If a bagel spread with cream cheese and topped with a super-thin slice of loax, or two hearty slices of rye bread stacked together with a dab of mustard and a generous dollop of fatty marbled pastrami between them, aren’t examples of the platonic sandwich ideal, then what is?
According to legend, the sandwich was invented by John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, in 1762. While the legitimacy of the British claim to fame is debatable, it’s fair to say that when it comes to the art of sandwich-making, New York Jews have mastered it to perfection.
The New York Times’ latest interactive food feature, “57 Iconic New York Sandwiches” offers no fewer than 11 varieties of Jewish-inspired sandwiches, ranging from the aforementioned bagels and lox to a section dedicated to pastrami and an upscale shawarma sandwich created by the Israeli-born chef and his French business partner.
Notably, the Times’s recent high-profile food feature, its April list of New York City’s 100 Best Restaurants, featured only three kosher restaurants: Falafel Tanami, S&P Ranch, and Barney Greengrass. In contrast, in its sandwich feature, kosher dishes made up about 19 percent of the list, perhaps a nod to sage Hillel the Elder, who invented the Passover Seder treat known as the Hillel sandwich.
“You can tell a lot about a city by the sandwiches it eats,” Nikita Richardson wrote in the introduction to her Times article, “not just about its tastes and vices (cured meats) but also its interest in different cultures, its appreciation for good ingredients and its desire for things that are both tasty and convenient.”
Keep scrolling to see the 11 Jewish sandwiches on our list.
1. Lox in a fresh form
The first Jewish sandwich on the Times’ list is smoked salmon. Greenpoint Sandwiches Radio BakeryThe dish features sliced fish “smeared with whipped cream cheese seasoned with pickled red onions and dill and served in a fluffy, flaky, multi-flavored focaccia sandwich.”
2. Ashkenazi Egg Sandwich
Edith Heller’s Edith’s Sandwich Counter Williamsburg Celebrating Jewish Cuisine Across the DiasporaAs we’ve said before, their most popular bagel sandwich is the BEC&L (bacon, egg, cheese, latke), and there’s a reason for that. Every side of the sandwich, from the omelettes cooked in their individual egg cookers, Innovative rectangular fried latkesThis is made to order.
3. Amazing smoked fish
According to The New York Times, bialy fish and codfish are “often overshadowed by their stronger comrades, the bagel and the lox,” but the New House at Shelsky’s in Brooklyn is a delicious, “hidden gem” combination of toasted bialy fish, wild Alaskan smoked sable, fluffy scallion cream cheese, and sliced tomatoes.
4. I’ll eat what she’s eating
No New York sandwich roundup would be complete without Katz Delicatessen’s ultra-classic pastrami on rye. “The bits and pieces of what we call ‘business’ at the theater are more than half the fun: the ticket, the turnstile, the wait at the counter, the pepper-crusted preview slice offered for approval, the cash tip stuffed into a plastic to-go container,” writes Pete Wells. “Ordering and eating pastrami at Katz’s is as much a ritual as it is a meal, a ritual that can transform a tourist into a New Yorker and a New Yorker into a tourist.”
5. Salty Switch
When Frankel’s Delicatessen & Appetizing first opened in 2016, our colleagues at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency described the Greenpoint location as “New York’s coolest restaurants“It’s not just the atmosphere: Frankel’s is seriously good, and their pastrami, egg and cheese sandwich made the Times’ list: “Every bite delivers a winning combination of silky egg, smoky, gently spiced meat and melted American cheese.”
6. Fun Fusion
Shalom Japan, a Jewish-Japanese restaurant in South Williamsburg, is known for its matzoh ball ramen, but insiders say the place’s specialty is its melt-in-your-mouth wagyu pastrami sandwich. The Times called the sandwich, which features house-made pastrami and fluffy bread lightly smeared with Gulden’s mustard, “more than the sum of its parts.” Meanwhile, New York Jewish Week wrote: 25 Jewish Foods to Try in New York Right NowThe Noshers Isabella Armas He said it was the “tenderest thing he’d ever eaten.”
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7. North Facing
Liebmann’s Delicatessen is famous The Last Jewish Deli in the Bronx And the company’s No. 7 sandwich, stacked with thinly sliced pastrami and corned beef and topped with coleslaw and Russian dressing, made it onto the Times list. “Just because we were last doesn’t necessarily mean we were the best,” Israeli-born owner Yuval Dekel told his colleagues at The Nosher, “but we feel we deserved it.”
8. Classic Bagels and Lox
“New York may have better places for bagels, cream cheese, and smoked salmon,” writes Julia Moskin, “but there’s no better place to sit down and eat than Russ & Daughters Cafe.” We love the food here, and we can’t say more. Schmaltz and shots, This dish consists of fatty herring, raw onions, boiled potatoes and a glass of vodka.
9. Tuna Tune-up
Chef Jeremy Salamon opened his Hungarian-Jewish restaurant Agiz Counter in late 2021 and it has quickly become a Brooklyn must-try. Last year, the restaurant earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand award. Bon Appetit’s Best Restaurants List for 2022“They say you feel like you’re being looked after by a Jewish grandma with a gifted culinary talent.” We previously raved about Aggi’s schmaltz fries, and the Times wrote:The sandwich is made with oily, slow-cooked tuna, Alpine cheddar, pickled peppers, celery, dill and Kewpie mayonnaise on “soft and fluffy” Pullman bread.
10. Basics are key
S&P Lunch is “A new location for a very old lunch counter,When the Court Street Grocers team opened a Jewish eatery in the former Eisenberg sandwich shop across from the Flatiron Building in 2022, it became the epitome of Jewish eatery. Owners Eric Finkelstein and Matt Ross say Pete Wells “had a dream come true for us.It’s smooth, tender, mild, comforting, not a fancy type of tuna salad.”
11. Street food meets fine dining
At a Middle Eastern street food themed event in the East Village, Spice Brothers co-owners, Israeli Lior Lev Sercarz and Frenchman David Malbeki, use premium ingredients. (The meat comes from Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors, and the fluffy pita comes from New Jersey’s Angel Bakery.) And his experience working in Michelin-star restaurants has led to elevated late-night staples like shawarma: Shawarma East at the St. Mark’s Place location features beef and lamb shawarma topped with amba (a popular Israeli baghdadi mango-marinated condiment), tahini, and an herbed labneh (yogurt-cheese) sauce.
