Fiore Deli – Plate 26

“I love it when something lives up to the hype” Chris says, seconds departed from the last bites of his roast beef and mozzarella with gravy.

We’ve just eaten what’s popularly known as the 30 Rock sandwich, and it was everything we’d hoped it’d be. Made popular by a plotline (link) in the NBC sitcom, it remained a secret until it was discovered by Devil and Egg (site) a few years ago. I’ve been longing for it ever since I saw that episode, so I just had to see if Fiore’s wanted to be a part of 93 Plates.

It’s cold out. Chris and I don’t know where this place is; all we know is the address. We’re unfamiliar with the area but know Adams intersects with Fourth and that’s about where it is. We pass one street … is the next street it? Nope. Maybe two more streets? No again. The anticipation was palpable. We finally scope out Adams and turn the corner to Fiore’s. There’s a line, we go in:

Chris told me that if I went into and asked for an Italian hero that John might raise his arms and flex for us; this kind of thing doesn’t allow for two takes and he was a good sport about it. Larry was taking care of us for the day and immediately came back with some fresh Mutz (pic – that’s the Italian word for mozzarella).

You ever go in to Katz’s deli and order a pastrami sandwich? You order and a tiny plate appears on the counter, the slicer presents you with an amuse bouche of pastrami. They’re proud of their stuff, they know they’re at the top of the list, and it’s a little bit of braggadocio that they can put that stuff in your hand when they already know you’ll swoon. Well, the mutz is Fiore’s pastrami.

It’s 100% without a doubt the best mozzarella I’ve ever tasted. You can see the water dripping from my hands in the video and you can tell by my reaction that this is an experience I’ve never had before. Larry hits us with another round, then the garilic marinated mutz in olive oil, then the smoked mutz, all just perfect (and I’ll throw that adjective around willy-nilly at Fiore’s).

The Sangweech (above): what can I say about the sangweech? Liz Lemon, I would have stopped at the TSA checkpoint and finished my sandwich along with you (there’s a lot of things I would do with Liz Lemon, but that’s beside the point). If you order take out, they give you the gravy in a container, if you order it to eat it right away, they put the proper amount of gravy on it and you devour the thing in seconds. We asked for two half sandwiches – I think they pooh-poohed that request and gave us two wholes. If they actually gave us two half sandwiches and they charge $25 for a whole (which they don’t, but if they did), it is absolutely worth the money. That’s a lot of friggin’ sangweech.

We started talking about the sandwich.

“The roast beef is ridiculous, but I think the bread makes it.” Chris said.

“Don’t forget about the mozzarella. I really think it’s the mozzarella.” I responded.

“Well,” Chris admitted, “you can’t have this sandwich with out the gravy.”

When you can’t pick which awesome makes the sandwich, that’s what we call a Situation (NJ 4 Life!).

Let me just say that this sandwich was the reason I did two days in Hoboken. I started off in Hoboken because Michelle (site) lives in Jersey City and agreed to come out to all three meals with me on January 1, a day with which I knew I’d have a hard time. I also have a good friend who lives downtown that I hadn’t seen in a while. The last time I was at his house, I fixed his wi-fi, so I knew he was set up to accommodate me blogging all day. So when I say that it’s worth the trip off the island, it’s because I actually made the trip specifically for this sandwich and it didn’t disappoint.

It’s funny, somehow it was warmer and the streets were a lot shorter after we were finished with our sangweech.

And that’s all the hype you’re gonna get from me.

Chris did a much more thorough post that I did and cut this video especially for this project:

Guest Writer: Chris Durso … Here’s his post

The IRL Arts Foundation and The Wandering Foodie thank Fiore’s Deli for providing this meal.

Fiore’s Deli
414 Adams Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030
(201) 659-1655