I was confused the first time someone showed me the deli tray of Sloppy Joe sandwiches at the Superbowl party.
When I hear “Sloppy Joe” this is what I expect:
The sandwiches on the deli tray are what we (who eat at Miracle Mile deli in Phoenix) call a New Yorker. And order it with turkey (instead of pastrami) and you have yourself a Turkey New Yorker.
Well apparently in New Jersey, what you have is a Sloppy Joe: meat on sourdough rye, with Swiss cheese, Russian dressing and cole slaw.
Letters from New Jersey 
In my elementary school in suburban Philadelphia, a sloppy joe was a ground beef and sauce combo served on a soft hamburger bun. It’s definitely not a deli sandwich. Those crazy Jerseyites!
By: June Bell on March 1, 2012
at 1:11 pm
It sent me into culture shock too, when I moved her from CA!
By: Main Street Musings Blog on March 1, 2012
at 1:28 pm
[…] “We had delicious watermelon with our sloppy joes (normal kind, not Jersey kind). The sloppy joe’s were a little sweet though so they tasted […]
By: Letters from Dori part 2 | Letters from New Jersey on August 20, 2014
at 10:24 am
[…] gobbled down some New Jersey sloppy Joe’s at one booth, that also had chocolate dipped pretzels and chocolate covered strawberries. Those […]
By: Mitzvah Fair Fun | Letters from New Jersey on March 1, 2016
at 11:51 am