I LIKE getting deep-dish pizza in Chicago, because we don’t really have it in New York.
I’ve been racking my brain, but I don’t think we have anything that could be considered a local sandwich. The closest we have is the regional (and very much beloved) Publix Sub.
As well you should.
Back to cubanos. Here at the Chicago taquerias (and, looking at the internet, looks like elsewhere, too, including up in your neck of the woods), they serve something called a torta cubana, which one would think is a Cuban sandwich, since that’s what it translates to, but is not. It’s rather a mish-mash of whatever meats the taqueria wants to slap on a torta. See article here for details.
And a Cuban sandwich without mustard is just foreign to me. It’s kind of part of the definition of a Cuban.
I went to the University of Virginia in the early 80s and spent most of my summers in Williamsburg, VA. Williamsburg, especially around the William and Mary campus, had something called the “Hot Holly.” It was a toasted sub with roast beef, turkey and bacon in perfect balance. In retrospect, I guess it was probably just called the “Holly” but toasted, but I doubt anyone ever ordered the untoasted version.
Charlottesville, at least on the Corner (across the street from the Rotunda), had a few notable sandwiches. There was the Gusburger, a cheeseburger with a fried egg and relish with mustard at a greasy little diner called the White Spot (which was black-owned and -operated, I guess they inherited the name). Still available as of the last time I was in Charlottesville four years ago, bit they no longer offer a bowl of pinto beans on the side. A few doors up the block, at Littlejohn’s, they had a wonderful sub called the Sampson, very similar to the aforementioned Hot Holly.
Just off the northern tip of DC is a wonderful Jewish deli (I’d say “kosher” but they offer ham and other treyf delicassies) called the Parkway Deli. They have a book-sized menu full of “legendary” sandwiches, but the best is the Deli Twins, a pair of sandwiches on kaiser rolls, one pastrami, one corned beef. With potato salad and a trip to the pickle bar, this is as close to perfection as I have ever tasted.
You covered a lot of Ohio but you missed The Shredded Chicken sandwich. A favorite from my youth & still going strong in the top half of Ohio.
Here in the southern tier of NY we’ve got spiedies.
And I’m originally from Maine, so the lobster roll, of course.
For a few years, it was the Big Ass Sandwiches, though it’s similar to other all in one concoctions described above. They were fairly well known, nationwide.
I am from the Chicago area and that has been well covered in this thread, but I have yet to see a favorite of my family, who hail from Iowa and Minnesota - the Made Rite. Essentially the Made Rite is a loose ground beef sandwich that lies midway between a hamburger and a sloppy joe. There is no patty like a hamburger, but you garnish it with the same condiments you would use on a burger. There is no tomato-based sauce like a sloppy joe, but you do fry up the ground beef with finely diced onion, garlic powder and a little milk. The bun is a traditional hamburger bun.
And of course for MN itself, any sandwich you can put on a stick is a local favorite.
I can only think of the lobster roll for here too. :smack:
Oh, cool. A regional sandwich I have never heard of! I’m going to have to try one of the recipes on the page you linked to. Probably not the recipes that start with “take one 50 oz can of shredded chicken” since I had no idea such a thing existed, but the other ones. It sounds like it’s pretty dead simple: just boiled chicken, some flour-thickened broth (gravy) or cream of whatnot soup, and possibly a bit of crackers or bread crumbs for a little bit of filler/binder. Is that about right?
Thanks, Thudlow. Can’t believe I missed that one.
Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay region: soft-shell crab. Freshly moulted crabs are fried up before their new shell can harden and slapped between two pieces of bread. Non-locals may have an aversion to eating a sandwich that seems to have giant spider legs protruding from the sides.
Anyone who’s interested in sandwiches should watch the documentary, Sandwiches That You Will Like.
You must try the Connecticut version. Top split hot dog bun toasted, hot pieces of lobster with drawn butter over it. No mayo, celery, not cold.
Devine.
From Maryland, I would say scrapple for breakfast and crab cake for lunch/dinner.
I live in Ohio now, and I’ve never been introduced to anything as a local food, so I don’t know.
This is interesting, though I read the recipe and I don’t think I would want to eat chicken with flour in it. Even more interesting is that just about every location listed is an ice cream shop. I would have never guessed that an ice cream place would serve shredded chicken sandwiches. The one place in my city was a Dairy Queen, confirmed as of 2008. I’ve never seen anything there other than burgers, dogs, shrimp, and chicken fingers, but I know they sometimes list a “local menu”- which is usually side items that have no local relevance.
Unless I’m misunderstanding you or reading a different recipe, the flour is for the broth to thicken it (and make a gravy.) I’m sure you’re fine with chicken and gravy.
Oklahoma Chicken-Fried Steak Sandwich
Ooh, so many of these sound good! We will be making a version of the Michigan olive hamburger this week, for sure!
I’ve always wanted to try a beef on weck. Sounds like simplicity perfected. My favorite sandwiches are usually a version of roast beef. 
I have had pepper-and-egg sandwiches in Chicago, but it’s been so long I forgot. I remember enjoying them though.
Glad somebody mentioned the St Paul sandwich from STL. I do miss those. My local joint would put everything but the kitchen sink in the egg foo yung (Leftovers, I assume, but who cares) and charge like $1.50 for a nice hearty sandwich. We’d order a full complement of Chinese dishes plus a few St Paul sandwiches to take to work the next day or have as midnight snack.
That Polish boy looks evil but still good. Like, I’d have heartburn all night–but still crave one a few days later! I’ll have to look out for that next time I’m in the area.
I don’t think anyone mentioned the “debris” po-boys from NOLA. A solid runner up to a good homestyle Italian Beef.