The Most Iconic Foods in Iowa and Illinois

The people over at Thrillist.com, a website that seeks out the best places for food, drink, and travel, have created a list of the best food to eat in every state, and they believe there's more to life than deep dish pizza. Perhaps they're right.

*Drumroll* According to Thrillist, the best food in Illinois is the Italian beef sandwich and the best for Iowa is a pork tenderloin sandwich. Apparently the Midwest just really loves sandwiches.

Anyway, they said the best place to go for Italian beef is Johnnie's Beef in Elmwood Park, Illinois. For those who don't know, an Italian beef sandwich is a lot like a French dip sandwich, but it comes with gravy instead of au jus, and it's full of peppers too, whether you like them sweet or spicy.

And where would Iowa be without the pork tenderloin sandwich? In a dark, dark place. These sandwiches are known for the giant pieces of pork pounded flat until they resemble a breaded (or grilled) dinner plate, and then thrown on a bun that's usually too small to contain all that pork, but technically gives you permission to eat with your hands, so win win. Thrillist liked the sandwiches best at Breitbach's Country Dining in Balltown, Iowa.

Now, Elmwood Park and Balltown are roughly three hours and two hours from the Quad Cities respectively. If you're under a time crunch and can't make the trek out to these places, maybe you could try some local versions. According to members of the QCA on Yelp.com, the best Italian beef sandwich is at Dr. Gyros in Rock Island, and perhaps even Tony's Chicago Style Pizzeria in Moline, though there weren't many reviews to go off of. But Lord, do people have something to say about pork tenderloin sandwiches. On Yelp, people raved about the pork tenderloins at Sippi's Restaurant, The Filling Station, Reife's Restaurant, and The 11th Street Precinct Bar and Grill. There was even one short but amusing shout out to Front Street Brewery. You can get to any of these places pretty easily, because they're all located in Davenport.

Well, now that you're good and starving, check out any of these awesome places for some great food, or even make the trip out to the number one spots rated by Thrillist. We hope that you cry "tears of enjoyment that turn to bacon" like the guy who went to Front Street.