Chopped Cheese: What You Should Know About This New York Sandwich | HuffPost Life

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.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 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 tried to lay claim to its history.“I’ve spoken to OGs ― ‘older gentlemen’ ― who say they been having chop cheese since the early ’80s in Queens and Mount Vernon, but to be honest I’ve always seen it as a Harlem thing,” said Philip Williams, a co-owner of the chopped cheese-focused sandwich vendor Shmackwich in Chelsea.For decades, the chopped cheese was purely a New York offering ― and even then, the sandwich was confined to the culture of certain neighborhoods. But in recent years, more people within the city and beyond have become aware of the deli delicacy.“During the [COVID-19] pandemic, restaurants were closed. So the bodega was the only place to get food,” he told HuffPost. “We would order chop cheese on coco bread,” he added, referring to the Caribbean favorite. “We started to think, ‘What if we made our own elevated version — a wagyu chop cheese on a fancy bread?’”For Arias, opening a chopped cheese food truck was the solution to a problem. After moving from New York to Los Angeles during the pandemic, he went out with friends one evening and found himself craving a late-night chopped cheese on his way home. Frustrated by the lack of options in his new city, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Thus, New York’s Chopped Cheese was born.“I’m very much a traditionalist,” he said. “I do chopped onions, a lot of American cheese, sliced lettuce and tomato, and lot of mayo and ketchup on a roll. I try to make it big ― the $10 worth of chopped cheese.”“Growing up in New York is such a character builder,” Villarosa said. “And that character comes with pride ― pride for your borough, like saying the chopped cheese is better in Harlem or the Bronx, and also just feeling very prideful of the chopped cheese as part of our culture as New Yorkers.”“We are a Black-owned business, and for many years the Black community has made brands and companies rich and haven’t been able to benefit from our own influence financially,” he said. “When you think of Harlem and the chop cheese, it’s the Black and urban culture buying it and making it a New York staple. So it’s time for us to start profiting financially off of our cultures and not just putting money in other people’s pockets.”“It can stand on its own. It has had such a profound impact on the culture in New York that you can’t separate the two. If you’re talking about New York culture, you’re talking about chopped cheese too.“Bodega is a vibe,” he said. “Chopped cheese is a vibe. There’s just a cool factor. People want to be part of the culture. But you need that New York feel, the local water, meat and buns, the bodega cat, the person giving that struggle in the seasoning. People can always try to replicate the chopped cheese, but they can never make the real deal.”