Lombardi's Specialty Hoagies

One of those famed South Philly hoagie shops that was written up way back when in the Inquirer but is far enough South of the "hipster barrier" that nobody writes about it, at least in the same way that Cosmi's and Chickie's have lines out the door. Closed the first two or three times I tried to go there, it was finally open the other day and this place is worth the wait. Definitely in my top 10 if not top 5.

Tribune and Centurion

Longhots on the side

Tribune with Salamincini

So their claim to fame is the "Salamincini" which is like a pepper shooter but instead of a cherry pepper, they stuff pepperoncini with salami wrapped provolone. Available by the pound or on a few of their hoagies including the Tribune which you can read some more about on my Serious Eats post.

Also delicious was the "Centurion" loaded with Dry Capacola, Sopressata and Coteghino.

Centurion

With Longhots

Another shot of the Tribune showing Salamancini cross section

Hoagie upskirt: real dry cured capicola

The menu also lists "hot frigadelles" which is just another term for italian frying peppers, aka cubanelles aka frigatello peppers, wider and milder than a longhot (or the "sweet" version which isn't hot at all). The only other place I've ever seen this wording on a menu is Little Nick's a few blocks away. 

Another place that uses real italian cured meats, but well balanced with juicier stuff like coteghino or "ham capacola" so you have a nice variety instead of a the chewy beef jerkey-esque salt bomb that happens when you have too many dry meats sliced too thick.

Lombardi's Specialty Hoagies

hours - Mon-Sat 8:30 - 4:00 (spotty hours, call first)

1226 Ritner St Philadelphia 

215 389 2220

Zeps from Eve's Lunch

A Sandwich A Day: Zep from Eve's Lunch in Norristown, PA - on Serious Eats.

Hoagies & Zeps from Pudge's in Blue Bell

So my dad wanted to have an "East Norriton Birthday" the other week which meant tomato pie from Corropolese (apparently my father has been going to Corropolese for 30 years, but I never heard about it because my mother says it tastes like "ketchup on wonder bread") and hoagies from Pudge's.


If you remember the post on Spor's in Trumbauersville you'll understand my parents are the kings of secret small town PA food spots. When I tell them about some place I read about "on-line" they usually say "Oh yeah we've been going there since before you were born".


So... what the hell is a Zep you ask? A regional subgenre of hoagie found mostly in Norristown. At some places or to simple people it's just another name for a Hoagie.

A classic Zep has thick sliced pinkish cooked salami (think bologna with peppercorns) and mild provolone on a roll from Conshohocken Bakery that's sometimes wider and flatter than a Philly hoagie roll. One of the signatures of the Zep is NO LETTUCE and lots of onion, some tomato, oregano, and maybe hot pepper spread.


Another rule of the Zep is only one meat. You can get a turkey zep or cheesesteak zep or chicken salad zep but if there's more than one meat (or lettuce) it becomes a "special" or a hoagie, depending on where you are.

I have yet to hit the legendary Eve's Lunch or Lou's Lunch one or both of which invented the Zep. But the one pictured above from Pudge's was damn good. The cooked salami is really different and more refreshing, reminded me more of a White House sub or Lee's hoagie than the salty meats, sharp provolone and crusty rolls of Philadelphia Hoagies. They use the authentic Conshohocken Bakery rolls - softer than a seeded italian, but sturdier than a squishy steak roll, and delicious.



Also tried a turkey hoagie and the "Ultimate Italian" (genoa salami, proscuitto, sopresatta and sharp prov) which was more like the Philly sandwiches I'm used to. Good stuff and it's got me ready to go on a Zep tour of Norristown.

Pudge's
1510 Dekalb Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422-3300
pudgescheesesteaks.com

More Philly Sandwich Madness - Navy Yard Dinic's, Porky's Point and Bizini's Seafood Steaks and Hoagies.

The last (for now) in a series of crazy Philadelphia sandwich posts for Serious Eats, we did Hoagies and Cheesesteaks a couple weeks ago and this time it's Roast Pork, Cutlets, and all the rest. You can read the real thing on Serious Eats - this is basically just an excuse to post more pictures.



Starting off with the best - Dinic's in the Navy Yard made some of the most delicious sandwiches of the 40+ places we tried over the last couple of months. Not "the best" as in "I don't know what else to write" or "I'm saying it's better than everything else because it's really obscure" but actually THE BEST.


Hard to compare with John's Roast Pork or Nick's Roast Beef's Pork (also in the article) because the pork we had was pulled rather than sliced. Definitely better than Dinic's in the Reading Terminal and even Porky's Point that I want to be the best because it's so freaking cool.


Speaking of Porky's Point this place is incredible, I first went there last year with the amazing Rose Luardo to shoot some video of us eating pigs ears. The owner / manager was nice enough to hang out and tell us the history of the place, which in the 70's was a regular cheesesteak and roast pork stand in what was then an Italian neighborhood. When the area went Puerto Rican instead of getting bitter and racist they changed the menu.



The Roast Pork on the sandwich is the same they put on the classic PR platter with rice and beans and whatever else. Ask for the sandwich covered in "gravy" which is the slightly spicy red sauce they put on everything. It's terrific.


And seriously try some mofungo and pig's ears too... so good.


Another awesome find was Bizini's. If you read this blog often you're probably aware of my obsession with Fish Hoagies. I've been trying to find some really good ones and Bizini's is up there. Most I've had have been relatively small, flat filets but these were thick, dinner sized portions of perfectly fried, fresh flounder. Insane. If we do another one of these slideshows I'd love to do all fish hoagies.





Read more on Serious Eats.
Philadelphia: Roast Pork, Cutlets, Meatballs and More Sandwiches You Should Eat

$5.00 Fish Hoagie

Somewhere in West Philly...


All the sights along the Cheesesteak Highway.. we're working on a Cheesesteak round-up similar to last week's Hoagie slideshow looking for fresh Cheesesteak magic all over the city....


Almost stopped at this one but we had already eaten 3 or 4 different cheesesteaks that day. Love the hand lettering and wish I had the time to stop at every place like this in the city.

Hoagie Madness

cumberland from slack's - boloney, ham, capicola, american cheese
For the past few weeks Caroline and myself plus a rotating cast of assistant eaters have been on a super intense hoagie tour working on this post for Serious Eats, not a "best of philly" but more like "a few of our favorites plus some we never tried before and heard were awesome and some unknown neighborhood spots we were saving for something like this".

Serious Eats - 10 Amazing Philadelphia Hoagies You Should Eat
"the avalanche" from juliano's deli
I'm sure the comments section will rage with angry Philadelphians "any list that doesn't include Big Joey's Hoagie Hut on Street road is total BS!" And honestly even though we ate a LOT of hoagies - more than twice what's on this list, a lot didn't make the cut - It still feels incomplete, especially because when get started with something like this people start telling you about all sorts of places, so there's at least 25 more legendary delis and hidden gems that should be on here.

And if you're wondering "where the hell is Johns Roast Pork you idiot" keep in mind there's two more of these coming, Cheesesteaks and Miscellaneous sandwiches which will probably be 99% roast pork and maybe a chicken cutlet. We're leaving banh mi, po-boys, and anything fancy for future articles.

italian from mike & matts - 12th & mifflin
It's probably too much detail for Serious Eats (or anywhere for that matter) but I feel like you could break Philadelphia Hoagies down into several sub-categories and have 5-10 great examples of each.

• Old Italian seeded - roll style
Cosmi's, Chickie's, P&S

• American Salad-Oil style
Slack's, Lee's, etc

• Italian / Jewish Deli Fusion
Koch's and every jewish deli that also makes hoagies

• Asian deli/grocery flower shop style
Delicious Bites, Jay's Deli, countless center city corner shops

• Norristown Zeps
Micro-regional variation, very different than a Hoagie

• In the cut
Fish hoagies, Gooey Louie's, Hoagie City..

rose's special sicilian from carmen's in bell mawr NJ
I definitely came out with a new favorite.. Carmen's, in JERSEY of all places, was the one that really blew my mind, combining the best of both worlds, meaning the legit italian meats that you would find in South Philly, but on a softer Del Buono roll similar to White House in Atlantic City.

koch's jewish tongue hoagie
The best EXPERIENCE had to be Koch's deli, that I can't believe more people don't talk about, we waited about 45 minutes for two hoagies, with the dude telling filthy jokes about "I give you my tongue" and giving us free samples the whole time, he literally plopped a mound of potato salad right into my hand (can I get a napkin?), along with tongue, brisket, corned beef, the whole time he's going on about how you can't get anything else like it Philly, his sandwiches are better than Katz's in New York, so on and so forth.

There was a group of people who I'm pretty sure were just there for the show, along with one really pissed off girl who kept saying "I'm just here for a sandwich" and muttered something about not eating red meat (why would you go there?!?!?!) And also, the sandwich was amazing.

White House Subs

I first read about Atlantic City's legendary White House Sub Shop while doing an illustration for this awesome NY Press article about offbeat Atlantic City stuff. The whole article made me sort of bummed that I'd been to AC a handful of times and never been anywhere but douchebag nightclubs and crappy buffets. So there was no way I was leaving again without checking this place out.



Walking in to a counter and handful of well worn booths filled with a healthy mix of Atlantic City locals and tourists walking out with massive brown bags stuffed with dozens of giant sandwiches, I knew right off the bat this was my kind of place. Along with the walls plastered in Sinatra's towel and greasy framed photos of Bernie Mac eating a Sub - even if the food was bad I would rave about this place. Good thing the food was terrific.



Not really a South Philly Hoagie but something different. Super thick cut slices of ham and black pepper studded salami. Romaine lettuce (on the bottom) and tomatoes topped with a confetti of hot pepper relish and oregano. Slight crust to the long rolls, soft in the middle but sturdy enough to stand up to the generous oil dressing .. and it still wasn't soggy hours later when I finished the 2nd half at home in Philadelphia.


The bread really makes it here. Delivered uber fresh 4 times a day from nearby Formica Brothers in the form of the old guy transporting them across the street in a beat up grocery cart while we were there. Awesome. Took me back to the hoagies I grew up with in the suburbs from spots like Lee's.


Nothing like the super premium seeded Italian hoagies from Cosmis and P&S with the mortadella, proscuitto and real capicola that are basically Italian Charcuterie on a roll. This more "American" style of hoagie (or Sub) is everywhere but usually made with carelessness and even contempt (wawa) so it was amazing to find it done so well. Apparently their Steaks are pretty damn good too, definitely my first stop next time I'm in AC.

White House Sub Shop
2301 Arctic Avenue, Atlantic City, NJ

P & S Hoagies

Add another to the list of awesome South Philly Hoagies. P&S Ravioli has freezer cases full of homemade meatballs, ravioli and "gavadeels" but the people were all lined up for sandwiches like the Godfather, jam-packed with sopressata and dry capicola on Liscio's seeded bread, with roasted longhots added for 50 cents.


We tried 2 other specialty hoagies, all some combination of prosciutto, various kinds of capicola, mortadella, etc - the meats here all top notch and thinly sliced to order. Also tried a Turkey hoagie which was fine but looked weak next to the jam packed italian specialty hoagies.



They also do hot sandwiches, chicken cutlets and all that but not on Sunday. Don't know if it has something to do with zoning laws or church or maybe the cook's day off. I was dying to try the homemade meatball parm but having to settle for a cold sandwich wasn't so bad since it was 109 degrees. Also every deli side under the sun from pepper shooters and broccoli rabe to macaroni and potato salad.


They have two other shops in the city, plus locations in Havertown and Jersey but not sure if they all do sandwiches. Counter ladies were super nice especially considering our sweaty, hung over state on a Sunday morning. Actually it's pretty surprising they are open at all because most everything else down that way was closed Sundays.

P & S Ravioli and Deli
1722 Oregon Ave
Philadelphia