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8. Brown Derby, Los Angeles, Calif.
Cobb Salad
Let’s face it; most salads are wimpy little affairs meant for nothing more than occupying your mouth while you wait for the main course. Not the mighty Cobb, though. With lettuce, eggs, bacon, chicken, avocado, tomatoes, chives, watercress, Roquefort cheese, and a special dressing, the Cobb salad is not your traditional salad (or a healthy one, either). The man responsible for the concoction is Robert H. Cobb, owner of the Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles. Late one night in 1937, Cobb and his friend, Sid Grauman (owner of the famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre), were rooting around in the Derby kitchen looking for a snack. Cobb essentially grabbed whatever was left in the fridge, chopped it all up, and prepared a salad. Grauman came by the next day and ordered himself a “Cobb salad.” Word spread quickly (this was Hollywood, after all), and soon it became the landmark restaurant’s signature dish.
9. Pig Stand, Dallas, Texas
Onion Rings
According to most sources, the onion ring was invented when a careless cook at a Pig Stand location in Dallas accidentally dropped an onion slice in some batter, then pulled it out and tossed it in the fryer for lack of a better destination. Now, you’d think inventing the onion ring would be enough for one restaurant chain, but not Pig Stand. The company also lays claim to opening America’s first drive-in, inventing Texas toast, and being one of the first restaurants to advertise using neon signs. Not bad for a little outfit from Texas.
10. Melrose Inn, Prospect, Ky.
Derby Pie
A Kentucky favorite, derby pie is a chocolate and walnut tart with a pastry-dough crust—and that’s about all we know about it. Why? Because the recipe is jealously guarded by the Kern family. Melrose Inn manager George Kern created derby pie in the mid-1950s with help from his parents, Walter and Leaudra, and the dessert was such a hit that the family was soon baking the treat full-time. In fact, Mrs. Kern, being the crafty monopolist she was, copyrighted the name, and to this day, you can only get real “Derby-Pie®” through Kern’s Kitchen, Inc. Not only that, but a man from New England once handed Leaudra a blank check for the recipe so that his daughter could make the pie at home. She refused.
Ed note: this piece was excerpted from mental_floss magazine
Not only do the grease trucks have a Fat Darrell sandwich, they also are home to the Fat Bastard and the Fat Bitch as well…….ummmmm deicious.
posted by QT314159265 on 12-4-2007 at 10:36 am
Have to defend my hometown. Philadelphia has at least 3 of the top 50 restaurants in the US, (Vetri, Le-Bec Fin, Striped Bass, and I could argue for Lacroix too) and fine dining IS its forte. Come to philly, and I will take you out and show you guys on me :) Then we’ll have a few (or many) drinks and get a cheesteak at 3 am.
posted by phillygirl on 12-4-2007 at 11:13 am
Please tell me you’re not going to start forcing us to click 10 times to read a list just to up your ad prices. It’s turned me off Sports Illustrated, and will stop me visiting here.
posted by Charles on 12-4-2007 at 12:04 pm
i don’t know what kind of crazy display you get charles, but i don’t get any ads on this site except mentalfloss merchandise (which is to be expected). but i do agree, having to load 10 pages with 1 item per pages is pretty annoying, especially when it would have been just as easy to put the info on 2-3 pages if 1 seemed too long or large.
posted by tami on 12-4-2007 at 12:45 pm
Phillygirl,
You gonna cover the drinks and the chessesteaks too? I’ll be on the next flight if you do :-).
posted by John on 12-4-2007 at 12:53 pm
Great fun article, but I agree, if I have to click on 10 pages, I will go elsewhere too.
posted by Simon on 12-4-2007 at 1:13 pm
streeter seidell? from collegehumor.com?
posted by sd on 12-4-2007 at 1:22 pm
Lombardi’s is the best pizza I’ve ever eaten. They still use the same coal oven that has been around since 1905.
Highly recommended.
posted by Kang on 12-4-2007 at 1:31 pm
I used to live in Springfield, IL, and the Cozy Dog drive-in has by far the best corn dogs I’ve ever had. Also, extremely good donuts, believe it or not. I usually tried to save my indulgence for Illinois State Fair week.
posted by Bre on 12-4-2007 at 1:58 pm
Hey guys: Thanks for the comments… we’re still experimenting with this stuff (splitting up articles in particular), but we’ll definitely take this all into account as we keep tweaking. /m
posted by Mangesh on 12-4-2007 at 2:16 pm
Sorry, but I have to draw the line at a fried Twinkie! And I thought deep fried turkey at Thanksgiving was wrong…
posted by Lisa on 12-4-2007 at 2:27 pm
Good article but yes, 10 clicks is too much. Not to mention the fact that clicking the back button doesn’t get you back to the main page. It takes 10 clicks or retyping mentalfloss.com. Too annoying.
posted by Fran on 12-4-2007 at 2:31 pm
The click through thing also screws up in RSS feeds. I only get the first page. I was left thinking that two items in a list made a pretty lame article!
posted by Nicole on 12-4-2007 at 2:39 pm
it’s pretty sad when we are not only reading articles on the lazy mans food but we are to lazy to click our mouse.
great article!
posted by Annaleah on 12-4-2007 at 3:35 pm
not a fan of 4 clicks for 10 items (as it was apparently revised) –
and to get back to the top, ugh.
please — go back to your format of an intro on the home page, and the rest of the article (complete) after the jump.
please
thank you
posted by WizardBoy on 12-4-2007 at 3:38 pm
Uhh…derby pie? What about the f***ing chicken wing? Invented at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY in 1964.
posted by Jarrod on 12-4-2007 at 3:39 pm
As a Kentuckian, I’m proud to have visited one of these establishments… the one in Philly. Awesome cheesesteak by the way - highly recommended. Sad, but I live really close to Prospect and have only ever eaten (apparent) counterfeits of Derby Pie. Speaking of which, Jarrod, don’t knock it till you try it! Chickens had wings way before ‘64. ;-) Kidding, btw.
posted by Roger on 12-4-2007 at 3:56 pm
Oh, forgot to mention - the multiple links were a little annoying, but by far not the worst thing I’ve had to put up with today. :-) As far as getting “back” to the main page, I usually just click on the big blue mental_floss logo anyhow.
posted by Roger on 12-4-2007 at 3:59 pm
FAT DARRYLS!!!
I went to school at Rutgers, New Brunswick, and Fat Darryls were the ultimate go-to food when we were hungover. It truly is the most delicious heart-attack-on-a-bun a person can eat, it only costs about $5, and you don’t need to eat for about a day afterwards.
Excellent choice.
posted by Rachel on 12-4-2007 at 3:59 pm
Listen to your readers guys.
Great article.
Hugely irritating layout.
Pop-up ads - just dumb.
“Grease trucks” calling up and ad for “Grease” the musical ?! cummon!!
posted by DJ K e v v y Kev on 12-4-2007 at 5:04 pm
I don’t mind clicking to get to the different sections of the article, but the pop-up ads are really annoying. I’m not clicking on the little “x”s to close them, which means I have to scroll down past the ad, and then back up to where I was to get rid of them. Come on, I know you need ad revenue, but I’m not going to click on those things. Maybe side bar ads? They’d be much less intrusive.
posted by gibson8tor on 12-4-2007 at 6:38 pm
I would like to personally thank Myers Avenue Red Soda Co. for inventing the Root Beer float :)
-Diana Moneymaker
posted by Diana Moneymaker on 12-4-2007 at 8:03 pm
Anchor Bar, darn right! Their wings far, FAR eclipse any Hooters or any of the multitudes of wing chains. Anchor Bar also has an amazingly delicious beef on wick sandwich. Dang, I want to fly there now and get one.
posted by Jenny on 12-4-2007 at 10:39 pm
Pat’s Steaks? Seriously? Their dubious claim to having invented the cheesesteak notwithstanding, there are much, much, much better places to get steaks.
posted by fixedgear on 12-5-2007 at 5:34 am
Mostly the same info as from the Travel Channel programs. Good article though.
Get Firefox as a browser! No pop ups and clicked 4 pages only although I would have enjoyed it all on 1 page.
posted by Owen on 12-5-2007 at 8:11 am
Ok, I live in buffalo and it a bsic requirment that in buffalo,you eat at anchor bar.and eat chicken wings. I mean, we have the biggest wing fest every year! Yeah,Buffalo wings should deffinitly be up there.
posted by Fran on 12-5-2007 at 10:09 am
Ok…..now I’m hungry!
posted by Kay on 12-5-2007 at 11:50 pm
Thanks so much for including Cozy Dog Drive In as one of the 10 Greatest Birthplaces on the Great American Food Trail! For Bre: thank you for your comments about Cozy Dog and the homemade donuts, but I’m sorry to say that we had to discontinue the donuts due to the fact that the company no longer makes the donut mix.
posted by Sue on 12-6-2007 at 10:07 am
Wow, I’m surprised by this comment board. I thought for sure there would be a lot more petty squabbling over which place was the first to put jelly in a donut, etc… :) Maybe mentalfloss readers are a little more intelligent than normal posters.
posted by Vitajex on 12-6-2007 at 4:22 pm
How come POUTINE isn’t on this list !?
posted by Zachary on 12-6-2007 at 6:02 pm
what bout he garbage plate or the buffalo wings of buffalo?
posted by yoo on 12-7-2007 at 1:11 am
oh dont you jus love the way you americans invent such nutrional foods, nearly everyone of them is full of fat, no wonder 66% of you is obese
posted by Andy on 12-7-2007 at 10:49 am
I order take out from ChipShop all the time and I never knew that!
posted by Corey on 12-7-2007 at 10:50 am
BUFFALO WINGS???
posted by JJ on 12-7-2007 at 10:58 am
where is buffalo wings? or the new orleans mufaletta?
posted by jordan on 12-7-2007 at 6:03 pm
I went to school at Rutgers as well, and the grease trucks were by far the best thing there. The Fat Darrell, and all the sandwiches there are so amazing. They’re so bad for you, but there’s no better drunk food. The grease trucks are the place to be at 2am when the bars get out.
posted by Diana on 12-7-2007 at 9:26 pm