How do U.S. regions differ when it comes to comfort food?

I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. The local cuisine - such as it is - was heavily influenced by Italian-Americans, but wound up somewhat different than the Italian-American food of New York City and so on, because there were fewer Italian-Americans relative to the overall population. In other words, the Italian-American restaurateurs always had to appeal to other ethnicities. The finest achievement of this setup: toasted ravioli. Despite the name, these are meat or occasionally cheese ravioli that are coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried, then served dusted with parmesan cheese and typically dipped in marinara or meat sauce. They are a perfect pairing with beer, as an appetizer, really anytime food. In the 1990s these started appearing in other parts of the country, but they are still far more common in/around St. Louis, where almost all restaurants Italian(ish) or otherwise serve them at least as appetizers. Even bowling alleys and dive bars will serve the frozen ones. In fact probably just about everybody uses frozen ravs now.