One of America's Favorites - the Dagwood Sandwich

Dagwood Bumstead holding a Dagwood sandwich

A Dagwood (sandwich) is a tall, multi-layered sandwich made with a variety of meats, cheeses and condiments. It was named after Dagwood Bumstead, a central character in the comic strip Blondie, who is frequently illustrated making enormous sandwiches. According to Blondie scripter Dean Young, his father, Chic Young, began drawing the huge sandwiches in the comic strip during 1936.





Though the exact contents of Chic Young's illustrated Dagwood sandwich remain obscure, it obviously contains large quantities and varieties of cold cuts, sliced cheese and vegetables separated by additional slices of bread. An olive pierced by a toothpick or wooden skewer usually crowns the edible structure. "Dagwood sandwich" has been included in Webster's New World Dictionary, and "Dagwood" (referring to the sandwich) has been included in the American Heritage Dictionary.

A Dagwood sandwich

In 1950 businessmen Bob Weiler and Art Lang opened a Dagwood-themed restaurant in Toledo, Ohio with hopes of establishing a national chain. They had not licensed the Dagwood name and were ordered to stop using it by King Features. A Dagwood Diner (spelled "Dag-Wood") operated in Ann Arbor, Michigan until 1971.
Assorted lunch meats featuring Dagwood have been sold at grocery stores. In May 1999, a counter-service restaurant named Blondie's opened at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure, serving a traditional Dagwood-style sandwich. Blondie's bills itself as "Home of the Dagwood Sandwich." The exterior displays a 20-foot plastic Dagwood sandwich over the entrance.
A Blondie-themed restaurant chain, Dagwood's Sandwich Shoppes, founded in 2006, has, as of January 2012, franchise locations open in Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, and Georgia. The chain struggled financially and never reached the growth anticipated by its founders. The Dagwood is sold as a 1.5-pound sandwich. The Dagwood sandwich served in the Dagwood Sandwich Shoppes stacks these ingredients: three slices of deli bread, Genoa salami, ham, pepperoni, turkey, cheddar cheese, provolone, lettuce, tomato, roasted red bell peppers, banana peppers, red onion, deli mustard, and low calorie mayonnaise.