Celebrities are sandwiches too

This week in the New York Times there was an article about the phenomenon of sandwich shops being opened by celebrities and influencers. Now it’s not easy to open a sandwich shop, and have the long lines, and get mentioned in Times articles, and all that (unless you’re Bradley Cooper - and then it’s fairly easy, I think). But the apex for sandwich stardom IMO is when you find your name on a menu at someone else’s restaurant. That’s major sandwich street cred, and something we can all aspire to. 

Like all things Club:Sandwich, there are different levels here that are important to unpack. At the top I suppose you have your “everyone knows this one” level, where the name affixed to the product is universal - Sandwich Actualization. Beneath that are sandwiches that get attributed to the people that order them in their own special way. And at the bottom are your sandwiches named by the sandwich makers to express their appreciation for certain people through their art. To clarify all of this for you, we’ve created an important new artifact - The Club:Sandwich Pyramid of Celebrity Sandwich Naming™.

The best example I can think of at the Arnold Palmer level is Elvis Presley. Elvis was known to love peanut butter and banana griddled on white bread - he was also known to frequently include bacon on it. I’ll be honest and admit I’ve never had a version with bacon on it, but I sorta want to try it now that I’m typing this up. In any case, The King of Rock and Roll is also forever cemented in history as the king of peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

At “The Usual” level we turn to Mel Brooks, who famously loves sandwiches. He had a special he would order at the old Carnegie Deli which was turkey breast, cole slaw, thousand island, mustard, and one single slice of corned beef on rye. You can order it the same way at S&P Lunch, which formalized his order and named it after him on the menu. 

At The Tribute level the sandwich naming doesn’t always make as much sense or tie in so directly with the namesake. Take Wax Paper Co. in LA, for instance. Their entire sandwich menu is devoted to NPR hosts. As a casual listener to the likes of Ira Glass and Lakshmi Singh it never once occurred to me that either of them would amount to having a sandwich named for them, but it seems as though they’ve finally made it.

Ok, thats it for this week. There are tons more celebrity named sandwiches out there. If you have a favorite, share it with us in the MSD. 

Until next time, may you find your one true Kevin Bacon Lettuce and Tomato. 

Club:Sandwich is the world's first ever members-only club for sandwich lovers (as far as you know). Together we discover, order, make, eat, and discuss sandwiches while building the largest, most comprehensive database of sandwiches ever. Grab or make a sandwich and then share it with us by adding it to the Million Sandwich Database. Uploading sandwiches will earn you points that have no value and cannot be used in any way.