The OG New York Sandwich That’s Going National
A food truck in Los Angeles serving chopped cheese is just one example of the bodega staple’s spread beyond Gotham.
A food truck in Los Angeles serving chopped cheese is just one example of the bodega staple’s spread beyond Gotham.
New York City boasts a number of signature sandwiches, from the Katz’s Deli pastrami to the bacon, egg and cheese offerings across the five boroughs. Another bodega staple that’s in the spotlight right now? The chopped cheese.
For the uninitiated, a chopped cheese or “chop cheese” is a sandwich consisting of ground beef, melted cheese, onions, lettuce, tomato and condiments on a hero roll. It’s often compared (somewhat controversially) to a cheeseburger, sloppy Joe or cheesesteak.
While previously unfamiliar to those outside New York, the sandwich has in recent years spread beyond the Big Apple on menus and social media.
But how exactly did the chopped cheese come to be? And what’s the reason for its rapid rise in the cultural consciousness? HuffPost spoke with some experts to break down the history and allure of the beloved sandwich.
The History Of The Chopped Cheese
So where did the chopped cheese come from? Accounts vary, but the dominant narrative points to a bodega in Harlem called Hajji’s, also known as Blue Sky Deli.
The store credits Carlos Soto, who worked there for more than 20 years before passing away in 2014. Some employees say he invented the sandwich after chopping a cheeseburger so that it would fit a hero roll because he was out of traditional buns.
Others maintain that he developed the idea with Yemeni workers who wanted to adapt dagha yamneeya, an Arabic specialty consisting of chopped meat and vegetables. Another suggestion is that Soto struggled with dental issues and wanted to create a more chewable burger alternative.
The exact year the chopped cheese arrived on the scene is not clear, though most tend to date it back to the early or middle years of the 1990s. And residents of other neighborhoods have also…
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