That cincinatti chilli looks wierd...
I grew up in Minnesota, my wife in in Wisconsin. She likes cheese curds. I'd never even heard of cheese curds.
She used to think chili had macaroni noodles in it. I had to cure her of that. Now her chili's been touted as good, here in Texas.
I'd had KFC fried chicken in minnesota.
I've never heard of putting any kind of salad dressing on a burger. That's just wrong.
Dipping food in Ranch Dressing is getting popular down here (I see people do it with pizza, pizza bread). I think the wings popularity with different sauces is encouraging this.
When I moved to Texas, I hadn't heard of Chicken Fried Steak with white gravy. That stuff freaks me out. I have no doubt it's hand made and pumped out hourly by cheap illegal labor.
Speaking of baked potatoes, the coolest thing I've seen here is the Meat Potato. It may go by various names, but it's a meat potato. One of my MN buddies came down, ate it, and been missing it ever since. Apparently he found a BBQ shop in the mall of america that makes it. The order of ingredients varies, but the style most commonly served is:
1 big honkin baked potato split open
1-2 dollops of butter
1-2 scoops of chopped brisket
1-2 dollops of sour cream
generously sprinkle on shredded cheese
chives and bacon bits (real bacon) sprinkled on top
I always ask for BBQ sauce on the side, and pour that over the top.
Some places call it a Chopped Bake, BBQ Potato, whatever. Find the baked potato section in the menu, and the one with meat on it and ask for it "All the way" wich means to put all the fixins on it.
What you got is all you day's meals on 1 plate. I get that for lunch, I don't need dinner.
I've also had it with sliced sausage instead of brisket, or with the sour cream on top of the butter. I like it on top, better presentation, and less likely to melt right away.
The Rib Tickler in Tomball is where I got my first Meat Potato. That was lke 13 years ago. They just got sold, but used to be the owner's son was in the Patriots, and he catered meals when the Pats were in Houston. The walls had pictures of all the famous folk who been there, including lyle lovett (who apparently is a local, though I ain't ever seen him).
Some places got biscuits or rolls that they serve. Them are good too. Goodson's in Tomball's got real good rolls. Potatoe Patch is good. They got this Que Paso guy who walks around with a basket and he pitches them to the customers.
I've seen purists down here claim that chili ain't got beans in it, but most every place I've been there's beans in the chili. Thankfully, no bloody noodles.
I think my wife got the idea that noodles were in there because of Chili Mac, chili with macaroni. And that abomination happened because of the great northern mid-west conspiracy to add noodles to frickin everything. Most notably, the "hot dish" or "casserole". You take a baking dish (i.e. cake pan) and toss in layers of noodles or potato slices, some creamed soup of some sort, a can of corn, and then sprinkle on a ton of Wisconsin cheese, and then you bake it.
Here in Houston, there's a lot of other cultures you can get food from. But that's because they're imported cultures. Things like chicken fried steak, potatos, fried orka, BBQ, that stuff's here because it is what the locals eat. It's the local culture.