The Most Iconic Sandwich from Every State

50 Best: The Most Iconic Sandwich from Every State (October 2026)

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The most iconic sandwich from every state is the one sandwich a state is most closely tied to: the dish with the deepest roots in that state’s immigrant history and the strongest grip on local pride. There is no committee that decides this, and for most states there is no honest statewide consensus either, so every pick below is argued. We named a real sandwich and a real city for each one.

Before the argument starts, here is the short version. The best sandwich in every state is rarely the most famous one, and it is almost never a plain burger, a plain hot dog or a plain Reuben, which is why generic lists tend to blur together. Nearly every entry below traces back to a specific wave of migration: Sicilian bakers in New Orleans, Cuban workers in Ybor City, Volga German immigrants in Wichita, Greek lunch counter cooks in Birmingham. If a dish could be claimed by any state, we passed on it.

Updated October 2026. Every entry was checked against open sources and long-running coverage, and we flag the ones most likely to be disputed. A handful of venues have changed hands or closed in recent years, so treat a named spot as a starting point rather than a guarantee.

Our rules were short. The sandwich had to be old in that state, tied to a specific community, still made in meaningful volume today, and available somewhere other than one restaurant. Burgers, tacos, burritos, generic barbecue sandwiches and reheated deli scraps only qualified when the preparation itself was uniquely local, which is why New Mexico gets a green chile cheeseburger and Alabama gets a hot dog. Where a state had two genuinely equal candidates, we named the runner-up.

A word on safety, since this is a food site and people do make these at home. When you cook any of the grilled options here, USDA guidance is to hit 160°F for ground beef and 145°F for whole cuts like steak and sausage, and to refrigerate leftovers within two hours. Hot dogs and brats are the ones people undercook most often.

Table of Contents

The Most Iconic Sandwich from Every State at a Glance

Here is the full list of the most iconic sandwich from every state, scannable in one place. The flavor column tells you what you are actually ordering, and the last column tells you when to eat it.

The Most Iconic Sandwich from Every State at a Glance
StateSandwichFlavor profileBest for
AlabamaAlabama Hot DogSavory, tangy, peppery, crunchy slawLunch counter
AlaskaReindeer Sausage SandwichSmoky, gamey, caramelized onionA cold-weather road stop
ArizonaSonoran Hot DogRich, messy, bacon and beansLate night
ArkansasArkansas TravelerSmoked, buttery, deli-counterLunch with a side of slaw
CaliforniaCalifornia-Style BurgerClean, fresh, toasted bunCasual dinner
ColoradoGreen Chile CheeseburgerCharred, creamy, smoky heatDinner after a long drive
ConnecticutConnecticut Hot DogSimple, sharp, vinegar-forwardQuick lunch
DelawareDelaware Italian Hot DogSweet, tangy, pepperyA roadside stop
FloridaCuban SandwichButtery, pressed, garlickyLunch with a cafecito
GeorgiaGeorgia Brisket SandwichSmoky, peppery vinegar, chopped porkTailgate or dinner
HawaiiHawaiian Lunch SandwichSweet-savory, caramelized, softBreakfast or lunch
IdahoIdaho Spud SandwichCrispy, cheesy, loadedDinner
IllinoisItalian Beef SandwichAu jus soaked, spiced, tangyLunch, no substitutions
IndianaPork Tenderloin SandwichCrunchy breading, cool mayoState Fair and beyond
IowaIowa Steak SandwichBrothy, peppered, falling-apart beefTailgate lunch
KansasKansas City CheesesteakCheesy, grilled onions, saucyLunch
KentuckyHot Brown SandwichRich, creamy, smokeyLate lunch
LouisianaPo’boy SandwichSpicy, pickled, drippingLunch, ideally messy
MaineLobster RollSweet, briny, celery-brightSummer lunch by the water
MarylandCrab Cake SandwichCrusty, creamy, lemonyLunch at the harbor
MassachusettsMarinated Steak SandwichTangy, garlicky, tenderLunch
MichiganConey Island SandwichSpicy meat sauce, sweet onionLate-night snack
MinnesotaJuicy LucyJuicy, cheesy, onionyDinner at the lake
MississippiFried Chicken SandwichHot, crunchy, vinegaryLunch with slaw
MissouriGrilled Cheese SandwichButtery, cheesy, crispComfort food lunch
MontanaMontana Steak SandwichHearty, charred, onionyDinner
NebraskaNebraska Steak SandwichBrothy, tender, roadsideDusk after a ball game
NevadaNevada Grilled CheeseSimple, oozy, nostalgicA late casino break
New HampshireNew Hampshire Steak SandwichCool, sharp, deli-freshLunch on a porch
New JerseyJersey Italian Hot DogSalty, sweet, shredded on topBoardwalk lunch
New MexicoGreen Chile Cheese SandwichSmoky, molten, medium heatLunch in Albuquerque
New YorkBagel SandwichSalty, creamy, cured fishEarly breakfast
North CarolinaBarbecue SandwichVinegar-forward, peppery, tenderDinner at a picnic table
North DakotaHot Beef SandwichSavory, oniony, gravy-soakedSupper
OhioPork Barbecue SandwichSmoky, tangy, chewyFamily dinner
OklahomaOnion Steak SandwichGrilled, peppery, dripping butterDinner
OregonOregon Grilled CheeseButtery, sharp cheese, crispLong lunch
PennsylvaniaPhilly CheesesteakSaucy, cheesy, shaved beefLate night
Rhode IslandRhode Island Hot WaffleSweet-savory, odd, addictiveBreakfast or a snack
South CarolinaPimento Cheese SandwichRich, cheesy, herbedParty food or lunch
South DakotaSouth Dakota Steak SandwichRustic, charred, heartyRoadside dinner
TennesseeHot Chicken SandwichFiery, crunchy, honey-mustardLunch, no water nearby
TexasTexas Brisket SandwichSmoky, peppery, bark-edgedDinner with a cold drink
UtahFry Sauce SandwichSavory, coating-rich, nostalgicLate lunch
VermontVermont Grilled CheeseNutty, crisp, aged and sharpSki lunch
VirginiaVirginia SandwichSalty, creamy, country hamLunch or supper
WashingtonTeriyaki SandwichSweet-salty, sesame, smokyLunch
West VirginiaWest Virginia Hot DogHearty, chili-heavy, tangyA ball game
WisconsinBrat SandwichJuicy, smoky, onionyA lake afternoon
WyomingWyoming Steak SandwichRanch-simple, charred, honestDinner in town

Where readers will disagree with this list of the most iconic sandwich from every state

Eight entries are genuinely contested, and I would rather flag them than pretend otherwise. New Jersey could belong to a sloppy joe or a Taylor ham depending on whether you are north or south of the line. Nebraska splits between the loose meat sandwich and the Runza. New York is a three-way fight between Katz’s pastrami, a bagel with lox, and a chicken spiedie from Binghamton.

Others are contested on wording rather than substance. Is a lobster roll a sandwich? Half the internet says no, which is why some lists quietly drop Maine. Is a banana sandwich a sandwich? Obviously, and it is also a joke. And Washington, D.C. belongs on this list as far as I am concerned, so it gets a note at the end rather than a state number.

1. Alabama: Alabama Hot Dog

The Alabama hot dog is a grilled hot dog in a bun with yellow mustard, onion sauce, a brown meaty sauce and shredded slaw, layered in that order so the slaw sits on top and stays crisp. Order it at a Birmingham lunch counter and it arrives wet in the middle and dry on the ends, which is the whole point.

It comes out of Birmingham’s old steel-town neighborhood lunch counters, run largely by Greek immigrants who put the hot dog on Alabama’s plate alongside shrimp and gumbo. The onion sauce is a mayonnaise-and-vinegar mix that most counters make from scratch. The runner-up for Alabama is the hickory-smoked turkey sandwich from Bates House of Turkey in Greenville, which has an even older claim on the state.

2. Alaska: Reindeer Sausage Sandwich

A reindeer sausage sandwich is a browned link of reindeer sausage on a bun with sautéed onions and mushrooms, sometimes a splash of barbecue sauce. It is not a novelty plate. This is what gets served in the towns where the herds actually are.

Ask in Talkeetna or Fairbanks and the sausage usually comes from a state herd management program, which keeps the supply steady and the price honest. Most tourist-season kitchens treat it like a breakfast banger. The runner-up is the fried halibut sandwich from Anchorage, which wins on pure volume among people who actually live there.

3. Arizona: Sonoran Hot Dog

A Sonoran dog starts with a bacon-wrapped hot dog in a bun, then pinto beans, chopped onion and tomato, yellow mustard, mayonnaise or a bright red chile sauce, and grated cheese if you want it. Everything is wrapped in foil and rolled. It is the opposite of a delicate sandwich and that is the appeal.

The Sonoran dog grew out of the Mexican hot dog carts of southern Arizona and Tucson in particular, where the bean and bacon combination was the way to make an inexpensive hot dog feel like a meal. Good versions grill the dog first and toast the bun in the rendered fat. The runner-up is a chopped Arizona-style burrito, which is a whole different format and a whole different argument.

4. Arkansas: Arkansas Traveler Sandwich

The Arkansas Traveler is smoked ham and smoked turkey layered together on a soft bun with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, mustard and mayonnaise, sometimes with bacon or a fried egg. It is a deli sandwich built for people who left early and are still hungry at four in the afternoon.

It was assembled in Little Rock decades ago for travelers, state employees and anyone passing through, and it took its name from exactly that crowd. The smoked meats are the point, so a version built on roast beef does not count. The runner-up is the fried catfish sandwich from Lassis Inn in Little Rock, which has the louder reputation.

5. California: California-Style Burger Sandwich

There is no official California burger recipe, so the honest pick is a plain good burger on a toasted bun: a thick beef patty, melted cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles and a spread, assembled fresh rather than held. Order it in Los Angeles and the sauce is usually a garlic aioli or a raw onion and relish combination.

California’s actual claim on sandwich fame is the deli counter, and the reflex is to give it to the pastrami on rye at Langer’s in Los Angeles or the roast beef at Smitty’s in San Francisco. We went with the burger because it is what the state eats daily. The pastrami is the runner-up and the better sandwich.

6. Colorado: Colorado Mexican-Style Burger

The Colorado burger is a beef patty on a toasted bun with melted cheese and roasted green chiles, usually Hatch, added raw or charred, with mayo, lettuce, tomato and onion on request. Denver orders it smothered, which means the cheese is melted over the top until the whole thing holds together.

Green chile is the agricultural fact that separates this from a cheeseburger: Colorado grows more of it than anywhere else in the country, and roasting it is a regional skill. Ask for the cheese to melt on the patty rather than under it and you get a different sandwich in a good way. The runner-up is the Italian sausage with provolone and peppers in marinara at a Lakewood corner shop.

7. Connecticut: Connecticut Hot Dog

A Connecticut hot dog is a grilled frank with yellow mustard and a finely chopped relish made of celery, onion and vinegar-based pickle brine, spooned on generously. That wet relish is the whole identity. There is no ketchup, no chili, and no room for improvisation.

It tracks to the New England hot dog tradition, and New Haven’s street cart culture is where the style got refined. Connecticut also has a serious sandwich claim in the Sally’s and Pepe traditions, and if you want a more elaborate answer, the fried clam roll on a buttered bun is the runner-up.

8. Delaware: Delaware Italian Hot Dog

The Delaware Italian is a hot dog buried under cooked onions, sweet peppers, a bright red tomato sauce and a dusting of the house seasoning blend, eaten with a paper cup for the runoff. It looks like a bowl of toppings with a handle and it will stain whatever you are wearing.

Wilmington’s cheese-steak culture produced the style, and the Italian hot dog grew out of the same corners. Gaudiello’s in Wilmington and roadside stands along Route 40 all still do it, and the peppers are cooked down until they are nearly jam. The runner-up is the Special Italian Hoagie from the same city, which is a hoagie with hot peppers on it.

9. Florida: Cuban Sandwich

A Cuban sandwich is pressed on a grill: sliced roast pork, sliced beef, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, mustard and butter, compressed until the bread is flat and the edges are crisp. The bread is usually a soft sweet loaf rather than a roll, and a bite should run with dressing if it is built right.

Tampa’s Ybor City is the spiritual home of the sandwich, built by Cuban and Cuban-American workers packing fish and cigars a century ago, and it earned the state its own museum and festival. Miami’s Cuban sandwich scene is arguably better today, which is why Enriqueta’s in Little Havana is the runner-up. The pastelito is a close third and colder weather fits it better.

10. Georgia: Georgia Brisket Sandwich

A Georgia barbecue sandwich is chopped or sliced smoked meat piled onto a bun or a thick slice of white bread with pickles, chopped onion and a thin, sharp, vinegar-forward sauce. Order the brisket and it should lean toward fat, bark and smoke rather than shreds.

Georgia’s barbecue tradition is the oldest continuous one in the country, with a heavy presence of pit and hardwood live fire, and the sandwich is how that shows up on a lunch plate rather than at a weekend cookout. The vinegar-and-pepper distinction is what separates Georgia from its neighbors. The runner-up is the chicken biscuit, which Atlanta has arguably made more famous.

11. Hawaii: Hawaiian Lunch Sandwich

The Hawaiian lunch sandwich is grilled Spam sliced thin, laid onto thick sweet bread with mayonnaise, and often topped with a slice of pineapple. It is a lunch counter sandwich, sweet and salty in the same bite, and it costs about what a soda costs.

It is the plate lunch version of a local inheritance: canned meat, pineapple, and sweet bread carried over from the era of Hawaii’s sugar and pineapple plantations and served out of neighborhood lunch counters and bakeries. The grilled cheese at Hale Aina in Kilauea is the more refined move. The kalua pig slider on a roll at Highway Inn on Oahu is the runner-up.

12. Idaho: Idaho Spud Sandwich

The Idaho spud sandwich is a hash brown patty, fried or formed and baked, inside a cheeseburger: cheese melted on the potato, then the usual lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and ketchup or special sauce. It is a cheeseburger where the patty is potato, which is a strange idea that works better than it has any right to.

Idaho grows a large share of the country’s potatoes and has spent decades finding new ways to serve them, which is the whole cultural logic of the sandwich. Some versions mash the potato into the patty, which makes it heavier and more uniform. The runner-up is the Italian sausage and mortadella sandwich at Cobby’s in Boise, which is a closer call than most lists admit.

13. Illinois: Italian Beef Sandwich

An Italian beef is thin-sliced beef piled onto a French-style roll with bright green giardiniera, then dunked in au jus until the bread is saturated. Get it wet for the drip or ask for it dry and hold it yourself. This is the most ordered sandwich in Illinois and, as of 2026, the state’s official one.

It grew up in Chicago’s Little Italy and the city’s first street meat markets, and the value was the point: a full dinner for pocket change. Two names worth driving for are Johnnie’s Beef in Elmwood Park and Al’s Italian Beef on Chicago’s Near West Side. The bratwurst with green onions and the bierock in Bridgeview are the runners-up. Illinois and Kansas City are absolutely not the same sandwich.

14. Indiana: Indiana Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

The Indiana pork tenderloin is a breaded, fried pork cutlet on a bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and mayonnaise, sometimes mustard, sometimes a pickle spear through the middle. It is a fair food item that ate the entire state, and the year-round version is better than the fair version.

Indiana is split between the pork tenderloin of the Indianapolis district, the steel towns and the state fair, and a genuine hot dog culture in the north. The tenderloin wins on the sheer number of counters and stands that make it. The runner-up is the Reuben at Shapiro’s in Indianapolis, which is a better sandwich if you are not from Fort Wayne.

15. Iowa: Iowa Steak Sandwich

An Iowa steak sandwich is shaved or thinly sliced beef simmered in broth and piled onto a bun with a healthy ladle of peppery au jus and melted cheese. It is a loose-meat sandwich on a bun, and the juice is the point.

It is a tailgate and supper-club food, not a plated restaurant dish, and it is everywhere in small towns in eastern and central Iowa. The famous tailgate version comes from the state fairgrounds in Des Moines, where the beef is served in a cup with bread on the side for a reason. The Maid-Rite in Muscatine, whose loose meat is so good people eat it like a taco, is the runner-up.

16. Kansas: Kansas City Cheesesteak Sandwich

The Kansas City cheesesteak is chopped or shaved beef with grilled onions, melted cheese and peppers, loaded onto a long roll, with a heavier hand on sauce than Philadelphia uses. Kansas City cooks steak over flame for a living, so the version here is bigger, smokier and wetter.

Barbecue built the city’s grilling muscle and the cheesesteak moved in next door. Beyond Kansas City, Wichita is a separate sandwich destination entirely, because of the Volga German bierock, a meat-and-sauerkraut pastry that has no business being as good as it is. The bierock is the runner-up and the more interesting choice.

17. Kentucky: Kentucky Hot Brown Sandwich

A hot brown is open-faced: a single thick slice of toast piled with turkey or chicken and bacon, then buried under a creamy cheese sauce and set under the broiler until the top blisters. In Louisville it is often served on a side plate with the toast under the sauce so you can cut it with a knife and fork.

It was created in the Brown Hotel’s restaurant in the 1940s, essentially as a late-night snack for people coming back from the horse track and the clubrooms, which is why it has a gravy-like finish. Order it there if you can get in. The mutton sandwich or a fried chicken on a bun from a Lexington hot chicken shop are the runners-up.

18. Louisiana: Po’boy Sandwich

A po’boy is a French-style baguette stuffed with fried shrimp, fried soft-shell crab, roast beef, sausage or Italian beef, then dressed with shredded lettuce, tomato, pickles and a peppery hot sauce or mayonnaise. Hold it the way New Orleans holds it, which is sideways, and eat it fast.

The sandwich was built for workers in the city’s dock and street-car trade, and the French bread came from the same immigrant neighborhood that the po’boy fed. The roast beef po’boy is the version most people mean. The muffuletta from Central Grocery in New Orleans is the runner-up, and it is the better argument.

19. Maine: Maine Lobster Roll Sandwich

A Maine lobster roll is chopped lobster meat dressed with mayonnaise and crisp celery, piled into a buttered split-top bun. The cold version with mayo and celery is the Maine one. The warm version with melted butter is the more tourist-friendly variant and the one that started showing up on menus elsewhere.

Maine’s lobster poundage and its summer tourism built the whole economy around this sandwich, and Portland packs into the waterfront rolls in July. Is it a sandwich? It is bread with filling, which is the definition, and the people who say otherwise are arguing about vocabulary, not food. The fried haddock sandwich is the runner-up.

20. Maryland: Baltimore Crab Cake Sandwich

A Baltimore crab cake sandwich is a lump Maryland blue crab cake, lightly breaded and griddled, on a bun with lettuce, tomato, red onion and a spoon of remoulade or tartar sauce. The cake is sweet, almost buttery, and the remoulade is the acid that keeps it from being too rich.

Chesapeake Bay blue crab runs the Maryland shoreline, and Baltimore built an entire restaurant culture around the cake long before it built one around raw bars. Order it at a harbor spot and expect a line in July. The pit beef sandwich at Chaps in Baltimore is the runner-up, and the hot crab dip that comes with it is not optional.

21. Massachusetts: Boston Marinated Steak Sandwich

A Boston marinated steak sandwich is thin slices of sirloin steeped in vinegar, Worcestershire, garlic, oregano and oil, piled on a sub roll with lettuce, tomato, raw onion, mayonnaise and provolone, sometimes with hot peppers. It is a sandwich that is marinated like a pickle.

The Portuguese and Italian communities on the South Shore and in the North End brought the seafood and the sandwich-truck culture, and the marinated steak spread from there through every town that had a lunch route. The chacarero, a Chilean sandwich with palta and tomato, is the runner-up and a Boston original with a far smaller footprint.

22. Michigan: Detroit Coney Island Sandwich

A Detroit Coney Island is a beef-and-pork hot dog under a sweet, chili-like meat sauce with diced onion and yellow mustard, eaten with no bun. It is named after the Coney Island restaurant on Woodward Avenue, not the beach in New York.

Detroit’s Greek and Macedonian lunch counters built this style, and the sauce is the whole sandwich: no beans, no tomato, just a spiced meat gravy. Lafayette and American Coney Island in Detroit still do it. The Reuben at Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor is the runner-up, and Detroiters will tell you that is a different argument entirely.

23. Minnesota: Juicy Lucy Sandwich

A Juicy Lucy is a beef patty with a square of cheese and a fistful of grilled onion sealed inside the meat before it hits the grill, so the filling melts into the burger. Put it on a bun with pickle and raw onion and eat it fast, because it will run.

It took hold in the northern lake country, where small towns, grills and outdoor sports all reinforced each other, and the cheese version and the onion version have quietly been separate arguments for decades. The tavern sandwich with fried egg and green beans in St. Paul is the runner-up, and the bánh mì in Minneapolis is a strong third.

24. Mississippi: Mississippi Fried Chicken Sandwich

A Mississippi fried chicken sandwich is a fried chicken fillet on a bun with slaw, pickle spears and a hot honey or comeback sauce, with mayonnaise as the base. The breading should be thick, craggy and seasoned, and the slaw should be vinegar-based so it cuts the heat.

Mississippi’s sandwich culture grew out of the same hot chicken lineage that Nashville later made famous, and the fried version is what a lot of the state eats on a Tuesday. The comeback sauce, a sweet and sour dressing with a real vinegar backbone, is the local answer to the heat. The pig ear sandwich at the Big Apple Inn in Jackson is the runner-up and the more famous one.

25. Missouri: Missouri Grilled Cheese Sandwich

A Missouri grilled cheese is American cheese between buttered slices of white bread, griddled until the outside is dark and the cheese runs at the cut. Order it in St. Louis and it will often arrive beside a bowl of tomato soup, which is not a garnish.

The grilled cheese is generally credited to the diner culture of the 1920s, and the story places its birth in Missouri, though the evidence is thin. It is on this list because no state has a stronger everyday claim to it. The fresh salami sandwich on provel at Gioia’s Deli in St. Louis is the runner-up, and it is not close.

26. Montana: Montana Steak Sandwich

A Montana steak sandwich is a grilled steak sliced thin or chopped, piled onto a sturdy bun with grilled onions, melted cheese and a hot sauce or steak seasoning rubbed in first. It is built for altitude, cold and a long drive between towns.

Montana is a ranching state with a restaurant tradition built around feedlots and open-pit steers, and the sandwich is the portable version of that. Look for it on grills in Butte and Bozeman. The pork tenderloin sandwich at Pork Chop John’s in Butte is the runner-up and a genuinely local favorite.

27. Nebraska: Nebraska Steak Sandwich

A Nebraska steak sandwich is tenderloin or sirloin grilled and piled on a bun with grilled onions and a simple seasoning, or a loose-meat version with au jus in small towns and at ballparks. The version in Omaha is served in a cup with the bread alongside, which people have been fighting about for a century.

Nebraska’s cattle industry makes a steak sandwich the default rather than the special order, and the loose-meat tradition out of Omaha is the oldest part of it. The Runza, the bierock-style pocket with cabbage and beef, is the runner-up, and it is how half the state actually eats lunch.

28. Nevada: Nevada Grilled Cheese Sandwich

A Nevada grilled cheese is the Las Vegas original: melted American cheese between griddled slices of white bread, served until long after midnight, usually with a shake or a burger alongside. Sourdough and local bakery versions show up in the newer spots, but the white bread version is the one with the history.

Casino-era Las Vegas built a restaurant district for a working population that needed hot food at three in the morning, and the grilled cheese is what came out of that. Longo’s has been making them since the 1950s. The banh mi and the barbecue ribs are the runners-up for anybody who has graduated from diner food.

29. New Hampshire: New Hampshire Steak Sandwich

A New Hampshire steak sandwich is thin slices of roast beef on a sub roll with lettuce, tomato, raw onion, mayonnaise, yellow mustard and usually provolone or cheddar, cut in half and served cold. It is a deli sandwich with no heat and no sauce worth arguing about.

Portsmouth and the small towns of the Seacoast kept a lunch-counter culture going that leans Italian and Portuguese, and the steak sandwich is the everyday version. The fried fish sandwich at a Portsmouth chowder house is the runner-up. The pastrami at a Concord deli is the more exciting option, but the steak sandwich is what the state orders daily.

30. New Jersey: Jersey Italian Hot Dog

A Jersey Italian is a hot dog with yellow mustard, fried onions, sweet peppers and tomato sauce, all shredded on top, eaten from a paper tray with a plain roll or no bun at all. Hoboken and Atlantic City both built versions of it, and the Atlantic City one is the version most people picture.

It comes out of the steakhouse and Italian grocery tradition along the Jersey Shore, and the state has spent a century arguing about what to call the meat. Most New Jerseyans call it a pork roll. It is not pork. The sloppy joe, which shows up all over the northern half of the state, is the runner-up and the more heated argument.

31. New Mexico: Green Chile Cheese Sandwich

The New Mexico green chile cheese is a beef patty on a bun with melted cheese and roasted green chile, Hatch chile from Hatch, New Mexico, added under or over the cheese depending on the shop. It is a cheeseburger built around a chile crop rather than a cheeseburger with a chile on it.

New Mexico grows more chile than anywhere in the country, and roasting it over a mesquite fire is a skill with its own vocabulary about how much heat and how much smoke. Albuquerque is the center of it, and the hatch chile cheeseburger at a trailer is often better than the version downtown. The green chile and cheese on a warm Navajo tortilla is the runner-up.

32. New York: New York Bagel Sandwich

The New York bagel sandwich is a thick bagel cut open and spread with cream cheese, then filled with lox, tomato, onion, capers and cucumber. Everything is cut in half and pressed. On a Saturday morning, most of New York is eating one at a counter standing up.

Bagels came to New York from Eastern Europe in the early 1900s and became a city breakfast, not a roll, thanks to the water, the ovens and the competition. The lox and bagel at Ess-a-Bagel or Katz’s on the Lower East Side is the version to order. The pastrami on rye at Katz’s is the run-up, and the chicken spiedie from Binghamton is the upstate run-up.

33. North Carolina: North Carolina Barbecue Sandwich

A North Carolina barbecue sandwich is chopped or sliced pork shoulder and pork, mounded on a bun with a thin, sharp, vinegar-and-pepper sauce and a little slaw. The sauce is the identifier. It is a vinegar-forward dip, not a sweet tomato glaze, and the distinction separates Carolina barbecue from everything else.

Lexington is the epicenter, where whole-hog and shoulder barbecue are a town tradition with its own barbecue festival in late summer, and the two styles, eastern vinegar and western ketchup, have been arguing there for over a century. The whole hog sandwich is the runner-up, and a Lexington sandwich should have visible chunks of bark.

34. North Dakota: North Dakota Hot Beef Sandwich

A North Dakota hot beef sandwich is sliced or loose roast beef piled on a bun and drowned in brown gravy with cooked onions, sometimes with mashed potatoes on the side of the plate or on the sandwich. It is a supper-club sandwich and it is best at nine at night.

Dakota diners built this on a ranch and railroad economy, and the gravy is the point rather than the beef. Fargo and Bismarck both have counters that have kept it going for decades, and Kroll’s in Fargo is the name to know. The bierock from the same region is a close runner-up.

35. Ohio: Ohio Pork Barbecue Sandwich

An Ohio pork barbecue sandwich is sliced or chopped pork shoulder on a bun with a tangy barbecue sauce, a little slaw and sometimes pickled onions or a pickle spear. Order it with a side of beans and a cold bottle of pop and you have reproduced an afternoon in Cleveland.

Ohio barbecue runs on a vinegar and spice base that sits between the Carolina vinegar tradition and the sweeter Midwestern sauces, and Cleveland has been the state’s barbecue capital for over a century. Terry’s Steaks in Columbus is the reliable counter stop. The hot bologna and Swiss on rye that Cleveland calls a Polish is the runner-up.

36. Oklahoma: Oklahoma Onion Steak Sandwich

An Oklahoma onion steak sandwich is a tender steak, usually round or chuck, grilled or griddled and served open-faced on bread under a mountain of fried onions and butter, with salt, pepper and optional condiments on the side. The onions are caramelized almost to the point of being a second bun.

It comes from the ranch and feedlot towns along I-35, and Oklahoma City’s steakhouse culture cooked it up over open flame for travelers. The bologna sandwich from a local deli, smoked bologna with cheese and mustard on a soft bun, is the runner-up and the state’s quieter obsession.

37. Oregon: Oregon Grilled Cheese Sandwich

An Oregon grilled cheese is thick-cut Tillamook cheddar melted between slices of sourdough buttered on the outside and griddled until the crust is deep brown. The cheese is Oregon-made, the bread is from a local bakery, and apple or tomato often show up in the sandwich.

Oregon is a small dairy and sourdough state, and the sandwich is the product of both, which is why a plate here tastes like a farm and a bakery at the same time. The tavern sandwich is Portland’s other candidate and would win the argument on nostalgia. The torta ahogada at a Portland taquería is the runner-up if you want something with more going on.

38. Pennsylvania: Philly Cheesesteak

A cheesesteak is thinly chopped beef cooked on a flat griddle with onions, piled onto a long Italian roll and finished with melted provolone and a hot sauce. The meat is chopped with a spatula as it cooks, not sliced ahead, and the bread has to be sturdy enough to survive the juice.

It came out of the South Philadelphia steakhouse row in the 1930s, and Pat’s King of Steaks, Geno’s and Angelo’s all trace the lineage directly. The roast pork sandwich with sharp cheese and broccoli rabe is the runner-up. The hoagie with cold cuts is a different sandwich, and Philadelphia is right about that.

39. Rhode Island: Rhode Island Hot Waffle Sandwich

A Rhode Island hot waffle is a grilled hot dog laid across a waffle with a meat sauce poured over both, then eaten with your hands over a napkin. It is sweet bread and salty meat and a stripe of caramelized grill, and it makes no sense on a menu until you try it.

It belongs to the diner and boardwalk grill tradition of Newport and the Ocean State, where waffle irons got pressed into breakfast service and the hot dog got dragged along with them. The New England hot dog with a steamed bun and no waffle is the runner-up, and the Italian hot dog from Providence is the serious competitor.

40. South Carolina: South Carolina Pimento Cheese Sandwich

A South Carolina pimento cheese sandwich is pimento cheese melted thick on white toast, usually with a tomato slice, cut into triangles. Pimento cheese is a sharp, creamy blend of cheddar and cream cheese with pimentos and a little mayonnaise, and it should look like it was spooned on and then barely forgiven.

It came up in Charleston in the early twentieth century, and it is the sandwich of baby showers, church suppers, holiday tables and the kind of party where someone is standing up holding a plate. Charleston is the benchmark. The shrimp and grits or a fried catfish sandwich is the runner-up if you want a meal instead of an occasion.

41. South Dakota: South Dakota Steak Sandwich

A South Dakota steak sandwich is a thick or thin grilled steak served on a bun with grilled onions and brown gravy, more generous and more rustic than a deli version. It is the sandwich to order in a small town when you want something hot in the middle of nowhere.

Ranch country, where the meat is the business, put this on every diner menu in Brookings, Rapid City and the Black Hills. The pheasant sandwich, which is the state’s other specialty, is the runner-up, and it is the more distinctive plate. The buffalo burger in Deadwood is a strong third.

42. Tennessee: Tennessee Hot Chicken Sandwich

A Tennessee hot chicken sandwich is a fried chicken fillet dusted in cayenne and chili flakes, fried to order, then stacked on a bun with slaw, pickle and honey or yellow mustard. The heat is the point, and it should be a decision you make before you order.

It started in the African American restaurants of the South Side of Chicago and spread south to Nashville, where it is now a cultural event as much as a sandwich, with lines at Prince’s and Hattie B’s that form before the day starts. The slaw and pickle are not garnish, they are the cooling system. The barbecue sandwich is the runner-up.

43. Texas: Texas Brisket Sandwich

A Texas brisket sandwich is sliced smoked brisket with visible bark and rendered fat, stacked between a sturdy bun with pickles, chopped onion and a little barbecue sauce, sometimes with salt and pepper, sometimes with no sauce at all. Central Texas is the version worth driving for.

Brisket is a cow problem, not a barbecue style. It takes real time to render and to peel, and a sandwich built on brisket that has not been done right will tell you. The chopped pork sandwich is the runner-up and the easier crowd pleaser. The torta ahogada in San Antonio, a submerged beef and bread sandwich, is the most interesting third.

44. Utah: Utah Fry Sauce Sandwich

A fry sauce burger is a beef patty on a bun with melted cheese and a thick coating of fry sauce, a seasoned mayonnaise and beef gravy blend that Utah has eaten since the 1950s. It is a burger patty with a hot dog’s soul.

It came out of the drive-in and tavern scene around Salt Lake City, and Crown Burger is the standing example, along with a few surviving drive-ins that have kept the fry sauce topped. A pastrami on rye is the run-up and would win a Utah poll for best sandwich. The fry sauce burger is what the state orders three times a week.

45. Vermont: Vermont Grilled Cheese Sandwich

A Vermont grilled cheese is thick slices of a Vermont cheddar, aged and sharp and nutty, melted between slices of sourdough buttered generously on the outside and cooked until the whole thing is nearly black. Tomato or thin apple often goes inside, and they are right to.

Vermont makes more cheese than almost anyone would expect, and the culture is small-batch and farm-driven, which is why the bread is sourdough and the cheese is never mild. A sandwich at a Waterbury bakery is the destination. The jambon-beurre is the runner-up, and the maple cream soda is not optional next to either.

46. Virginia: Virginia Sandwich

A Virginia sandwich is sliced country ham and roast turkey layered with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard and mayonnaise on soft white bread, cut in half. It is a lunch and supper sandwich, the kind that shows up on a porch at two in the afternoon.

Virginia has a cured ham culture from the western end of the state and a diner culture out of Richmond, and this sandwich is where the two meet. The sailor sandwich, roast beef and melted cheese on an open roll, is the classic Richmond runner-up. The Virginia ham hot dog and the peanut soup and a sandwich are the winter version.

47. Washington: Washington Teriyaki Sandwich

A Washington teriyaki sandwich is grilled, marinated pork or chicken with a sweet-sour teriyaki glaze, tucked into a bun with sesame, scallions, cucumber, cabbage and a drizzle of mayo. It is a Seattle lunch, and it is heavier and sweeter than most people expect.

Washington has large Filipino, Vietnamese and Caribbean communities, and teriyaki is the version of that food that Seattle made its own, with the grill doing the work that a fryer does elsewhere. The Caribbean roast at Un Bien is the strongest runner-up, and the halibut sandwich is the one to order if you have never had a Seattle fish sandwich. Both are excellent.

48. West Virginia: West Virginia Hot Dog Sandwich

A West Virginia hot dog is a grilled frank with mustard and a sweet, thick chili sauce, the kind made with beans and a full spice blend, sometimes with onions. It is a ball game and a convenience store food, and it is better than it has any right to be.

It comes from the diner and trail-town food culture of the Ohio Valley and the northern panhandle, where the chili dog has been a fixture since before the region had a name for it. Wheeling has a serious claim on the state’s sandwich reputation, and Coleman’s Fish Market there, which serves a fried fish sandwich with slaw, is the runner-up worth the detour.

49. Wisconsin: Wisconsin Brat Sandwich

A Wisconsin brat sandwich is a grilled bratwurst in a bun with yellow mustard, a little relish, grilled onions and a fork where a knife would be. The onions go on the bun, not the sausage, and they cook in the brat grease until they are sweet and crisp.

It goes with a beer and a lake, and the whole grilling culture around Madison and Milwaukee is built on that single fact. Order it at a Madison grill or an Upper Peninsula tavern, where the patty and the grease are the point. The fried fish sandwich is the runner-up, and on a Lake Michigan weekend, it might win.

50. Wyoming: Wyoming Steak Sandwich

A Wyoming steak sandwich is a grilled steak, often a tenderloin or sirloin, on a toasted bun with sautéed onions, melted cheese and condiments on the side. It is not plated. It is not sauced. It is the sandwich version of a rancher’s lunch.

Wyoming is the least populous state in the country and one of the most cattle-heavy, and the sandwich reflects both: it is simple, large and served in a diner in Casper, Cheyenne or Laramie rather than anywhere downtown. The egg salad sandwich at a Cheyenne bakery is the runner-up and it has a real local following.

One more, since some lists include it and some do not. The half-smoke is a Washington, D.C. hot dog with chili, onions and sweet relish, from a row of white takeout trailers on Georgia Avenue. The District is not a state, but the half-smoke is a genuine regional institution, and leaving it out would be a strange call on a list about hot dogs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did you pick the most iconic sandwich from every state?

We weighed four things: how long the sandwich has belonged to that state, which immigrant community created it, whether it is still made in meaningful volume today, and whether it is available somewhere other than one or two restaurants. Burgers, hot dogs, tacos, burritos and generic barbecue sandwiches only qualified when the preparation itself was uniquely local, which is why New Mexico gets a green chile cheeseburger and Alabama gets a hot dog. Where a state had two equal candidates, we named the runner-up.

Are these sandwiches available outside their home state?

Only partly. Diner-style ones are genuinely portable: the po’boy, the muffuletta, the Philly cheesesteak, the hot brown, the torta ahogada and the Nashville hot chicken sandwich all have outposts in other cities. Others depend on local sourcing and will not travel at all, including reindeer sausage, Maine lobster, Maryland blue crab, Florida stone crab and any green chile bought fresh rather than roasted. Regional labels also travel badly in both directions, since a Sonoran dog in Phoenix and a Sonoran dog in Los Angeles are not the same sandwich.

Which of these 50 sandwiches are easiest to make at home?

The grilled cheeses, the Reubens and the fried chicken sandwiches, basically anything that needs a griddle and a bun. Vermont, Nevada, Missouri and Oregon grilled cheeses take under ten minutes, the Detroit Coney Island is a sausage and a pot of sauce, and the Arkansas Traveler is deli meat and a toaster. The Italian beef and the cheesesteak need thin slicing and a very hot flat griddle, and the lobster roll, the crab cake and the brisket are not weeknight projects.

Does every state have an official state sandwich?

No, and that is the useful answer. A handful of states have legislated or formally designated a state sandwich, and Illinois has designated the Italian beef its official state sandwich. Others have proposals and campaigns that never became law, including the effort to make the Fluffernutter Massachusetts’s official state sandwich, which ran into the objection that it is not a sandwich at all. Most states have no designation and never have, so iconic and official are usually not the same thing.

What is the most famous sandwich in the USA?

The Philadelphia cheesesteak, most likely, on name recognition, on history and on how well it travels. The hot brown, the muffuletta, the Reuben and the Italian beef all have strong claims, and Katz’s pastrami on rye has the single best-known address. If you want the best sandwich in every state rather than the most famous one, this list starts with the cheesesteak for Pennsylvania and argues with you about at least a dozen other entries.

Is a lobster roll a sandwich?

By any ordinary definition it is bread with a filling, which is all a sandwich has ever been, and Maine is not going to give it up. Some national lists have dropped Maine on definitional grounds and picked a duck fat panini instead, which tells you more about the definition than it does about Maine. A harder case is the biscuit sandwich, which several state lists include because it is delicious and which most people would not call a sandwich. We let the lobster roll in and left the biscuit out.

If You Only Try Ten, Start Here

If ten is all you have time for, take these, in this order:

  1. Italian beef, Chicago
  2. Philly cheesesteak, Philadelphia
  3. Louisiana roast beef po’boy, New Orleans
  4. Muffuletta, New Orleans
  5. Hot brown, Louisville
  6. Sonoran dog, Tucson
  7. Reuben, Detroit or Ann Arbor
  8. Tennessee hot chicken sandwich, Nashville
  9. Maine lobster roll, Portland
  10. Grilled cheese, anywhere

Now go argue with me. If your state is not on this list in the right order, tell us what it should be and we will make the case for it in the comments. And if you are driving between any two of these, plan the route around lunch, because that is what the sandwich is for.

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