North Jersey sloppy joes

[johnlockedema]

What's your favorite? Town Hall? Millburn Deli? Zayada's? Evergreen Deli? Hill City? Avenue Deli? I prefer the Millburn Deli, best thin sliced rye, creamy coleslaw-but not as good as the original owners-I ask for mine old school-buttered, easy on the coleslaw/russian, no pickle slice to screw up the wrapper.

[bifpocaroba]

Lakeside Deli (Eight Hills) in Verona. Hands down the best I've ever had.

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Lakeside Deli
1878 State Route 31, Clinton, NJ 08809

[MattInNJ]

I am very partial to the Avenue Deli in New Providence. But thats just me propping up the hometown.

Millburn Deli also does an amazing job.

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Avenue Deli
1272 Springfield Ave, New Providence, NJ 07974

[coldbeer]

BTW...the Joes at the Florham Park Deli are EXACTLY the same as the Millburn Deli.

[bropaul]

I'm very partial to the mini-version from the Hickory Tree Deli in Chatham.

[donnadnyc]

I'm with you bropaul. Hickory Tree is my favorite followed by CJ's in Madison and Hill City.

[HillJ]

Have you tried the signature sloppy joe at Mr. J's in Cranford? Husband and friends have been ordering sloppy joe platters for years from there.

[johnlockedema]

No, but I'm in Cranford once in a while and will check it out. A friend is having a party Sunday to celebrate his new US citizenship, and asked everyone to bring a typical US food. I'm bringing two Millburn Deli sloppy joe seniors-done in a big rectangle, then cut in 16 smaller rectangles, then toothpicked. One regular, one turkey.

[HillJ]

That's very cool, John.

Mr J's Deli
15 Walnut Avenue
Cranford, NJ 07016-2947
[phone]

[jfood]

[Insert hands shaking]

Essex county is not North Jersey, which is Bergen County and Bergen is just a suburb of NY and not really NJ. Union, Essex, Bergen are New Jersey, the rest are just NJ wanna be's. :-))

Millburn Deli is very good and you are right thatthe previous owners were better. But once you roll back the clock to the original owners you bring some pretty good alternatives into play. Let's include Tabatchniks in Millburn and L'ston, Goodman's in Elizabeth and Kartzman's in Union. All three were better than the best that the Millburn Deli ever placed in jfood's hands.

BTW - you place butter on a real SJ and you are shown the door, blech. :-))

[johnlockedema]

Never tried Goodman's. Kartzman's didn't impress me. Tabatchnicks in Vauxhall was far down the chart, although I loved their pickles and tuna salad.

And the sloppy joe was, early on, a German rather than a Jewish deli product, so they used the butter to keep the bread from getting soggy. It still does. I used to love the way they'd pull the turkey carcasses out from the undercounter cooler to carve the meat for your turkey joe.

[jfood]

Whatthe heck to each their own John, they are all great sandwiches. But the history of the Joe is neither Jewish nor German. It was Cuban brought to NJ in the 30's at Town Hall. Now here's the tougher question...last meal a Joe from Millburn Deli or a dog and burger from Don's.

[johnlockedema]

I agree. But ham and cheese? Pork and dairy? It's not a Jewish sandwich. I grew up a mile from Don's, but a Millburn Deil classic Joe, ham, cheese, coleslaw, russian, is the bomb.

[coreyMB]

Tabatchnick's unfortunately is no longer. When Staples and Walgreens overtook that strip mall, the rent skyrocketed and Tabatchnick's was forced out.
Nana's in Livingston is a great choice for joes also.

[johnlockedema]

That was also the end of Syd's and the bakery, triple hit.