Pork Roll Hero: Elsie's

Count Basie may be the most famous person from my hometown of  Red Bank, NJ (sorry, Kevin Smith, love your work), and today we celebrate his would be 115th birthday with a special one of a kind, old school sandwich which has been enjoyed by generations in town.  I'm talking about the pork roll and cheese sub.  Before gaining ultimate popularity amongst breakfast enthusiasts and the hungover masses, the pork roll and cheese sub was the working man's lunch, enjoyed by the thousands across the state including our very own Count Basie.   It's only fitting to enjoy a pork roll for lunch today in the ultimate Red Bank sub shop located just a few doors down from the Count Basie Theater.  "But who is Count Basie and why is he so important?" Glad you asked. 

Count Basie (born William James Basie), is one of if not the most recognized jazz musicians in the world.  Basie developed an interest in music by spending most of his free time as a kid at the Palace Theater in Red Bank, improvising music for the silent films being shown there.  (Palace Theater was built in 1912 and located directly across the street from The Globe Hotel, which is still operational as one of my all-time favorite dive-bars.  Unfortunately, the theater burned down in 1931 and is now Good Karma Cafe and a parking lot.)  As a teen, Basie would play local shows at the Jersey Shore with Sonny Greer (who later became Duke Ellington's drummer) until moving to Harlem (the capital of Jazz) in 1922.  After touring with several acts throughout the 1920s, Basie got his big break by joining one of the first "big bands," Walter Page and his Famous Blue Devils.  While with the band in 1932, Basie co-arranged the "Moten Swing" which was widely acclaimed. It was then that Basie was given the name "Count" and joined "Jazz Royalty." In 1935, he formed his own jazz orchestra, The Count Basie Orchestra which he led for nearly 50 years until his death in 1984.  In his decades-long career, he created several musical innovations and is a nine-time Grammy Award-winner with his first Grammy coming in 1958 and his final in 1984 for Best Jazz Performance, Group.  He has four recordings inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame: Lester Leaps In, Everyday (I Have the Blues), April in Paris, and One O'Clock Jump.  Now go open your Spotify and get an education while you eat lunch.  

Elsie's in Red Bank opened in 1959 and is one of the few remaining old school sandwich shops around.  As you may know, it's directly next door to another cash-only RB mainstay, Bagel Oven, which I reviewed back in January.  I was not disappointed by Elsie's though.  The bread, of course, was fantastic, and yes, this was an incredibly simple sandwich of pork roll and American cheese (with SPK), but it was simply fantastic.  I'm really looking forward to trying everything there.  I just had the sense the sandwich I ate today was the same exact thing someone ate in 1959 and you really can't beat that kind of nostalgia or legacy.  

Speaking of legacy, if you still don't know who Count Basie is, I'm sure you have heard his collaboration with Frank Sinatra so enjoy.