Elsie’s Pickle Sandwiches: The Mission that Sparked a Briny Sensation

What happens when a pickle bun sandwich goes viral? The owners of the Haddon Township establishment explain the story behind the unique creation and how they feel about its meteoric rise.

Clockwise from left: the Bloody Mary, Harold's Roll and Phat Farm pickle sandwiches at Elsie's. Photo by Jenn Hall

Jersey is no stranger to destination sandwiches. Think White House Subs in Atlantic City. The Fat Cat in New Brunswick. Pork roll, egg and cheese anywhere else. To that pantheon of portable meals, we can now add Elsie’s Pickle Sandwich—only hold the bread. This sandwich is all about its pickle bun, an innovation so ingenious that it has rapidly launched this family-run Haddon Township sandwich shop into viral sensation territory.

“Is this the golden age of the pickle?”Michael Strahan, Good Morning America

“Who’s coming with us for a long lunch break in Jersey?” – Thrillist

Here’s a crazy idea that just DID work!”Pee Wee Herman, pickle enthusiast

But Elsie’s offers more than Instagram fodder. They solve serious sandwich dilemmas. One: The massive Kosher dill bun is a salve for soggy sub syndrome. Two: With a briny kick, they’re a godsend for extra vinegar lovers whose requests often go unbidden. (I persist.) Three: More seriously, they create a culinary sanctuary for diners with dietary restrictions, paired with a real-deal pickle punch that anyone can enjoy.

“We started making them for my mom, who is diabetic,” explains shop owner and head pickle proprietor Katherine Cohen. “That was at the shore, in Linwood, birthplace of the pickle sandwich.”

“Pre-viral,” she laughs, before continuing. “When you have dietary restrictions, there are a lot of times when you go out and you can’t eat a meal with your friends. This place, people can bring their friends, and you can all enjoy the same meal. You don’t have to order off of a special menu.” Folks with Celiac disease or gluten restrictions also don’t have to worry about cross-contamination, a rare treat.

Yet the sandwich is most definitely a crossover hit.

Exterior of Elsie's in Haddon Township. Photo by Jenn Hall
Elsie's pickle swag. Photo by Jenn Hall
Elsie's inspiration. Photo by Jenn Hall

“We don’t have a demographic,” Cohen says. “That’s one of the things about a sandwich shop: it brings all different kinds of people together.” In the waiting area, folks clink shot glosses, throwing back complementary pickle brine and house Bloody Mary mix. Outside, laughter rings from a smattering of tables. Once, I observed an 18-wheeler pull up to grab an order curbside. You never know who you’re going to see, including folks who look suspiciously like someone you can’t quite place from Netflix.

Grounded in their vision of serving as a sanctuary for folks barred from sandwich shops, Cohen and her team keep things in perspective—though pickle-forward humor is now a way of life. “It’s so funny. We’ve been here for nine months, and it has kind of become second nature. We’re always talking about pickles. They call me the pickle lady…which is not a great title to have.” (Bedecked in her peace, love, and pickles hat, she wears it in style.) Cohen says her mom is number one in the pecking order of briny humorists, though when asked her favorite pickle joke, she demurs. “This is a family show, isn’t it?” she laughs.

She will share the array of swag that guests bring in as gifts: pickle socks, pickle pens, yodeling pickles.

Elsie’s actual pickles are no joke. They’re crafted using a family recipe that goes back generations. “My family is from Western Pennsylvania,” Cohen says. “Pickling is a big part of our culture there. The recipe that we have was passed down and passed down.” First-timers will be struck by its size. They’re not just a little commercial pickle, Cohen notes.

All the better to contain a creative array of offerings. Standards include a formidable Italian and twists like the “Harold Roll,” which replaces the pickle “bun” with a sliced pickle or cucumber wrap, stuffed with corned beef, Swiss cheese and mustard. Specials explore new terrain, like the recent Phat Farm, a meaty number piled high with roast beef, turkey, ham, provolone, lettuce, tomato, onion and piquant hot sandwich peppers. Or the Bloody Mary, filled with buffalo chicken, Guinness cheddar cheese and sriracha mayo (chip crumbles optional).

Katherine Cohen with husband and co-owner Chad, and daughter Lenin. Photo courtesy of Elsie’s Sandwich Shop

Equally mouthwatering is the brine, which is free for the taking (bring your own container). “The magic about the brine is that it is the first sports drink, which I didn’t know until I started doing this,” Cohen muses. “When you drink a sports drink, it’s all sugar. This is salt, vinegar, water and other proprietary spices.” As a result, athletes have Elsie’s on their circuit. “I don’t want to sound like a snake-oil salesman, but legitimately, it’s good for you. We get a ton of runners that come in.” (Pro tip: With advance notice, the shop offers pickle-brine buckets of their Bloody Mary mix, an enticing offering during the holidays. “Hangovers are a think of the past,” Cohen jokes. “’Tis the season!”)

Despite the shop’s meteoric rise into the collective culinary consciousness, Cohen takes a measured approach to the future. “Like my mom says: ‘You can only eat one meal at a time.’ You try to take every day as it comes.” For now, the family is hard at work opening a second location in Philadelphia. A program is also in motion to bottle and ship pickles and brine across the U.S.

And above all, the mission comes first. “One of my sisters has celiac. She comes in gets pickle brine—and she can eat the food here, too, which is pretty awesome. I’m providing a service that’s needed and it makes me super, super happy to do it.”

Elsie’s Sandwich Shop, 803 White Horse Pike, Haddon Township; 856-858-7041; Open Tuesday-Saturday, 11-3. 

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