tshoward74's Profile
Horseshoe sandwich
I can't even tell you how excited I was to find not only this post, but a mention of Horseshoes in "You Want Fries On That?" article (http://www.chow.com/stories/10678).
I grew up eating horseshoes/ponies in my hometown of Illiopolis (just 20 miles East of Springfield on I-72). And yes, they are two pieces of Texas toast (or one, for the Ponies) with a similar serving of some type of meat (burger, ham, shrimp, turkey, chicken strips, etc.) on top. Then the fries, and then the cheese sauce.
And yes, the sauce is what makes the dish from location to location. Only the cheapest, fastest places (usually short-order grills) use a shortcut sauce from a can. The best establishments make their own, and they almost always include beer.
Growing up, my Grandmother worked as a bartender at our local bowling alley, The Roese Bowl. They had a restaurant, and the owner, Fred Roese, made what is still to my mind the best Horseshoe sauce ever. My Aunt actually married Fred's son, and he and his siblings still make batches of the Roese Bowl's amazing cheese sauce. He also refuses to give me the secret recipe. I do know that beer was a key ingredient.
And like everyone else on here, when I was younger I had no ide that there were such things as "local delicacies," and just assumed they had horseshoes everywhere. Now that I live in Chicago, I wish that were true. I recommend that transplanted Springfieldians experiment with their own versions using a basic fondue recipe as a base. I use beer in place of the wine, and the results are delicious.
