A ham and cheese sandwich at Eli Zabar’s E.A.T. on the Upper East Side now costs $31.57— which is $29 plus tax. The shock of a simple staple being priced so high has shocked New Yorkers.
A Reddit thread with a photo of the sandwich captioned “$29 Ham and Cheese sandwich” drew more than 600 comments and 2,000 upvotes on Monday. Despite the outrageous price, apparently the sandwich is one of the restaurant’s most popular items.
“Okay seriously, this is criminal,” said one person. “Seriously… who’s buying this???” asked another. One user wrote: “This is literally unbelievable.”
Apparently, calling the sandwich a single sandwich is misleading. The luxury lunch item is actually two sandwiches made from ham, Gruyère cheese, mustard and four slices of seven-grain “health bread.”
“Every morning we bake our seven-grain health loaf in a special size, which EAT then slices the long way, schmears with French mustard, and covers with thinly sliced roasted glazed ham and imported Swiss cheese,” Sasha Zarbar, Eli’s son, recently told Gothamist.
There are other expensive items at E.A.T. as well. . A smoked salmon sandwich to-go is priced at $30, while the turkey club costs $28. Meanwhile, a pack of 12 granola bars goes for $72 and one pound of lox costs $60.
The $29 item is part of a larger trend of high-priced sandwiches. Prices ranged from the mid-teens to about $20 sandwiches.
