The South loves to create its own signature dishes, with different regions using their cultural interests, their available ingredients, and their imaginations to devise food items that may seem strange to outside observers, but that taste completely delicious. A prime example of this can be found in southeastern Virginia, a coastal area best-known for the tourist haven of Virginia Beach and Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest Navy base. At many Mexican restaurants in this part of the state, tortilla chips are served with the expected tomato salsa… but in a small ramekin beside the salsa, you’ll often find a curious creamy white dip. If you ask a native southeastern Virginian about it, they’ll shrug and tell you that it’s “white sauce” in a nonchalant and matter-of-fact way.
But what exactly is “white sauce”? Why is it served with tortilla chips at Mexican joints and why do people in the area love it so much?
Patrick Evans-Hylton, a trained chef and journalist based in the Hampton, Virginia, area (and the mind behind VirginiaEatsAndDrinks.com) sheds some light on the last question. “If we’re being honest, the white sauce is perhaps one of the least authentic offerings on bills of fare in Mexican restaurants in our corner of Virginia,” he says. “And that’s what makes it so special. It’s uniquely ours.”
What Is “White Sauce” And Where Did It Come From?
According to local legend, “white sauce” first emerged in the Virginia Beach area in the 1970s at a now-closed restaurant called El Toro in Norfolk. Before El Toro opened, Mexican food wasn’t really a part of the culture in the local area.” The dishes served at El Toro were really the only example of Mexican cuisine the residents of Norfolk knew,” explains Jey Kempin, a chef-instructor at the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts who has extensively studied Mexican cuisine and how it manifests in different American regions…