White Gold Butchers

375 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10024 (UWS)

6/15/18

Chopped Cheese (Chopped hamburger patty, american cheese, jalapeños, pickles on a poppy seed bun)

Sides: Roast Beef Sandwich (not for judging, just for fun) (pickled red onion, red wine butter, horseradish cream) & Potato Salad

3.7/5 This week's well-attended, yet anticlimactic sandwich wheel spin on Wednesday decided that Friday's sandwich would be the Chopped Cheese from White Gold Butchers. After the wheel landed on April Bloomfield's upscale take on the Harlem classic, the crowd responded with much confusion and very little enthusiasm. Thankfully, Sarah M. sent around a very insightful video on the "Hometown Hero" (click here if you want to watch). Those who watched the 20 minute video in its entirety would have learned that the chopped cheese is a bodega specialty, made from old hamburger patties chopped up, covered in american cheese, placed into a sub roll and topped with your standard condiments (lettuce, tomato, etc.). The chopped cheese is a legend around Harlem, Queens, and the Bronx so where did I go to pick up 12 of these bad-boys? A highly rated (and very expensive) butcher shop on the Upper West Side.

The sandwich was met with mixed reviews. In comparison with the chopped cheeses of the past, which many felt this judging could not be made without, White Gold's chopped cheese sort of fell right in the middle. It wasn't best, it wasn't the worst. Praise was given to the sandwich's bun, which was both soft and traveled very well. Nearly everyone, except Natalie, who could not care for poppy seeds, agreed that the poppy seeds were a fantastic touch. The jalapeños also added a nice spice, but the main star of the show, the chopped hamburger meat and melted cheese, didn't "wow" us as much as we hoped it would have. In the end, this may have just been a "really gourmet McDonald's burger," and one definitely not worth the $11 price tag as Grace pointed out.