LA has been ghost with the French dip – the gorgeous , soaked mess of a French roll stuffed with roast beef and dip in jus – for decades . But a bitter contention between Philippe ’s and Cole ’s – both downtown – has both of them swearing they fabricate the sandwich . Who ’s telling the truth ? We decided to get to the bottom of the mystery by siccing investigative journalist Jackson Landers ( who ’s written cryptical - prima donna pieces forSmithsonianandThe New York Times , among other , like , serious issue ) on it . What he found may upset … both initiation . Read on :
For about the thousandth clip in one day , the top of a French roll is lift with a dyad of tongs and deliberately dipped in a blade tray full of ' au jus , ' a rich mix of vegetable and beef juice . Practiced hands have layer exactly 4 oz of slit roast beef cattle on the bottom of the roll . The wet top of the roll is placed over the beef . The sandwich is slice diagonally . So goes another French magnetic inclination sandwich – arguably Los Angeles ' most iconic dish .
In nastiness of the name , there is actually nothing French about the French fall . The sandwich was definitely excogitate in Los Angeles in the early 20th C . Two classical LA eateries make competing call as originators of the Gallic fall , but the closer that you wait at those claims , the blurry they become . In fact , look secretive enough – and you ’ll start out to doubt what a French dip really is in the first place .
Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
The case for Philippe’s
The highest - visibility claimant is easily Philippe ’s , founded by Philippe Mathieu , a Gallic immigrant born in 1877 who started out at a deli in Southern France before moving to Algeria to influence as an prentice Captain James Cook . He spend a class in the French army and then saved up enough money to immigrate to the United States , where he cooked in American baseball bat camps and hotel – and by 1903 he had made his path across the continent to Los Angeles . For $ 150 he bought himself a delicatessen at 617 Alameda , the first in a serial of businesses that Mathieu would afford in the neighborhood . He opened Philippe ’s Restaurant in 1908 . And if you believe the legend , it was there that the first Gallic drop was made .
Sounds plausible at first glimpse . But the digging does n’t even need to get deep to start doubt the account . On an episode of the TV showCheap Eats , 4th contemporaries co - owner Mark Massengill state a different exercise set of facts . “ It uprise in 1917 , ” Massengill said . “ Philippe Mathieu was carving a roast squawk sandwich for a fireman and the moolah accidentally dropped into the roasting pan … ”
That ’s just the first example of Philippe ’s owners seeming unsure of their own story . In fact , Philippe Mathieu ’s own grandson tell apart yet another variant .
Philippe the Original
“ One day a fire fighter complain that his peal was stale , ” Philippe Guilhem distinguish theLA Timesin a 2008 audience . “ It was plausibly a Monday and the roller was a leftover from the weekend . My grandad was a thrifty person . He said , ' Give me the goddamn affair back . ' He dip it in the juices and said , ' You happy now ? ' "
With a deliberate – even vindictive – first dipping , that go very unlike from either interlingual rendition of the story that Philippe ’s current owners are telling . But while he was closer to the germ than Philippe ’s mod direction , Guilheim was still recite a story that was at near 2d script and already around 90 year old .
The actual closest that we can get to the gymnastic horse ’s mouth is a 1951LA Timesinterview with Mathieu . The clause was written on the occasion of Philippe ’s relocating to make direction for the Hollywood Freeway .
Courtesy of Philippe the Original
“ One day a police military officer asked me if I would beware splitting one of these large loaf of French lucre and filling it with ' some of the delicious roast pork barrel , ' ” said Mathieu . “ I was not too busy , so I say , ' Sure . ' Then he asked me to ' please sheer it in half . I ’ve got a friend alfresco who can exhaust it . ' Then he ask for some kettle of fish , onions and olives . ”
The sandwich was turn out and awaited its cutpurse .
" Then we start nominate Gallic - roll sandwiches for those who had minor appetites , " Mathieu said . " One day a client saw some pan gravy in the bottom of a large goat god of knock meat . He take me if I would take care dipping one side of the French roll in that gravy . I did , and properly forth five or six others require the same . "
Flickr/Alejandro De La Cruz
Wait… pork??
No fire-eater . No fit at a demanding customer . No my - umber - in - your - peanut - butter moment . Everyone fromEmeril Lagasseto Adam Richman will be horrified to hear that the original Gallic magnetic dip sandwich was not roast beef at all but rather appear to have been pork . It may even have been dressed with muddle , onions , and olives .
But what about the name ? The easy answer is that Mathieu was a French man in a metropolis where his nationality was probably his most notable gadget characteristic . It was a “ French dip ” because the French guy dip it . But “ French dip ” was also probably a pun .
Therefore , the name of the sandwich was probably a dual entendre . It was a nod towards the nationality of the man who was making the sandwich and to the fact that it was dipped in juice or gravy , but also poked fun at the fact that a gravy - laden pork sandwich is about the last thing that is proceed to slim down a waistline .
Cole’s, Originators of the French Dip
The case for Cole’s
Another Hellenic LA restaurant also pull in a claim on the innovation of the French magnetic inclination . Cole ’s Pacific Electric Buffet , which is also arguably the oldest bar in Los Angeles . Cole ’s proprietor take that the sandwich was invented at their eatery in 1908 – either nine or 10 years before Philippe ’s claim . According to Gitti Beheshti , co - owner and manager at the fourth dimension of a 1997 interview with theLA Times , “ Mr. [ Henry ] Cole was German . He had a acquaintance that was a chef working here . He was in the kitchen when someone wanted a sandwich , then the bread fell into the beef juice and they care it . The other client in line behind him asked for the same sandwich . ”
But Beheshti was born in 1941 , and records indicate that he bribe Cole ’s in 1989 – in other Christian Bible , he had no first - hand knowledge of what bread flow in what juice in 1908 . Days of seek through paper records produce not a single credit of a Gallic dip sandwich at Cole ’s prior to Philippe ’s developing a reputation for them . No interview with either Henry Cole or the nameless chef has been recorded . The integral organic structure of grounds seems to be an oral history passed down among employees , which makes for a imperfect claim compared to Philippe ’s . The current owners of Cole ’s have no historical connexion to either Henry Cole or his staff .
The conclusion
Among each of the vie stories about the excogitation of the Gallic dip , the version say by Philippe Mathieu in 1951 is by far the most historically convincing . Versions of a news report that are more tidy , compact , and photographic camera - quick should generally be viewed as historically suspect . Mathieu ’s taradiddle seems more likely to be exact because it avoids a substantial ' eureka second ' cliché . It is also a first - individual account , unlike every other version .
The idea of Philippe ’s history is as much what they are selling as the ( admittedly delicious ) sandwich . Walk into Philippe ’s and you are represent with a carefully reconstruct old - time experience . The floor is covered with sawdust in the style of quondam - fashioned taproom a la McSorley ’s Old Ale House . But is “ Philippe ’s The Original ” really the original ? Only if you grade your Gallic dip fulfill with roasted pork ( which is an option , along with lamb and turkey ) and topped with jam , Allium cepa , and olives .
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Jackson Landersis a diarist and science writer who will strictly test any scientific inquiry or sandwich . @JacksonJLanders
