I'm sorry for you foreigners but in Italy I have never seen and I have not eaten any of the sandwiches listed in this thread.
One thing is certain: outside Italy people don't know how to eat ;-)
When I go outside of my country eating is a torture :-)
I always get a panini sandwich with rosemary ham and mozzarella. I ask for them to go heavy on the cheese and easy on the ham, take it home, pour a bit of truffle oil on top and pop a nice bottle of wine.
Their prosciutto bread also is amazing...
Poor selection of imported cheese though. Pretty much all of it are unevenly aged shrinkwrapped chunks. I hate how almost all stores shrinkwrap small portions of cheese in quantities that can take weeks to sell. If shrinkwrapped, cheese decomposes and doesn't age. I don't even know a store in Brooklyn that cuts your order from the loaf. Sad.
Please please PLEASE all "you people" with your "This California spot" nonsense. Please please PLEASE stop it. And honestly, truth be told not even New York spots can compare to Philly when it comes to this lane. Nowhere in the world really can compare.
My local spot.
What about Sarcone's in Philly?
Their Roast Beef with Asparagus is the thing dreams are made of.
Chickies-cool. But, OK...
Sarcones- Let's pick this up on the way to the Buffett concert....
In Chicago, we have this place in Little Italy called Al's Beef. They named a street after it. Get it with jardinera and peppers. Could mention additional spots but don't really need to.
But, but, but... If you are talking more of a corned beef spot, you can't really beat Manny's, which is actually walkable from Al's.
This is a good place to talk about Busy Joe's... when we first moved to Wburg there was (and still is) a corner deli on Driggs and N7th called Busy Joe's Corner. It was staffed by 3 burly, balding Italian American dudes, younger but similarly shaped to Tony Soprano. They would serve the kinds of Eggplant Parms you start for lunch and then finish at dinner. If you ate a Mozz sandwich all in one go, you'd need to drop a load quite soon after. But the real characters were the owner and his buddy. Joe is pictured on the right. He's short.
What I first understood from them (JoJo didn't have many teeth and his buddy could only talk with a voicebox) was that they were original Brooklyn Dodgers. OK, wow, I thought... maybe Joe had his legs cut off in Korea or something. But after a few years I learned some more, mostly from watching this PBS doc called "Dodgers Sym-Phony". Joe and his buddy turned out to be the original members of the Dodgers Sym-phony, the unofficial bleacher band for the Real Dodgers. The emphasis on phony was because none of them could play a note. But they would apparently play 3 blind mice if the ump made a bad call, etc . And they got free seats to every Dodgers home game and basically became part of Dodgers folklore.
They were nearly all from Williamsburg and Joe must have been on that block a hell of a long time. The place was sold a couple of years ago. It still looks pretty much the same but it is not.
Memphis has only one spot in the Italian Sandwich category worth mentioning in this thread.
Finos
the sandwiches are great(I espeically like their signature one, The Fino...salami, cheese and in house black olive tampenade), but ya gotta get there before 3 (it closes at 5) because the bread starts to get a bit chewy at that time, I think someone said they bake it at 4 or 5 in the morning, so its ultimate freshness starts to wane around that time.
TripDubs and I had lunch here the other day. Broccoli Rabe hoaggie is muerderous!
We also stumbled on a weird little junk spot full of records, porn and some unemployed heroiness who proposed to tony.
just got back from a philly jaunt and hit up Chickie's... the chicken joint (jawn?) w/ broccoli rabe is indeed that shit... tho, i have to say it's the real sharp provolone that made it for me... most places in NYC are about the fresh mozzarella, which is waaaaay blander...
that area seems to have it's share of weird junk spots... the guy who ran one of em was trying to convince me to buy some comics books (excuse me, "graphic novels") off him in wholesale lots b/c i could make alot of money off it on ebay... when i asked him why he didn't do it himself, he said his wife used to, but "she quit"... i honestly couldn't tell if it meant she quit fucking w/ ebay or quit fucking w/ him... bought a few for myself for the train ride back...
Oh, at Salumi up in Seattle deserves a mention too, even if lines are 30-40 minutes. Their cured meats are the shit but I tried their meatball sub the last time I was there and it was a minor revelation.
YES! Salumi and the Batali family are the truth. I rarely eat the cured meat sandwiches there anymore cause I can just make the same thing at home. You can buy whole Salumi salamis and take them home. I am all about the hot sandwiches there. The oxtails, meatball, grilled lamb and sausage sandwiches are SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!
If you guys got a minute, add some of these spots to the CIty Guide. I was in NYC last fall and it would have been nice to have a couple go to places that aren't pricey. It's hard when there's so many options and so little time.
Comments
One thing is certain: outside Italy people don't know how to eat ;-)
When I go outside of my country eating is a torture :-)
However, one of my favourite is a sandwich called Puccia tipical of the south of Italy :-)
plaese to describe the structure/make up of this sandwich.
and tread lightly my italian friend, you should have seen what happened to australia.
http://www.farinellabakery.com/
The owner is a guy from Naples.In the 90's he was one of the best mc in Italy...
My spot on 7th Ave in Park Slope.
I always get a panini sandwich with rosemary ham and mozzarella. I ask for them to go heavy on the cheese and easy on the ham, take it home, pour a bit of truffle oil on top and pop a nice bottle of wine.
Their prosciutto bread also is amazing...
Poor selection of imported cheese though. Pretty much all of it are unevenly aged shrinkwrapped chunks. I hate how almost all stores shrinkwrap small portions of cheese in quantities that can take weeks to sell. If shrinkwrapped, cheese decomposes and doesn't age. I don't even know a store in Brooklyn that cuts your order from the loaf. Sad.
Chickies-cool. But, OK...
Sarcones- Let's pick this up on the way to the Buffett concert....
To tha real:
http://www.hollyeats.com/ShankEvelyns.htm
^and not her son's new skool BS jump offs, she is closed now and I miss her so much :(.
I work within walking distance, so I'ma cop for lunch today. I'll report back later.
But, but, but... If you are talking more of a corned beef spot, you can't really beat Manny's, which is actually walkable from Al's.
What I first understood from them (JoJo didn't have many teeth and his buddy could only talk with a voicebox) was that they were original Brooklyn Dodgers. OK, wow, I thought... maybe Joe had his legs cut off in Korea or something. But after a few years I learned some more, mostly from watching this PBS doc called "Dodgers Sym-Phony". Joe and his buddy turned out to be the original members of the Dodgers Sym-phony, the unofficial bleacher band for the Real Dodgers. The emphasis on phony was because none of them could play a note. But they would apparently play 3 blind mice if the ump made a bad call, etc . And they got free seats to every Dodgers home game and basically became part of Dodgers folklore.
They were nearly all from Williamsburg and Joe must have been on that block a hell of a long time. The place was sold a couple of years ago. It still looks pretty much the same but it is not.
There is an excerpt of the doc here
http://www.cityofmemory.org/map/#/story/2071/
TripDubs and I had lunch here the other day. Broccoli Rabe hoaggie is muerderous!
We also stumbled on a weird little junk spot full of records, porn and some unemployed heroiness who proposed to tony.
Check this place out too: http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2011/03/casa-della-mozzarella-the-bronx-sandwiches-nyc-review.html
And I hope you've taken your lady to Dominick's or Roberto's already!
Finos
the sandwiches are great(I espeically like their signature one, The Fino...salami, cheese and in house black olive tampenade), but ya gotta get there before 3 (it closes at 5) because the bread starts to get a bit chewy at that time, I think someone said they bake it at 4 or 5 in the morning, so its ultimate freshness starts to wane around that time.
Also, their prosciutto stuffed peppers are great.
Actually, we almost never eat out, which I understand is considered rather strange in New York.
That said, the Big Mike's Combo at Mike's Deli was fan-fucking-tastic! It was this, but on half a focaccia round instead of a roll: http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2010/04/a-sandwich-a-day-big-mike-combo-at-mikes-deli-the-bronx.html
just got back from a philly jaunt and hit up Chickie's... the chicken joint (jawn?) w/ broccoli rabe is indeed that shit... tho, i have to say it's the real sharp provolone that made it for me... most places in NYC are about the fresh mozzarella, which is waaaaay blander...
that area seems to have it's share of weird junk spots... the guy who ran one of em was trying to convince me to buy some comics books (excuse me, "graphic novels") off him in wholesale lots b/c i could make alot of money off it on ebay... when i asked him why he didn't do it himself, he said his wife used to, but "she quit"... i honestly couldn't tell if it meant she quit fucking w/ ebay or quit fucking w/ him... bought a few for myself for the train ride back...
YES! Salumi and the Batali family are the truth. I rarely eat the cured meat sandwiches there anymore cause I can just make the same thing at home. You can buy whole Salumi salamis and take them home. I am all about the hot sandwiches there. The oxtails, meatball, grilled lamb and sausage sandwiches are SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!