10 bucket-list American dishes worth travelling for – and where to find them

A sub roll loaded with steak, cheese and red pepper slices on a wooden board

If you're planning a gourmet tour of the US, there are certain iconic dishes in each state that are a must try. Seek out the dishes that locals are the most passionate about and you’ll find yourself in the best restaurants, bakeries and neighbourhood institutions – many of which have lasted for generations. Whether you try a silky slice of Key lime pie in Florida or a comforting bowl of clam chowder in Boston, these are the US dishes worth travelling for.

For more US inspiration, check out our guide to 8 US cities that offer spectacular value for money.

New Haven: scorch your fingers on ‘ah-beetz’

New Haven may be famed as the home of Yale University – but for food lovers, it's the pizza that is more important. Or, more accurately, ‘ah-beetz’, as New Haven-style pizza is known. 'Apizza' is a direct descendant of thin-crusted Neapolitan-style pie, tapping into the background of the local Italian-American community. But what sets apizza apart is the three Cs: crust, char and coal.

These thin-crust pizzas are cooked at high temperature in a coal-fired brick oven and when done right, have a blistered, blackened crust. In a classic apizza, adornment is minimal – in the original, not even mozzarella besmirched the flavourful tomato sauce. If you want it, ask for ‘mootz’ (mozzarella).

Head for Wooster St where you’ll find the apizza originator Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, founded in 1925, and Sally’s Apizza, founded in 1938, on the same street. Apizza has won fans across the USA and across the Atlantic. You can try it in the UK at Gracey’s in St Albans and London.

New Orleans: get stuck into gumbo

Complex and richly flavoured, this hearty stew, which can incorporate just about any combination of meat, seafood and vegetables, is emblematic of the cooking of the American South – and New Orleans is gumbo’s spiritual home. Much like Mardi Gras, the dish encapsulates the diverse culture and culinary heritage of the region.

The name is a matter of debate, deriving either from West African ‘gombo’ or the Choctaw ‘kombo’. A key ingredient is okra, which West African cooks use to thicken dishes. The filé powder (made from dried, ground sassafras leaves), used to thicken the stew at the end of cooking, was used by First Nation cooks. And the roux – the slowly cooked mixture of flour and fat that forms the base of gumbo – has French origins.

The best gumbo is the one your family makes (try our prawn gumbo recipe or vegan gumbo), but if you’re not lucky enough for that, Dooky Chase’s Restaurant, which chef Leah Chase, known as ‘the queen of Creole cuisine’ helmed for seven decades, is an institution. At French Quarter Restaurant R’evolution, Mississippi-born chef John Folse serves a stew called ‘death by gumbo’ made with roasted quail, andouille sausage and oysters.

Philadelphia: get a big bite of Philly cheesesteak

The namesake sandwich of the City of Brotherly Love is the cause of cravings – and contention. Everyone agrees that a Philly cheesesteak consists of quality beef, either thinly sliced or roughly chopped, fried on a grill, then stuffed into a long crunchy hoagie roll and topped with cheese. Whether the sandwich is served ‘wit’ or ‘wit’out’ fried onions is a matter of preference – as is the type of cheese that ought to top it all off. Provolone is said to be traditional (and is what we've used in our own Philly cheesesteak recipe), but there is a strong camp in favour of Cheez Wiz, that love-it-or-loathe-it bright-orange liquid-cheese that harks back to the 1970s.

Created in South Philly in the 1930s by hot dog cart owner Pat Olivieri, the cheesesteak is now an institution – it even has its own national appreciation day on March 24. The original Pat’s King of Steaks in South Philly is still owned by the same family. Rival Geno’s Steaks (founded 1966) is just across the street.

New York City: nosh a knish

The bagel and New York cheesecake claim much of the gastronomic glory in the Big Apple, but no visitor should leave the city without tracking down a knish. These pockets of leavened bread enclosing mashed potato, kasha (buckwheat), sauerkraut, ground meat or mushrooms are a staple of Jewish-American cuisine.

They were first made in New York by immigrants from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, many of whom settled in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 1900s – and this is still the neighbourhood where the best knishes hang out. Yonah Schimmel was a Romanian rabbi who sold potato knishes with a smear of mustard from a pushcart before setting up Yonah Schimmel’s Knish Bakery – established in 1910 and still dishing knish. Go for the classic potato. Katz’s Delicatessen, established in 1888 and reputed to be the city’s oldest deli, sells classic square potato knishes or round ones made with sweet potato or kasha.

Storefront photo of Yonah Shimmel Knish Bakery.

Miami: wrap your hands around a Cuban sandwich

South Florida’s cigar industry initially drew skilled workers from Cuba to Miami and Tampa from the 18th century, but it was Fidel Castro’s 1959 Revolution that sparked the largest influx of Cubans to the state. Miami-Dade County is now home to just under 1 million residents of Cuban origin, and Little Havana is the place to find the best Cuban cuisine – sandwiches included.

Also called Cubanos, they’re filled with slow-roast pork, glazed ham and swiss cheese, finished with mustard and thinly sliced dill pickle for piquancy, then pressed and toasted. In the heart of Little Havana, Calle Ocho (8th St) is where to find some of the best. The version found at Versailles, founded in 1971, is a classic, made with bread from the restaurant’s own bakery. Sanguich de Miami takes its ingredient-sourcing seriously (‘no shortcuts, no additives’) and is made with ham and garlic-confit-marinated pork.

San Francisco: get messy with a bowl of cioppino

The City by the Bay is famous for its sourdough – but the real San Francisco treat is this seafood stew. Its roots most likely lie in a similar dish called ciuppin, which was brought to California by Genoese immigrants who came here during the Gold Rush. It’s a classic ‘fisherman’s stew’ in that can be made with a mix of seafood, although mussels and local Dungeness crab (when in season) are pretty much de rigueur.

A proper cioppino is made with a tomato base and most versions are made with red wine – a good California Cabernet or Zinfandel would be ideal – and it’s served with (or over) garlic-rubbed toasted sourdough. To enjoy it at its best, be prepared to get go in with your hands and get messy. In North Beach, San Francisco’s Little Italy, Sotto Mare serves some of the best cioppino in the city, in portions big enough for two to share. Family-run Tadich Grill in the Financial District opened 1849 (before California was even a state). Its shellfish-rich cioppino, a house special, is served with garlic bread on the side. If you can't get to San Francisco, try our cioppino recipe to recreate it at home.

A seafood stew with mussels in a black pan

Boston: tuck into New England clam chowder

Affectionately known as ‘Beantown’, Boston’s culinary clout extends way beyond baked beans – and clam chowder (pronounced ‘chowda’ in these parts) is the mustn’t-miss dish. Chowder in various forms are made all over the Northeast and beyond (the name is derived from the French ‘chaudrée’, meaning cauldron). Some are made with tomato, some plain, some with corn (like our very own seafood chowder recipe). None can beat the New England-style version: a combination of salt pork (or bacon), potatoes and big, tender clams in a rich, creamy base thick enough to stand a spoon in.

The version made at North End seafood specialist Neptune Oyster is made the classic way – with salt pork, Wellfleet oysters from Cape Cod and a hint of thyme. Row 34 (three locations in Boston and Cambridge) sources its seafood locally and goes so far as to make its own saltines – the crunchy biscuits traditionally served alongside a bowl of chowder.

Close up of a bowl of Boston Clam Chowder with dill and topped with Oyster crackers

Cincinnati: rethink chilli

It’s chilli, but not as you know it… Ohio’s claim to culinary fame can be perplexing at first taste. Banish thoughts of the burn-your-tongue chilli con carne you’ll find in Texas – the Cincinnati version is a gently spicy meat sauce flavoured with cinnamon, allspice and cloves, with tomato, a hit of cayenne and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. It’s served in two main ways: over a bowl of spaghetti with optional add-ons of grated cheddar, chopped raw onion or kidney beans (try our recipe here), or as a topping to a hot dog (which transforms the latter into a ‘coney’).

It was first cooked up in the early 1920s by Tom and John Kiradjieff, brothers from what is now northern Greece, who were fleeing post-war strife. Little did they know that this dish would turn their city into a chilli capital of the USA – there are now some 250 chilli parlours in the region. Top places to become a ‘chilli-head’ include the James Beard Award-winning Camp Washington Chilli, established in 1940, and Skyline Chilli (160 branches), which got the thumbs-up from the late Anthony Bourdain.

Florida: ponder the origins of Key lime pie

No dessert could be more ‘Florida’ than Key lime pie – but its history isn’t as simple as it seems. The ‘key’ to this iconic dessert is the citrus fruit that gives it its name. Smaller than the supermarket-variety Persian lime, has a lifted, floral flavour – and it’s native to Florida, right? Actually, no. It’s a hybrid variety, originally from Southeast Asia, brought to the Florida Keys in the 1830s. And, while the pie’s origin story says that Key lime pie was first made by the Florida Keys fishing community, that idea has been called into question. The author of a cookbook called BraveTart suggested the recipe came from a condensed milk company. Others contend that the original recipe came from (gasp) New York, or that it was originally made with (ugh) lemons.

What’s not up for debate is the taste: one bite of the tart, sharp, creamy filling on a crunchy biscuit base will show why it’s a dessert worth having strong opinions about. In Key West, try the ‘original’ version from Kermit’s Key Lime Shop. In Key Largo, the pies from Mrs Mac’s Kitchen, established in 1976, have dedicated fans.

Key West, Florida, USA - August 3, 2016: Tourists on relax on a summer day on the streets of Key West, Florida with colorful storefronts.

Pennsylvania: untwist the history of the pretzel

They’re sold by vendors on the streets of New York and Chicago and turn up in ballparks, cinemas and shopping malls across the USA. Soft, warm, flecked with salt and comfortingly doughy, they smell of yeasty goodness, and practically beg to be dunked in mustard and enjoyed with a cold beer. The roots of these perfect handheld snacks lie in southern Germany – but the city of Reading, Pennsylvania, is the self-proclaimed ‘pretzel capital of the world’. The state of Pennsylvania (or ‘Pretzelvania’ if you like) is responsible for turning out 80 percent of the pretzels baked in the US each year.

They’re most popular in cities with a strong German heritage, following the wave of emigration to the US in the 19th century, and are now thoroughly woven into the fabric of ‘all-American’ fare. In Philadelphia, try the knots from Miller’s Twist at Reading Terminal Market. In New York City, try the handmade ones from Union Square Pretzel Co, made from wholegrain heritage wheat.

If you want a kitchen project, we've also got several pretzel recipes to try: from street cart soft pretzels to beer and rock salt pretzels (served with a decadent camembert dip), fragrant salt and cardamom pretzels and easy pretzel bites with a clever shortcut.