What is Jacksonville's signature dish?

[thelakelander]

I think the product being served at local hole in the walls like Jenkins, Cotten's and Jim Browns are unique to this area, but not highly marketed.  From the sauce and the beans to the way its served. 
The ambience of the restaurants may be a big reason why these places may not appeal to a large diverse crowd.  I think anyone of these places would make a killing, if they opened a clean, modern, flagship location with great customer service.

Here are the Florida styles of BBQ, according to Wikipedia:

Florida
There are three variants of barbecue in Florida, based on the parts of the state. The first is the Deep Southern style, found mainly in northern Florida, which is influenced by the barbecue styles of states such as Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia. The second is Floribbean barbecue, found in central Florida, which is a hybrid of Deep Southern and Caribbean barbecue styles. The third is tropical barbacoa, found in southern Florida, which is Floribbean barbecue further mixed with Latin American cuisine. Barbacoa was brought to southern Florida by immigrants from Cuba, Mexico, and other Latin American countries, and blends Mexican, Cuban, Jamaican, Bahamian, and American Deep Southern barbecue traits. Overall, Floridian barbecue as a whole is best described as a mix of Deep Southern and Caribbean styles, with occasional Latino influences. The Latino-Floribbean barbacoa is loosely comparable to Tex-Mex cuisine in that there are some Mexican influences in Latino-Floribbean cuisine, as Mexican dishes such as fajitas and nachos are popular in Florida as they are in Texas.

In northern Florida, the southeastern pulled pork style of barbecue extends from Georgia into Florida with minor variations. In addition to pulled pork, baby back ribs, pork patties (sausage patties, rib patties, or spam), pork fillets, short ribs, chicken, steak, brisket, burgers, string sausages, and shish kebabs, local Floridian meats such as mullet, a type of fish, are also smoked. Other seafoods such as shrimp and lobster are also routinely grilled over direct heat.

In central Florida, the local barbecue style mixes traits of Northern Floridian (Deep Southern) barbecue with traits of Caribbean barbecue, particularly from the Bahamas, due to its proximity to Central Florida. It basically takes the same items grilled on a Deep Southern barbecue and mixes it with tropical flavors. The meat may also be marinated and sometimes be decorated with fruits, similar to a mix of Hawaiian and Australian barbecue styles.

In southern Florida, the influx of Cuban immigrants has brought with it a style of cooking pork shoulder outdoors in which the pork is marinated in mojo, a marinade including sour orange juice and garlic, and then placed in a caja china, (literally "Chinese box"), a wooden box clad on the inside with metal, and with hot coals placed in a tray on the top. When the pork is completely done, the resulting texture is very similar to American-style pulled pork.

full list of BBQ styles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_variations_of_barbecue

[thelakelander]

Btw, unless I missed it, no one has mentioned The Camel Rider. 

The term camel rider might play as a pejorative in most cities, but here in Jacksonvilleâ€"which has among the largest Arab Middle Eastern communities on the East Coastâ€"it's a marker of influence among immigrants and the descendants of immigrants who, fleeing the economic decline and religious persecution of the Ottoman Empire, began settling in the area in the 1890s.

Many Arab immigrants made their way as peddlers. Some opened groceries, which in time evolved into sandwich shops. Assimilation was the watchword. Mohammed became Mo. Saliba became Sal. Men with surnames like Hazouri built houses of worship like Mount Olive Syrian Presbyterian Church. By 1915 the Syrian American Club was thriving. The Ramallah American Club followed in the 1950s.

For reasons that are unclear, pita breadâ€"and sandwiches stuffed into pita breadâ€"function as totems of both assimilation and enduring ethnic identity among Arabs of Jacksonville.

www.seriouseats.com/2008/06/southern-belly-florida-jacksonville-whiteway.html

[ProjectMaximus]

Hazouri? Like Tommy Hazouri?

Camel Rider, very interesting. It sounds like I've had something like this before, though I've never been to Whiteway Deli.

[thelakelander]

Desert Rider (Downtown on Hogan Street), the Sheik, Lubi's and Desert Sands also sell Camel Riders.

[jacksonvilleconfidential]

As a Syrian American Im finding all these racist remarks very offensive! (JUST KIDDING)

Is the Camel Rider really a Jacksonville Signature Dish? I wouldnt think so, they are pretty much at every middle eastern sandwich shop in the english speaking world.

[thelakelander]

I've never had one but like BBQ, Pizza, chowder, lobsters, crab cakes and hot dogs I guess it could depend.  Is there some sort of local variation or ingredient involved in their preparation, compared to those in other communities?  If so, like Chicago Deep Dish Pizza or Rochester White Hots, it could be a local dish. 

[jacksonvilleconfidential]

We would probably have to compete with the likes of Homewood, AL if we really wanted the Camel Rider all for ourselves. Initial google researching reveals that the Sandwich is a top pic of the Alabama Tourism Department

http://www.800alabama.com/places-to-eat/topdishes/dish_detail.cfm?ID=102

And really, IMO, the camel rider isnt really a specific recipe its more of a "special", meaning that the ingredients can differ a little to a lot depending on where you go. Basically its meat and lettuce, tomato, etc in a Pita.  The Pita Bread being the only real requirement for it to be a Camel Rider.

[coredumped]

Bumping an old thread here, but according to the New York Times our signature dish is the Camel Rider. Sorry Lubi's!

THERE are subs. There are heroes. There are hoagies, po' boys and grinders. And in this port city, which has the country's 10th largest Arab population, there are camel riders.

Elsewhere, the term might be pejorative. But in Jacksonville, these sandwiches, also known as desert riders, are a totemic food. Often stacked with lunch meats, smeared with Italian dressing and tucked into pita bread, they are eaten with a side of tabbouleh and accompanied by a cherry limeade.

Full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/dining/in-jacksonville-camel-rider-sandwiches-are-ubiquitous.html?_r=0