A few weeks back, our food writer and restaurant critic, Devra First, went looking for the best Italian sandwiches around Boston, from the North End to the North Shore.
First wrote: “Call it a sub, spuckie, hero, hoagie, grinder, or wedge — it doesn’t matter. When you layer salumi and provolone cheese, apply lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and hot peppers, and lubricate with oil and vinegar, you transcend regionalisms. This is, simply and perfectly, an Italian. With everything.”
The qualifications? “Good bread is key,” she declared. And “the meats must be of the highest quality. Thus, the best Italian sandwiches are often found at Italian delis, where the product and the slicers are close at hand. The provolone deployed makes a real difference. Will it be sharp or mild, aged or young? The oil and vinegar must have a steadying presence: no dripping, no acidic mouth burn, in balance with bread that fights back against sogginess. As an inherently handmade product, an Italian sandwich will be a little different every time. It is helpful if the same person is behind the counter, making your sandwich visit after visit. If the shop has been in the family for decades, this bodes well.”
Then we asked Globe readers to weigh in with their favorite place to get an Italian sandwich and what they think makes for a great one. Hundreds of you responded quickly and enthusiastically — and with strong opinions about ham or no ham, lettuce or no lettuce, and how the pickles must be chopped, not sliced. One thing many of you agree on? Fresh bread and quality meats are key to a good sandwich — and so is the person who makes it.
Here’s some more of what you said.
Staff assemble sandwiches during the lunch rush at the deli counter of the Concord Cheese Shop.Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe
Where’s the best place to find an Italian sub in and around Boston?
At Bob’s in Medford, the Deluxe Italian with prosciutto di Parma, sopressata, capicola, mortadella, provolone, pickles, tomatoes, onions, hot cherry peppers, olive oil, and seasoning.Devra First
What makes a good Italian sub?
The bread is key. Of course you must use quality meats, cheeses, toppings, and oils, but if the bread is off, so is the sandwich. You can’t recover.Braided roll, good meatsFresh, crusty bread, hot capicola, quality provolone, oil, and oreganoFresh ingredients, care in putting it together, great bread, right temperature for warm sandwichesGood cold cuts, good quality roll, nicely chopped tomato. . . . I like hots. No onions for me.Ham, cheese, tomato, onions, pickles, green peppers, black olives on a soft white rollGood salami, NO HAM, great pickles, dressingNot sliced but chopped pickles, onions, and tomatoes (absolutely no lettuce). Fresh sub roll. Equal amounts of each meat and cheeseQuality, obviously, but also how the meats are sliced and piled is also key.Totally made to order in the moment. Freshly sliced meats, etc.Good Italian baked spuckies . . . not too soft, not too hard . . . premium cold cuts, sweet red Italian peppers marinated in olive oil.Hot relish, no banana peppers! Good quality breadFresh bread is the foundation! There needs to be a balance of high-quality deli meat and produce as well. If added, the oil and hots should be a complement, and not overwhelming.The sub roll is key, but also the right cold cuts. And PICKLES. They cannot be sliced. They must be diced. Same with the tomatoes. They also must be diced. D’Agostino’s understands this.I look for quality cold cuts in many thin slices, great bread (lightly crusty with a moist crumb), fresh lettuce, tomato, and onion, dill pickles, flavorful olive oil and the offer of hot peppers.A healthy amount of meats. You need LAYERS.Fresh bread but not too thick; fresh sliced meats and sharp provolone, a smear of pesto. Hold the tomatoes but yes on the lettuce.
Freshed bread at Tutto Italiano in Hyde Park.Jonathan Wiggs/Globe StaffThe bread. The thin, freshly sliced meats. Everything is well-balanced and delicious. The owner seems like an unpleasant person but the food tastes great.Lots of fillings but not so much you can’t easily bite into it. Right amount of oil and vinegar, and good heat from hot peppers. Made by nice people.Loaded with freshly cut cold cuts and on a braided seeded rollCrusty bread but not too crusty. Sturdy enough to hold the fixings. Fresh imported Italian cold cuts thinly sliced to order. Good dressing but not too oily. Best bread, hands down. Hard crust, soft inside. Excellent meats sliced right there.Freshness/quality/slice thinness of the meat; the breadAs you noted, the bread is key. Places like Dino’s [in the North End] and Domenic’s [in Waltham] recognize this and bake bread in-house. Also, the ratio of filler to bread has to be right, and the places you mentioned do this.Chewy bread, nice and moist, good ratio of meats and veggies.The bread and the Italian meats, not to mention the person who makes it.Mortadella, capicola, genoa salami, provolone, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, pickles, hot peppers, olive oil (regular, not extra virgin)Fresh homemade braided rolls with sesame seeds, cut-to-order top-quality cold cuts (nothing cut ahead of time), fresh condimentsGood crusty bread, soft on the inside. Thinly shredded lettuce. Hot capicola and mortadella. Oil, vinegar, and hots. More meat than veggie.The perfect meat/topping ratio . . . crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and made with love!The bread. The bread. The bread.
Ralph D’Agostino with a large Italian sub in Winchester in 2016.John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
Chris Morris can be reached at christine.morris@globe.com. Follow her @morrisglobe.
Dining and Cooking