I grew up in Michigan and had ZERO idea Coney Island restaurants and the dogs were not extremely common throughout the entire country. One of those cultural things you don’t even realize is from your specific region. I don’t think I realized Faygo pop was also a local thing, which it still was in the 1980’s. I think you can get Faygo other places now, but I actually thought Faygo was the third major soda company. I thought it went:
Pepsi or Coca-cola
Pepsi or Coca-cola
Faygo <–third place, I’m sure, but I thought they were very competitive
I thought they were kind of the Chrysler of soda. Third place, but one of the “big three”.
You want a blast of Michigan nostalgia (especially SE Michigan / Metro Detroit) for those of us SE Michiganders of a certain age? I give you this Faygo commercial on the Bob-Lo boat:
I probably would have said chili myself, after all it’s been designated the Official Dish of Texas by the state legislature. But brisket is also a reasonable choice. Tex-Mex is more of a cuisine than a single dish but chips and queso also has a strong case.
As a native Wisconsonian, I agree. I also consider somersausage to merit a mention. Every little butcher shop in the state has its own variation, and they’re all delicious. I’d also add frozen custard, which the state was crazy for long before Culver’s added their spin on it.
Also the butter burger, invented n the 1930’s by Solly’s Grille of Glendale WI, for which they received a James Beard award.
Really?! They must be kidding! The Maxwell Street dog is something we are famous for. I never even heard of Shrimp Dejonghe being associated with Chicago in any way.
You take that back! Stacked enchiladas are the most supreme variant, especially with a barely over easy egg on top! Although I prefer the single distinct stack rather than casserole style families often serve.
I ate at one that offered honest-to-god house-made chicken-fried steak instead of one of the frozen pre-made ones. It was cube steak, presumably pounded out and stowed in a refrigerator, then battered moments before being dropped into the fryer. It made all others I’ve had pale in comparison.
Alas, between the owners getting old and The Plague, the place did not survive.
I’m at one of ten. A Jucy Lucy (its spelled without the i - unless you are one of those heathens who think the 5-8 came up with it) is great - I used to live about four blocks from Matts. But its FAR from ubiquitous - its like New Hampshire poutine. Nor is lutefisk - that’s REALLY something that is specific to a certain immigration group and not something the vast majority of Minnesotans have ever had. (Personally, I thought it would be walleye before I read it, or just “fried food on a stick” - since I think we hold a championship in fried food on a stick - but they made the right choice).
Kentucky: Nothing wrong with a Hot Brown, except that the last time I stayed at the Brown you couldn’t get one after about 8PM. It’s late-night drunk food, people. (They’ve revamped their restaurants a bit since then, so hopefully they’ve wised up.)
But if we’re allowing drinks (and they do, since RI is coffee milk) then it’s obviously bourbon, or possibly the mint julep.
I’d throw in an honorable mention for Kentucky-style beer cheese. You can find beer-spiked pub cheese in a lot of places, but Kentucky added plenty of red pepper and horseradish and other tasty things to make something totally new. It’s the thing I always get for out-of-towners, and they usually want some to take home.
