Springfield, Illinois

BEFORE

AFTER

At the mention of Springfield, Illinois, you may think of Blago, or Lincoln, or the State Capitol building, or your 8th grade trip here. But there is something else that Springfield, Illinois is famous for. That "something" is the Horseshoe sandwich. Specifically, the Horseshoe at D'Arcy's Pint.

The Horseshoe is a piece of Texas toast covered with a half pound hamburger covered with french fries covered with cheese sauce (regular or spicy). It doesn't come with anything else because it doesn't need anything else-- except maybe the phone number of the nearest cardiologist and some Lipitor.

But I would not subject my body to that "heart attack on a plate". Instead, I had the Ponyshoe which has fewer fries and less cheese (shown here). Are you getting this? The one pictured is the small one!

With no basis for this actually being true, I imagine this menu item was "invented" by a waitress who dropped a plate with a hamburger and fries and a cup of cheese sauce on the way to the table, then put it all back together as best as she could and managed to convince the customer that it was "something new" that she thought he'd like to try. Later, when he said he liked it and asked her what it was called, she realized she got away with yet another dropped order, knew how lucky she was, saw an image of a horseshoe, and, Voila! the "horseshoe" was here to stay!




As you can see, I cleaned my plate. Does that mean I'm entitled to dessert?