New York restaurant experiences ‘pickle mania’ thanks to viral TikTok sandwich

People are travelling from all over the US to try out Seven Brothers Gourmet Oceanside in Long Island, New York, thanks to this one viral sandwich.

The sandwiches have a very clear defining feature to set themselves apart from other sandwich shops: they swap bread for a giant hollowed out pickle, and they come packed full of meat, cheese, and veggies.

These have been around for some time on TikTok in different varieties, but this particular restaurant has been going viral for its take on the crunchiest sandwiches you can find:

Food blogger Gabby Parmesan’s video, which has amassed over 4 million views at the time of writing this article, depicts her eating one of the colossal sandwiches from the restaurant, and this looks to have been the catalyst to convince fans to make the trip and try one.

Gabby, whose TikTok bio is: ‘Yes, pickle sandwich girl’ specializes in all things pickle, and is frequently seen eating pickle sandwiches from different places, as well as the likes of pickle-flavored soda and cookies.

The owner of Seven Brothers, Anthony Fiorito, has described recent days at his restaurant as ‘pickle mania’, stating that they are serving around 250 of these sandwiches a day.

Seven Brothers Gourmet have been serving up mean Italian-inspired subs for years, but now, they’ve jumped on the latest trend that has revolutionized their business. If you’re someone whose favorite part of a deli sandwich is the pickle on top, now, the pickle can be the main attraction.

These sandwiches have had people coming from all over the US to try them, and staff at the restaurant have said that they have met people from Connecticut and Massachusetts who have travelled to try out these delicacies.

Gen Z have taken the humble pickle to new heights on TikTok, with the pickle revolution starting way back in 2022 with the ‘chamoy pickle’ trend where people were eating giant sour pickles with Tajin and fruit roll-ups. After that, the inventions just got stranger, from fried pickles, affectionately known as ‘frickles’, to an aspect of the ‘Girl Dinner’ trend which involved frying up a pickle with a slab of melted cheese. And now, you can have your sandwich right in a giant pickle.

However, older people in the comments of these viral videos noted that they have been eating these sandwiches since they were kids and it looks like they are not a new phenomenon.

Whatever has caused this recent rise in pickle pandemonium, Seven Brothers in Long Island can be seen with a queue out the door every day, and the crunch on these things is definitely worth the wait.

If you’re on the hunt for more viral food, check out this ‘cracking coffee’ that people are making on TikTok.