Maybe it’s one of those things which only get associated with a place by people not actually from there.
It’s associated with a place by people who visit diners late at night. It originated in a diner and is served almost exclusively in diners of which we have more than any place in the world. (The decline of diners due to Covid lockdowns is another discussion) I think of it as drunk late night food. It is certainly a New Jersey dish.
I would still say the pork roll, egg and cheese sandwich is more iconic and certainly more widespread. (Of course incorrectly called Taylor Ham in the north east part of the state) You can order that at any deli or bagel place in the state.
This is pretty accurate.
Disco Fries aren’t even common in Monmouth County at least and we’re the start start of the Jersey Shore plus the Bayshore.
I have almost no need for the classic 24 hour diners, but I still mourn the passing of this Jersey tradition. Now as long as they’re open until 9pm, I’m good.
We visit Binghamton every year and the Wegman’s out there carries Boss Sauce. I am addicted to that stuff, which is odd as I typically do not like sauces that sweet. It tastes like almost equal parts sugar and vinegar, with some mustard, ketchup, and hot pepper to round it out.
It’s not. There’s a citrus component (orange, I think). You can find recipes for it online
Maybe, but I’d also argue for pasties. As the article says, they came to the US with Cornish miners. And you know where there were copper mines? Montana, particularly Butte. Sure, some of them landed in Michigan first, but there were ultimately way more copper miners in Butte than in Michigan, and pasties are still hugely popular there, I’d argue more so than Michigan.
I ate many an Indian taco when I lived in Montana, where there are 8 reservations. I never had one in Wyoming, where there’s only one reservation. They just aren’t as big a big deal there. Rocky Mountain oysters or buffalo burgers would have been my choice.
Well that explains why it’s a complete mystery to me. Definitely not my demographic. It really does look like late-night food.
The first couple of recipes I found used pineapple (!). When I lived in Rochester the recipes I found definitely used orange.
https://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,67623
https://www.reddit.com/r/hotsauce/comments/ej7c56/anyone_know_how_to_replicate_boss_sauce/
Here’s a recipe that uses orange instead of pineapple
https://www.bhgc.org/miscellaneous/recipe-smittysauce/index.html
There’s only lemon on the actual label. I’ve researched this way back when. One recipe has pineapple for some reason. Maybe it’s a variant.(oh I see you have this in a follow-up post.) the description I gave I think gets you pretty darned close. It’s very sweet, sour, and a bit spicy. Maybe add the lemon or orange to complete, but I don’t get strong citrus notes from it. Maybe because I usually have the hot one? The jerk one is pretty awesome too.
Thanks for the links. With a bit of tweaking sounds like something I might make for myself!
That’s Boss Sauce, but there were others from the area. Orange was in Smitty’s sauce. I don’t know the details of Country Sweet sauce.There were slight variations between them (Country Sweet sauce was yellow, while Smitty’s and Boss were orange in color.)
I’m going to have to order some more Boss sauce. Great for barbeque. And it adds a different taste to Sloppy Joes.
Speaking of barbequing, I should order some Spiedie sauce from Binghamton.
Oddly enough, I’ve seen Spiedie sauce here in Chicago at the supermarket. It was the Salamida State Fair brand.
Yeah, I was talking Boss Sauce. Now you’ve got me jonesing for some.
Looks like a poutine variant.
It is. I’ve actually tried disco fries from a diner here in Northern Virginia.
Matts has been around since the 1950s - but its South Minneapolis - you sound like you lived near University and Snelling - and you would have needed a passport and updated shots to get to Matts (the 5-8 Club - the other bar that claims the Jucy Lucy - is about a mile and a half down Cedar from Matts). The Green Mill has gone way downhill in terms of food, the Village Wok hasn’t been around for decades, neither the Russian Tea Room. Viking Village and Porky’s are also gone - and the Mac Hotel. (Viking Villiage is now a closed CVS).
I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone visiting - Matt’s that is. Its a dive bar with a 3.2 beer license (at least that’s all it had when I lived there) that smells like urinal cake - I think they might have cleaned it before Obama got his burger there on a swing through town in 2014 - it likely hasn’t been cleaned since - whose claim to fame is putting cheese INSIDE a burger. Its a pretty good burger, but it never makes the list of top burgers in the Twin Cities. (My favorite Twin Cities burger is Saint Dinettes)
I just looked that up, and I was right across the street. Saint Dinette would have been closed at the time, though.
Eating Arizona’s iconic dish in an iconic Arizona restaurant, Martanne’s, right now.
I grew up in the neighborhood around South High and then went to Macalester College, so I know both areas (and the ones in between) pretty well. Sad to hear all those great places are gone now.
I took a virtual walk down Lake Street a few years ago and was disappointed to see that Embers is gone too. I remember eating there with my dad back in the '60s.
Now that you mention it, I have heard of Matts—I think DD&D did a segment on it a few years back. But I’ve never visited it myself.
I know the area you’re talking about because Ring’s hobby shop was there a long, long time ago. My brother and I used to go there and buy model airplanes. (There was another little shop nearby too, a ways up a hill off Cedar.)
This list - Now I want a big, super burrito. I wonder if the taco truck that used to hang out near City Hall is still there. (Stockton, CA) It was (is?) the closest thing City Hall had to a cafeteria.