Regional foods: Horseshoe Sandwich
Will Martin
what I believe is another regional food and was wondering if others on
the net know of it, and could confirm or deny that it is a local item.
There is (or was -- haven't been there for some years) a restaurant in
downtown Springfield, IL (the state capitol) called "The Sazerac". It's
basically a tavern that serves food. What seemed to be their specialty
was something called a "Horseshoe Sandwich". Basically, it is an open-faced
sandwich that could be made with several different meats, which is
served with a helping of French fried potatoes on top of the sandwich,
the whole thing topped with a ladle-full of yellow cheese sauce.
Cheese fries (French fries with cheese sauce on them) are fairly common,
I believe. This is pretty much in the same line except it puts the sandwich
itself under the cheese fries. As I recall, the horseshoe sandwich came in
hamburger, ham, and other versions (maybe roast beef? not sure...).
So I was wondering if the "horseshoe sandwich" is a downstate Illinois
regional food, or if the name is used in other parts (and, if so, for
the same thing or for something different). Is the same food item
available in other locales under a different name? [I've never seen the
exact same item for sale here in St. Louis, only a short distance from
Springfield, IL, so I don't think it has spread in this direction.] I do
not know the significance of the name -- nothing on the plate *looks*
like a horseshoe, after all... :-)
I don't think I've ever seen a food book that was specifically devoted
to cataloging and enumerating all these different regional foodstuffs.
I've seen some on "road food" that talked about restaurants in various
cities that sort of approached this in mentioning local items, and
Calvin Trillin has written some about this sort of thing, but I've never
seen an encyclopedic treatment of the subject. Can anyone point me to
such a book? If not, there might be an opening here for a new book.
Someone on the net would have a good platform to work from in compiling
such a collection...
Regards, Will
wma...@stl-06sima.army.mil OR wma...@st-louis-emh2.army.mil
L.A.Z. Smith
>
>There is (or was -- haven't been there for some years) a restaurant in
>downtown Springfield, IL (the state capitol) called "The Sazerac". It's
>basically a tavern that serves food. What seemed to be their specialty
>was something called a "Horseshoe Sandwich". Basically, it is an open-faced
>sandwich that could be made with several different meats, which is
>served with a helping of French fried potatoes on top of the sandwich,
>the whole thing topped with a ladle-full of yellow cheese sauce.
>
>regional food, or if the name is used in other parts (and, if so, for
>the same thing or for something different). Is the same food item
>available in other locales under a different name?
Is the sandwich served anywhere else in Springfield? If it's only
served in the one place then it doesn't qualify as a "regional" dish;
it's just a restaurant's specialty.
By contrast, I'll mention a little known Detroit sandwich called a Dinty
Moore. I didn't realize this was a regional specialty until I moved out
of Detroit -- every deli and sandwich shop there serves it. It's not
really exciting, a triple decker corned beef sandwich on white toast
with lettuce, tomato and Russian dressing, apparently named after the
now-defunct restaurant which originated it, but it counts as a regional
food. Anyone in Detroit can tell you what it is and where to get one.
>I don't think I've ever seen a food book that was specifically devoted
>to cataloging and enumerating all these different regional foodstuffs.
Jane and Michael Stern's "Good Food" is a sort of catalog of regional
foods with accounts of the restaurants that serve them. It's not
exhaustive (they don't mention Dinty Moores, for example), but it's a
good start.
---
L.A.Z. Smith le...@smith.uucp le...@smith.chi.il.us
Wheeling, Illinois leah%sm...@ast.dsd.northrop.com
James J Kristofer
>In article <910724153...@cs.utexas.edu> wma...@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Will Martin) writes:
>>
>>There is (or was -- haven't been there for some years) a restaurant in
>>downtown Springfield, IL (the state capitol) called "The Sazerac". It's
>>basically a tavern that serves food. What seemed to be their specialty
>>was something called a "Horseshoe Sandwich". Basically, it is an open-faced
>>sandwich that could be made with several different meats, which is
>>served with a helping of French fried potatoes on top of the sandwich,
>>the whole thing topped with a ladle-full of yellow cheese sauce.
>>
>>So I was wondering if the "horseshoe sandwich" is a downstate Illinois
>>regional food, or if the name is used in other parts (and, if so, for
>>the same thing or for something different). Is the same food item
>>available in other locales under a different name?
>
>Is the sandwich served anywhere else in Springfield? If it's only
>served in the one place then it doesn't qualify as a "regional" dish;
>it's just a restaurant's specialty.
>
these. But, they seemed to be only located in Springfield, IL. I have
yet to see them in the Champaign-Urbana area (also in IL).
Maybe the Courier could start selling it? It would go great with their
Skinnydippers. YUM :-)
Kris
--
*********************************************************
"I don't wanna grow up, caus' if I did, I couldn't be a
Toys "R" Us kid"
kris%uigel...@garcon.cso.uiuc.edu
*********************************************************
bruce bowser
> Inspired by the recent "Kentucky Hot Brown" discussion: I've run across
> what I believe is another regional food and was wondering if others on
> the net know of it, and could confirm or deny that it is a local item.
> There is (or was -- haven't been there for some years) a restaurant in
> downtown Springfield, IL (the state capitol) called "The Sazerac". It's
> basically a tavern that serves food. What seemed to be their specialty
> was something called a "Horseshoe Sandwich". Basically, it is an open-faced
> sandwich that could be made with several different meats, which is
> served with a helping of French fried potatoes on top of the sandwich,
> the whole thing topped with a ladle-full of yellow cheese sauce.
> Cheese fries (French fries with cheese sauce on them) are fairly common,
> I believe.
dsi1
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Q5CzjcmK6cfYaApZ6
Mike Duffy
> also Quebec Cheese Fries and Gravy (called 'Poutine').
some places add to their poutine menus.