A Sandwich Tour That Asks: What Is a Sandwich?

Ben Gollan, known on Instagram as A Man and His Sandwich, has spent nine years reviewing sandwiches across New York City. The Australian moved there in 2016 after nearly a decade as a government lawyer, and for about as long he has run an Airbnb Experience that turns a food crawl into a two-hour tour of the city's sandwich spots.

It was a thick-cut pastrami sandwich at the since-closed Harry & Ida's in the East Village that set him on this path. On a recent walk, his group numbered 12, mostly locals with a couple of newer transplants and just one traveler. Gollan says the chopped cheese, born in East Harlem, might come closest to a true New York sandwich, though he isn't sure the category really exists.

Stops included Via Della Scrofa, a tiny Roman-style bottega, and Nishaan, whose desi chopped cheese drew long lines after opening in August 2025. A detour to Sunny and Annie's, open since 1997, led to pho sandwiches wrapped in spinach tortillas. The tour ends at a bar, where Gollan invites debate over what counts as a sandwich, citing a 2006 Massachusetts lawsuit in which a judge ruled a burrito is not one.

His own rules: it must have a carb, the intent to make a sandwich matters, and the components must be cooked separately. Then he says to throw the rules in the bin.