neighborhood eats

Neighborhood Eats: Cheeky Sandwiches with New Orleans flair in Lower Manhattan

Friday, January 15, 2021

Cheeky Sandwiches with New Orleans flair in Lower Manhattan

Lauren Glassberg reports on hip sandwhich shop Cheeky Sandwiches.

LOWER EAST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- In this edition of Neighborhood Eats, we're headed to Lower Manhattan for a concise menu with some Louisiana flair.

Cheeky Sandwiches opened 11 years ago on a lark, as a spot for the owner to hang out with his friends -- but it's become much more than that.

"It was just my friends and I," Din Yates said. "It was just a hangout, and then a neighborhood hangout, and then to people from New Jersey."

He's being a little cheeky about his customers from the Garden State, because he's happy that his little Lower East Side spot is visited by people from all over.

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Fat choy opened at the end of September on Broome Street in the Lower East Side and is serving up what they call "kind of Chinese also vegan" fare.

That concise menu reflects his travels as a successful model, and the menu is inspired by his New Orleans background -- complete with beignets.

"I grew up eating chicken and biscuits, and I like sandwiches," he said. "I've always shoved things together."

There's a little more finesse now when it comes to his sandwiches: the beef short rib on challah bread, the veggie muffalata on olive loaf, breakfast sandwiches on biscuits, even a shrimp po boy.

The eatery never closed during the pandemic, and during the Black Lives Matter protests, business skyrocketed. Now, Yates calls these customers his pandemic family.

Cheeky Sandwiches opens at 7 a.m. for those breakfast sandwiches and closes at 9 p.m. CLICK HERE for more information.

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