This Colorado Sandwich Combines PB&J With A Very Unlikely Ingredient

America has a lot of iconic sandwiches to choose from. There's the Italian beef in Illinois, the Hot Brown in Kentucky, the Philly Cheesesteak in Pennsylvania, and the lobster roll in Maine (even though it's not the official state sandwich), just to name a few. There's also Colorado's Fool's Gold sandwich, which isn't nearly as famed as these others to anyone outside of the Centennial State. Unlike, say, the Muffuletta from Louisiana which is brimming with fillings (or even the King Cake Muffuletta), the Fool's Gold is made with three ingredients: peanut butter, jelly, and a whole lot of bacon.

Created at Denver's Colorado Mine Company restaurant in the 1970s, the sandwich traditionally consists of a pound each of peanut butter, blueberry jam, and bacon on a loaf of sourdough bread. Most would agree that it's a quirky sandwich, but what's curious is that it was offered alongside such other highbrow dishes like prime rib, filet mignon, and lobster tail on the restaurant's menu. At a price point of $49.95 in the '70s (that's about $292 today), it sure wasn't cheap, but it was also meant to feed several people. It turns out that the owners of Colorado Mine Company at the time developed the dish as a lighthearted gesture to spark conversation (and hopefully more business). Little did they know that one huge superstar would help catapult the sandwich in popularity.

The story goes that, in 1976, a friend of Elvis Presley was visiting Graceland and told the legendary crooner about the Fool's Gold he had in Denver. Intrigued, hungry, and filthy rich, Presley immediately summoned his plane to fly from Tennessee to Denver, Colorado that very night so that he could try it. The staff at the Colorado Mine Company was alerted to an upcoming visit by a very famous celebrity, although they didn't know exactly who was about to arrive. When Presley got there, a young, star-struck cook had the privilege of making the sandwich, which Elvis loved. In fact, the sandwich is similar to the sandwich most people know as "The Elvis" (with peanut butter, banana, and bacon).

In the near future, Presley would return to pick up more Fool's Gold sandwiches for his daughter, Lisa Marie's, birthday. On this occasion, staff from the restaurant delivered them to the airport hangar where Presley's plane landed. Already a hot spot for celebs, the Colorado Mine Company would become famous especially for its signature sandwich after word got out about Presley's visits, and it would remain a popular destination until it closed permanently. At that point, the very cook who served Elvis his first Fool's Gold, Nick Andurlakis, opened his own restaurant called Nick's Café where he served a scaled-down version of the sandwich. He also covered the eatery in Elvis memorabilia. While Nick's Café is now closed, the Fool's Gold still lives on as one of Colorado's best dishes.