Tavern Loose Meat Sandwich

Hello, welcome to A Way with Words.

Hello, how are you guys?

Super duper. Who’s this and where are you?

I’m in Des Moines, Iowa right now visiting a brother.

Okay, and your name?

Mike.

Mike Langle.

Mike, welcome to the show. What’s on your mind?

So I’m from Lamars, Iowa. It’s northwest Iowa.

You know, wherever I’ve traveled, nobody else has ever recognized this term to mean what it does in Lamars.

The word is tavern.

Most people guess it as a bar or watering hole.

But in Lamars and maybe the surrounding Plymouth County area, it’s a loose meat sandwich.

It’s what it’s known mostly as throughout the U.S.

Yeah.

You know what I’m talking about then?

Yeah.

Absolutely.

And does it have red sauce or no?

No sauce at all.

Okay.

Gotcha.

Yeah.

So your question is, what is up with that?

Why do people look at me weird when I say it?

Yeah, I get anything from, you know, strange looks of curiosity to questions like, how do you have a tavern?

Right, right.

Are you eating this building?

What?

Exactly.

Have you guys been able to come up with anything on that?

Oh, yeah, we sure have.

Back in the 1920s, there was a guy named David Heglin who began serving something like it at what turned out to be the Ye Olde Tavern in Sioux City.

And a few years later, after his death, another guy, Abe Khaled, bought it and perfected the recipe for tavern sandwiches.

And so if you’re from that area, you know that this is sort of like a sloppy joe, but a little drier and neater.

Is that the way you might describe it?

Yeah, absolutely.

It’s just minced burger, but no sauce added usually.

Maybe a little onion or something like that cooked along with it, but yeah.

And not in a patty.

It’s literally like scoops of gravel-sized beef.

Right, right.

Which is why some people call these loose meat sandwiches or spoon burgers.

There were similar sandwiches sold around the same time, including made rights.

The other, mm-yep.

Yeah.

And those are from Muscatine, Iowa, not long after David Heglin came up with the tavern.

Right, right.

There was a guy named Fred Angel who was making those also in the 1920s.

And then he franchised made right.

And so you often hear people call these maid rights.

And there are even more names for these, like Charlie Boy, Tasty, and Big T.

But the term tavern, yeah, it does trip up a lot of people.

Just because it just sounds not quite right.

It’s kind of like the cold drink called a cabinet in Rhode Island, where you’re like, wait, that’s not a food item.

How are you putting that in your body?

Yeah, right?

Have a cabinet with your tavern.

Right. That would get the same look from me as I get when I use the term tavern.

Exactly. And in Missouri, where my family is from, they have a small chain called Crumbly Burger, which is exactly the same kind of sandwich.

And they’re good. But I really think you have to toast the buns so that they’re a little firmer and that the meat doesn’t soak too far into the bun.

Gotcha. Yeah. OK. Yeah. That we don’t. That’s not common with the tavern.

I mean, one local restaurant in Lamars, Bob’s Drive-In, serves a really good one.

So if you guys are ever up in that area, I highly recommend you stop in.

All right. Food recommendations are always welcome.

I wasn’t plugging them either.

No, no, no. She said just like a food fan in general. We’ll take it.

Yeah, yeah.

Mike, it’s been a delight. Thank you for calling. Appreciate it.

Thank you guys for looking into that. That solves an age-old problem.

Yeah.

Now I have an answer.

Yep. Take care now. Bye-bye.

Take care. Bye-bye.

All right. Bye-bye.

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