only meatball in the rice
n.— «I didn’t want her to be the only meatball in the rice, but I didn’t want her to go to an all-black school and get up with some of this so-called ghetto stuff.» —“Felon makes new life as a dad” by Jennifer Jacobs Des Moines Register (Iowa) Sept. 2, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Need a slang term that can replace just about any noun? Try chumpie. If you’re from Philadelphia, you may already know this handy placeholder word. And there’s Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan, and … The Bronx — why do we add...
The expression to run the traps means “to perform due diligence” or “solicit a wide variety of opinions” or “investigate every angle thoroughly.” This metaphor derives from the literal sense of running the traps, which refers to hunting and fishing...