The cuisine of the American Midwest draws its culinary roots most significantly from the cuisines of Central, Northern and Eastern Europe, and Indigenous cuisine of the Americas, and is influenced by regionally and locally grown foodstuffs and cultural diversity.
Springfield is the capital city of the U.S. state of Illinois and the seat of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh-most populous city, the second-most populous outside of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the most populous in Central Illinois. Approximately 208,000 residents live in the Springfield metropolitan area, which consists of all of Sangamon and Menard counties. Springfield lies in a plain near the Sangamon River north of Lake Springfield. The city is on historic Route 66.
U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before terminating in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km).
Broadwell is a village in Logan County, Illinois, United States. The population was 136 at the 2020 census.
A hot dog is a dish consisting of a grilled, steamed, or boiled sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener or a frankfurter. The names of these sausages commonly refer to their assembled dish. Hot dog preparation and condiments vary worldwide. Typical condiments include mustard, ketchup, relish, onions in tomato sauce, and cheese sauce. Other toppings include sauerkraut, diced onions, jalapeños, chili, grated cheese, coleslaw, bacon and olives. Hot dog variants include the corn dog and pigs in a blanket. The hot dog's cultural traditions include the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest and the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.
A corn dog is a wiener on a stick that has been coated in a thick layer of cornmeal batter and deep fried. It originated in the United States and is commonly found in American cuisine.
The Varsity is a restaurant chain in Atlanta, Georgia. The main branch of the chain was the largest drive-in fast food restaurant in the world, taking up two city blocks and accommodating up to 800 diners. The main location ended car-side service in 2020. There are now six other branches across metropolitan Atlanta.
Pronto Pup is an amusement park and carnival food similar to a corn dog made with flour mix, which is used by restaurants and street vendors across the United States. Named for the speed of the cooking process, the Pronto Pup was invented in Rockaway Beach, Oregon, and is marketed as the original corn dog. The independently owned Rockaway Beach location was opened in 2016.
A Chicago-style hot dog, Chicago Dog, or Chicago Red Hot is an all-beef frankfurter on a poppy seed bun, originating from the city of Chicago, Illinois. The hot dog is topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, bright green sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices or wedges, pickled sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt. The complete assembly of a Chicago hot dog is said to be "dragged through the garden" due to the many toppings. The method for cooking the hot dog itself varies depending on the vendor's preference. Most often they are steamed, water-simmered, or less often grilled over charcoal.
Superdawg is a drive-in hot dog stand with carhop service. It is located in the Norwood Park neighborhood of Chicago, at the intersection of Milwaukee, Devon, and Nagle Avenues. Superdawg has the distinction of being one of the few original drive-in restaurants left in the United States. Its methods have been the same since it opened in 1948. A second, similar location on Milwaukee Avenue in Wheeling, Illinois opened in 2010.
Tony Packo's Cafe is a restaurant that started in the Hungarian neighborhood of Birmingham, on the east side of Toledo, Ohio, at 1902 Front Street.
Nathan's Famous, Inc. is an American company that operates a chain of fast-food restaurants specializing in hot dogs. The original Nathan's restaurant stands at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The company's headquarters are at One Jericho Plaza in Jericho, part of Oyster Bay, New York.
Different areas of the world have local variations on the hot dog, in the type of meat used, the condiments added, and its means of preparation.
U.S. Route 66 was a United States Numbered Highway in Illinois that connected St. Louis, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. The historic Route 66, the Mother Road or Main Street of America, took long distance automobile travelers from Chicago to Southern California. The highway had previously been Illinois Route 4 and the road has now been largely replaced with Interstate 55 (I-55). Parts of the road still carry traffic and six separate portions of the roadbed have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Fast Mail was a train service operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad on an overnight schedule between Chicago, Illinois, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. The southbound trains were Milwaukee Road train Nos. 56 and 58, and the northbound trains were train Nos. 55 and 57. In its early years, this train service helped earn the Milwaukee Road's line the nickname "The Fast Mail Line." In 1924, the Fast Mail was the target of the largest train robbery in U.S. history. The Fast Mail was discontinued with train 56's arrival in Chicago on May 1, 1971.
Robert Waldmire was an American artist and cartographer who is well known for his artwork of U.S. Route 66, including whimsical maps of the Mother Road and its human and natural ecology. Being the son of Ed Waldmire Jr., he is often associated with the Cozy Dog Drive In restaurant in Springfield, Illinois, the elder Waldmire having created the Cozy Dog.
"Fatzcarraldo" is the fourteenth episode of the twenty-eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 610th episode of the series overall. The episode was directed by Mark Kirkland and written by Michael Price. It aired in the United States on Fox on February 12, 2017. The title is a spoof of the 1982 film Fitzcarraldo.
Huntington Drive is a major thoroughfare that begins in the Rose Hills community in Los Angeles, California and heads east/northeast to Irwindale, California. The street was named after railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington. It also served as one of the only thoroughfares between Los Angeles and Pasadena in the early 1900s. Portions of Huntington Drive were part of U.S. Route 66. The road has a wide median that was originally one of the lines of the Pacific Electric Railway, the Monrovia–Glendora Line.
