Customers walk into NYC Chop Cheese and are welcomed by the sound of jazz music playing through the speakers, the smell of seasoned meats sizzling in the kitchen and large photos highlighting the bright lights of Time Square across the walls. The New York deli has found its way to Long Beach.
NYC Chop Cheese owner Maud Algutaini is from a village in Yemen and moved to New York when he was 13. He experienced culture shock upon moving to America due to the change in scenery and vastly different lifestyle. Later, he started working at his uncle’s deli in the Bronx, where he learned the significance of crafting a good sandwich.
“You have to become good and fast at it. You’re under the pressure,” Algutaini said. “You have competition in New York that you don’t have here. If you make a bad sandwich or bad food, there’s [another] store 30 seconds away from your store.”
NYC Chop Cheese is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Photo by Jared Chavez.…