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Anyone else on the West Coast, who's lived on the East Coast, feel a void in the sandwich shop culture there? I've been living in Santa Monica / LA for a while

Anyone else on the West Coast, who's lived on the East Coast, feel a void in the sandwich shop culture there? I've been living in Santa Monica / LA for a while now and there is basically nothing. People go nuts for this place called Bay Cities but it would just be a 'meh place on the east coast. I'm talking humble sub shops here. Of course there are some good artisan food trucks and jewish delis, but nothing much better sub-shop-wise than chains like Jersey Mike's or Subway. I guess this article made me hungry. And sad. Good night.

EpicEng 12y ago
Agreed. Also, as I'm from Chicago, I feel that there is a severe lack of decent pizza out here.
- juliangregorian 12y ago
  So you should feel right at home then! (I kid, I kid, but I'm from New York so you know how I feel)
  - EpicEng 12y ago
    Grrr... this comment branch could get deep if you want to start talking Chicago v NY style pizza :D
    - simplemath 12y ago
      Di Napoli pls.
  - fit2rule 12y ago
    The place called New York Pizza near LA Community College is pretty decent. But I will never be impressed with American pizza again .. not after a few weeks in Rome. Best pizza in the world, period.
    - tallanvor 12y ago
      The type of pizza you get in Rome is a different variety from Chicago or New York styles (not to mention a number of other types). While the basic concept is the same, the execution tends to be very different, and you can find excellent examples of each of them. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go dream of a great Chicago pizza pie... Something I doubt will ever be seen in Norway.
      - jghn 12y ago
        Exactly. There are many styles of pizza, most of them shouldn't be directly compared to most of them. It only makes sense to compare styles which are closely related. http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2008/01/a-list-of-regional-pizza-styles.html http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2008/01/a-list-of-regi...
    - cafard 12y ago
      Dammit, just finished lunch and now I'm hungry again.
whalesalad 12y ago
I like Bay Cities a lot but Canters and Langers are pretty great spots too. Mario's in Glendale is really rad. Berges in La Cañada puts an interesting spin on things with Armenian style bread. I think you just gotta leave your East Coast mentality at the door and be a little more optimistic. There are plenty of good places to eat out here. Of course you're never gonna be able to find everything everywhere. That's what makes all these parts of the world unique.
- bayonetz 12y ago
  Langers is good sure. Plenty of good food in LA no doubt but my point is just good sandwiches in the east are everywhere; dime a dozen. Surprises me no one has tried to capitalize on it more - I'm sure the demand would be there.
  - fit2rule 12y ago
    More foot traffic on the East Coast. In LA you've got to drive around to find the great places to eat.
fit2rule 12y ago
You have to look beyond the front door in LA. Even though the place might not look like its so great, get inside and see the menu for yourself. There are plenty of places that make great sandwiches - you just have to find them. LA is one of those places where you have to get out and explore a lot more than the East Coast, where things are bound tighter (and thus more accessible). Last time I was in LA I had great sandwich food at places like Fred62's in Hollywood, Philippe The Original downtown, Jay's Burgers (RIP), and so on. You've just got to find these places.
screwedup 12y ago
LA's "sandwich shops" are burrito trucks. As a Texan who used to live in LA, I much prefer them to any east coast sandwich shop.
- geebee 12y ago
  The article actually mentioned this. "For the purposes of this field guide, we have laid down parameters. A hamburger is a marvelous sandwich, but it is one deserving of its own guide. The same holds for hot dogs, and for tacos and burritos, which in 2006, in the case known as Panera v. Qdoba, a Massachusetts judge declared were not sandwiches at all. Open-faced sandwiches are not sandwiches. Gyros and shawarmas are not sandwiches. The bread that encases them is neither split nor hinged, but wrapped." Fair enough, especially since they called out this distinction so clearly. But yeah, no doubt the void you've noticed is almost certainly related to the taqueria culture on the west coast [1]. It's not that sandwich shops don't exist on the west coast -clearly they do, and some of them are pretty good. However, we just don't have the sandwich culture out here. How can you tell? If you're in the mood to stir something up, just ask a couple of people from that region where to get a really good sandwich, and see if you start an argument. See if that argument turns surprisingly personal. Now, try the same thing with burritos, and you'll get whole different reaction. You may also hear that burritos are vastly better in SF than in SoCal, or you may hear that the question itself is all wrong, because burritos are properly listed as a minor niche item on the bottom right menu of genuinely good taquerias, which you only find in SoCal. I've been west coast my whole life, but I get the feeling that's the kind of status sandwiches have on the east coast. [1] I originally considered changing this to "California". But a guy who lived in Seattle for 7 years told me that a taqueria up there (there's my great cite) sold "Mission Style" burritos in reference to the mission district of SF. So, on the basis of that remarkable bit of information, we'll stick with "west coast" here.

EpicEng 12y ago

Agreed. Also, as I'm from Chicago, I feel that there is a severe lack of decent pizza out here.

juliangregorian 12y ago
So you should feel right at home then! (I kid, I kid, but I'm from New York so you know how I feel)
- EpicEng 12y ago
  Grrr... this comment branch could get deep if you want to start talking Chicago v NY style pizza :D
  - simplemath 12y ago
    Di Napoli pls.
- fit2rule 12y ago
  The place called New York Pizza near LA Community College is pretty decent. But I will never be impressed with American pizza again .. not after a few weeks in Rome. Best pizza in the world, period.
  - tallanvor 12y ago
    The type of pizza you get in Rome is a different variety from Chicago or New York styles (not to mention a number of other types). While the basic concept is the same, the execution tends to be very different, and you can find excellent examples of each of them. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go dream of a great Chicago pizza pie... Something I doubt will ever be seen in Norway.
    - jghn 12y ago
      Exactly. There are many styles of pizza, most of them shouldn't be directly compared to most of them. It only makes sense to compare styles which are closely related. http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2008/01/a-list-of-regional-pizza-styles.html http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2008/01/a-list-of-regi...
  - cafard 12y ago
    Dammit, just finished lunch and now I'm hungry again.

whalesalad 12y ago

I like Bay Cities a lot but Canters and Langers are pretty great spots too. Mario's in Glendale is really rad. Berges in La Cañada puts an interesting spin on things with Armenian style bread. I think you just gotta leave your East Coast mentality at the door and be a little more optimistic. There are plenty of good places to eat out here. Of course you're never gonna be able to find everything everywhere. That's what makes all these parts of the world unique.

bayonetz 12y ago
Langers is good sure. Plenty of good food in LA no doubt but my point is just good sandwiches in the east are everywhere; dime a dozen. Surprises me no one has tried to capitalize on it more - I'm sure the demand would be there.
- fit2rule 12y ago
  More foot traffic on the East Coast. In LA you've got to drive around to find the great places to eat.

fit2rule 12y ago

You have to look beyond the front door in LA. Even though the place might not look like its so great, get inside and see the menu for yourself. There are plenty of places that make great sandwiches - you just have to find them. LA is one of those places where you have to get out and explore a lot more than the East Coast, where things are bound tighter (and thus more accessible). Last time I was in LA I had great sandwich food at places like Fred62's in Hollywood, Philippe The Original downtown, Jay's Burgers (RIP), and so on. You've just got to find these places.

screwedup 12y ago

LA's "sandwich shops" are burrito trucks. As a Texan who used to live in LA, I much prefer them to any east coast sandwich shop.

geebee 12y ago
The article actually mentioned this. "For the purposes of this field guide, we have laid down parameters. A hamburger is a marvelous sandwich, but it is one deserving of its own guide. The same holds for hot dogs, and for tacos and burritos, which in 2006, in the case known as Panera v. Qdoba, a Massachusetts judge declared were not sandwiches at all. Open-faced sandwiches are not sandwiches. Gyros and shawarmas are not sandwiches. The bread that encases them is neither split nor hinged, but wrapped." Fair enough, especially since they called out this distinction so clearly. But yeah, no doubt the void you've noticed is almost certainly related to the taqueria culture on the west coast [1]. It's not that sandwich shops don't exist on the west coast -clearly they do, and some of them are pretty good. However, we just don't have the sandwich culture out here. How can you tell? If you're in the mood to stir something up, just ask a couple of people from that region where to get a really good sandwich, and see if you start an argument. See if that argument turns surprisingly personal. Now, try the same thing with burritos, and you'll get whole different reaction. You may also hear that burritos are vastly better in SF than in SoCal, or you may hear that the question itself is all wrong, because burritos are properly listed as a minor niche item on the bottom right menu of genuinely good taquerias, which you only find in SoCal. I've been west coast my whole life, but I get the feeling that's the kind of status sandwiches have on the east coast. [1] I originally considered changing this to "California". But a guy who lived in Seattle for 7 years told me that a taqueria up there (there's my great cite) sold "Mission Style" burritos in reference to the mission district of SF. So, on the basis of that remarkable bit of information, we'll stick with "west coast" here.