Angelos made cheesesteaks on seeded rolls a sensation. At Donkey’s in Camden, they’ve been doing it for decades.
Mikie Sherrill shouted out the Camden sandwiches on social media. Their rolls have made them distinctive for years.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill made a bold statement on a social media post last week.
“The best cheesesteaks actually aren’t in Philly,” she said. “They’re right here in Jersey, and we’re about to go have one.”
She was talking, of course, about Donkey’s Place - the Camden cheesesteak staple that has long been a point of pride for South Jersey.
Founded in 1943 ago by Olympic boxer Leon “Donkey” Lucas, Donkey’s earned its name from Lucas’s hard-hitting fists. “They said he had a punch like the kick of a donkey,” says Rob Lucas, Jr., the third generation owner of Donkey’s Place after his father Bob and his grandfather Leon.
Donkeys has long been a favorite of locals and foodies in the know - Anthony Bourdain stopped by for his show in 2015.
And while Philly favorite Angelos made waves in 2019 with their cheeseteak innovations - including a crusty, seeded roll - Donkey’s Place has been doing it that way for more than 80 years. (While Angelo’s roll is baked in house and crusted with sesame, Donkey’s uses poppy-seeded rolls.)
Lucas sources the rolls from Del Buono’s Bakery in Haddon Heights. Customers both old and new cite it as a secret to the sandwich’s success.
“I like it a lot,” says Bryan Neill, a real estate developer from Jenkintown, PA, who – after getting out of work from Moorestown early – decided to make the commute to Donkey’s for the first time. “You know, I don’t like too much bread. It’s a very thin roll. You get some flavor with the bread and the poppies, but a lot more focus on the meat and the onions.”
John Lynch, a warehouse owner from Maple Shade, NJ, who has been coming to Donkey’s for roughly 25 years, agrees.. “His rolls are the best. Most rolls get soft and break apart – not these. You can eat a whole sandwich and the roll never deteriorates. It’s such a difference.”
The seeded roll has had some detractors - in a 2002 profile of Donkey’s in the Inquirer, food writer Rick Nicholls noted that some “customers who are on probation worry the [poppy] seeds will taint their urine tests”
So why a seeded roll? Lucas Jr. has a theory. “I think they put the poppy seeds on so it wouldn’t slide out of your hands when you were trying to eat it, to give it a little traction,” he said. “It’s just so much better. Hard on the outside, soft on the inside, and the poppy seeds really put it over the top.”
Donkey’s Place 📍 1223 Haddon Ave, Camden, NJ 08103. (856) 966-2616.