If this was the year of the Dragon, then the list of New York’s best sandwiches of 2024 reads aptly like a fairytale – filled with magical creatures that mortal men may never see.
Fueled by the inspiration of chefs and the ingenuity of community builders (looking at you 8it) this year’s best sandwich list is littered with pop-ups, collaborations, and one-off sammie specials. Each one equally brilliant and equally precarious in their availability to be found in the wild next year.
A tour we think you'll love
But fear not my fellow sandwich adventurers, for fairytales all finish with a happy ending. So, armed with this carefully curated map of the New York’s best sandwiches of 2024, embark on your perilous journey through the culinary lands of NYC, knowing that treasure awaits you at the end, and all along the way. I swear this to you.
With that said, here are New York’s Best Sandwiches of 2024:
10 – The Chopped Italian @ Brown Bag
The story of Brown Bag Sandwich Co writes itself – former Eleven Madison Park chef tosses in the glitz and glamor of Michelin and Times stars for meaty and tasty subs. Fortunately, it’s not just the story that jumps off the paper (bag) here as their Italian is SO GOOD that it completely changed our opinion of an entire category of sandwiches – the very in-vogue chopped sammie.
While many chopped sandwiches run the risk of appearing far too baby-sick like, with over-mayonnaised chunks of semi-digested looking vegetables and meats, Brown Bag’s chopped Italian avoids all that with the culinary precision you’d expect from an EMP alum. Every bite has all the right flavors and crucially the right textures of a banging Italian sandwich, catapulting it into New York’s best sandwiches of 2024.
9 – The Reuben Benny @ Regular
What’s in a name? By any stretch of the imagination this stunning sandwich from Regular has all the ingredients of a reuben – bread, pastrami, sauerkraut and dairy. The fact it only has one slice of bread is but a minor detail. The sandwich family is abroad tent. The fact it is fused with an eggs benedict, so also includes eggs and hollandaise, is slightly less minor, but still should not impact on its overall (open) reuben sandwich-ness.
And at the end of the day, when the smokey tender pastrami is glistening with warm runny egg yolk, and the tang of the kraut balances the freshness of the herbs scattered across the rich hollandaise sauce, do you really care if this is an open-faced sandwich or not?
8 – The Rotisserie Chicken Sandwich @ Lincoln Station
This is a straight up nostalgia play. Which is the reason many, if not all, of us fall in love with sandwiches in the first place. While it was the fairytales told by your parents that helped you drift off to sleep, it was the ‘roast chook’ sandwiches you’d eaten earlier in the day that you dreamed about when you did. Or maybe that’s just me…
This sandwich is basic, but in all the best possible ways. Lincoln Station mixes mountains of juicy shredded chicken with mayo, parsley, capers, red onion and garlic on a warm to the touch ciabatta. Technically you’re eating a chicken salad sandwich, realistically you’re eating memories. Go feel warm on the inside.
7 – A5 Wagyu Smashburger @ Izakaya E4 x Shogun Burger
Izakaya E4 sneaks into the top 10 again this year after featuring in our list of The Best Sandwiches of 2023 too. This time however, they have joined forces with Shogun Burger from Tokyo, Japan to create an incredibly decadent (and delicious) A5 Wagyu steak double smashburger that demanded a spot on the list of New York’s best sandwiches of 2024.
The two wagyu patties melt on your tongue faster than snowflakes on a dragon’s breath. Thick layers of cheese ooze across the top of each and both are covered in wagyu ketchup and a generous portion of pickles, onions, mustard and pickled jalapenos. They’ve absolutely smashed it out of the park with this one. But like all dragons, this burger is hard to catch – you have less than a week to get it before it disappears into the realms of mythology.
6 – Lamb Shawarma Birria Burrito @ Hen House
Move over Tony Stark, there is another madman-genius of your namesake taking over New York – Tony Nassif, owner and chef of Hen House NYC. In just over 12 months Tony has churned out hundreds (plural) of dishes onto the menu of his Lebanese/ Canadian/ New York fusion restaurant, each one more incredible and eclectic than the last.
The most eclectic off all though is undoubtedly Tony’s lamb shawarma birria burrito – an incredible sentence to write, let alone sandwich to eat. Braised lamb, Armenian string cheese and cheese curds are all blended, cooked and rolled inside Lebanese markouk bread (think pita). This cheese pull delivery system is slapped on the grill to create a golden brown crust and served alongside a smokey consome topped with onions and herbs for some of the most deliciously messy mouth-feels you’ll have all year.
5 – Tomato Bagel @ Apollo Bagels
Troublemakers are never truly appreciated until after their time. Often scorned, maligned for their reckless rule-breaking, or consigned to the role of jester in their present day, their true genius is only discovered in rose color. But without those troublemakers, the great villain by the name of Boredom reigns over kingdoms. So let us not waste one more single moment to recognize the genius of Apollo’s open faced, sourdough bagels.
A simple menu at Apollo Bagels offers only three sandwich options, three cream cheese options, and three bagel options. The simplest and best of those sandwiches is the tomato version. The bagel is crispy to the touch and soft to the taste, but also has that subtle undertone of tang that sourdough is famous for. Two large slices of heirloom tomato sit atop of a schmear of your choice, and are doused with olive oil and S&P. That’s it. That’s all. That’s genius.
4 – Thai Diner Egg Sandwich @ Thai Diner
New York does not do mornings. It’s not our thing. Our retail opens at 11am, brunch starts at 2pm, and if you suggest dinner before 8 then the retirement village bus pulls up to take you away. So to get a New Yorker to breakfast requires something incredibly special, or alternaitvely, tricking them to breakfast by using Bangkok Standard Time to set an NYC based breakfast meet-up.
Once you’re in the groove of BST, you might as well head to Thai Diner to devor their exquisite breakfast sandwich. The spicy pork sausage tickles the tastebuds while the egg and cheese wash their velvety smooth charm across them. Thai basil freshens the whole dish, but it’s the buttery roti with its finger licking oils that steals the show alongside a devilishly satisfying Thai dipping sauce to force its inclusion in New York’s best sandwiches of 2024.
3 – The Oxtail Midi’Anoche @ Shmackwich x Roberta’s
Can you make a Cuban sandwich Jamaican? How do you make a chopped cheese fancy? If you fold your pizza, is it a sandwich? What sounds like a set of riddles fit for a (bridge) troll, were all expertly answered this year by Shmackwich with their incredible Midi’Anoche sandwich.
Trading up from Olly Olly Market to Bushwick hotspot Roberta’s, the team made famous by a wagyu chopped cheese upped their own high standards this year with a Jamaican inspired medianoche sandwich. Switching out ham and salami for Oxtail and pastrami, and throwing in sweet, heat and pickled goodness make this sandwich so good it would wake Snow White from her slumber. But then to surround it with pizza bread from Roberta’s… well now the even the seven dwarves with all their hard work couldn’t keep us away from this dish.
And are we sure 2024 wasn’t actually the year of the Ox(tail)?
2 – La Patatina @ Alidoro
In 2024 we are bringing Morty back. Mortadella to be exact. But Morty can’t do it all on his own, so like any great hero arc he needs a sidekick to navigate the trials and tribulations of his adventure. And in the great tale of La Patatina – the limited edition sandwich created by Alidoro and A Man & His Sandwich – that kick came in the form of Deep River salt and vinegar chips placed inside the sandwich. Yes, chips in the sammie!
In the best ‘choose your own adventure’ since the 6th grade, an invitation from Alidoro to create our own sandwich led to a masterpiece of handheld delights, if I do say so myself. On it, a thick layer of mortadella is supplemented by a thin one of crispy porchetta to add that salty crunch. Generous dollops of creamy burrata cooled a waterfall of diced spicy peppers. A pop of color from the arugula nestled the Deep River chips within a seeded bread roll. I can still taste it.
Morty is back. Chips reign supreme. Bring Patatina back. Please…
1 – Italian Disco Club @ Ciao Gloria
This sandwich is flawless.
A modern imagination of a timeless classic, this sandwich has it all – heroes, surprises and most certainly delights. All it lacks for a true fairytale is a villain, but that’s only because nothing is not good in this layered masterpiece from Ciao Gloria.
The homemade focaccia should be the hero of this dish. Wonderfully crispy, impossibly soft and delightfully oily all at the same time. It is just right. But once your teeth pierce through that barrier they are met by a tomato pesto with just a hint of spice that replaces the soggy slices of your childhood and makes you feel thrilled to be an adult at the same time.
Smoked turkey and crispy prosciutto add that depth of flavor you only realize is missing from a club after you experience this version. Avocado, greens and provolone round out this story, but it’s one that you will re-tell to the next generation as you regale them of legends of your eating escapades through New York’s Best Sandwiches of 2024.
