What is Butte, America’s “signature” food, the pasty or the pork chop?

When you're looking at different "signature" dishes from across America, you're going to think of things like the famous Cheesesteak sandwich from Philadelphia.  There's pizza, and when you say "New York" or "Chicago" style, it's a given that you either mean ultra-thin or deep-dish and loaded with toppings.  Boston has baked beans.    Even in Montana, certain towns are known for certain things.  Bozeman, at least to me, is synonymous with a Pickle Barrel sandwich.  In Missoula, it's a Mo Club burger.  Billings has the Burger Dive.  But what about Butte?

What food do you think is Butte's signature?  Is it the pasty?  It very well could be.  But even Joe's Pasty Shop on Grand Avenue has many different ways that they serve a delicious pasty.  And everybody's Grandmother had a different recipe.  At its core, it is thinly sliced steak or hamburger, onions and potatoes, salt and pepper, mixed and wrapped in a pastry shell and baked to a crispy, golden brown.  Some add carrots or other vegetables to the mix.  Some even jalapenos or chili.  Nobody's is exactly the same.  Who makes the best pasty in town?  The Hangin' 5? The M&M?  Does your family have a secret recipe?

Maybe the Pork Chop Sandwich is the signature dish, but even in regard to the Pork Chop, there are choices and two firmly divided camps.  Some prefer John's Original Pork Chop Sandwich which got its roots from an Uptown corner and a vendor's wagon.  That corner is now John's on Mercury Street and, to show how finicky Butte eaters are, some will even say their sandwiches taste better than the ones at John's on Harrison Avenue.

At the bottom of the hill on Montana, you'll find the Freeway Tavern and it's famous Wop Chop which got its origins in the kitchen of the late Muzzy Faraoni decades ago.  Muzzy's secret recipe is guarded like Colonel Sanders' herbs and spices, but it is slightly bigger than John's Original.  And Jo Jos are an option.  Which could also be another "Butte" thing.

Are we off the mark entirely?  What do you think is Butte's signature dish?  Let us know in the comments.