Southern Oregon Local Delicacies

We found a couple of local delicacies in Southern Oregon.  This first used what is a very popular item in the this region – tater tots.  Why are tater tots so popular here?  Well, it seem tater tots were invented in the 1950s in Oregon.  A true American entrepreneur was looking for how the scraps from making French Fires could be used instead of being thrown away and came up with the tater tot.  And from this invention came a company -- Ore-Ida.  Tater tots seem to be on every menu around these parts but our local delicacy was a very creative use of them.  It was a plate of nachos.  But instead of a base of tortilla chips, this dish used tater tots.  And instead of ground beef, these nachos used pulled pork.  They weren’t called nachos, though; the name of this dish was ………. Totchos.

Our second local delicacy was a grilled cheese sandwich.  So, how can a grilled cheese sandwich be a local delicacy?  Well, this was not your ordinary grilled cheese.  We went to the Rogue Creamery in the town of Central Point, Oregon.  They have been making cheese here since the 1930s.  Their specialty is blue cheese.  We sampled several different blue cheeses they make.  As it was lunch time, the only thing on the menu in this cheese store was a grilled cheese sandwich. This one was made with mild cheddar and blue cheese with the bread also drizzled with honey and then grilled in a Panini press.  It was very tasty and without a doubt the most unique grilled cheese we ever have eaten.