The Reuben sandwich has two main claimed birthplaces: Omaha, Nebraska, and New York City, and food historians generally agree its exact origin is contested , not definitively proven to a single location.

Quick Scoop

  • Many sources credit the Blackstone Hotel in Omaha, Nebraska, where a local grocer named Reuben (Kulakofsky/Kolakofsky) allegedly inspired the sandwich during late‑night poker games in the 1920s.
  • Another strong claim comes from Reuben’s Restaurant and Deli in New York City, where owner Arnold Reuben is said to have created a “Reuben Special” in the 1910s that evolved into the modern sandwich.
  • Modern write‑ups and menus often mention both stories and present the Reuben as a classic American deli sandwich whose precise birthplace is debated rather than settled.

The Omaha Story

According to Omaha lore, the Reuben was invented at the Blackstone Hotel in downtown Omaha in the mid‑1920s. A local grocer and poker regular named Reuben Kulakofsky (or Kolakofsky) supposedly asked for a hearty sandwich with corned beef and sauerkraut during a late‑night game. Hotel owner Charles Schimmel liked the combination so much that he put it on the hotel’s menu, naming it after Reuben. This hotel version, served on rye bread with corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and dressing, helped popularize the sandwich regionally and later nationally through contests and chain locations.

The New York City Story

A rival origin story centers on Reuben’s Restaurant and Deli in New York City, owned by Arnold Reuben, a German‑Jewish restaurateur active in the early 1900s. In interviews and memoirs, he’s credited with creating a “Reuben Special” around 1914, reportedly improvising a sandwich for a Broadway actress when pantry options were limited. Early descriptions used different meats and coleslaw, but later New York cookbooks and professional menu guides applied the name “Reuben” to a corned beef and sauerkraut sandwich, aligning more closely with the modern version. This has led some writers to argue the Reuben is fundamentally a New York deli invention that evolved over time.

So
where was the Reuben sandwich invented?

Because the New York claim may be slightly earlier in date but the Omaha claim matches the modern ingredient list more closely, historians don’t fully agree on one “correct” birthplace. Many contemporary food histories explicitly frame it as a choice between “Omaha vs. New York,” noting that documentation is thin and much of the story relies on later recollections and restaurant lore. In practical terms, if you’re answering in one line, the safest answer is that the Reuben sandwich was invented in the United States, with competing claims from Omaha, Nebraska and New York City.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.