Whenever you set foot in a restaurant and start looking at the menu, you want to find the one dish that speaks to you and what you want to eat that day. For most people, it can be a combination of surf and turf, a heaping bowl of mac and cheese, or some fine lobster tacos.
However, the allure of a good sandwich can catch your attention quickly. If your favorite restaurant offers an array of delicious sandwiches, choosing between them can stop you in your tracks — but what happens when they offer smaller bites that feature all of your favorite proteins in a convenient package? Enter — the slider.
Sliders have risen quickly in popularity in recent years by packing as much flavor and deliciousness in a more digestible bite than your typical sandwich and offering you a more diverse selection. Seafood sliders have experienced a renaissance in recent years, but what about this humble fun-sized meal has captured the imagination of diners across the globe? Here’s the full history of the seafood slider!
The Origins of the Slider
The widespread use of mini-hamburgers across the US started with White Castle in 1921 when they would run promotions where their hamburgers would get smaller, and customers could buy 5 for 10 cents — and it kept evolving from there. However, the name slider wouldn’t stick until a couple of decades later.
The origins of the slider name started where many culinary dishes aimed to replicate the experience of a classic food in a smaller and more portable package — in the US Navy kitchens. Sailors wanted to experience some of the creature comforts of home while on deployment in the 1940s but didn’t have the means or capability to produce full-sized burgers on a regular basis.
So the Navy cooks decided to shrink the scale of the burger and created mini-burgers for the shipmen. The crew started referring to them as “sliders” because of the greasiness and how easy the sandwich went down.
The Modern Slider Renaissance
As sailors and White Castle continued to spread the gospel of sliders, the humble mini-sandwich wouldn’t get its true due until the modern age. Diners and mom and pop shops would generally offer a variation of the meal on their menus, but the higher-end culinary scene would keep the focus on traditional burger and sandwich fare — until 2007, when sliders began to evolve from their humble beginnings.
Higher-end restaurants began incorporating sliders into their menus, featuring higher-end ingredients and unique combinations that created a wholly unique culinary experience. Around this time, seafood sliders began to become popular as well, seeing items like shrimp, crab cakes, and lobster get incorporated into the offerings.
Smaller Options for Portion-Conscious Foodies
As more diners started to think about what they put into their bodies, chefs had to find creative ways to bring more attention to their sandwich offers while meeting their customers where they felt comfortable. Sliders offered these portion-conscious foodies a way to have their favorite sandwich options while keeping the size of their meals in mind.
Come to La La Lobster for the Best Seafood Sliders in the Area!
Finding fresh seafood options in Bucks County, PA, used to be incredibly challenging. La La Lobster has made it our mission to provide the finest lobster rolls for sale in Yardley, PA, and beyond, but we also want to open up our menu to include a wide culinary variety. Our menu features Hawaiian Sliders, featuring our lemon butter lobster, spicy shrimp, and grilled filet on three easy-to-eat buns.
Stop by and try them out for yourself today!
