(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
My Five Favorite Regional Sandwiches [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-06-28
One of the things I like about traveling is getting to try out some of the regional foods around the country. In particular, there are a lot of specialty sandwiches that are regional, and I make sure to try them out whenever I go to a new area.
So, here is my list of my favorite regional sandwiches. These only include sandwiches which are either found almost entirely in just one area, city or region, or which are so completely dominated by one area that they might as well be. So this list does not include nation-wide things like Reubens or BLT or Grilled Cheese or whatever else (and I’m not counting Albuquerque’s Green Chili Cheeseburgers either since there are lots of burger variants).
My list:
Cuban Sandwich (Tampa Bay FL)
I did an entire diary on the history of the Cuban Sandwich, here.
The short version: it’s not really “Cuban”, but comes from the Cuban-American cigar worker community in Tampa Bay, around 1900. (There have also been claims that it was invented in Miami—those claims are heretical and nobody should pay any attention to those pretenders.)
A Cuban Sandwich is made from Cuban bread (which is pretty similar to French bread), and contains ham, pork, salami, swiss cheese, pickle, and mustard. (The Miami variant omits the salami.) Some other versions add turkey, some add mayo. The Key West variation adds lettuce and tomato. In all versions, the sandwich comes either cold, or hot-pressed in a grill called a plancha.
The Cuban seems to have spread around the southeast (I had a very good Cuban in a “Miami Cafe” in Birmingham AL), but has not gone national yet.
Cheesesteak (Philadelphia PA)
Although it has now gone pretty much national, the Cheesesteak will always be most closely identified with Philadelphia. According to the story, it was invented in the 1930s by a hot dog vendor named Olivieri who wanted something different for his menu and placed sliced steak in a hot dog roll. Later, in the 1940s, somebody in his shop added cheese, put it all in an Amoroso hoagie roll—and the Cheesesteak was born. A real authentic modern Philly Cheesesteak contains thinly-sliced ribeye steak, Cheez Wiz (though many wimps substitute provolone or mozzarella instead), optional onions, and that’s it—no lettuce or tomatoes or pickles or whatever. If you want veggies, get a salad. In the Lehigh Valley, north of Philadelphia, a popular variant is the Pizza Steak, which is slopped with pizza sauce. Good, but very messy.
Today there are two famous Cheesesteak places in Philadelphia, Pat’s and Geno’s, located right across the street from each other. They have a longstanding rivalry and you can start fights by declaring one better than the other. Me, I grew up in the Lehigh Valley just north of Philly and visited both places many times. And I like Pat’s. (Geno is … um ... an asshole.)
Nowadays the Cheesesteak has gone national and can be found in most any mall food court you go to, thanks to Charley’s and Subway. BUT it’s just not a real Philly Cheesesteak without those local Amoroso’s Italian bread rolls.
Po Boy (New Orleans LA)
According to legend, the Po Boy came into being during a 1929 streetcar strike in New Orleans. One of the local eateries was run by the Martin brothers, who happened to be former streetcar conductors, and they sympathized with the strikers and began offering them free sandwiches. These consisted of odd leftover cuts of roast beef and fried potatoes, topped with gravy, on a French bread roll. It became known as the Po Boy.
Over time, the sandwich evolved. Today, a Po Boy is still made from French bread and roast beef or sometimes ham, and the fried potatoes have been replaced with french fries. More often, however, the roast beef is topped with deep-fried oysters, crawfish, or shrimp. (I’m not a fan of oysters, so I go with the shrimp.) You might also see particular variations that are topped with anything from deep-fried fish to alligator nuggets.
A Po Boy can also be “dressed”—with shredded lettuce, tomato, mayo and/or mustard. And of course like everything edible in New Orleans it can be sprinkled with a shot of Louisiana hot sauce.
Beef on Weck (Buffalo NY)
Although the Buffalo area is best-known for its chicken wings, my favorite of its regional foods is the Beef on Weck, which seems to be virtually unknown outside of the city.
Most stories attribute the origin of the sandwich to a German immigrant named Wahr, who opened a bakery in Buffalo in the late 19th century. One of his offerings was “kummelweck”, something like a kaiser roll with a hard shell, a soft spongy interior, and a sprinkling of caraway seeds. One of the local restaurants began serving a sandwich made by placing thinly-sliced roast beef inside a kummelweck roll (now shortened to “weck”), and adding some horseradish. Later, in the 1890s, the Beef on Weck was completed by putting a layer of salt crystals on the top of the roll. (I suspect that was done to entice the customer to buy more beer.) It surged in popularity after being served at the Pan American Exposition in 1901 (the one at which McKinley had a bad day).
I had my Beef on Weck in Schwabl’s Restaurant, which claims to have invented it (and has a little museum exhibit dedicated to showing that they invented it.)
Yes, it is basically just a roast beef sandwich. But that weck roll and horseradish give it an extra-good kick. (And the salt probably gives your blood pressure an extra kick.)
Lobster Roll (New England)
Oh, these are soooooo good … but so $pendy.
For most of us today, “lobster” is an expensive delicacy. In colonial days in New England, however, lobster was plentifully available and dirt cheap, and it was well-known as a food for the poor. Indeed, it was fed to prison inmates so often, the story goes, that they rioted and demanded that they be fed lobster no more than twice a week.
Sometime back in the 1920s, according to the legends, a restaurant in the town of Milford CT was looking for some way to use the lower-quality meat from the lobster claws, and hit upon the idea of putting it in sandwiches. And the “lobster roll” came into being.
Today there are several different versions (and lots of argument over which is best). In most versions, the lobster claw meat is shredded into bits and placed inside a “New England style” hot dog bun, which is sliced lengthwise along the top instead of along the side. It is then topped with melted butter. In a variant, sometimes called “lobster salad roll”, the lobster is mixed with mayo and celery bits. Either version can also be made hot or cold.
Which is best? Me, I’m happy with any version. When I was visiting New England towns like Portland, Providence, Boston or Hartford, I was going broke and dynamiting my food budget to pieces by having lobster roll every day for lunch and/or dinner—a different variation each time—at $30-40 a pop. My wallet was very unhappy with me, but my stomach loved it.
Honorable Mention: Pork Roll
I grew up eating Taylor Pork Roll—it was a staple in eastern Pennsylvania both as a breakfast sausage and on sandwiches.
Pork Roll appeared in 1856, when a businessman in New Jersey named John Taylor began selling it. It is referred to as a “processed meat product”, and although the recipe and ingredients are a trade secret, it is made from hickory-smoked minced pork, salt, and a mix of various spices. It is sort of like a cross between ham and Canadian bacon.
As a breakfast food, Pork Roll is usually fried and served with eggs, like sausage or ham. For sandwiches, it is usually placed on a hamburger bun or kaiser roll and topped with a slice of cheese. I also like it with barbecue sauce. Since it comes pre-cooked, some folks eat it cold, though I have always thought it is better when fried to make it more firm and crispy.
Pork roll (also sometimes called “Taylor Ham”) remains a regional specialty in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.
And that’s my list. Whaddya think? Any of these you like/hate? Does your region have any sandwich specialty of its own?
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/28/2327308/-My-Five-Favorite-Regional-Sandwiches?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
