I have a rule when I land somewhere new in this country: ask the first local who'll tolerate me what they eat that nobody back home has heard of. It has never failed me. And a recent roundup from Cheapism collecting 15 under-the-radar city specialties made me want to gas up the car immediately.

The list runs all over the map, but a few names jumped out at me right away. Cincinnati's goetta. Detroit's Coney Island hot dog, which Detroiters will defend with their whole chest, and yes, the name traces back to the New York amusement area through the Greek immigrant founders who opened the original spots. And Rochester's Garbage Plate, a proper combination plate, proteins piled over home fries and macaroni salad and topped with sauce, that sounds like a dare and eats like a hug after a long night. The list covers fifteen cities and I'm not going to spoil all of them, because half the fun is clicking through and finding your next road trip on it.

Goetta, a Coney dog, a Garbage Plate. I dragged a friend to a Cincinnati diner for goetta once, ordered it with such confidence that the waitress asked if I'd had it before, and I had to admit no, I'd read about it on a bus. She brought me extra crispy edges anyway. These dishes come with people attached, that's the whole point of them. Nobody's plating a Garbage Plate for the camera.

And that's really why these fifteen matter. Everyone plans whole trips around beignets in New Orleans or deep dish in Chicago, which, fine, deserved. But dishes like these are better than the famous stuff for one simple reason: they're still priced and eaten like everyday food, because they are. You're not waiting ninety minutes behind a bachelorette party. You're sitting next to a guy on his lunch break who's eaten the same sandwich twice a week since 1987.

Practical bit, since I can't help myself: pick the dish first, then build the day around it. Cheapism's list is a decent road map, hit two or three cities in one loop if you're feeling ambitious. Go at breakfast or lunch when these places are actually functioning, not at 9 p.m. when half of them are closed. And ask before you season, because some of these dishes come with rules and the regulars will tell you.

Every place has something, and usually it's not on any top-ten list. So which one's yours? What's the dish your city makes that nobody visiting ever orders? Tell me, because I keep a running list and it's getting long enough to need its own binder.