Defining 'Wedge' [split from Boston]
Will any of the northeasterners here take a shot at defining the term "wedge," relative to its cousins, the sub, hoagie, hero, grinder, and po'boy? Any takers?
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Bob W
Nov 23, 2009 06:29 AM
This is funny. When I saw this thread I thought of the most common current food use of the term wedge -- the now-trendy wedge of iceberge lettuce salad, usually referred to on menus as "The Wedge."
Something that was so pedestrian when we were kids now fetches around $8 on the typical menu. I've gotta say, though, it's nice to see it back.
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wedge is short for sandwich... the term originated at Landi's Deli on Willow Street in Yonkers, NY during the 1920's. Antonio and Concetta Landi, then their son Frank, ran the place. Anyhow, it's pretty simple.......Concetta never spoke a word of english and she started calling sandwiches "wiches" or wedges... it stuck with the customers and because they served the best wedges then and now (if they were still around) the name spread locally.....I think some people remember how good the wedges were....absolutely out of this world....nothing comes close... nothing.... there you go. It has nothing to do with how someone cuts the bread...or if it's served hot or cold.
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re: cowal25
I grew up in Yonkers and to this day no one compares to a Landi's WEDGE .... back then I never heard it called anything else, but a WEDGE. To this day any place else when I say a wedge, no one seems to know what I'm talking about and say; oh a hero, sandwich, grinder or hoagie ... here's to the ONE AND ONLY LANDI'S WEDGE!!!
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Also born and raised in CT, but east of New Haven, definitely grinder territory. I called it a grinder until I left CT and got that word smacked out of me by the ridicule I faced every time I said it. I had repressed the word and those traumatic memories until this weekend actually, when I was back at my parents' house and by coincidence my sister mentioned it...she'd had the same experience.
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I knew I could find a blog that addresses this! I grew up in Yonkers, NY and always called "sub" a wedge. The idea that this term wasn't used throughout NY never crossed my mind! Living so close to the Bronx and haven eaten wedges there many times, I can say that the term wedge is completely acceptable there. It wasn't until I started working in Washington heights (Northern Manahattan) that I became aware that wedge is not a wedge throughout southern NY.
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I grew up in Stamford in a mixed "wedge/grinder" environment - seemed the delis called them "wedges" and the pizza joints "grinders". When I went to UConn in Storrs and ended up in sub/grinder territory, it was very confusing. Especially as there were a handful of "hoagie" places there as well.
As I understand it - and mind you, this has no authority behind it - the "wedge" got its name from the way the top of the sandwich was cut out - similar to how Subway used to do theirs. Two angled knife cuts were made on opposite sides along the length of the bread and that piece of bread was removed. The stuffings went atop the bottom piece of bread and then the "wedge" was put back in place.
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re: Panini Guy
I grew up on Long Island where they were always referred to as heros or a hero sandwich. My father-in-law was from northern Westchester and we used to sail out of Norwalk, where they were always wedges. When I moved to upstate NY long ago, they became subs. We have a very localized famous variation in Saratoga Springs: the Scudder. Scudders were first made in a local pizzeria by Mrs. Scuderi (now departed) and the pizzeria became Marino's Pizza. The Scudder lives on and it's a great sandwich.
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I grew up in New Rochelle in the late 50's, 60's. I recall the term wedge being used for what we call here in MA, a sub., as in "meatball wedge" meaning a hot or cold sandwich on a roll. In NY, I also remember hearing the term hero used for the same Italian-type sandwich.
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re: 50col
Without any malintent, but containing no political correctness, I grew up calling a cold hero a 'guinea (or Ginny) sandwich.' My father grew up in the Bronx in the 30's - 50's and that's what he and his friends called what I later (much later) learned to call a sub and now I'd use 'hero.' I live in Northern New Jersey.
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JugglerDave
Jun 25, 2007 05:08 AM
Sandwich was a "wedge" in Ossining NY (mid-Westchester) in the early '90s when I lived there. So seems to be a Westchester and Fairfield Cty CT area name.
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jfood
Jun 20, 2007 04:56 AM
wedge is a Connecticut sub/hoagie/hero. it is the long roll served by every resto described above. when jfood first moved to CT he thought when he ordered a "wedge" he would receive a sandwich on a roll he knew from his NJ Italian hot dog days. But nope, just another name for the same sandwich.
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re: jfood
misohungrychewlow
Jun 20, 2007 09:57 AM
Thanks for responding, jfood. Having grown up in Stamford, wedge was what we called them, and while I would associate the term with a hot sandwich, I wouldn't quibble. I've been challenged by other folks on the board from SW CT who claim never to have heard the term and asserted that the term "grinder" is correct. Since we occasionally emerged from the "panhandle" to explore other environs, we needed to be conversant, so I was familiar with the grinder word and its broader acceptance. As near as I can figure, the term wedge is very narrowly defined geographically to a point no more than several train stops up into CT and down into Westchester, perhaps as far as Yonkers. I've known Italian boys from Bridgeport who are grinder guys and say "huh?" to the wedge word. Interesting that the Subway chain started in the Bridgeport/Stratford area ... I guess had they gone with "Grinderway" they never would have made it. Thanks for the validation.
The hero/hoagie thing always confused me -- I figured you have to be from Philly to phigure it out.
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re: HunterJay
jfood
Jun 20, 2007 07:02 PM
Probably more to CT-ography. It appears that Wedge is more panhandle-FFD county speak. Since the closest D'Angelos is Exit 24 on 95 that where NE lingo starts in. New Haven likes the term grinder or hoagie.
At the end of the day it's cold or cold and then its wedge, hoagie, sub, grinder, D'angelo Blimpies Subways Mikes, Tome Peter Paul and Mary.
Its a great sandwhich if made correctly.
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re: jfood
rworange
Jun 20, 2007 07:36 PM
Born and raised in CT and never heard wedge until this post. I thought it was going to be about iceberg lettuce. My usual stomping ground was New Haven, Waterbury, Hartford. The term there is grinder.
Went to college in Boston and my usual range was Framingham to Rockport. Never heard the term. The term there is submarine.
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re: rworange
rworgange...I'm with you. Same stomping grounds growing up too. Spent lots of time in Litchfield too.
But it was always grinder or sub. But usually grinder. I thought a wedge was some sort of middle eastern falafel type thing stuffed into a pita. I had never heard the term until I met my italian husband and moved to NYC. I thought he was grossly misinformed as to what a "grinder" was but it turned out everyone in NY calls it a wedge.
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re: OrganicLife
Marge
Jun 21, 2007 05:53 AM
Not everyone in NY calls it a wedge! I grew up in NYC and never, ever heard the word wedge (it's a hero, and nothing but a hero) until I moved to Westchester County....like others, I thought a wedge was a quarter of a head of iceberg lettuce, or short for an embarrassing situation involving tight underpants.
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re: Marge
jfood
Jun 21, 2007 06:31 AM
All
Jfood never heard the term until he moved to FFD county either and grew up with "Sub" & "Hero" in NJ (Don't get jfood started on Sloppy Joe either). College brought a new term Blimpies to the vocab.
But in the panhandle of CT, it's called a wedge. Here are a couple of examples:
Website for Wedge Inn in Stamford
http://www.wedgeinn.com/index2.htmlIt also appears that it has the same name in Westchester County, a suburb of FFD county [:-)))
]As stated in the following URL:
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodsandw..."Term used exclusively in Westchester County, NY (Yonkers, especially
)"Wedge (for the shape of the sandwich, usually cut at an angle) is another common alternative for hero..."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 154)"To the Editor: Your article ''In Hoagieland, They Accept No Substitutes'' (May 28) and the many names for a sandwich on hero bread brought to mind an experience I had in Brooklyn. I have lived in Yonkers all of my life, and we refer to the hero/hoagie/grinder/submarine as a wedge. When I went to a coffee shop in Brooklyn, they had a sign listing meatballs as a sandwich special of the day, and I ordered a meatball wedge and they hadn't a clue as to what I was talking about!"
---New York Times, Jun 4, 2003. pg. F.8"Westchester: Wedge Sandwich
A regional sandwich name in Westchester (Yonkers) for the hero/sub/hoagie is "wedge." Again, I checked the telephone directories.
Yonkers, Mt. Vernon, Bronxville, Tuckahoe
YELLOW PAGES
CLASSIFIED TELEPHONE DIRECTORY
1958
Corrected to January 3, 1958Pg. 320, col. 3:
GAITO'S INN
Specializes in Hot Wedges
434SawMillRiverRd -- YOnkers 9-9269Yonkers, Mt. Vernon, Bronxville, Tuckahoe
YELLOW PAGES CLASSIFIED TELEPHONE DIRECTORY
1960
Corrected to October 13, 1959Pg. 315, col. 1 ad:
GAITO'S INN
YOnkers 9-9269
Specializing in
ITALIAN
HOT WEDGES
TO GO
434 SAWMILL RIVER RD.
YONKERS""As the saying goes - Jfood just works here.
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re: jfood
southernitalian
Jul 9, 2008 07:38 AM
I went to college in NH and that was where I first heard the term wedge. But it was from kids from CT. Grinder, hoagie, sub and wedge are used all around NE. In NYC it's sub or hero. NJ is usually hero. We could start a whole separate thread on the different terms in New England that are tossed around for milkshake. Frappe (MA)? Cabinet?
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re: shellyesq
Put a Sake in it
Jul 19, 2007 02:31 PM
I grew up in Easton, calling it a grinder, and never even heard of wedges until recently at a restaurant. However, maybe that is because my father is from Boston.
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re: RoxyB
southernitalian
Jul 9, 2008 07:40 AM
Hello? Anyone lucky enough to live anywhere near the Summer Street deli that doesn't get subs there at least three times a week is missing out. They are the best I have ever had.
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re: southernitalian
jfood
Jul 9, 2008 08:00 AM
S
next time continue down Summer and make a right at the light where Planet Pizza is (think its North St). at the next light there is a small Italian place, jfood thinks the name is Giovanni 4. There are three old Italian guys running the place and they make the BEST hot heros jfood has found in CT. Eggplant parm is jfood's favorite.
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re: RoxyB
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