[/li][li]Better Made chips and junk food[/li][/ul]
Actually the bagel as we know it was perfected in NYC. It existed in the New World almost exclusively in the NY metro area and didn’t start spreading across North America until the 1970s and didn’t get common until the 80s. So for a hundred years it was basically a NYC thing in the US at least. Yes, the bagel has its roots in Poland, but it was New York Jews that really made it a thing.
I was eating bagels at various delis across Los Angeles since I was a little kid in the 50s. Most of the those delis were established long before I was born.