Soundview’s Best Bacon, Egg, & Cheese
“Something that any deli in New York can cook up for you in just a few minutes is a bacon, egg, and cheese. It's always good. It’s a classic. But of course, each deli’s bacon, egg, and cheese tastes different. Perhaps better or worse.”
Everyone has that one deli that they go to to get their favorite sandwiches, chips, sweets, and drinks. You’ve trusted it for years. Why would you go to another? Maybe you’re in a different area. You’re visiting friends or family, and you want something from a deli. You buy the same thing you always get. Something that any deli in New York can cook up for you in just a few minutes is a bacon, egg, and cheese. It's always good. It’s a classic. But of course, each deli’s bacon, egg, and cheese tastes different. Perhaps better or worse.
One of us watched a video of food theory on YouTube, “Don’t Order These Chicken Sandwiches!” where Matpat, the author, decided to find the best chicken sandwich in popular food chains. It gave both of us inspiration to do this, but with deli’s. The only issue we had was what sandwich to choose from. One of Sam’s advisors said to try that deli’s famous sandwich, but we quickly discovered a problem. Not all deli’s would have a chopped liver sandwich. And we weren't really eager to ask for one either. Then it struck us: bacon, egg, and cheese. It’s classic, common, and good everywhere.
When we had this idea to write about this topic, many classmates came to us with suggestions. Out of all we have heard, we went to 6 different delis and 1 bakery serving BECs. Using Google Sheets, we made a spreadsheet of different ways to rate each sandwich. Some of these include, but are not limited to: price, how messy it is, and waiting time. We wanted to know the best BEC in Soundview.
Breakdown of Our Rating System:
We decided to rate everything out of 5.
Cost: If the sandwich was $7 it would receive a 1, and if it was $3, it would be a 5.
Waiting time: If we waited 7 minutes for the sandwich, it would receive a 1, and if it was 3 minutes, it would be a 5.
Bread Texture: If the bread wasn’t toasted at all, it would get a 0, and if the bread was well toasted, it would get a 5.
Cheese: If the cheese was melted perfectly, it would be a 5. If the cheese wasn’t melted properly and were to be cold, we would give it a 0.
Sauce: If the sandwich contained a lot of ketchup and mayo, it would receive a 5, and if it didn’t have any at all, it would be a 0.
Bacon: If the sandwich contained a lot of bacon, it would receive a 5, and if it didn’t have any at all, it would be a 0.
Feel free to occasionally come back to understand how each sandwich was rated.
Elder Ave #2 Grocery Corp.
This is the first deli that Sam and I visited. This deli is located near the 6 train, and it is not on the main road. It’s average-sized, and mostly sells everything essential. When ordering the sandwich, we noticed how the cashier was the cook. We decided to take note of that. Since the cashier was the cook, we thought that if there were other people in the store, the process of our sandwich being made would take longer.
The total came out to $5, and it took 5 minutes. When reviewing our sandwich, we took a lot of notes. The sandwich was wrapped in paper, which is a bit bad since the heat of the sandwich won't be preserved and would get cold quickly, which in fact it did. It was kind of difficult to split apart the sandwich, which means it wasn’t perfectly cut. The bread was not toasted and was heavily chewy. There was a decent amount of mayo and ketchup ratio and it wasn't an overwhelming amount. There was a lot of bacon added, and the cheese was melted pretty well! With these notes and talking to each other, this is how we would rate the different categories of our sandwich, and some other notes:
Price: $5 — 3/5
Wait Time: 5 minutes and 32 seconds — 3/5
Bread: 0/5
Cheese: 5/5
Sauce: 3.5/5
Bacon: 4/5
Average Score: 3/5
Brothers Astudillo Deli Grocery
This was the second deli that Sam and I visited. This deli is located at the end of 172nd Street - Bronx River Avenue. What surprised us was that the outside of the deli had a sitting area—well, just one singular bench. This was good because at some of the other delis we had to stand to eat the sandwiches. It was another medium-sized hispanic deli that sells a variety of food options, snacks, drinks, and other essentials.
We ordered, and the cashier was once again the cook. It took 3 minutes, and the sandwich cost us $4. We then went and sat down on the bench. The sandwich was wrapped in aluminum foil, which is great for preserving heat. It required a quick tug to split apart the sandwich. The bread was a little toasted and the sandwich felt thin. A good amount of mayo and ketchup ratio; however, the mayo and ketchup could've been mixed a little more. There was a decent amount of bacon added, and the cheese was decently melted however it had some cold spots. We spoke about the sandwich and these are the ratings:
Price: $4 > 4/5
Wait Time: 3 minutes and 52 seconds > 4/5
Bread: 2/5
Cheese: 2/5
Sauce: 4/5
Bacon: 3/5
Average Score: 3.2/5
San Diego Deli Grocery
This deli was recommended to us by Mr. Kelly himself. Apparently many teachers like it. This deli is located right next to the previous deli. It did not have a sitting area. Once again, a medium-sized hispanic deli that doesn’t miss selling food, snacks, drinks, and everything else. This time the deli had their own separate cook, and this was our first deli that we visited that had a decent amount of people inside at the time.
It took 4 minutes, and the sandwich cost us $4.50. We then went back to the bench at the other deli to eat. The sandwich was also wrapped in aluminum foil, which is great for preserving heat. The sandwich had a perfect cut. The bread was toasted. There was a little bit of mayo and ketchup added. There was a decent amount of bacon, and the cheese was very melted. Everything seemed fine at first with the first couple of bites; however, the sandwich started to fall apart and got messy. With this information and speaking about it to each other, this is how we rated the different categories of the sandwich:
Price: $4.50 > 3.5/5
Wait Time: 4 minutes > 4/5
Bread: 3/5
Cheese: 5/5
Sauce: 2/5
Bacon: 3/5
Average Score: 3.4/5
Alzaid Grocery Deli Crop
This deli was recommended to us by basically everyone in our journalism class. This deli is located on the way to the 6 train stop. Everyone knows it and everyone goes to it. It’s very popular. This deli was once again another, small-sized deli that had everything. This deli had their own separate cook. It took 4 minutes, and the sandwich cost us $4.00. The sandwich was also wrapped in aluminum foil, which is of course great for preserving heat. The sandwich had to be tugged at. The bread was barley toasted. However, there was a little bit of mayo and ketchup added. There was a decent amount of bacon, and the cheese was very melted. With this information and speaking about it to each other, this is how we rated the different categories of the sandwich:
Price: $4 > 4/5
Wait Time: 4 minutes > 4/5
Bread: 1/5
Cheese: 4/5
Sauce: 3.5/5
Bacon: 2/5
Average Score: 3.1/5
La Bodega de la Chama
This deli is located behind the Mcdonalds near the school. A very small-sized hispanic deli that sells everything. Food, snacks, drinks, and everything. This time the cashier was the cook. It took 5 minutes, and the sandwich cost us $5.00. The sandwich was wrapped in paper. It was a perfect cut. The bread was toasted. It was very cheesy and a good amount of bacon, but the meat was hard. It had a decent amount of sauce.:
Price: $5 > 3/5
Wait Time: 5 minutes > 3/5
Bread: 4/5
Cheese: 5/5
Sauce: 2/5
Bacon: 4/5
Average Score: 3.7/5
National Bakery
This deli was actually not a deli. It is a bakery located underneath the 6 train next to Papa Johns. This deli was a small-sized bakery that only had food and drinks. No chips or snacks. The cashier was the cook. It took 7 minutes, and the sandwich cost us $7.00. The sandwich was also wrapped in a paper bag. The sandwich had to be tugged at. The bread was barley toasted. It wasn't messy; however, there was a little bit of mayo and ketchup added. There was a decent amount of bacon, and the cheese was very melted. Everything seemed fine at first with the first couple of bites; however, the sandwich started to fall apart and got messy. With this information and speaking about it to each other, this is how we rated the different categories of the sandwich:
Price: $7 > 1/5
Wait Time: 7 minutes > 1/5
Bread: 0/5
Cheese: 5/5
Sauce: 1/5
Bacon: 3/5
Average Score: 1.9/5
Adyel Deli Grocery
This deli is of course run by the family of our beloved Adyel Lantigua. His parents and friends work at the deli. It is located right across the blue bridge at 174th Street. With many people hanging out front, it was once again, a small-sized Hispanic deli that sells everything required. Food, snacks, drinks, and basically everything else. There was a separate cook from the cashier, and it is always a popular packed deli. It took 4 minutes, and the sandwich cost us $5.00. This was our first sandwich we ate at the school, and we ate it during study hall. The sandwich was wrapped in paper. It required a quick tug to split apart the sandwich. The bread was very toasted. However it only had mayo added. It was very cheesy and a good amount of bacon; however, it was a bit salty. With this information and speaking about it to each other, this is how we rated the different categories of the sandwich:
Price: $5 > 3/5
Wait Time: 4 minutes > 4/5
Bread: 4/5
Cheese: 5/5
Sauce:: 1/5 (no ketchup added ;c)
Bacon:: 3/5
Average Score: 3.3/5
Conclusion
Based on our own opinions and with the ratings, we determined the winner of the best Bacon Egg and Cheese sandwich in Soundview is: La bodega de la Chama!
Second place was San Diego Deli Grocery, and in third place was Adyel’s Deli.
Now of course we only tried one sandwich and each sandwich can be different. So we want you, as the reader, to visit all of these delis and try them for yourselves! Let us know what you think and what deli you believe should win. Let us also know what other delis we haven’t visited that are around the school that have some good sandwiches!
Locations:
Elder Ave #2 Grocery Corp - 1206 Elder Ave, Bronx, NY 10472
Brothers Astudillo Deli Grocery - 1293 Bronx River Ave, Bronx, NY 10472
San Diego Deli Grocery - 1305 Bronx River Ave, Bronx, NY 10472
Alzaid Grocery Deli Crop - 1539 Westchester Ave, Bronx, NY 10472
La bodega de la Chama - 1160 Boynton Ave, Bronx, NY 10472
National Bakery - 1522 Westchester Ave, Bronx, NY 10472
Adyel Deli Grocery - 1410 Bronx River Ave # 2, Bronx, NY 10472