I would add Maryland style pizza, Smith Island cake, Berger cookies, coddies, and stuffed ham.
Oh neat! I’ve never heard of any of those things. Time to google up some recipes!
Of course there’s Cincinnati chili, which isn’t really chili at all, but a completely different sauce based on Greek food. I find it delicious, but it’s definitely not chili.
Candy Raisins, as far as I know, are unheard of outside of Wisconsin. People go nuts for them, but, for reasons outside the scope of the thread, they tend to show up for a few years, then disappear for a few years.
Just recently someone started making them again and as soon as we had them in the building and posted them on our facebook/instagram page, the post took off and we sold out in a few hours.
For a lot of people, I think, it’s about the nostalgia. Nearly everyone that sees them either remembers buying them as a kid or remembers their grandparents having them around the house.
As for what they are, they’re gum drops that, from what I understand (never tried one, they don’t appeal to me) vaguely taste like soap. The ‘raisin’ part is just because of the texture/pattern they have on top.
Not sure how widespread it is these days, but a Fluffernutter is a New England staple. Maybe wash it down with a nice cold Moxie.
I’ll have to keep an eye out for these. We’re up in Wisconsin several times a year since I can remember, and I’ve never seen or heard of them. Now at least I know to seek them.
Our beloved local specialty. The key difference between a slugburger and a dough burger is that a slug is normally deep fried. It’s more like a fritter than a typical burger patty. They’re traditionally served with only onion, pickle and yellow mustard. You will get looked at funny if you ask for cheese.
We love to mess with newcomers about how many slugs you have to catch to make one.
They’re total gut bombs but I have to have a couple once or twice a year. A good one is a thing of trashy culinary beauty.
Around Baltimore specifically, pit beef is a thing but is fairly well known, but “lake trout” probably isn’t. Mentioned a couple of times in The Wire.
It’s not trout and it didn’t come from a lake; it’s actually Atlantic whiting fillets, breaded and deep-fried, typically served in a take-out tray lined with 4 slices of white bread and topped with hot sauce. The fillets are generally not deboned.
It’s much harder to find now, but at one time in Southern California at any diner/coffee shop you could expect to see chili size on the menu.
DC has the half smoke, a half beef, half pork sausage. They were so ubiquitous in my youth I had no idea that they were regional.DC also has mumbo/mambo sauce, kind of a cross between sweet and sour sauce and bbq sauce; Chicago has a similarly named condiment, but different taste.
When you think of the Southeastern US, you probably think of pulled-pork barbecue, perhaps the vinegar based variety from Eastern North Carolina.
But that region is also home to Brunswick stew, a tomato based stew that usually contains poultry, corn, lima beans, and sometimes okra and other vegetables. Both Virginia and Georgia claim to be the origin, but it’s also common in the Carolinas.
Also in the Carolinas you will find Calabash-style seafood. This is deep fried seafood, but with a much lighter breading than the beer-battered stuff typical of British-style fish and chips.
Lastly, North Carolina is the home of livermush. It’s thought to be related to Pennsylvania’s scrapple, and, well, it’s pretty much what it sounds like.
Which restaurant?
That reminds me that Kentucky and some areas in the general region are home to burgoo, another hearty stew. Western Kentucky (like Owensboro) is also somewhat, but perhaps not commonly, known for its mutton barbecue.
The original in Redlands was called the Gay ‘90s, and I believe it was more of a dive bar that also served pizza. When Dave Wilson moved to Olympia in the ‘70s he reopened it here as Dirty Dave’s Gay ‘90s, though it eventually dropped the latter half of the name and now it’s just Dirty Dave’s and it’s more of a family restaurant (aside from the painting of a topless Daisy Duck behind the bar).
IIRC, the original Gay ‘90s was the inspiration for the eponymous bar on Cheers.
So…..a duck?
If that’s an oven-toasted sub with pepperoni, salami, ham, pizza cheese, lettuce, tomato, and Caesar dressing, then we call it “the Jake”.
Not “lesser known”, but the po’boy sandwich in New Orleans isn’t really found elsewhere; or at least not a proper one. Same for etouffee and jambalaya.
The Oklahoma onion burger, or fried onion burger originated in that state.
Deep fried halibut sandwiches are popular in Alaska. Most fish and chip joints use cod.
I’ll nominate a roast pork sandwich from the Philly area. I love a good Philly cheesesteak, but I now also make sure to get a roast pork when I’m visiting my brother.
Nope. The Orts Special (short for “ortega”) was a sausage, pepperoni, onions and Ortega chilis. It’s still served various places as a “Gay 90’s” pizza.
Chicago has mild sauce. A combination of ketchup, bbq sauce and hot sauce. Proportions vary by restaurant, started in BBQ and Fried chicken joints on the South Side.
Indiana has the pork tenderloin sandwich. Tenderloin pounded out to the size of a plate, breaded and fried. Then you put this on a standard hamburger bun with way more meat outside the bun then within. It can be found throughout the Midwest but supposedly started in Indiana.