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Back to recipe archiveThe Melting Pot
Club Sandwich photo coming soon
1900-1929
The Club Sandwich is a layered triple-decker sandwich featuring sliced turkey or chicken, crispy bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise on toasted bread. It first appeared in American diners and lunch counters during the early 20th century and quickly became popular as a convenient, filling meal. The Club reflects immigrant dining hall influences and the rise of urban lunch culture, notably served at state fairs and public eateries.
The Melting Pot
Blue Plate Special photo coming soon
1910s-present
The blue plate special became shorthand for the everyday American diner meal: filling, inexpensive, and quick to order. The phrase was common by the 1920s and 1930s, tied to lunch counters, railroad restaurants, and diners serving one daily set plate.
The Melting Pot
Bologna Sandwich photo coming soon
1900s-present
The bologna sandwich is lunchbox America: inexpensive sliced meat, soft bread, and a condiment. Fried bologna versions became especially beloved in Southern diners, Midwestern bars, and home kitchens where a quick skillet turned lunch meat into comfort food.
The Melting Pot
Butter Burgers photo coming soon
1930s-present
Butter burgers are Wisconsin dairy pride in sandwich form. Local restaurants such as Solly's and Kroll's helped popularize butter-topped burgers in the 1930s, while Culver's later carried a buttered-bun version far beyond Wisconsin.
The Melting Pot
Biscuits and Gravy photo coming soon
1800s-present
Biscuits and gravy grew from practical working food: cheap flour biscuits, pork drippings, milk, and enough richness to carry a hard morning. Modern sausage gravy is the familiar diner version, but older versions often used salt pork or any available pork fat.
The Melting Pot
BLT photo coming soon
1900s-present
The BLT became a lunch-counter and diner standard in the early 20th century as sliced bread, commercial mayonnaise, bacon, lettuce, and ripe tomatoes converged in American kitchens. Its simplicity is the point: crisp bacon, juicy tomato, cool lettuce, toast, and enough mayonnaise to bind the sandwich.