Thrillist.com just put together a list of the, quote, "101 dishes that changed America" . . . basically, the foods people in this country invented that became staples on our menus forever or started major trends.
Here are some of the highlights . . .
The hot dog in 1916
Reuben sandwich in 1920
Cheesesteak in 1930
Chocolate chip cookies in 1936
Prime rib in 1938
Fried chicken in 1940
Deep dish pizza in 1943
Nachos in 1943
Minnesota's own Juicy Lucy is the only item that made the list and it totally deserves its spots. Here's what they said about it.
20. The Jucy Lucy
Year: c. 1950
Restaurant: Mattâs Bar
Minneapolis, Minnesota
How it happened: A gloriously simple bar burger stuffed with molten cheese, the humble Jucy Lucy has been providing accidental burns to the mouth for decades: "You boys know you need to wait a minute or two,â a Matt's Bar waitress told our burger critic on one visit. âOr youâll get burned.â Two Cedar Avenue bars in Minneapolis claim to have invented the thing -- 5-8 Club and Mattâs -- though it can now be found at pretty much any Minnesota bar that operates a grill. Given the barsâ close proximities to one another, itâs entirely plausible that the same weirdo customer who originally ordered two patties with cheese in the middle just walked up and down Cedar Avenue ordering the same thing, and both Matt's and 5-8 put it on the menu. But Mattâs has stuck to its story much more consistently, and made the burger an icon thanks both to its delicious execution and its steadfast misspelling of âjuicy.âWhy itâs important: Long before Doritos Locos Tacos and mac & cheese-stuffed Cheetos, stunt food was a much simpler endeavor. The Jucy Lucy is a precursor to that, but itâs also an important milestone in the evolution of hamburgers themselves, leading the charge for industrious chefs (and more than a few infomercial entrepreneurs) to begin stuffing their burgers. -- AK