SOUTH ORANGE — As deli legend has it, New Jersey’s version of the Sloppy Joe started in Havana, Cuba.
According to local folklore, in 1935, then mayor of Maplewood Thomas Sweeney returned from a trip to Cuba with stories of a delicious deli sandwich he had at a Cuban restaurant, Sloppy Joe’s Bar and Eatery. Sweeney persuaded the then-owners of the Town Hall Deli in neighboring South Orange to recreate it, and it caught on.
This month, the Town Hall Deli is celebrating its 90th anniversary. In that time, ownership has changed hands, and the deli has moved four times. But, Matt Wonski, who owns and runs the store with his father, Tony, says the “important things” at the deli, have remained the same.
Town Hall Deli’s Legendary Sloppy Joe
“It’s still a family business. It always has been, and it always will be,” said Wonski, whose family bought it in 2001 from Ron Joost and Jack Burdoff – the men who had taken over from their fathers, who started the Town Hall Deli in 1927. Jack Burdoff, who is now 78-years-old, still works in the deli.
“Our ingredients are fresh, and good quality. We make everything here … (and) we cut everything fresh in the deli. We are starting from scratch on every sandwich,” Wonski said.
That includes the Sloppy Joe, which has become the eatery’s most well-known product.
Made much the same way it was in 1935, the sandwich is on rye bread baked in a white bread mold that is cut long ways. In Cuba, the sandwich was made with cow tongue and ham. The Town Hall deli version includes turkey, roast beef, Swiss cheese, Russian dressing, and dry cole slaw. Not including cooking the turkey (the deli doesn’t use Boar’s Head – “we make two forty-pound birds every morning,” Wonski says), or the three-day prep time to make the cole slaw, the Sloppy Joe takes about 20 to 30 minutes to assemble. One sandwich, which usually sells for $22.99, can feed two to three people.
“As someone who has participated in two Sloppy Joe eating competitions, I can personally vouch for how delicious they are,” South Orange Village President Sheena Collum told NJ Advance Media.
Wonski said the sandwiches are “definitely what we’re known for.” For the deli’s busiest day of the year, Super Bowl Sunday, it makes about 700 Sloppy Joe’s, he said. It also ships sandwiches all over the world.
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This winter, in honor of the eatery’s landmark anniversary, Wonski took the sandwiches somewhere special – to the Sloppy Joe’s in Havana. With them, Wonski brought the story of how the Joe’s came to South Orange. He ate them with the current managers of the bar in Cuba.
“It was really one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done,” he said.
To celebrate the deli’s birth year, Sloppy Joe’s this week are being sold for $19.27.
“Town Hall Deli is an institution in our community,” Collum said. “We congratulate Tony and Matt and all the staff and look forward to the next 90 years.”
Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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