Philadelphia has the hoagie. New England calls it a grinder. And New Yorkers order a hero—basically the same stuffed-to-the-gills Italian-deli meat, cheese, and vegetable sandwich as the other two.
So where did the moniker come from? Supposedly in the 1930s, a New York Herald Tribune food writer commented that only a hero could finish off such a massive concoction. And the name stuck.
You don’t see as many signs for heroes anymore, now that the city has been infiltrated by so many Subways and other chain sandwich shops.
But one place the name survives is at Manganaro’s Heroboy on Ninth Avenue in the 40s. The photo above was taken there in the 1960s. That’s comedy duo Marty Allen and Steve Rossi holding the ends of a six-footer for a photo op.
Tags: Allen and Rossi, grinders, Hero sandwich, Manganaro's Heroboy, Marty Allen, New York Herald Tribune, Steve Rossi, submarine sandwich
March 21, 2009 at 9:59 pm |
“Hero” is derived from the Greek “Gyro,” a similarly pronounced word and a similar sandwich. See:
http://www.dcgreeks.com/gyro_and_souvlaki.asp
March 23, 2009 at 2:58 pm |
[...] question. Where have all the heroes gone? [Ephemeral New [...]
March 23, 2009 at 3:37 pm |
Most of New England does not call it a grinder. It’s called a sub.
March 23, 2009 at 4:40 pm |
I have only know this sandwich by it;s NYC name, “HERO”!.
I have heard it called a “hoagie”, “bomber”, “sub”. But no matter where I have travelled or lived, I always refer to it as HERO!
I have been chided in upstaste New York (Rochester, Buffalo, Albany) for referring to this sandwich as a HERO.
As a bornh & bred New Yorker, I felt it was my god-annointed duty to educate these “upstaters” and inform them that the moniker they atteched to the “sub” was incorrect and the proper moniker was “HERO”!
Needless to say, the “upstaters” did not take to kindly to a “city-slicker” coming upstate and telling them that their beloved “hoagies” were in fact “HEROES”!
They did not budge and neither did I. In fact, just to piss them off, I would order a HERO with a New York City attitude; you know, “Yo, lemme git a HERO wit da works”!
Yea, I showed them!!