Mar 2, 2009
Chinese Roast Pork on Garlic Bread Sandwich
About a year and a half ago, I bragged about having crafted the best sandwich in the world. I made the sandwich for my dad yesterday and he allowed that it was, in fact, a righteous sandwich, but he didn’t think it was better than his more than forty-year-old memory of a sandwich he ate during his stint as a folk singer in the Catskills. Dad described a Chinese/Italian/American restaurant that served a sandwich of Chinese roast pork on Italian garlic bread. I have to admit, that does sound damn good.
And what do you know? It exists!
By all accounts, the sandwich was created sometime in the mid-1950s at Herbie’s in Loch Sheldrake, New York. It was the most popular Jewish-style deli-restaurant in the area. According to Freddie Roman, the Borscht Belt comic who years later starred in the nostalgia show Catskills on Broadway, Herbie’s was where all the entertainers would gather after their last shows at the hotel nightclubs. “Specifically for that sandwich,” says Freddie. “And everyone else had to eat what the celebrities ate.”
Herbie’s sandwich of Chinese Roast Pork on Italian Garlic Bread was so popular among the summer crowd in “The Mountains,” that it was imitated back in “The City.” I remember when it was introduced at Martin’s and Senior’s, two fabulously successful, middle-class family restaurants on Nostrand Avenue in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
In just a few years, it seemed Chinese roast pork on garlic bread became so popular in the southern tier of Brooklyn communities — from Canarsie through Mill Basin to Bay Ridge — that every diner and coffee shop made it. The sandwich even made it to Manhattan in the 1960s, at a place called The Flick, an ice cream parlor and casual restaurant near the then-new movie houses on Third Avenue.
Count my dad as one of the “celebrities,” I guess. There’s even (sort of) a recipe at the link!
Anyone else ever tried this? Any other greatest sandwich nominees?
That does sound good. I bet a pulled honey roasted turkey on the same bread would also be good. OK, now I’m hungry. :-)
OK, there is some oddity in the best sandwich in the world being created in the Jewish Catskills with roast pork?!
[...] Unlikely Words Chinese Roast Pork on Garlic Bread Sandwich Posted by root 21 hours ago (http://www.unlikelywords.com) Skip to comment form kt said on march 3 2009 at 12 13 am that does sound good i bet a pulled honey roasted turkey on the same bread would also be good Discuss | Bury | News | unlikely words chinese roast pork on garlic bread sandwich [...]
ate there 1952 too year it closed
My family owned Singer’s Restaurant in Liberty NY from 1918 until the late 1970’s. It was a combination Deli/Chinese restaurant and they invented the recipe for the roast pork on garlic bread. People would stand in line around the block on a summer Saturday night to get that sandwich. Also, the celebs would come to our restaurant after their shows at Grossinger’s and other hotels and hang out with my grandfather, Nat Goldner. We had many, many pictures of all he celebs but they were ruined in a flood we had in the early 70’s. If you check the Fans of Singer’s Restaurant Facebook page you will see all of the fans of the famous roast porK!
Hi Matt,
Oh boy, do I remember that sandwich! When I was a kid, my family stayed at a bungalow colony called “Taub’s Maple Grove” in South Fallsburg, New York. There was a restaurant called “Barry’s” in South Fallsburg that offered the roast pork on garlic bread sandwich. You could have it with duk sauce on one side and chinese mustard on the other, but I preferred duk sauce on both sides. Yum! Years later, I’d make it myself ordering from both Chinese and Italian take-out places. Haven’t had it in years. – Karen