Eating in the Midwest

Lots of travel the past couple of weeks, one weekend in Chicago, the next in Ft. Wayne. It's trips like these that I realize how regional our eating is. I have fallen madly in love with Italian beef sandwiches, and am at a loss to recreate the "gravy" they dip them in. So I'll be experimenting with that for quite some time until I get it right. Then of course there is getting the right bread. Not sure where to get that in Seattle. In Ft. Wayne, I tried to find out what "traditional" food everyone eats. Seems the closest I got was sausage rolls, which is sort of a rolled up calzone. Wish we'd been there when the corn was coming in, now that's the kind of food I can get into!