Chop Cheese and Gentrification

Chop cheese, or chopped cheese, is a sandwich that sort of walks the line between a burger and a sloppy joe. Served on a hero or a bun, this sandwich is a modern staple served off the menu at every corner store/deli/bodega in the five boroughs of New York and nowhere else. It’s been referred to as New York’s answer to the Philly Cheesesteak, but I don’t think that’s fair to say. It’s its own beast, and delicious as it is the growing publicity of this tinfoil wrapped or styrofoam plated dish has garnered a fair deal of controversy.

The price of the sandwich at most places you’ll find it matches the price of any other sandwich on the menu: typically four dollars on a bun or five dollars on a hero. If that seems cheap, it’s because it is cheap. It’s cheap because it’s not made for profit, or to exploit customers, or as a gimmick to get attention. It’s cheap because when it started, likely in the early nineties, that’s what people would pay for it.

What is this sandwich? It depends on where you get it. The bare bones version is a frozen beef patty or two on a griddle, topped with some sliced cheese, then chopped up while frying with heavy metal spatulas. The meat is often spiced with adobo or some other spice blend, then thrown on a bed of lettuce, tomato, onions, mayo, ketchup if you ask for it, and sandwiched between your choice of bread. Some places will pile on the meat and serve it with a fork open faced, some will wrap it in aluminum and tell you to enjoy it elsewhere. It won’t be on the menu, but every spot will make it. In the words of my friend who recommended it: “Go to the bodega. If they don’t have it, go to the one across the street.”

Why the controversy over this simple feat? It was meant to be an insider thing, something for the people who grew up in Harlem, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens looking to eat after a night of drinking or a day of working. When it was outed by vloggers and food magazines as this hip thing, it lost some credibility. More than that, it’s a sign of gentrification. If people who heard about it on Buzzfeed can get to it, that means the neighborhood is getting gentrified.

But that’s been discussed at length by people much more qualified than me to have perspective on it. I’m here to say why you should definitely go out of your way to try it.

Here’s the thing. If you move to Bushwick or Harlem or Ridgewood wherever and the only places you shop are the Whole Foods seven stops away and the Starbucks four stops away, you’re hurting the businesses that relied on the families that used to live where you do now. If you order all your surge protectors and pots and pans off amazon, those local hardware stores are going to suffer. It’s bad enough that you’re driving the rent up and forcing people out of their homes. I don’t want to guilt trip artists and punks who move to lower income neighborhoods because they have to. There’s enough of that going around.

One thing you can do if you’re in that position though is to go to a bodega every once in awhile and get a chop cheese. It’s delicious. It helps your local businesses. It’s the perfect thing after a night of debauchery. Just don’t go to that one spot in Williamsburg making highbrow versions. I haven’t tried it, but they don’t even look good. Chard? Come on now.