Sloppy Joes - North Jersey Style - New pic!

First a  question:
        Are these sandwiches made in any other state?

I grew up believing that a Sloppy Joe sandwich was ground beef with some kind of sauce on a roll. It wasn’t until I was in my 30’s that a lovely little blonde introduced me to a new Sloppy Joe. A triple-decker cold cut sandwich.
 
My basic Sloppy Joe is this:
 
3 slices of rye bread, roast beef, ham, turkey, Swiss cheese (Optional), cole slaw, and Russian dressing. The cole slaw should not be too wet.
 
This is how the sandwich is made:
 
Bottom slice of rye bread
1^st layer - Roast beef
2^nd layer – Ham
3^rd layer – Cole slaw
4^th layer – Russian dressing
Middle slice of rye bread
5^th layer – Turkey
6^th layer – Swiss cheese
7^th layer – Cole slaw
8^th layer – Russian dressing
Top slice of rye bread
 
Make sure that the cold cuts are at least 3/8” thick on the sandwich. The cheese can be thinner.
 
Of course you can use any other meat like pastrami etc.
 
This is a picture of Sloppy Joes cut for a party platter.
 
 http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/08/serious-sandwich-sloppy-joe-to.html
 
These are pictures of a Sloppy Joe from a NJ deli. I think this one has too much cole slaw and not enough meat.
 
http://midnightsnack.wordpress.com/iconic-sandwiches/new-jersey-sloppy-joe/
 
This is a video from the place that claims to have invented the Sloppy Joe.
 
http://townhalldeli.com/home/
 
Are these sandwiches made in any other part of the world??

Never seen one like it in the South, but I'm tempted to have one shipped!

MelloRoast,

Why have one shipped?

You can buy the rye bread, cold cuts, coleslaw, and Russian dressing and build one for yourself. I'll bet that you could make  4~7 Sloppy Joe's for the price of one shipped from NJ. (Yes, I'm a cheapskate )

Try it. It's a hard sandwich to beat!

One of my favorite sandwiches in the world!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloppy_Joe

I agree with you, Don.  All the Sloppy Joe sandwiches I have ever seen are based off of ground beef.

Living in Jersey,I've never come across this other Sloppy Joe before,either.

Lee, you have to come to North Jersey, specifically Union/Morris county areas.  Almost every deli up here has it on the menu.

This is a Sloppy Joe that I made today. It's about 3.5" thick and I made it with Pechter's Real Jewish Rye in the same manner that I described above.

Although it certainly is sloppy it is also wonderfully delicious!

You can make it thinner and therefore less"sloppy" but a good deli would make it pretty much like this.

If you make one yourself make sure that you have plenty of napkins ready!

FOOD_FAN, do you deliver?

Yeah this is a good sandwich.  It's at basically every deli in north central to northern NJ that I have ever been in.  At my mom's store she does the cold sloppy joe as seen above and the hot sloppy joe that we most are used to. Of course she calls the hot one a sloppy matt.  Damn her. 

Some places also do the cold sloppy joe with say just turkey or just roast beef or pastrami or corned beef.  It all depends on the deli really

Fatbomatty,
         I see that you live in North Plainfield. That little blonde that introduced me to Sloppy Joes’s and I lived together in North Plainfield by the church with the twin bell towers for 2 years.
 
I’ve noticed the same thing about the size of a Sloppy Joe. I think a lot of places offer a smaller one to keep the price equal to that of other sandwiches that they serve.

Food Fan,

Yeah I do live in North Plainfield.  Right by Red Tower II.  Is that St. Joes church you are talking about? 

I believe you are also correct with the small sized sloppy joe for the price.  Usually the one with just one kind of meat will be a dollar or two less than the full sloppy joe. 

The cold sloppy Joe's have always reminded me of a cold reuben.  I know there are obvious differences, but I just always think of it that way. 

Interesting articles, Food_Fan.  One says "one meat"  the other says "two meats", and yours has four.  It does sound tasty, albeit sloppy.

Is there any deli that makes them especially well?  I'm probably going to run over to north Jersey in May.

As shown in the article Food Fan posted, I prefer the Millburn Deli, Millburn NJ to all other sloppy joe purveyors.  I went to college nearby and this was the first place I ever had one.  They slice the bread from large rye loaves when you order.  I am partial to the friday joe which is tuna salad and egg salad on three slices of rye with cole slaw and russian.  The tuna, egg salad, cole slaw and russian dressing are made on premises.  Freshly made the sandwich is quite messy, but still delicious.  To combat the mess, I let it rest overnight for full coagulation.  It is cut in three leaving a triangle as the centerpiece, the apex of which has no crust.  Save this bite for last as it is the best bite of a heavenly combo.  Also, an off-menu item of note is the half-loaf with russian.  A crusty half loaf of semolina bread with just russian dressing.  Don't forget the tea.  Store made with hints of orange and citrus.  Enjoy!!

<<I prefer the Millburn Deli, Millburn NJ to all other sloppy joe purveyors. >.

For what it's worth, that is my favorite sloppy joe too. And the Milburn Deli scene is a trip in itself, with the constant chaos, the bell ringers, etc etc. I usually get mine to go and eat it in the nice quiet park nearby.

Another real good one is Towne Liquors (yes, it's a liquor store) in New Providence. Plus they have the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever had.

Hey,Food_fan,
   Got o get up north. That sloppy Joe looks great!!!

MiamiDon,
          These are the addresses of the two delis featured in the articles. The Town Hall Deli should be easer to get to and it has parking behind it. The Millburn Deli is on a one-way street and you would have to find parking a block away on the street that bypasses the business area and has parking lots along it. If you do a map search you’ll see what I mean.

Town Hall Deli
60 Valley St.
South Orange, NJ 07079
(973) 762-4900
 
The Millburn Delicatessen
328 Millburn Avenue
Millburn, NJ 07041
(973) 379-5800
 
I used to get a great one at Arthur’s in Morris Plains. The bread was a combination rye/pumpernickel and was at least 10” wide and the Sloppy Joe was around 3.5” thick. I checked their menu and it didn’t list a Sloppy Joe but you never know, might be worth a call
 
http://www.arthurstavern.com/

leethebard,

Sounds like a good idea!

Never heard of that style sloppy joe but it sounds excellent. I've always refered to sloppy joes as the manwich style sandwich

I've had sloppy joe's in Northern NJ and they are great! 

When I worked in Valley Forge, Pa there was a deli that made sandwiches that reminded me of sloppy joe's but they were called Boardwalks.

Rye bread, deli roast beef piled high, cole slaw and russian dressing.  It's great, you can also use pastrami.  The messier the better.

While looking to see what happened to Goodman’s of Elmora Ave. Elizabeth, NJ, I came across this new location in Berkeley Heights. They make a Sloppy Joe, as their video (Below) will show.
 
I thought I’d add it as another example of a Sloppy Joe.
 
http://www.goodmansdeli.net/
 
A newspaper review and explanation of the ownership changes:
 
http://www.nj.com/dining/reviews_ledger.ssf?21397?21397
 
This is Goodman’s video of still pictures that shows their Pastrami, Corned Beef, and Sloppy Joe sandwiches.
 
Goodman's Video
 

I tried my hand at a ham and turkey sloppy joe:



Sloppy, but good!

miamidon that looks good.  did you make that yourself?

That’s a beauty!
 
Artfully constructed and perfectly presented! 

I live in South Orange and the Town Hall is pretty good.  I have not tried the Millburn Deli but thanks for the heads up?  The cost of the joes is pretty crazy, but there is enough for at least 2 meals, and they also do 1/2 sandwiches, which is more than enough for a single meal.  Great pickles too!

fattybomatty: Yes!

Well Don great work you did.  You'll probably be hard pressed to find a better sandwich out than the one you just made

I like to say 'Town Hall invented it, and the Millburn Deli perfected it.  Sadly, the current owners of the Millburn Deli don't make as good a Joe as the Jacobs family-you have to ask for the bread to be buttered (before it was a delete option-the thin layer of butter keeps the rye bread from getting soaked), the countermen are too generous with the russian and coleslaw, and adding a pickle slice to the wrap means the sandwich doesn't stay compact like it should.  Plus they make you put your own napkins in the bag, and they have a tip jar!  You're paying $7.75 for a sandwich, and have a tip jar.

Those do look good, nothing like the Manwich style that I always thought were original Sloppyjoes.
Actually I been eating sandwiches like that all my life and never knew they were Sloppyjoes.
Two sandwiches for lunch with coleslaw. Just have to remember to stack the sandwiches on top of one another after applying coleslaw between them.

Two of these would clog your digestive system for a long time!  The Millburn Deli does a 'party joe' which is done on large rectangular slices of bread, then cut into 16 small rectangles, each with a toothpick.  Great party food.