Serious Sandwiches: Town Hall Deli's Sloppy Joe
Photograph courtesy of Town Hall Deli
You say "sloppy joe" in Lunch Lady Land, and only one thing comes to mind. Say it in South Orange, New Jersey, and you're talking about a whole different sandwich—no ground beef, no hamburger bun, and no worry that today's sandwich was yesterday's meatloaf.
In South Orange, the sloppy joe is a much more serious concoction. Three slices of bread, any two meats, Swiss cheese, and my two favorite sandwich condiments of all time: coleslaw and Russian dressing. And there's no better place to get one than the Town Hall Deli.
Opened in 1927, the deli has been serving up sloppy joes since the 1930s, when the mayor at the time came back from Cuba wanting a sandwich he had enjoyed at Sloppy Joe's Bar in Havana. The original sloppy joe was made with tongue, and although they still serve a tongue and ham version at Town Hall, the most popular version is "The Favorite," which made with roast beef and turkey.
The sandwich starts off with three slices of light rye cut from a Pullman loaf the long way. This makes the sandwich pretty long—enough to feed two to three people. The roast beef and turkey are both roasted on-premises, and each layer of meat is topped with Swiss and a mayo-free coleslaw, which is made at the deli from fresh cabbage that has been brined for two days.
But the thing that puts this sandwich over the top is the Russian dressing. Created with a special house-made mayo, it's a closely guarded family recipe that they've been using since the place opened. All they would tell me is that it doesn't have ketchup (or preservatives).
So grab a few friends and head to the Town Hall Deli for one of their sloppy joes. After a few bites, the Manwich will be a distant memory.
Town Hall Deli
Address: 60 Valley Street, South Orange NJ
Phone: 973-762-4900
URL: townhalldeli.com
About the author: Zach Brooks is the proprietor of Midtown Lunch, where he blogs about affordable lunchtime eats in Midtown Manhattan. The guy knows his sandwiches.
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12 Comments:
Looks more like a variation on some ruebens I ate in the Midwest. Maybe Thousand Island instead of Russian...
Libertate
Get fit, get healthy, be happy.
libertate at 12:24PM on 08/08/07
I don't think I have ever seen a more perfect thing. It's like a balance of the wonders of an overstuffed Jewish deli sandwich blended with a shiksa-like towering delightful white-bread-ness.
Glorious.
Karen Resta at 12:45PM on 08/08/07
even though i just finished lunch i want one of those!!!
ceforrester at 1:21PM on 08/08/07
Good God! My arteries!
Krizia at 3:59PM on 08/08/07
That is truly the most beautiful thing I've seen in a long, long time.
lorelei76 at 4:35PM on 08/08/07
OMG, these are WONDERFUL. I speak from experience. Get thee to South Orange, NJ, folks!
Curlz at 6:57PM on 08/08/07
What two meats do you put on yours, Curz? I would have corned beef and tongue.
Oh. And how does a person manage to eat the thing? :)
Karen Resta at 7:28PM on 08/08/07
It's been a long time since I had one of these, but turkey/pastrami/corned beef is a favorite combo of mine.
Curlz at 8:29PM on 08/08/07
Before you jump to conclusions, you must try one! No, it's not a reuben knockoff. It seems to be unique to the Northeast and many delis actually ship them via overnight courier.
The worst part of living in the Midwest is being without my beloved Deli Sloppy Joe!
Cheers...
atravelfanatic at 2:10PM on 08/23/08
I've had a similar one in Neptune NJ with pastrami/corned beef/turkey but it was on sub roll. That towering thing though! They should rename it "The Golden Calf"
bellyspeak at 10:14AM on 10/08/08
it's delicious...i think it was ernie banks that said..."let's eat two!"
jnros at 12:12PM on 01/09/09
The link doesn't work.
TorontoEater at 3:50PM on 11/03/09