“White Trash” Sandwich Pulled from Providence Restaurant Menu After Complaint

A grilled cheese restaurant in Providence is pulling a sandwich that was named "White Trash" from its menu, issuing an apology on Facebook -- and offering free grilled cheeses this coming Wednesday in response to a complaint.

According to UMelt, the "White Trash" sandwich, which consisted of mac and cheese and pulled pork, is being renamed after it was "brought to their attention." (See UMelt's Facebook post below).

UMelt, which first opened on Weybosset Street in Providence by Johnson and Wales in 2013, opened on Thayer Street by Brown University in the spring of 2017.

Sandwiches, Students, and Celebrities

It's not unusual for independent sandwich shops in Providence's college areas to have pithy names on their menu.

Geoff's, which is located on Benefit Street, has sandwiches named for a number of political and public figures -- everyone from the late Buddy Cianci to Ray Rickman.

They also have named sandwiches called the "Frigid Bitch" (turkey, spinach, chive cream cheese, cucumbers, tiger sauce and sprouts); the "Sloppy Ho" (large roast beef, onions, BBQ sauce and cheddar); and the "Dick Lupo" (roast beef, cream cheese, coleslaw, tomato, pepperoncini, onion, tiger sauce and Frank's hot sauce), to name a few.

Facebook Post from UMelt.

The following was posted to UMelt's public Facebook page:

"A note from the owners:

We apologize for the insensitive name of one of our sandwiches. It was not our intent at all. This was recently brought to our attention and once the offensive origins and use were explained we were immediately remorseful.

We apologize for the use of the name and also for the lack of dialogue. We welcome the dialogue and our initial reaction was made from a lack of understanding. As soon as we did understand we began a dialogue with a few people who emailed us. Our hope has always been to have a place for conversation and while we failed at that initially we do encourage that and welcome it. We wish to be positive members of our amazing community.

We accept responsibility, apologize, and have made all changes to the name. It will take some time for our web presence to change and we hope the community will help us find any missed mentions.

We would never ever intentionally attack any demographic of people based on their differences be it wealth, class, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, culture, country of origin, or any other differences. We are sorry, we accept responsibility and look forward to righting this wrong.

This Wednesday we will be giving away free UMac sandwiches at our Thayer Street location to anyone who wants one and owners will be here for the better part of the day to engage in discussion to anyone interested in doing so.

From one human to another we hope you see our sincerity.

With love,

Jonathan, Ben, & Jess"

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