Food - Drink
The Humble Buttered Roll Is A NYC Breakfast Staple
By ERICA MARTINEZ
Cheap, filling, and undeniably timeless, buttered rolls (aka hard rolls) are in high demand in New York City, and comprise the breakfasts of countless people in the Big Apple, from Wall Street tycoons to construction workers. The city's buttered rolls have been around for some time, and we doubt they are going away anytime soon.
We don't know exactly how the buttered roll became a NYC staple, but we do know that in the 1870s, brothers Charles, Maximilian, and Louis Fleischmann opened up their own bakeries and cafes with locations in the city that served Vienna-style bread to the masses. These buttered rolls were likely modeled after Fleischmann's bread.
The snack found an early fan base with the city's Jewish population, and in the 20th century, workers discovered the convenience of grab-and-go meals like buttered rolls. During this era, hard rolls were the classic Vienna-style with a crispy crust and real butter, but many vendors today use softer Kaiser rolls with butter or margarine.