Cheapism / Yelp
For as much as Americans love sandwiches, this country might as well be called the United States of Bread. Practically every region has its own beloved sandwiches, and sometimes you can’t even find them beyond a particular city or neighborhood. From sweet and creamy to savory and cheesy, here are some of the best American regional sandwiches you may never have heard of.
Region: New Orleans
This big, round, sesame seed-studded sandwich came from NOLA’s Sicilian immigrants. Head to Cochon Butcher for layers of mortadella, salami, ham, provolone, and briny chopped olive salad. The oil from the salad permeates the bread, making the sandwich even better after a couple hours.
Region: New England
There are two types of lobster rolls: Maine-style with a mayo-based lobster meat salad, and Connecticut-style, with warm lobster meat coated in melted butter. Both are delicious in their own way, and served on New England-style hot dog buns toasted on the sides. While most places outside of the East Coast serve Maine-style, it’s worth seeking out the hot buttered version.
Region: Indiana, Iowa
The pounded, breaded, and fried pork tenderloin sandwiches of Indiana and parts of Iowa are comically large, sometimes spilling over the hamburger bun — and plate! — by multiple inches on all sides. They’re often served with mustard, pickles, and onions on top. Try one at Smitty’s Tenderloins in Des Moines, where they come in queen and king sizes.
Region: Texas
Of course, barbecue rules in Texas. Order a chopped beef to get a soft hamburger bun piled high with chopped smoked brisket, a good squirt of tangy barbecue sauce, and sometimes a few pickle slices. You can get one at any restaurant with good barbecue, but Buc-ee’s version is a reliable and easy-to-find fave.
Region: New Jersey
Before you think you know what a sloppy joe is, go order one at a diner or deli in New Jersey. Instead of Manwich, you’ll get a triple decker deli sandwich with roast beef, slaw, Russian dressing, and Swiss. It was invented at the Town Hall Delicatessen in the 1930s when the local mayor asked the chef to re-create a sandwich he had at Sloppy Joe’s bar in Havana.
Region: Chicago
If you’ve seen the popular show "The Bear," you are at least familiar with Italian beef sandwiches. You can get the drippy, messy sandwiches all over Chicago, piled high with shaved roast beef simmered in Italian-spiced jus. Hot giardiniera peppers are a must, as is getting your whole sandwich, bun and all, dipped in the gravy. Head to Mr. Beef for the restaurant that inspired The Bear.
Region: Richmond
Head to the New York Delicatessen in Richmond for the original Sailor Sandwich which was first created there in 1943. It’s a messy combination of pastrami, Swiss cheese, and a split, grilled knackwurst, a chubby, garlic-filled German sausage. It’s served on toasted rye bread with a side of spicy mustard.
Region: Florida
The Cubano, with roast pork, ham, Swiss, pickles, and mustard pressed on Cuban bread, probably originated with cigar rollers in the Tampa area in the late 1800s. Nowadays, it’s everywhere, but in Tampa, it still includes an extra layer of funky Italian salami. Try it at Columbia Restaurant in Tampa or Sanguichin Miami.
Region: Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Most pizzerias, delis, and restaurants in the UP all have cudighi, a local version of an Italian sausage sandwich. It’s made with pork sausage seasoned with wine, cinnamon, and garlic, but with no fennel, a typical Italian sausage ingredient. It’s cooked in patties instead of links, then placed on a roll with marinara, mozzarella, and sometimes peppers and onions.
Region: Chicago
This Southside Chicago sandwich has a history as fascinating as its name. It’s a hot dog bun that holds a commercially made hot tamale, covered in chili. Though we don’t know exactly how or where this sandwich got its name, we do know that Chicago’s unique hot tamales made their journey north from the Mississippi Delta with African Americans over a century ago. Try one at Fat Johnnie’s Famous Red Hots.
Region: Baltimore
Baltimore’s regional version of roast beef (and “its answer to barbecue”) is called pit beef. It’s top round roasted slowly over charcoal until rare, then shaved thinly to order and piled on a crusty roll with creamy horseradish sauce and perhaps onions. Get it at no-frills Pioneer Pit Beef that always has a pile of logs waiting to be turned into charcoal beside it.
Region: New England
This less well-known cousin to the lobster roll is a more economical but just as delicious option at seafood shacks around New England. Crispy fried clams are piled high into a split-top bun, and often topped with tartar sauce. Fried clam strips are sometimes used, but purists prefer fried whole clam bellies.
Region: Philadelphia
One of the most well-known regional sandwiches on this list, the Philly cheesesteak is iconic. It started back in the 1930s when Pat, a hot dog stand operator, picked up some beef for sandwiches, grilled it up with onions, and a cab driver demanded to buy one. That turned into Pat’s King of Steaks, where you can still get your steak with onions and cheese whiz 24/7.
Region: South
Pimento cheese is a Southern staple spread made with grated cheese (often sharp cheddar), diced jarred red pimento peppers, and just enough mayonnaise to hold it all together (Duke’s, please!). Spread it on two slices of bread and you’ve got a cheap lunch, even at the high-falutin’ Masters golf tournament.
Region: Los Angeles
The French dip traces its roots back to Los Angeles, where a couple different restaurants claim to have been the first to serve it. No matter its origin, it’s made with sliced roast beef on a sturdy french roll and comes with a side of au jus for dipping. Eat one at Phillipe, where you can get it made with other meats like pork or lamb.
Region: Denver
Forget bananas — this is the sandwich that Elvis actually loved. The fool’s gold loaf was a creation of the Colorado Mine Company, a now-closed restaurant that celebrities frequented in the 1970s. Elvis was one of them, and he liked the giant-sized sandwich made on a whole loaf of bread with peanut butter, a whole jar of jam, and bacon so much that he famously flew his private jet back to Colorado when he had a craving.
Region: Binghamton, NY
The Spiedie is a simple sandwich with a big following in upstate New York. A skewer of grilled, heavily marinated meat is served with a slice of bread or on a roll. That’s it: there’s no toppings or condiments here. The meat is usually chicken or pork, but you can get lamb and beef as well. Get one at Spiedie & Rib Pit in Vestal, New York.
Region: Louisville
A Hot Brown kind of skirts the laws of sandwich, considering it’s an open-faced concoction that really can’t be eaten with your hands. It starts with a couple pieces of white toast in an oven-safe dish, which are topped with roasted turkey, bacon, sliced tomato, and a hefty amount of cheesy mornay sauce before being broiled. Get one at the Brown Hotel, where it was first created in the 1920s.
Region: Louisiana
New Orleans’ famous po’boy sandwich probably originated during the 1929 railway employees union strike. Sympathetic restaurant owners took some leftovers, stuffed them into rolls, and handed them out to the unemployed “poor boys” who were striking, hence the name. Fried shrimp or oysters are standard, as is falling-apart roast beef with gravy like the kind you get at Domilise’s Po-Boy and Bar.
Region: New Jersey
In Jersey, pork roll refers to a smoked ham product made since the 1850s and also called Taylor Ham. It’s sliced and griddled and put on a bagel or roll along with eggs and cheese for a standard quick breakfast. Try one at the White Rose Diner where you can also get pork roll in an omelet.
Region: Nebraska
This little-known variation on the grilled cheese sandwich is deep fried for the ultimate crispy, melty experience. When the cheese sandwich is assembled, it’s cut into triangles, then dipped in egg batter and breading (which often includes corn flakes cereal) before getting thrown in the deep fryer. Get one at Don and Millie’s, a small fast food chain in Omaha and Lincoln.
Region: Massachusetts
Marshmallow Fluff dates back to 1917 Massachusetts, and probably not long after, someone thought to pair it on some white bread with peanut butter. That made perhaps what is the most American of sandwiches ever, with tons of sugar and delicious processed ingredients. If you’ve never had one, just sub your jelly for marshmallow cream next time you make a PB+J.
Region: Iowa
Imagine a ground beef sloppy joe, but take out the sloppy joe sauce. Voila, you’ve got a loose meat sandwich. It’s a specialty of Iowa, where diners like Maid-Rite serve the unwieldy sandwich with a spoon so you can eat all the beef left in your basket. Get it topped with pickles, onion, and yellow mustard, like a hamburger.
Region: Chicago
This unusual sandwich came out of Puerto Rican neighborhoods of Chicago, and uses whole smashed and fried plantains (think giant tostones) in place of bread. Get one at Papa’s Cache Sabroso filled with ribeye steak, cheese, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, and mayo.
Region: Southeastern Massachusetts
Chinese-American mashups have created some interesting sandwiches over the years, and the chow mein sandwich is one of them. Chinese restaurants in the Fall River area, like Mee Sum, all serve the sandwich, which was probably created a century ago as a cheap meal. Crunchy fried chow mein noodles are piled onto a soft bun and topped with thick gravy, often made with bean sprouts and pork.
Region: New York City
The chopped cheese has a cult following in areas like the Bronx and Harlem, where bodegas sell them on practically every corner. Ground beef is griddled (often by chopping up a preformed hamburger patty on the griddle) and topped with plenty of gooey American cheese. It’s all dumped on a hoagie roll with toppings and condiments like lettuce, tomato, and ketchup.
Region: Denver
Also called a Western sandwich, this creation features a Denver omelet (with ham, onions, and green peppers) between two pieces of bread. No one’s quite sure how this sandwich came about, but one theory is that it originated with the Chinese laborers building the Transcontinental Railroad in the mid-1800s. It would have been similar to egg foo yung, a dish they would have been familiar with. Nowadays, it’s not as easy to find as a Denver omelet, but it’s certainly easy to make at home.
Region: Philadelphia
If you’re over the Philly cheesesteak thing, there’s an even better local sandwich to try: Italian roast pork. It likely got its start with Italian immigrants, and it’s made with roasted sliced or shredded pork, sharp provolone cheese, and a topping of sauteed broccoli rabe or spinach. It’s all placed on a crusty Italian roll with some of the pork juices. Get one at DiNic’s at Reading Terminal Market.
Region: St. Louis
Funny enough, the St. Paul sandwich can only be found in St. Louis, not Minnesota. It was created by the city’s Chinese-American immigrants at their restaurants in the area. An egg foo yung patty made with eggs, sprouts, and often meat, is sandwiched between white bread slices with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, and pickle.
Region: Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh style sandwich is all thanks to Primanti’s, the local chain that’s been slinging sandwiches since 1933. Pick your meat, which gets griddled and tossed on thick-sliced Italian bread along with a mound of vinegary coleslaw and a handful of fresh french fries. It’s a handful.
Region: Buffalo, New York
Weck is short for kummelweck, a type of German hard roll with coarse salt and caraway seeds on top. When piled with rare shaved roast beef and horseradish, it’s called a beef on weck in the Buffalo region. Head to Schwabl’s where they hand-slice the beef to order and serve it with German-style potato salad.
Region: New England
Everyone loves a great Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich, but in many parts of New England, you can get the comforting Pilgrim sandwich all year long. It’s got roasted turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and usually gravy as well. Get a fantastic version in Boston at Mike’s City Diner.
Region: Nebraska
Though it’s more like a Hot Pocket than a sliced bread sandwich, the Runza is a Nebraska favorite. It’s made with yeasted dough baked around a simple filling of ground beef, onions, and cabbage. German, Russia, and Czech immigrants probably all had similar items that morphed into today’s runza — and the chain fast food restaurant of the same name.
Region: South
There is nothing better than a simple tomato sandwich in the heart of summer when the tomatoes are so heavy with juice that they’re falling off the plant. It’s a Southern favorite, which is why you should always use Duke’s mayo when you make it at home with your backyard (or farmers market) tomatoes. Don’t forget to generously salt and pepper the tomatoes, and use sturdy white bread.
Region: Virginia
Virginia is known for its country ham, which is cured and aged, leaving it dry, salty, and ready to shaved and eaten sparingly. It’s best when it’s placed on a fresh biscuit, as people do all around Virginia and other parts of the South for parties, snacks, tailgates, and fancy brunches. Sometimes it’s served with chutney, jam, or mustard, but the savory ham and pillowy biscuit are great partners as it is.
Region: St. Louis
Delis and restaurants in St. Louis all serve the Gerber Sandwich, an open-faced creation of garlic bread topped with ham and melted Provel cheese — a processed cheese you can’t find easily outside of this region. It was created in 1973 at Ruma’s Deli and named after a customer, Dick Gerber.