Queens sandwiches top list of city’s best bites

Queens vendors topped Eater critic Robert Sietsema’s list of best sandwiches. Photo by Sharon Medina-Chavez.

By Jonathan Sperling

Queens sandwiches are some of the best in the boroughs, at least according to one food critic.

Sandwich spots in Floral Park, Corona and Jackson Heights are among the 11 best in the city, says Robert Sietsema, a critic for the popular food blog Eater.

Specifically, the cheese and tomato sandwich at Indian restaurant USHA Foods in Floral Park (255-03 Hillside Ave.) is featured at the top of the list for its Amul cheese, sliced tomatoes and mint chutney “that turns what might otherwise be a normal toasted cheese into a miracle of pleasing pungency,” Sietsema writes.

If you’re nowhere near Eastern Queens, no worries. Sietsema also recommends you try the Cecina cemita at Coatzingo in Jackson Heights (79-11 Roosevelt Ave.) The sandwich consists of a round, seeded roll “layered with divergent ingredients to make it a giant gutbomb,” Sietsema writes. Those ingredients include dried and grilled beef, cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato, pickled jalapeños, cilantro and dark papalo leaves. Yum.

Also on Eater’s must-try sandwich list is Mama’s Special at Leo’s Latticini in Corona (46-02 104th St.) It’s a cold hero made with fresh mozzarella, ham, salami and pickled red peppers. It’s the best Italian sandwich you can get in the borough — and maybe even citywide.