In my case, it’s in the link.
Hawaii has a Kalua pork sandwich that’s pretty good.
In Oakland it’s the fried chicken sandwich, pioneered by Bakesale Betty, and now copied by many restaurants around the city. It’s a fried chicken breast with spicy coleslaw on a torpedo roll. For some reason, Betty’s web site doesn’t have any pictures of their food. There’s a good shot of the proprietor holding one of here sandwiches here.
This is the correct answer for Philly (my current home town) these days. The cheese steak is for tourists. Has been for years. That said, if you go with a cheese steak it has to be a proper steak. Amoroso rolls and wiz (preferably with, but you might not like fried onion). Pepper are acceptable, but only rarely.
I grew up in Southen California and the only correct answer for the greater Los Angeles area is a taco. It may not be a sandwich per second, but if fills that niche.
That reminds me! The Connecticut Lobster Roll.
A New England hot dog bun, toasted, filled with hot chunks of lobster meat drizzled in drawn butter.
So goooood.
Philly guy here. As noted above Philly is blessed with some iconic sandwiches: cheesesteaks, roast pork, roast beef.
Cheesesteaks for me must have American cheese, fried onions AND. THAT. IS. IT. No peppers, no toasted roll, no brie(oh good lord) One must studiously avoid Pat’s and Geno’s, and go into other neighborhoods where you get a much better sandwich, value for money, far less attitude and no lines.
Roast pork: I prefer it as plain as possible. Not-too-thinly sliced, herb-roasted pork, a great pork jus and a fresh hoagie roll. Ask for it “wet,” the drips are worth the extra flavor.
Roast beef: I can take it or leave it. If I get one, it’s gotta’ be “wet” with a little provolone.
One of our local sandwich places, John’s, aka The Shack, on Snyder Ave below Front St., copped a James Beard award, offering up their version of the above three and many others.
A Torta, specifically from Guedo’s:
Dammit. Your posts are never good for my waistline. They always include something local that sounds amazing that I’ve never heard of before…
Unfortunately, living in florida, there really isnt anything unique to the area.
Everything is either generic to cater to the tourist/snowbird/retiree crowd, or imported from someplace else.
Coming from Cincinnati i might offer these.
Skyline cheese coneys
or Steak Hoagies
Which unlike what most people call a hoagie is not a poorboy/hero type sandwich.
Its baked in a pizza oven, usually a chopped steak patty, pizza sauce, mozzarella, and what ever other pizza toppings you like, the roll is made from pizza dough, and basted in olive oil.
I can not find a link to a good one online, this is as close as i can get.
The Cuban! While it’s done halfheartedly elsewhere, the best ones (plural) I’ve had were all in Florida, and that’s where it originated (not Cuba). I think you get to claim it.
If Seattle doesn’t really have a sandwich, then out here in the wilds west of Seattle we really don’t have a sandwich. This is “wade into the water, net a Dungeness crab, clean it, cook it, and suck it out of the shell” country.
Also, salmon candy.
Yeah, definitely the Cuban. There’s even a bit of rivalry between Miami and Tampa as to whose is the best, who originated it (looks most likely Tampa), and what goes on it (Tampa includes salami, Miami does not.)
I would also think grouper sandwiches (already mentioned in this thread) would work, given how much Florida is associated with grouper.
Sure, the cheesesteak is most well known, but certainly the times I’ve been to Philly, the cheesesteak joints weren’t just filled with tourists (even Pat’s), judging by the accents and uniformed city workers there. It’s a common thing to say pretty much everywhere where something has achieved national acclaim so that it’s not so much an in-group “secret” anymore, but I really do think it’s the locals that keep these places alive.
I live in South Florida, 10 minutes from the Gulf and yes Grouper sandwiches would def be considered a local sandwich. You’re pretty much eating crispy fried deliciousness that was swimming in the Gulf mere hours before it’s on your plate. Pretty delish.
As a native Floridian, I also grew up eating the staple sandwiches mentioned earlier from Georgia. Pimento cheese on white bread (puhminna is how it’s pronounced here lol) and yessss the tomato sandwich yum!!! Tomato slices, Miracle Whip or Duke’s, salt & pepper on white bread (and sometimes onion too).
Heh. Hell, I just remembered Hawaii used to be called the Sandwich Islands.
In Bangkok, my old home, you could order a club sandwich in, um, certain establishments, but don’t expect any kind of food item, heh. 
As long as we’re counting burritos as sandwiches, then my hometown, San Diego, has the California burrito, which comes filled with carne asada, French fries, and cheddar cheese, and may additionally have lettuce, pico de gallo, guacamole, or sour cream. You can also get the whole mess on a plate without the tortilla, in which case it’s called carne asada fries.
Las Vegas is now the home of more Capriotti’s Sandwich Shops than even the home state of Maryland. Their signature sandwiches are The Bobbie and the Capistrami.
You are right. I was being grumpy. I love a good steak. Everyone does. It’s just too obvious an answer. Roast pork is, it seems to me, more generally popular with locals too.
No, I hear ya. When it comes to Chicago, we hear a lot about deep dish pizza, and I want to dismiss it as “tourist pizza,” too. In my experience, 90% of the time, Chicagoans eat a Midwestern variety of thin crust pizza (sometimes called “tavern style”) that is cut into squares (“party cut”). Deep dish is not everyday pizza by any stretch of the imagination around here. But when you say pizza and Chicago, that’s what everyone thinks of. That said, you go to a deep dish place, it will be indeed be mostly locals there at most places (even though it’s not everyday pizza), but when tourists visit Chicago, they’ll only want to go to a deep dish (or stuffed) place.
I’ve had decent Cubanos in Miami and Key West. But Floridians cut their pork on a slicing machine, which sucks the juices out.
New York Cuban sandwiches always have the roast pork or pernil cut by hand from the joint. Plus the ham, cheese, pickle, and then into the toaster press. Never had mustard offered here, either. Salami? Why gild the lily?
Cubanos are one of the few sandwiches honored by their own hipster song. Which happens to include the recipe. In a rhyming quatrain.