Rose Lee: So, I'm on my way to Fiore's House of Quality,
which has been an institution
in Hoboken, New Jersey, since [1913].
So, they're best known for their roast beef and mutz hero,
which is on "30 Rock."
They only sell it twice a week,
and people line up for it for hours on end.
So, I can't wait to give it a try
and see if it lives up to the hype.
Customer: What do I get here?
What do you think I get?
I get the mozzarella.
What do you think I'm gonna get?
(laughing)
The cold cuts, you know, it's always fresh.
Rose: People flock to Fiore's House of Quality
on Thursdays and Saturdays, year-round,
to wait in line for a roast beef and mutz hero.
John Amato Jr.: Some days, it flies out the door.
Some days, it stays a little longer.
I mean, you know, the crowd is ferocious sometimes.
Customer: $400 worth of subs.
Sent here from Wall Street.
Took the ferry straight to Hoboken.
We are interns.
Rose: The storied Italian deli has been a staple in Hoboken,
just across the Hudson River from Manhattan,
for over 100 years.
Fiore's House of Quality was founded in 1913
by an Italian immigrant named Alphonso Fiore,
who initially opened up the space as a cheese shop.
Years later, the Amato family came into the picture,
which is when John Amato Sr.
started working at the shop.
John: In 1950, my father started working for Joe Fiore.
Sweeping the floors, making deliveries.
Some of his famous people he delivered to was Dolly Sinatra.
Rose: 15 years later, Joe Fiore decided to retire
and sell his business to the Amato family.
Today, three generations of Amatos
work in the cheese and sandwich shop.
Fiore's is the definition of old-school.
First off, there's no menu in sight,
unless you count the list of daily sandwich specials.
There's also no website, nor social media of any kind.
Here's how to order at Fiore's.
First, choose your bread, of which there's two kinds:
round rolls baked in a conventional oven
and a longer hoagie-style loaf baked in a brick oven.
You then take your bread of choice to the counter,
where you'll order your sandwich.
If you order the roast beef and mutz hero,
they'll ask you if you want gravy on the side
or spooned over the sandwich.
Keep in mind: The spot is cash-only.
So, what makes this sandwich worth waiting in line for?
Well, for starters,
it's the star of season two, episode 14,
of "30 Rock," "Sandwich Day."
Frank Rossitano: And the dipping sauce, oh, joy!
God bless us, everyone!
Rose: Another reason is that Fiore's only sells
the coveted sandwich twice a week,
on Thursdays and Saturdays.
But, most importantly, people wait in line
because this sandwich is in a league of its own.
Making Fiore's roast beef and mutz hero begins
with the sandwich's most important ingredient:
the mutz.
John: Our mozzarella is the best in town,
because we make small batches.
We concentrate on the mozzarella.
That's what we're known for.
We don't want to mass-produce it.
Rose: John starts off the mutz-making by pushing
a big wedge of cheese curd through sharp wire
to break it up into smaller pieces.
Once the curd is broken up,
hot water is added to begin melting it down.
Then, John uses a long wooden stick
to mix the curd into the water.
Slowly but surely, as John stirs,
the mozzarella starts to come together.
Once the mutz has a good stretch to it,
it's ready to be braided.
After the mutz is braided, it goes into a salt brine,
which lightly seasons the cheese.
Once I saw the mutz being made,
I couldn't wait to get my hands on a sandwich
and taste it for myself.
Mmm, wow.
It's really simple, you know.
There's really not a ton of ingredients in it.
It's just mozzarella, roast beef,
and then that au jus sauce that they put on top.
And I just, I think that's really
what makes this sandwich one of a kind,
is that each and every flavor in this sandwich
tastes delicious on its own,
but combined, like, the bite of the sandwich,
with all of the ingredients together,
is just a beautiful marriage of just, like,
a little bit of sweetness, savoriness, saltiness,
and it's just delicious.
It's so good.
I mean, this gravy is so good, I could take a bath in it.
And for people who really like, I think, a wetter sandwich
or something that has more dressing to it,
I think dunking's the way to go.
It's amazing.
Customer: This place is a blessing and a curse.
The best mozzarella you're ever gonna have.
That's the blessing.
The curse is when you move away,
you're never gonna have anything like this ever again.