How LA's Oldest Eatery Helped Create One Of America's Most Iconic Sandwiches

The French dip sandwich, with its pile of thinly sliced roast beef, bubbly Swiss cheese tucked into a crusty French roll, and warm au jus gravy for dipping, is a true American classic. It's up there with other iconic sandwiches, including New Orlean's muffuletta or Maine's lobster roll. As with a lot of dishes, its history is laden with myth, mystery, and lore. In this case, two downtown Los Angeles restaurants have laid claim to being the first to make the French dip: Cole's and Philippe The Original. The fight has been raging for more than 100 years.

Cole's is considered the oldest eatery and bar in Los Angeles, having opened its doors in 1908. Located inside the Pacific Electric Building, once a busy street car station, owner Harry Cole first ran it under the name "Red Car Bar." Not long after, as the story goes, his chef, Jack Garlinghouse, created the first French dip sandwich for a customer with dental problems. "Can you tip the bun into the juice? They are too hard. They hurt my gums," a customer requested, according to a 1993 Los Angeles Times interview (via Newspapers.com) with Jimmy Barela, who was a bartender at Cole's. Garlinghouse ended up dipping the entire sandwich into the gravy, et voilà, the French dip had arrived. Soon, everybody wanted one.

As the competition for bragging rights between Cole's and Philippe's concerning the French dip heated up, the exact truth of how the sandwich was born became slathered in mythology like so much gravy. Philippe The Original, which the French-born Philippe Matthieu opened in 1908, has an equally plausible origin story for the French dip: A customer asked for gravy for his French roll sandwich. Philippe's first version was made with roast pork, not roast beef, but it did include au jus. Today, based on reviews, both Cole's and Philippe's are considered to have some of the best versions of this sandwich.

Soon, the French dip spread beyond L.A. and became co-opted and fiddled with over the years. For instance, celebrity chef Bobby Flay adds porcini mushrooms to his French dip gravy. Even the two originators offer a number of versions of the sandwich, including ones with various cheeses and different meat options, such as lamb. Whether it's Cole's or Philippe's that deserve the credit for this American classic, come August 3, 2025, only one will be open. Sadly, Cole's is closing for good after 117 years due to various reasons, including economic ones. But the French dip lives on.