American Sandwichiana

[CrispyCritter]

There is a fascinating area in Southern Illinois, a strip of land between the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, that obviously gets increasingly narrow until the two converge. It is interesting because there are a wealth of Mississippian and other Indian sites there, and its present day culture is interesting because it is rural and somewhat isolated, bridges being infrequent. There are still several ferries in operation.

I had a unique fish dish there in a diner a few years ago. I don't recall the species but it wasn't catfish. When breaded and deep fried, it looked like an Outback Bloomin' Onion, each petal a perfectly cooked morsel of fish flesh.

Mmmmm, that sounds good. I wish I had known about that one when I took my little roadtrip to St. Louis last November. Rather than go directly home, I crossed the Mississippi at Alton, and then headed up Illinois Highway 100, which crosses into that general area as it heads north. Some of the stretches of Hwy. 100 are quite scenic. Unfortunately, the weather sucked that day, so I didn't stop to take pictures.

On the other hand, during the trip to St. Louis, I stopped at a classic Route 66 icon, the Ariston Cafe in Litchfield - in business since 1929, and at its present location since 1935. It's well worth a stop if you're in the area - not just for the history, but for the food as well.

[cowdery]

I don't recall where it was, but it might have been near Kampsville, so you probably were in the vicinity.

[CrispyCritter]

Yup, Highway 100 goes through Kampsville. I'll have to remember this in case I head back to that area sometime.

Strangely, Google Maps labels Illinois River Rd. going due south from Kampsville as Rte. 1. This is very incorrect, as Illinois Highway 1 runs along the eastern edge of the state from Chicago (95th & Halsted) to Cave-in-Rock on the Ohio River. Maybe it's a county highway number.

[Big Chipper]

I grew up in New Orleans, so my three favorite sandwiches of all time are the muffaletta, a Ferdi's special from Mother's and a good shrimp po boy. A muffaletta is a large round Italian bread stuffed with cappicola, mortadela, salami, provalone, topped with a garlicky olive spread. A Ferdi's special is roast beef po boy (w/ gravy and debris)that adds ham and is a specialty of Mother's Restaurant. The shimp po boy consists of fried gulf shrimp on french bread with lettuce, tomatoes, and mayonnaise. Some places may put on cocktail sauce or tartar sauce, but they wouldn't be considered a classic "dressed" shrimp po boy.

Now that I'm in North Carolina, we put cole slaw on chili burgers, chili dogs, and most commonly pork barbeque sandwiches. There are two kinds of barbeque in NC, the tomato based sauce of the Western part of the state, and the vinegar based sauce of the Eastern part of the state. It's real good...

[ILLfarmboy]

I don't believe anyone has yet mentioned the Reuben; corned beef, Swiss cheese and Sauerkraut with Russian dressing on toasted rye or pumpernickel. it's one of my favorite hot sandwiches.

[gr8erdane]

I don't recall the species but it wasn't catfish. When breaded and deep fried, it looked like an Outback Bloomin' Onion, each petal a perfectly cooked morsel of fish flesh.

Sounds to me like it might have been a roughfish like carp or sucker. Most of the time when a fish is prepared like that is for two reasons: 1. carp to get the "mud" taste out or 2. suckers to allow the hot grease to dissolve all the tiny little bones. I may be wrong but that would be my guess. Then again it could even be sturgeon out of the Mississippi or Illinois....

[Ubertaster]

Back when I used to live across the river from St. Louis I rode my motorcycle north of Alton to Hardin where their specialty was a buffalo fish sandwich with raw onions and pickles. I wish I had one now. Hardin also had a bar called the County Seat that had the Mescal with the worm in an airline type 2oz bottle [Monte Albin] that they would pour in a glass and serve. If you drank the worm they would write your name in red magic marker on the ceiling or wall. If you could not keep the worm down they wrote your name with a green magic marker. I have my name [in red] on the ceiling three times. They had hundreds of names on the ceiling and walls.

bj

[cowdery]

Sounds to me like it might have been a roughfish like carp or sucker. Most of the time when a fish is prepared like that is for two reasons: 1. carp to get the "mud" taste out or 2. suckers to allow the hot grease to dissolve all the tiny little bones. I may be wrong but that would be my guess. Then again it could even be sturgeon out of the Mississippi or Illinois....

The "tiny bones" thing rings a bell, so it may have been a sucker.

[Virus_Of_Life]

I don't believe anyone has yet mentioned the Reuben; corned beef, Swiss cheese and Sauerkraut with Russian dressing on toasted rye or pumpernickel. it's one of my favorite hot sandwiches.

I am with you on that one! I was going to mention it too until I finally got to your post where it was brought up. I love Reuben Sandwiches, not sure where the originated although the similarity to Corned Beef and Pastrami on rye from NY would make me think that area.

Eating Reubens is where I believe I developed my love for Rye bread. There is some place in Oregon that makes a Turkey Reuben, McMenamins Pub I think it was, that was just phenomenol! I love it with pastrami too. OK I am hungry now!

[RoyalWater]

Hillbilly hot dog: footlong weiner on a white bun; what distinguishes it is onions, chili (NOT hot dog sauce), and cole slaw, relish and mustard are optional; some places offer kraut but I've never noticed any consistency on that; the weiner may be anything from an IGA generic to Nathan's but I've never seen anyone offer Hebrew National and I've eaten dozens of these.

Hillbilly hot dogs are available at any dairy bar and roadside grill in Appalachian KY, WV, VA, and TN under various names, but usually just 'hot dog' (w/ everything) also 'slaw dog', 'southern slaw dog', 'miner's sausage' etc.