An Illinois lawmaker is working to make the Italian beef Illinois’ state sandwich, and while that may seem like a no-brainer, it appears there’s controversy brewing around another popular staple.
Standing Friday outside his favorite local beef spot, Pop’s Beef in Chicago, State Rep. Rick Ryan said he was filing a bill to name the Italian beef sandwich the official state sandwich of Illinois.
“The Italian beef sandwich has long been a staple of Illinois meals,” Ryan said in a statement. “It’s our most wellknown sandwich, and I’m excited to see this officially named as our state sandwich. It really representsa part of Illinois culture that so many of us enjoy.”
Ryan sponsored House Bill 4669, which passed unanimously out of the House Rules Committee with bipartisan support and now awaits a full vote in the House later in the spring. He said the measure was intended to be “fun in nature” for his staffers.
“We have support from Republicans, Democrats. We have sponsors from downstate, we have sponsors from Rockford, down in southern Illinois, up and down the state. And the one thing I’ve learned now that we’ve actually done this and this has got some some legs to it, is every person in Springfield now walks up and grabs me in the hallway or grabs me in the rotunda and says, let me tell you about my Italian beef spot …. but the common denominator is that everybody across the state of Illinois loves Italian beef. Everybody has their local joint that they go to,” Ryan said in a press conference Friday.
Dating back to the early 1900s, Italian beef’s roots trace back to Chicago’s Little Italy community, according to an article from Choose Chicago.
But some are questioning whether or not Illinois already has a state sandwich.
While it doesn’t appear in official state listings, the “Horseshoe” sandwich in Springfield has reportedly been considered the unofficial state sandwich for some time.
Created in 1928 by a Springfield chef, “the Horseshoe” is basically a toasted ham and cheese sandwich covered in French fries.
According to the city of Springfield’s website, the signature sandwich involves “two thick slices of toasted Texas Toast, topped with your choice of meat, then cover that with a heaping pile of crispy French fries and drench with homemade cheese sauce.”
But that begs an important question: is it actually a sandwich?
“Unfortunately for the Horseshoe, their time has come and gone,” Ryan said. “They’re not actually a sandwich. It’s actually, an open faced thing with one piece of bread. You can’t pick it up and eat it. In my mind, it’s got to be a something you can hold in your hands to be a sandwich.”
Ryan said as a compromise, there are plans to potentially make the Horseshoe sandwich the official “open faced” sandwich in the state.
“I do have a colleague that’s going to make that the official open faced sandwich of the state of Illinois because there is a difference,” Ryan said. “And it’s a regional thing down in central and southern Illinois that they’re very proud of. So I don’t want to take that away from them.”
Ryan said he is surprised at the attention the bill has received, but he’s proud to be a part of it.
“It literally is something that everyone in Illinois loves dearly and I’m just shocked how much attention it’s gotten,” he said. “I thought it was just a small thing we’re going to be doing, but it’s amazing how many people just love the Italian beef sandwich. And I’m I’m glad to be able to do this for everybody.”
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