Sandwich of the Week is For The Win’s weekly celebration of great sandwiches. If you have a sandwich you’d like to recommend, please direct it to the author’s Facebook page.
Don’t ever sleep on the old-school Italian deli. Sandwiches — and good eating in general — have become so popular in recent years that, here in New York, at least, there’s such an extraordinary wealth of new and incredible options available for any given meal. And so I fear we too often ignore the old reliables, especially those that feature lots of cured meats hanging from the ceiling.
There are Italian delis all over the New York area, but this one happens to be on Arthur Ave. in the Bronx. If you’re a tourist in this city and looking for an array of local Italian options, head to exactly that street. Don’t bother with Manhattan’s Little Italy, which seems so overwhelmingly touristy that it’s more or less Disneyland at this point. Arthur Ave. definitely draws tourists, but also locals. And it’s got everything you should be seeking in your New York Italian food experience: Pastry shops, butchers, sit-down restaurants, and, perhaps best of all, delis.
Side note: The now-defunct deli where I worked for a few years on Long Island was an Italian deli, and people pretty frequently came in to ask for an Italian hero. Despite my German last name, I’m half Italian and — especially when placed behind the counter of an Italian deli — very much look it, so every time someone asked for an Italian hero, I’d say, “I thought I was your Italian hero.” This never stopped being funny to me, even if it was never funny in the first place. Also, I think more shops should name their Italian heroes after actual Italian heroes, like Giuseppe Garibaldi or Leonardo Da Vinci. Straight-up, what sounds more appealing: A sandwich called “Italian combo” or a sandwich called “The Luciano Pavarotti?” That opera guy looks like he knows his way around a meat slicer.
The sandwich
Pepper ham (a.k.a. prosciuttini), hot soppressata and fresh mozzarella with olive oil on a hero from Mike’s Deli, inside the Arthur Avenue Retail Market in the Bronx.
I actually ordered something a bit more complex, but this is the sandwich I got. More on that in a moment.
The construction
Exactly what I said: Pepper ham, hot soppressata and fresh mozzarella with olive oil on a hero. Pepper ham, for those unfamiliar, is ham crusted with black pepper. Soppressata — available hot and sweet — is a type of more peppery and more coarsely ground salami, and it’s something all salami enthusiasts should go out of their way to try as soon as possible. For my money, it’s a huge upgrade.
If you’re only familiar with the shredded mozzarella used for pizza or the huge log of mozzarella they slice for you at the deli counter of your supermarket, know that fresh mozzarella is a different thing entirely. It’s all delicious, but they seem so different to me that it’s weird they have the same name. Also, fresh mozzarella is better 100% of the time.
What it looks like
(USA TODAY Sports)
Important background information
I broke one of my own sandwich-reviewing rules here. I usually try to order a sandwich that’s on the menu of wherever I’m eating, without any substitutions, because Sandwich of the Week aims to recognize the creativity of sandwich purveyors and, also, to force my own horizons to be as broad as possible. If I just ordered exactly the things I know I like every single time, these write-ups would be extremely boring because they’d always be about sandwiches like this one.
In this particular case, though, I approached the deli counter and did not see any sort of menu beyond a couple of sandwich descriptions taped to the front of the meat case. They all sounded fairly good, but none featured the right combination of delicious meats and fresh mozzarella that I sought, so I went with a sandwich based on the one named for me (Berg’s Pepper Barge) at the old deli where I worked. It was only after I ordered that I saw on a nearby table a pile of menus, and inside the menus dozens of amazing sounding sandwich combinations.
These posts, again, mean to celebrate sandwiches and never, ever to criticize in any way the efforts of small-business owners and their employees. So it is only with hesitation that I note that I asked for hot peppers and balsamic vinegar on this sandwich, as well, and got neither. These things happen. I realize I could have gone back to the counter and asked for them on the side, but the people working there all seemed fairly busy with the lunch rush and it was about a million degrees outside and I just didn’t want to trouble anybody. Plus, as it turned out…
How it tastes
The sandwich is amazing even without the peppers and balsamic vinegar. So, so good. Presumably due to the high turnover at a deli like this one, the bread’s incredibly fresh, with just a tiny little bit of flaky crispiness to the crust and a chewy and hearty but not overwhelmingly bready inside.
This combination of meats I know well, and love unequivocally. The ham gives meaty, salty, tasty bulk to the sandwich and the black pepper crust adds a different type of spiciness than the one coming from the hot soppressata, which tastes peppery in a slightly more aggressive, front-of-the-mouth type way. And the soppressata, here sliced almost impossibly thin (as it should be, and also an indication of a great deli), brings just a hint of chewiness and enough greasy moisture that I might not have needed any dressing whatsoever on the sandwich.
But more than anything, this sandwich is a vehicle for the incredible fresh mozzarella, which is poetry. Presented in thick hunks in the middle of the sandwich, it provides an outstanding creamy texture and a delicate and downright beautiful milky, salty flavor. Its soft consistency and mild taste pair perfectly with the more assertive flavors of the meats around it. It’s so good.
Would this have been better with hot peppers and balsamic? Probably. It was a great sandwich without them, but the extra kick of the peppers and the sweetness and bite of balsamic, I’ve found, help amplify all the other awesome flavors on a sandwich like this one. But then, I’m the guy who was too hungry to bother looking for a menu before I ordered, so I knew the risks.
While we’re on the topic, though: Maybe do a favor for you and me both and go into your local Italian deli and ask for a “Ted Berg.” When they don’t know what that means, tell them it’s pepper ham, soppressata, fresh mozzarella, hot peppers, oil and balsamic vinegar on a hero. Then keep ordering it until they know what it is and put it up on their menu. I eat so many sandwiches on your behalf, people of the internet, and I feel that this is the least you can do for me in return.
What it costs
$10, and it easily could have been two meals if I weren’t a glutton who powered through the whole thing in about eight minutes. Came with a pasta salad that was also pretty good.
How it rates
82 out of 100. Extremely good, but shy of the Hall of Fame. I think the hot peppers and balsamic might have gotten it there, to be honest.
