Falafel Sandwich (American)
Fried chickpea fritters in pita with tahini, salad, and hot sauce; Middle Eastern import now ubiquitous at NYC food carts and nationwide.
Andrew Lekashman
Elena Ruz
A Havana socialite's off-menu order, made permanent under her name: turkey, cream cheese, and strawberry jam on soft medianoche bread, warm and sweet where the Cuban runs savory.
Eggplant Parm Hero
The eggplant parm hero is the senior parmigiana, the meatless form the veal and chicken heroes were copied from, and the only one whose own flesh sweats water into the bread if you skip the salting.
Eggplant Grinder
Breaded and fried eggplant with marinara and cheese on a grinder roll.
Egg Salad Sandwich
Get the ratio of mayonnaise to egg wrong and it is dry crumble or wet paste, with nothing to cover for it. Chopped egg, mayo, salt, soft bread: the floor of the sandwich, and the floor is the point.
Egg Salad Grinder
Egg salad on a toasted grinder roll; diner classic.
Egg Biscuit
Strip the meat off a Southern breakfast biscuit and you are left with egg in warm bread, where one name covers two different eggs: the cracked-fresh ring, the frozen fold, the kitchen skillet.
Egg Bagel Sandwich
Two eggs and a slice on an egg bagel, wrapped in foil at a New York counter. The egg-enriched ring is the hook, and the bread behind it crossed an ocean, organized a 1907 union.
Eastern NC BBQ Sandwich
In eastern North Carolina the barbecue sauce is thin enough to drink: cider vinegar, red and black pepper, no tomato. Chopped whole-hog pork with crackling skin and sharp slaw on a soft bun.
Duke's Mayo Tomato Sandwich
Tomato sandwich specifically made with Duke's mayonnaise.
Double-Double
Two thin patties, two slices of American, hand-leafed iceberg on a 3.5-inch toasted bun. Harry and Esther Snyder put the first In-N-Out drive-through in Baldwin Park, California in 1948.
Döner Kebab (American)
Shaved beef and lamb off the spit, heaped loose into flatbread under a pale garlic white sauce and a thin red hot sauce. The Turkish-German spit sandwich, rebuilt big for an American cart window.
Dominican Chimi Burger
A seasoned griddled beef patty on pan de agua under shredded cabbage, pickled onion, and pink salsa rosada: the Dominican street burger that lines Amsterdam Avenue in Washington Heights.
Dodger Dog
Ten-inch pork hot dog grilled or steamed, served at Dodger Stadium since 1962; America's most famous ballpark frank, 2+ million sold per ...
Disco Fries Sandwich
French fries with gravy and melted cheese on bread; diner creation.
Detroit Coney Dog
Two coney shops share one wall in downtown Detroit, and the argument between them is the dish: a natural-casing beef dog under loose beanless chili, mustard, and a cold heap of raw onion.
Delaware Scrapple Sandwich
Fried scrapple on toast or roll; similar to Philadelphia style.
DC Mumbo Sauce Wings Sandwich
Fried chicken wings with sweet and tangy mumbo sauce on bread.
Danger Dog
Bacon-wrapped hot dog grilled on an illegal street cart outside LA clubs and concerts, topped with grilled peppers, onions, mayo, ketchup...
Dagwood Sandwich
A skewer through the top is the only thing keeping the tower upright. The Dagwood stacks cold cuts, cheese, vegetables, and a whole pickle until it has to be flattened by hand to eat.
Culver's ButterBurger
Fresh, never-frozen beef on a lightly buttered toasted bun; Wisconsin-born chain's signature. The butter goes on the crown of the bun.
Cudighi Sandwich
Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, no fennel: cudighi is a pork sausage spiced like a pie, pressed into a patty, griddled, and topped with pizza sauce and mozzarella. The Upper Peninsula's own Italian sandwich.
Cuban Sandwich (Tampa)
The Tampa Cuban presses four meats onto a lard-enriched loaf: roast pork, boiled ham, Genoa salami, Swiss. The salami is the marker that separates it from Miami's three-meat build.
Cuban Sandwich (Miami)
Order a Cuban at a Miami ventanita and the cook leans on the plancha until the sandwich loses half its height. That flattening is the recipe, and the city's marker is what it leaves out.