When my father was a young, blond 18 year old–still shaking the sand off his shorts from the Santa Barbara beaches–he traveled across Europe and found himself sitting at the counter of a little Parisian bistro. Rolls were brought to the table followed by perfectly cooked boeuf, which he promptly put between two halves of one of the rolls.
Then he asked for ketchup.
The chef stormed out of the kitchen screaming in a thick French accent: “You Americans make sandwiches out of everything!”
He wasn’t wrong.
Lonely Planet USA pulled together a guide to the top 20 American regional sandwiches in honor of National Sandwich Month. The list spans the length and breadth of the United States, showcasing just how into sandwiches we are. It’s a slice of American food culture, served with a pickle and fries.
I asked Robert Reid, Lonely Planet’s U.S. Travel Editor – Why are we celebrating sandwiches this month?
Where to begin? The sandwich is the ultimate food item. Anyone can make it, anyone can take it with them — and there’s no end to what a sandwich can be. It’s like the travel food MVP if you think about it. Who hasn’t packed a sandwich on a plane to avoid the airplane meal, or taken one along on a day hike? Plus it’s a funny word: sandwich. It just makes you smile to say it.
Sandwiches have never been bigger. And it’s not just the US – they come with in sorts of regional varieties around the world: who’d think you could put pickled leaks and carrots in a sandwich? Vietnam figured out it can work, and now the banh mi is a certified US food trend at the moment.
What was the criteria for the 20 American Regional Sandwich list?
We didn’t want to go with obvious or widespread ones, rather the ones that only show up in one place that you circle on your atlas and steer towards on a roadtrip, or remember for the next time you go to Buffalo. Reubens, hot pastramis, and cheese steaks can be found almost anywhere in the US. No one needs our help to know about those. But this project, which really could be a book, uncovered so many local ones that few people knew about that it practically wrote itself. Just hoping that someone, somewhere will be bold enough to bring back the Denver!
That sounds like a rallying cry to me: Bring back the Denver! Remember the pickle!
As a Southern California resident, I live close enough to the birthplace of the French Dip sandwich – Number 7 on the list – to take advantage of Philippe’s 45cent coffee, home-made apple pie, and – of course – the double dipped lamb French dip sandwich with house-made hot mustard. It’s delicious! FYI – the original French Dip didn’t come with a bowl of au jus. The story goes that “one day in 1918” Philippe Mathieu was making a sandwich and accidentally dropped the sliced French roll into the roasting pan – still full of juice hot from the oven. He made the sandwich with the drippy bread and started a craze.
However, the best sandwich I’ve ever eaten (in my opinion, obviously!) came from Fremont’s Homegrown sustainable sandwich shop. So, if you’re in the Seattle area and feel like celebrating National Sandwich Month, try it. For me, I’m going to go hunt down some Banh Mi in Orange County’s Little Saigon. I feel a craving for pork and pickled carrots coming on.
What’s the sandwich specialty in your area? Tell me in the comments and don’t forget to join the WanderFood Wednesday Blog Carnival!
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