Thousand Island Dressing: Origin Stories and Where to Try It

Thousand Island dressing, the pink, tangy, mayonnaise-based sauce, has two rival birthplaces on the St. Lawrence River, a short drive apart. Clayton tells of a fishing guide's wife who made it for shore dinners, and Alexandria Bay tells of a chef who worked for the owner of Boldt Castle. Neither story is settled, so taste it and decide.

Both versions have been told for generations, and neither settles it. Both stories end the same way, with the recipe reaching the owner of a famous New York hotel and spreading across the country.

What is the Clayton dressing story?

According to the Clayton version, a guide named George LaLonde took clients fishing on the river and served shore dinners on an island. His wife, Sophia, whose name appears in several spellings, made a sauce to go with the meal. One day an actress who was fishing with the group loved it, asked for the recipe and took it to New York. From there it reached a hotel owner who put it on his menu.

Sophia LaLonde dressing is the name given to the recipe in Clayton lore. Tasting a local bottle is part of the fun when you visit.

What is the Alexandria Bay dressing story?

According to the Alexandria Bay version, a chef who worked for the hotel owner and island builder George Boldt created the dressing, perhaps while boating among the islands, and the owner then brought it to his hotels. The village keeps the story alive on menus and in its tourism material. The tale ties the dressing to the same castle and the same river.

The two stories share a villain-free ending: a famous owner, a famous hotel and a national sauce. They disagree about who stirred the first batch.

Why can nobody settle where Thousand Island dressing began?

Because the evidence is thin on both sides. Letters, menus and family memories exist on both sides, but no decisive record. Each village has a proud local tradition, and each has a reason to prefer its own. The honest conclusion is that the dressing came from this river region, in the early twentieth century, and that the exact author is uncertain.

You can choose a side, or choose the dressing.

Where to try the dressing near the river

In restaurants on both sides of the Clayton and Alexandria Bay waterfront, in shops that sell local bottles and on salads, sandwiches and burgers wherever the sauce is made from scratch. Ask whether the dressing is made in the kitchen, and what goes in it. A good version has mayonnaise, ketchup or chili sauce, pickle relish, a little onion and an egg or a pepper. A version with chopped egg is old-fashioned, and one with a little heat is modern.

For where to sit and eat, the Clayton waterfront guide and the Alexandria Bay guide are the next stops.

What else can you do with the sauce?

Far more than a salad. The classic uses are a Reuben sandwich, a burger spread and a dip for fries or fried fish. Chefs use it on a wedge of iceberg, on a shrimp cocktail and as a base for a fish sandwich. At home, stir a spoonful into coleslaw or use it to dress a potato salad. The sauce is forgiving, and a little goes a long way.

If you want to make your own, start with mayonnaise, add ketchup or chili sauce, then fold in relish and minced onion. Taste, adjust and chill. A day in the fridge improves it. Make a small batch, because it is best fresh, and write down your changes so the next batch is better.

How do you taste the sauce fairly?

Try it plain on a lettuce wedge, where it has nothing to hide behind. Then try it on a sandwich or a burger. Notice the sweetness, the tang and the texture. A good dressing is creamy but not gluey, pink but not neon, and has pieces of pickle you can see. Compare a house-made version with a bottled one in the same sitting.

How do you rate a dressing?

You can rate a restaurant and then name the dish, for example "wedge salad with house dressing". Give it its own stars, and write what you tasted. If you try the dressing in both villages, put the two places in a list called Thousand Island dressing trail, with a note on each. Tag the friends who tasted with you, and they can add their own rating of the same meal. A wedge salad at one table and a Reuben at another can each earn their own dish rating, so the sauce is judged where it is served.

The Mosey app also asks what you are having, then how it was, if you rate as you eat.

Where next in Clayton?

The shore dinner guide explains the guides' tradition behind the sauce. The US food guides hold other foods with disputed origins.

This is one of many New York guides, and the Food in New York State page lists them all by town.

When the last lettuce leaf is gone, open the Mosey app, rate the version you liked best and share the list with the friend who always takes a side.