The One Food You Need To Try In Every State

Are you the type of traveler who spends vacations in search of the best cheap eats, local culinary specialties and regional comfort foods? Are you excited to be able to eat out again? We've made your next vacation a little bit easier because we've tracked down not only the one dish you absolutely must try in every state and Washington, D.C., but also the best restaurants at which to try them.

There are certain dishes across the country that are undeniably iconic, but for this list, we're showcasing regional specialties that are somehow just not as good outside of their home state — if you're even able to find them elsewhere.

Alabama's lane cake, also called a prize cake, is made from layers of white sponge cake held together by a filling chock full of bourbon-soaked raisins and coconut. It's a complex cake that's difficult to make, so you may need to do a little legwork to seek it out, but it's light, delicious and one of those amazing desserts worth baking at home.

If you find yourself in Arizona (particularly in Phoenix or Tucson) and in the mood for something dangerously cheesy, make sure you get a cheese crisp as an appetizer. After you order it, you might think that a pizza is being brought to your table. Actually, it's a massive flour tortilla topped with shredded cheese and broiled until the cheese melts and the edges crisp up, sliced into wedges and possibly kicked up with some strips of green chile. Most restaurants will let you top it with jalapenos, steak, chicken and the like, but it's really best enjoyed as-is.

There's a lot of classic California cuisine, and most of it revolves around fresh produce. After trying avocado toast and oranges, add a true Mission-style burrito to your culinary bucket list. A Mission-style burrito isn't your classic Mexican cooking; it's a big and filling burrito like the ones found at Chipotle, as opposed to one filled with only, say, beans and cheese. No trip to San Francisco should be complete without a stop at La Taquería, which serves one of the best burritos in America, but you can also replicate the dish at home.

New Haven-style pizza is a regional style best identified by its slightly oblong shape, coal-fired smokiness and crisp, chewy and slightly charred crust. Sally's, Frank Pepe  and Modern are beloved New Haven institutions. Don't miss the clam pie, a local specialty. The version at Frank Pepe's, which is topped with chopped clams, garlic, olive oil, oregano and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, is so good that we've consistently named it No. 1 on our list of the best pizzas in America.

The Cuban sandwich is in many ways the unofficial sandwich of Miami. Just about all Miami Cuban sandwiches contain the same ingredients — ham, roast pork, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard on Cuban bread, pressed until melty. Salami also works its way into it in Tampa as an inspired regional variation. The definitive Miami Cubano comes from Versailles, located in Miami's Little Havana. If you can't make it there, you can also make a Cubano at home, just make sure you seek out freshly baked Cuban bread. Good bread is what makes sandwiches worthy of the dinner table.

If you ever travel to Hawaii, don't leave before trying a helping or two of shave ice, one of the most iconic American desserts. It's similar to a snow cone, but rather than crushed ice, shave ice is made with, well, shaved ice. You'll hear it referred to by Hawaiian locals as either "ice shave" or "shave ice," and the dessert is often served with locally inspired flavors such as green tea, guava, lychee and coconut. So buy some flavoring and make some shave ice, it's the perfect summertime sweet.

The Italian beef isn't your everyday sandwich, but sadly you won't have much luck finding a great one outside of Chicago. To make this sandwich, beef is rubbed with a spice blend, roasted, thinly sliced and tucked into a long Italian roll. The savory perfection is then topped with as much or as little "gravy" (similar to au jus) as you like and finished with hot or sweet peppers and giardiniera, a tart and spicy chopped pickled vegetable blend. Shops serve this beloved regional specialty all throughout the Windy City, and you'll find it at many of the same places that serve good Chicago-style hot dogs.

The "loose meat" sandwich (also called a tavern sandwich) is an Iowa specialty and can be thought of as a sloppy Joe without the sauce. It consists of crumbled seasoned ground beef on a bun, topped with mustard, pickles and chopped onions. Even though you can find it in plenty of small local restaurants, the one to visit is Taylor's Maid-Rite in Marshalltown.

The Hot Brown is Kentucky's most legendary culinary contribution, invented in the 1920s by Fred Schmidt, chef at Louisville's Brown Hotel. The hotel is still going strong, and the best place to enjoy this open-faced sandwich is at its point of origin. To make the definitive version of this classic dish, toast is topped with sliced turkey and doused in a creamy pecorino-based Mornay sauce before being browned in the broiler. Crispy bacon and sliced tomatoes round it out. 

Have you really visited Maine if you haven't eaten any lobster? Plucked from local waters and steamed whole or stuffed into a lobster roll, it's best enjoyed at any of the state's countless lobster shacks, which usually close down during the winter months.

If Massachusetts has a signature dish, it's clam chowder. You can find countless great versions all across the state, but the version served at Boston's Union Oyster House is essentially perfect. It starts (as all great clam chowders do) with diced salt pork, which is rendered down and combined with butter, flour, onion and celery to form a roux. It's combined with house-made clam juice, half-and-half, chopped fresh clams, a couple dashes of Tabasco and diced potatoes.

If you're going to a church supper, potluck or family reunion in Minnesota, you're most likely bringing a hotdish, one of the best casseroles of all time. This infinitely versatile casserole is usually made by mixing meat, vegetables and a binder (usually something along the lines of ground beef, canned green beans and canned cream of mushroom soup), topping it with tater tots and baking it until golden brown and bubbly. While there are countless variations, you always know a hotdish when you see one. If you can't get a dinner invitation to try it in someone's home, Crooked Pint Ale House and The Good Life Cafe are two spots to try.

Gooey butter cakes are gooey and, yes, loaded with butter. They were supposedly invented by accident when a baker in St. Louis mixed up the amounts of butter and flour that were called for in a cake recipe. If you know how to make it right, the consistency should be similar to that of a brownie. 

A runza is essentially a long roll that's been stuffed with meat, onions, sauerkraut or other fillings before being baked, and this Volga German-inspired sandwich is wildly popular in Nebraska. In fact, it's one of the official state foods. The Cornhusker State is the home base of a chain of the same name that was founded in 1949. The original ground beef, onions and cabbage variety is a traditional standby, but ordering yours with cheese added doesn't hurt.

Chowder is a New England staple, but if you're in New Hampshire, don't miss out on trying a unique spin on it: corn chowder made with local lobster. It's hearty and creamy, usually kicked up with potato, salt pork or bacon and milk. 

Green chiles work their way into just about every dish in New Mexico, but there's no better way to sample them than in a simple stew. The Shed is one of Santa Fe's most renowned restaurants, and quite possibly the best place in the state to get your fix of dishes prepared with New Mexico's famed Hatch chiles. The green chile stew here is made with roasted chiles, potatoes and chunks of lean pork.

North Carolina actually has two main regional barbecue styles, but they both revolve around the pig. In the east, it's all about whole hog, smoked low and slow, chopped and doused in a spicy vinegar-based sauce. And in the west, it's pork shoulders that are smoked, sliced or chopped and tossed with a vinegar-ketchup "dip." This is called Lexington-style barbecue.

Also known as the Buckeye State, Ohio is home to buckeyes, one of the the best treats for chocolate lovers. Buckeyes were named for their resemblance to the nuts that grow on a buckeye tree, which used to cover Ohio's landscape. The candy is made by mixing together peanut butter with butter and powdered sugar, rolling it into balls and dipping the mixture in sweet milk chocolate. You can find it at nearly any chocolate shop or grocery store in the state, so make sure you pick up a few. If you're really devoted, you can follow the Ohio Buckeye Candy Trail to determine who makes the best for yourself.

Oregon (and especially Portland) has plenty of dishes that make the most out of local seasonal produce. But the marionberry — a cross-breed of two blackberry varieties — is a true Oregon specialty, and was actually developed at Oregon State University in 1956. They're sweeter and more complex than your standard blackberries. The best way to sample them? Baked in a pie, of course.

The New York System wiener is a Rhode Island specialty: Small pork, beef and veal franks are steamed, placed into a steamed bun and topped with a cumin-heavy meat sauce, yellow mustard, diced onions and celery salt. Olneyville New York System, which was awarded the James Beard American Classics Medal, claims to serve "Rhode Island's Best Hot Wieners." Make sure you wash them down with a glass of ice-cold coffee milk, a local beverage whose sheer existence is the strangest fact about the state.

Fry bread is actually the official state bread of South Dakota. You can find this fluffy, flat, slightly chewy bread with a golden-brown crust all throughout the region, and tis traditional Native American food is a huge part of the culinary culture in South Dakota. The two most popular variations are sweet, with cinnamon and sugar; and a "Fry bread taco," topped with ground beef, refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream.

Central Texas barbecue is all about the beef brisket, usually seasoned with just salt and pepper, cooked low and slow over hardwood and served without sauce. Check out the version served by pitmaster Aaron Franklin at Franklin Barbecue if you're in Austin and don't mind waking up early to wait in line. This is one of the restaurants worth waiting in line for. 

Sugar on snow is one of Vermont's favorite foods. It's exactly what it sounds like: a mound of crushed ice (or actual snow, depending on how fresh and clean it is) with some boiling fresh maple syrup drizzled on it so it firms up like taffy, served with a doughnut and a pickle on the side. The combination may not make sense ... until you try it.

Eat blue crabs when in Maine, eat king crabs when in Alaska, and eat sweet and mild Dungeness crabs when in Washington. There are ample spots to find fresh Dungeness crab in Washington (peak harvest season is December through April), but you'll find top-notch crabs at Taylor Shellfish Oyster Bar and Cutter's Crabhouse in Seattle, and at numerous waterfront seafood shacks.

The pepperoni roll is the definitive snack food of West Virginia, a no-frills bread roll filled with either sticks or slices of pepperoni. When baked, some of the spicy oil from the pepperoni seeps into the surrounding bread, resulting in a hearty and delicious nosh. Some contain cheese, some are served warm instead of room temp, some contain shredded or ground pepperoni, but the end result is addictive.

If you're looking for a big slab of beef in Wyoming, you won't have to travel very far. Wyoming is a meat-eater's state, so you'll find steak and its countrified cousin, chicken fried steak, at countless restaurants in the state. A lean steak pounded thin, breaded, deep-fried to golden-brown perfection and doused in thick and hearty cream-based country gravy is gut-busting perfection and one of the most iconic foods in America.

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