The Real Montana Pork Chop Sandwich History

If you were raised in Montana, you learn that some things are sacred. Huckleberry shakes. Coors Light and Clamato. And a pork chop sandwich. And that deep-fried, battered, mustard-onion-pickle concoction was invented right here in Butte. It’s not a rumor. It’s history. And a good one.

How It Started in Butte

In the copper boom days of the 1920s, a Swedish immigrant named John Burklund was feeding hungry miners and locals from the back of a cart uptown. He took a pork chop, pounded it thin, breaded it up and fried it hot, and dropped it on a bun. Cheap. Filling. Built for working people. And that moment was when the Montana pork chop sandwich was first found.

The sandwich caught on fast. The first Pork Chop John’s was established in Uptown Butte in 1932 by John. It was a tiny restaurant, a counter and some stools, but word got around. Pork Chop John’s is still doing precisely what it did all those years ago, decades later. No frills. No reinvention.

Stop for the Real Deal

I’m guaranteed to want a sandwich every time I pass through Butte. Every time. You gotta go to Pork Chop John’s, it’s the original. But I’m also stopping by The Freeway Tavern. Locals know. Their pork chop sandwich, also known as the Wop Chop, has its own identity yet maintains that Montana DNA. Crispy. Juicy. No nonsense. Perfect road trip food.

If you have never eaten a pork chop sandwich, or if you’ve lived here and managed not to eat at Pork Chop John’s once, you'd better fix that. This is not just food. It’s part of who we are. Butte didn’t just make a sandwich. It made a Montana icon.