A British tourist and local find the best bodega sandwich in New York
"Food Wars" hosts Harry Kersh and Joe Avella travel across New York to find the best bodega sandwich in the city. They'll be visiting four different locations in just one day to see what the city has to offer. This is "Food Tours."
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00:00It's early my man. Before you go back to London, there's one experience I think you should have.
00:05So today I'm taking you to some of my favorite bodega slash breakfast carts because one thing
00:11quintessential about being a New Yorker, you could pop into a bodega, there's plenty of breakfast
00:15carts on the street here in Manhattan where you get an amazing bacon, egg and cheese or a
00:19chopped cheese. I don't know how I can really explain a bodega to you. Like you guys have
00:23corner shops, right? Yeah, we have corner shops, like convenience stores tend to be open quite late,
00:26but they don't tend to make like hot food in the store, whereas they do in bodegas.
00:31Yeah, oh yeah, definitely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So think of this like your corner shops meet,
00:35you know, cafes, I guess. Yeah, okay.
00:43All right, so first place we're going to up here is Mama Jo's Breakfast Cart. It's not a bodega,
00:47I know. I'm starving though. Let's eat. Can I please have two bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches?
00:52Yeah, in a roll. There you go. Thank you so very much. You have a great day. Take care. Thanks.
00:58First bacon, egg and cheese in New York City, five bucks. New York City lives on these, my man.
01:04But as you can see, no frills, just delicious egg, delicious cheese and delicious bacon. This one
01:09comes from the Mama Jo Breakfast Cart, which of course is not a bodega. I kind of bent the rules
01:13because I wanted to take you here because this was voted the best breakfast cart in New York City.
01:19Mama Jo gets up every day at midnight to be opened by four, they close by 11. Okay. Right?
01:25Early to bed, early to rise. Yeah. Makes you healthy, wealthy and wise, as they say. It does.
01:29But do you make a good bacon, egg and cheese? They make a fantastic one. Maybe the best in the city
01:33and I wanted you to have it. What should I expect buying into this? Amazing deliciousness. You can
01:37expect strangers to take pictures of you on streets. Tag me. Should we give it a go? Yeah. Okay.
01:50How good is this? They're really good. I have one of these every day. It's delicious, man. Now Mama Jo's,
01:56she excels at this, but I want you to understand that this is an example of the type of sandwich
02:01you can get at any bodega, any cart on this island or any borough surrounding it. It's really, really
02:06good. I can see why most New Yorkers want to start their day with one of these. Yeah. It doesn't feel
02:11too heavy. I know there's like fried bacon in here, there's cheese in here, but it doesn't feel
02:16like heavy or fatty necessarily. Every time I get one and I'm going in, I'm like, I don't want to do
02:20with ketchup. I just took the buzz. I got ketchup on a sandwich. I'm not into it. And then I forget
02:25and then I bite in, it has ketchup in it. I'm like, actually, ketchup's awesome. I think it works
02:30really well with the bacon of all things. Right. So a little bit of that like salty and sweet
02:35combination. They've been quite sparing with the ketchup as well. It's not like they've lathered
02:39it on there. Just like a little, just a little bit. You saw in there, there's like that small
02:43griddle that's cooking on, right? You saw that small flat top. Not a lot of room to operate in
02:46that. And you see today, a lot of places we go to, yeah, it's not this big kitchen setup. It's just
02:49something that's right there. Boom, boom, boom. They make exactly what you want, exactly what you
02:53need. Hey man, five American dollars. The price is nice. I'm really surprised that we don't have
02:59more food trucks, particularly in London or just like, I guess, places where you can get a hot
03:03ready bacon sandwich really easily. Yeah, like a bacon buddy. Is that what you call it? What is it
03:08called? Butty. Butty. B-U-T-T-Y. Now the bacon buddy, does that come with egg and cheese and
03:13ketchup? Can do, not usually. If it does come with egg, it's more likely to be a fried egg
03:17rather than, yeah, other stuff. Ketchup is common. Brown sauce is common. It's harder to get one on
03:22the go. Yeah. I mean, I quite like the way you guys do things here, I'm going to be honest. Yeah,
03:26that's right. I like the American cheese on a breakfast sandwich. I think that works really,
03:29really well. You guys, they made fun of that American cheese, all the ingredients in Food Wars.
03:33Now you're eating it, what do you think? It's good. Yeah, it works. That's right, yeah. You're
03:36like, that's gross. Us Americans are like, yeah, try it. They like bring on the chemicals. That
03:41terrible milk, sodium citrate, it all works, man. It's good. Bring on the borax or whatever's in
03:46there. Anyway, next place I'm taking you, it's not going to be a bacon egg and cheese, it's going to
03:51be a chopped cheese. Your mind is about to be blown. I'm ready. Let's go. Let's go. So just
03:56to confirm, you've never had a chopped cheese before? Never in my life. Do you not even know
03:58what a chopped cheese is? Not really. Incredibly popular in New York City. You get them all over
04:03the place. Every place does it a little bit differently. So I want to take you to a chopped
04:06cheese place that claims to be the inventor of the chopped cheese. The home of the chopped cheese.
04:10So we're here in Harlem, I'm going to check it out in there. I love them. Everyone in New York
04:14eats them. It's kind of like a staple thing to have here in New York, pop into a bodega,
04:17grab a chopped cheese. Your neighborhood spot does a little bit different than everybody else.
04:21All right, should we give it a try? Yeah, definitely. The size of those pickles, man.
04:25That's right. This city obsessed with pickles. Going to watch the master at work.
04:30It's kind of like the cafes you guys go to in London where you're just making it up on the grill.
04:34Sort of, yeah. Although I'd say this is more of a uniquely New York experience. Yeah, definitely.
04:41Perfect. Thank you so much, man. Thank you so very much.
04:45And you got nothing like this in the UK, right? No. I don't think I've ever had anything like this.
04:49So as you can see, the guy was chopping up the hamburger with cheese and onions.
04:53Obviously lettuce and tomato, put salt and pepper on here. Was there ketchup? Ketchup and mayo.
04:57Yeah. So let's take a bite and then we'll talk. All right, man.
05:06I know you've got nothing like this in London. Yeah, that's so good. Fantastic, right? Yeah.
05:12New York knows what's up. I like the ketchup and the mayo on here. This is like a saucy sandwich.
05:16I've been to a bunch of places in New York that do chopped cheese and they're always very good.
05:21This one is on next level though. Yeah. I mean, they say they originated it, but they've also
05:25certainly, I think, perfected it. I mean, he said he's been making these since like 1988. Yeah.
05:29Yeah. That's a lot of chopped cheese. There's a lot of chopped cheese. And I think that shows.
05:33He really, really knew what he was doing. Watching that guy in action,
05:36watching a master craftsman at work. I love the bread on this. He was toasting the rolls.
05:41Yeah. You really get like a crisp on the outside. You see, obviously it's going to be different
05:45from like we went to Philly and had cheesesteaks. It's nothing like a cheesesteak. There's a few
05:48like bare bones similarities. Obviously like, you know, it's beef, cheese and bread in some kind of
05:54combination, but like the way they've gone about each of those individual ingredients is just
05:58completely different. Yeah. The crunchy toasted roll, the chopped up hamburger. Yeah. While it
06:04is hamburger, I feel like the quality hasn't dropped off from like what I guess was ribeye
06:09mostly on a cheesesteak. Yeah. Because I feel like they're just using a really good quality
06:12beef hamburger. It's getting the same treatment on the grill. Really flavorful and juicy. I mean,
06:17this is nothing new to New Yorker. Like everyone in the city knows about the chopped cheese. It's
06:21incredibly popular. It's a mainstay of the bodega menu, but it's crazy to me that people come here
06:27and they've never heard of this. Yeah. I don't know what it is. Like she'd never heard of this
06:30before. I think maybe the cheesesteak just has a better PR campaign going on. I guess. But honestly,
06:37I feel like this is a sandwich made by the people for the people. You know, this is just kind of
06:41like hitting all those aspects that you want from like a satisfying fast sandwich for your lunch.
06:46This is sick, man. All right. So what do you think of the bodega vibe just in general versus,
06:53I don't know, corner shops or cafes you have in London? I think it's really cool. I feel like
06:58bodegas seem to form much more of like a part of the community in New York than they do in London
07:03and possibly just anywhere else. Would you agree with that? Yeah, sure. It's like this nice,
07:09like independent corner store that everyone living by in the neighborhood can kind of like
07:14always depend on for something to eat, get the groceries they need, you know, a cup of coffee.
07:20I don't really get that in other cities, at least not in America. No, definitely not in London. I
07:25will say like I'm sure some people out there have a corner shop that they go to regularly and they're
07:29like friendly with the guy. But I think a lot of the time, particularly in the UK, you don't get
07:34that many independent shops anymore. A lot of the like corner style stores will be run by chains
07:39or will be things like a small version of a Tesco or a Sainsbury's. Yeah. And it just doesn't have
07:43quite as much of like a personal feel to it, which I think is kind of sad because I like the community
07:47aspect. It's not just a place where you will go and buy your milk in your newspaper. It's a place
07:52where you can go hang out, chat to the guy, get like a nice fulfilling meal. I just think it's
07:56really cool. I like it. All right. I'm glad you liked your first chopped cheese. Take you to another
08:00spot that does chopped cheese a little bit differently. Let's go right now. All right, man.
08:04At spot number three, I took you to a cart. I took you to a regular bodega. And now we've
08:09combined the two. We're going to the bodega truck. What I like about this, guys, not only
08:14is a merge of the cart that's mobile and the bodega menu, but also today I want to get you
08:19something that's a mix of a chopped cheese and a bacon, egg and cheese. Right. The first two we did
08:23combining number three being the best of both worlds. Right. Real like hybrid going on here.
08:29I'm here for it. I like it. I feel like it shows how popular the bodega sandwiches are if someone
08:34has taken them and made it mobile. I feel like there's demand for it. Must be pretty good. Just
08:38get a temperature. How are you feeling right after two sandwiches? I've got room in the tank.
08:42Let's go. Let's get a sandwich. Hey, bud, what's happening? Great, great, great. I think we're
08:47going to go with the good morning. Yeah, yeah, please. I just got to ask you real quick, how
08:51long you've been doing this truck? It's been two years, actually. Oh, two years. Nice. And how often
08:56are you out on the streets? Wednesday through Sunday. We're in a different borough every single
08:59day. We go to different communities, different areas of New York where, you know, different
09:04boroughs. Nice. I just noticed you guys have quarter waters here.
09:07How much are they? Now they're 50 cents. The quarter waters are 50 cents.
09:13The dollar slice of buck, the quarter waters are 50 cents. Oh, my God. This has to stop.
09:17This has to stop. Awesome. Does your bodega cat have a name? His name is Manny. Manny. Nice.
09:23I got the Tim's here, too. I'm the manager of the Tim's. Wow, for real? I love that. Awesome.
09:30Thanks, man. Have a good one. Let me know if you guys need anything else. Thank you. Thanks,
09:32pal. Chopped cheese meets a bacon, egg and cheese. Boom. Oh, man. Are you kidding me?
09:37Look at the cheese pull. I want to point out the egg was a Sunnyside egg. It's running over,
09:42not scrambled. And also it's got hash browns in it. Oh, but of course, I'm seeing bacon. I'm seeing
09:47the chopped up hamburger meats. And my guy, he had a ketchup and mayo combination he puts on here.
09:53There's no lettuce or tomato like there was on the other chopped cheese. So I would say it's
09:58maybe leaning slightly more towards like the breakfast sandwich than the chopped cheese. I
10:01mean, I said it a few times before, but I'll say it again. Everyone's doing it their own way. Yeah.
10:10How good is that? Yeah, this is fantastic. It maybe seemed like he's doing two sandwiches in one.
10:18Might be overkill. Might be like two delicious tastes clashing with one another. But no,
10:23actually, they work perfectly together. It's harmonious. Yeah, I do like his old messenger,
10:27but I actually like the Sunnyside up egg. I like the yolk kind of spilling out of the
10:30sandwich, flavoring it. Bacon's nice and crispy. There's a lot going on, but it does work. And the
10:35hash brown. Yeah, hash brown's a secret weapon here. That really gives it almost this thickness.
10:40It absorbs all the flavors. Yeah. Fantastic. I would say maybe the first bacon egg and cheese
10:44that we had was more of a sort of like, I can get this on the way to work and then I can go
10:48sit down at my desk, have a productive morning. I don't know if I would want to eat this as a
10:52breakfast food. I feel like if I had this, I would not be answering many emails in the morning.
10:57Yeah, this says you eat it and then go back to bed. Fantastic though, right? It's good. Really
11:02good. Well, don't get too full up on that. So we couldn't leave without trying the homies
11:07chopped cheese. Get in there. The OG, the original. I'm not thinking the last two sandwiches
11:10we've had. It's in lettuce and tomato. It's got a mayo and ketchup mix. Of course, cheese. Yep.
11:17Mix in there. All the same ingredients as like the Haji's chopped cheese. Slightly different
11:22composition. Bigger roll, right? Bigger roll than like the Hero roll. I'm going in. Looks very good.
11:31Wow. Oh man. Fantastic. Definitely a heftier sandwich. It feels like there's more meat on
11:37this one than there was on the other two that we've had. Yeah, I think I'd agree. Every component
11:41is seasoned, has a lot of flavor. He's his own mix of cheese, right? It's like a cheddar American
11:46mix that he makes. Okay. This is like a beefy boy. I mean, if you look at the price point,
11:52it's a little bit more, but also feels like you're getting a little bit more.
11:58I just love the way that when you chop up the hamburger like this and then add the cheese,
12:04it just forms like one homogenous mass, doesn't it? Every bite you get everything in it. You can
12:09see why my guy wants to like drive around the city and provide this for people who don't have access
12:13to it, right? Yeah, man. It's a really smart idea. It really is. The more of these I eat,
12:16the more I'm just like, why do we not have these in London? I agree. Why not? Now I notice you're
12:20still eating it. I can't stop, man. I'm so full. You're going to have to stop because I got one
12:25more spot to take you and it's a very special spot that I think you're really going to like.
12:29Okay. Ready to go? When the food's this good, it's really hard to stop, but I will. All right.
12:33On to the next place. Let's go. Yes, sir. May I help you today? I want to do a bacon, egg,
12:37and cheese. I want you to do with these jumbo honey buns. The Akiway. Sure. Sure. The only way
12:44you can't forget your bath. Never, never, never. Never, never, never. You guys want a hash brown
12:49in there, a mozzarella sticks, the Akiway? That's what it is. Is that the Akiway? The Akiway is.
12:53Then give us the Akiway. With the hash brown and the mozzarella sticks. Yes. Let's go. Go on then.
12:59This place, man. This is going to kill us. This bodega has become TikTok famous. There's
13:04the Akiway. What they do is on top of making a chopped cheese or any type of sandwich you want,
13:09you can grab something off the shelves and throw it in there and they can kind of incorporate it.
13:12The Akiway. I'm going with something I saw on TikTok, so I know it's going to be good, but
13:16I'm morbidly curious if they could make them with like these apple pies. We got brownies here. We
13:22got ho-ho's. I mean, I've seen some videos of them make some crazy stuff. I think I saw one
13:25where he made a sandwich with Skittles, which I don't know, which is funny. I don't know how
13:30good it would taste. That might be too far. Do you think they could, I'm not going to ask,
13:32but do you think they could do like a chopped cheese or just puts the whole thing inside a
13:35pound cake? All right. That would be ridiculous. I will say American bodegas seem to have like a
13:39really good range of pre-packaged baked goods. Yeah. So I guess it kind of lends itself to,
13:44to the bodega deli style. Yeah. I love how these guys have just embraced the idea of,
13:48yeah, we'll have it your way. He wants to throw something on there. We'll do it. You know,
13:52I don't know how common this is in all of New York. No. We came here specifically to do this. So,
13:56and unfortunately the guy is not here today. So it's all good. We're getting a lot of bacon.
14:01There's like 10 strips of bacon at least. We can't forget the Bev. What do you think he's going to
14:07pair? Well, bacon, egg and cheese and honey buns. I mean, I feel like this is like an Arizona iced
14:12tea vibe. Yeah. Right. I feel like there's got to be some sort of, I've had one before. You've
14:16never had an Arizona iced tea before? I know they're famous for like kind of cap the price at
14:19a dollar. That's right. 99 cents still. They even put it on the can so no one can try and upsell
14:24them. Does that track you think like iced tea would go, an Arizona iced tea would go well with
14:27it or are you going to go with a Gatorade? I'm down for it. I've probably had enough Gatorade
14:31this week to last me a lifetime. Now that I think about it, it's going to be really sweet
14:34with the honey buns. Right. Is there a nice savory iced tea? I don't think there is. I'm
14:38wondering if I want to turn down the sweetness. What else do we have here? This type of variation
14:44is very uncommon in the UK. Right. This is just so many choices. We have this entire row of fridges.
14:50Arizona iced tea. I mean, they got two, they got two whole rows over here. Like 19 different
14:55Gatorades. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed now. My small British brain can't comprehend the
15:00choice on offer here. I feel like this sandwich is going to kill me. American cereals also baffle me.
15:06Why do you have a Wendy's Frosty cereal? Because Wendy's Frosties are delicious and I don't want
15:12to wait till noon to have one. I want to have it with my breakfast. I went to shops in the UK that
15:16were about this size that had like half of this stuff at the most. Yeah. That's really funny that
15:21even you guys, you have spaces this small and you still have like nothing in it. I feel like, yeah,
15:26I don't know where we're going wrong in like optimizing the space. Hash brown is going to be
15:29legit. Mozzarella sticks. He's also putting, did you notice he was putting shredded cheese in the
15:34egg that he's whipping up? Oh my god. Come on, dude. Come on, right? What a delicious way to die horribly
15:40of heart disease. Dude, this is going to be like a bacon, egg, and cheese McGriddle or bacon, egg,
15:45and cheese McGriddle. Yeah. The bodega McGriddle. Yeah, this will be the, these are bodega McGriddles.
15:49Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Can I see that real quick? Yeah. A somewhat alarming amount of fat and sugar
15:55in this. I'm sorry. Now's the time where you're suddenly concerned about your fat and sugar intake?
15:59We've been this whole week. We're this whole video. True. I feel like we're going to put cheese and
16:03stuff on it anyway, so it's fine. Let's just do it. Dude, they're going to load us with like mozzarella
16:06sticks and stuff, but what if suddenly you're concerned about what? Oh my god.
16:12Bacon and cheese on a honey bun, the ackee way and the only way. Bro. Now we wrap it up.
16:21I got that bad boy in there. The result is...
16:27Yo!
16:29Get your bag.
16:31Got it. Never, never, never.
16:34Man.
16:38So this is maybe the most ridiculous sandwich I've ever laid my hands on. Honey buns,
16:43bacon, egg, cheese, mozzarella sticks, hash brown, I covered it in syrup. This is, this is massive,
16:49dude. This is intense. I want to dig into this like right now. I'm glad this is the last stop
16:54of the trip because I'm going to need to lie down immediately after I take a bite of this. Yeah.
16:58Ready? Let's go. How much of this can I, can I get this all in one? Let's go.
17:04Yeah, dude. It's actually amazing. It's actually amazing. Oh my god. It's actually kind of good.
17:13It's great. Somehow that all kind of works together. It all works together. So fantastic.
17:19When he was making this on the grill, I was convinced this was like two sandwiches like
17:22someone else had ordered. Yeah. And then he just thought he was supposed to do two because there
17:26was two of us. Maybe. And then he somehow just fit everything he was cooking onto one sandwich.
17:31Jesus, man. Yeah. The mozzarella sticks really work. How does this work?
17:38Everyone's used to being able to specialize your food with what's on the menu, what meats or
17:42cheeses you have. And the fact that like pick anything in the storm will make it work, I think
17:46is very interesting. And we could have grabbed, you know, uh, trail mix and, and Welch's fruit
17:52snacks. And the guy wouldn't make his bag. Yo, this is gonna suck. You gotta pay for it. It makes
17:57sense. You have all this stuff at your disposal. Why not just throw it on a sandwich? People love
18:00this. It looks impressive. I was worried it was going to be all just how it looks, you know,
18:05the like TikTok viral sensation and that it would actually taste really bad. Yeah. But somehow it's
18:10fantastic. It's actually really good. It's really good. I think the McGriddle comment actually does
18:15hold up. That's the vibe that I get with the syrup, particularly the honey buns with the
18:19bacon and the eggs and the cheese. It's actually fantastic. Love it. It's getting crowded in here.
18:23So let's go someplace else and a debrief. Let's go. Let's go. I mean, that was a bodega experience.
18:32I feel like we really covered every possible thing a bodega has to offer there. I feel like a real
18:37New Yorker now. It's great. I took you to four different places that I all kind of did sandwiches
18:42their own way. Three bodegas. Well, two bodegas, a bodega truck and a cart. It's like a bodega,
18:48I guess. I really just snuck in there because I really want you to try a bacon, egg and cheese.
18:52But after all that, what do you think of bodega culture here in New York City? I love bodega
18:58culture. Yeah. I actually think going back to London, this might be the one thing that I would
19:02take back to that with me if I could. Yeah. I just think it's a great idea. Like we have
19:06convenience stores, but not many of them have a place where you can also go get a hot, fresh
19:11sandwich. It's a nice kind of community vibe as well in a bodega, I think, compared to some of the
19:15equivalent shops in the UK, particularly in London. So, yeah, I just think they're really,
19:19really great. I do think every one of them had one great thing going for them. Mama Jo's. I mean,
19:24she's been doing it forever. Starts at midnight. They're all morning. Coffee was incredible. Bacon,
19:28egg and cheese was incredible. I love the location right there in Manhattan. Haji's,
19:32the original chopped cheese. Fantastic sandwich. Really enjoyed that. Fantastic. Have to pay homage
19:37to where that whole thing kind of originated from as well. Absolutely. Absolutely. The bodega truck.
19:42Bodega truck. I just love how this guy, he brings the bodega to you. You know what I mean?
19:47And who knows where it's going to be tomorrow? But, you know, if you see it, guy's going to make
19:51you an incredible sandwich. Love the baby Tim's hanging from the window. Guy had, you know,
19:58quarter waters up in front that now apparently are 50 cents. Everyone's hurting, man. It's tough
20:03times. But those sandwiches. Incredible. Right. And of course, Akiway. Akiway. All right, man.
20:11That honestly shocked me with how good it was. Yeah. I thought it was going to be a gimmick.
20:16I took a bite and I was like, oh, man, it's incredible. And then I finished the whole thing.
20:20And we're thinking of like what we're going to have them make next. Next time we go. Yeah. Right.
20:24It really makes it like an event. Yeah. And I know that some people might roll their eyes at
20:28someone taking a classic thing like a bodega sandwich and putting what is a very, very unique
20:33and different spin on it and maybe could be considered a little bit gimmicky. But honestly,
20:38the result, man, I don't think you can argue with that. Yeah, it was really good.
20:41And one thing is for sure, we're not at all acting like we just discovered these places. We are not.
20:46OK. No one could accuse us of that. Yes. And you visit the blokes back in London,
20:49having a pint with the lads and they say, oh, what bodega should I go to, mate?
20:55What are you going to say? It's really hard to say. I think for a very authentic bodega experience
21:00and possibly my favorite sandwich of the day. I think Haji's was really, really great. OK.
21:07I thought that chopped cheese is the original. I know other people have put their own spin on it.
21:12But that, I think, was just a really, really, really good sandwich. Simple,
21:18but elegant, tasty. Can't really ask for much more than that.
21:22Yeah, it was fantastic. Bodega game in New York is strong.