Pepper Steak from Moochie's

Okay, so after focusing on sandwiches made by local and national chains my last few entries, I figured it was definitely time to return to a nice one-of-a-kind local joint for a sandwich. And if you're going to do that, I can think of few better options in the Salt Lake area than Moochie's. I honestly can't remember where I first heard about Moochie's, but I remember that my buddy Jeff and I were driving around one day looking for somewhere to eat when one of us suggested this place. We'd both heard good things about it, so we headed down 9th South in Salt Lake keeping our eyes peeled since we didn't know the exact address. We almost drove right past the nondescript location near 2nd East, but thankfully spotted it and headed inside. Now, I used the term "one-of-a-kind" earlier and that's a term you hear kicked around a lot to describe things, but in this case it is very much true. Unless of course you're aware of another killer sandwich purveyor located inside of a pottery gift shop? Yeah, didn't think so.

Now, usually at this point in a post, I like to give some background info about the sandwich establishment in question before talking about the actual sandwich itself. Of course, you can go to Moochie's website to read about them, or instead, you can watch the video clip below. It comes from one of my favorite shows: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Basically, the show is about a guy traveling around the country stopping at all these cool little local restaurants, finding out what their specialties are, and then eating them like crazy. How on earth do I get that job?? The host, Guy Fieri, is kind of a toolbox (those sunglasses you're wearing? yeah, those go on the front of your face, chief) albeit a knowledgeable and ultimately likable one who obviously loves what he does. Here is the segment of his show where he paid Moochie's a visit:



So as you may have gleaned from watching that, among their considerable menu, Moochie's has two sandwiches that you could consider specialties: the Meatball, and the Philly Cheesesteak. I have had them both and without giving too much away, sufficeth to say they are both phenomenal. Today we'll be reviewing the Philly Cheesesteak...well, truth be told I don't think what I got is considered a "true" Philly Cheese. From things I've read, a Philly Cheesesteak includes (besides the obvious cheese and steak) onions, peppers and mushrooms. I'm not quite sure if those ingredients are merely optional or if they are requisite to a true Philly Cheesesteak so maybe someone can enlighten me. Anyway, since I'm not a huge fan of onions or 'shrooms, I got mine with only peppers on top of the meat and cheese which was termed a Pepper Steak. So in review, my sandwich was composed of the following:

• Type of Bread: 12" Hoagie Roll
• Condiments/Dressing(s): n/a
  
• Toppings: Thinly Sliced Ribeye Steak, Melted American Cheese, Roasted Bell Peppers

The roasted bell peppers that I threw on there were actually an optional addition and there are other optional ingredients that you can add to any of Moochie's sandwiches. These are grilled mushrooms, lettuce-tomato-mayo (counts as one ingredient), and extra cheese or a cheese substitution (putting provolone, swiss or mozzarella on instead of melted american, for example). Once you've got your ingredients picked out and decided whether you want the 6" or 12" version, the only thing left to do is sit back and enjoy. Here's the scoring breakdown:

• Quantity/Value: 4/5 - The thing that keeps this sandwich from getting a perfect 5 out of 5 is definitely NOT the quantity. If you get the foot-long like I did, you are probably not going to finish it in one sitting. And if you do, you are probably not going to need a meal the rest of the day. The thing that drops this down to a 4 is it's substantial $10.49 price tag. To be fair, the base price is $9.49, but once you add an extra ingredient like I did with the peppers, that's an extra dollar. This is a great sandwich, and it's price definitely reflects it, and maybe then some.
• Originality: 4/5 - Obviously Moochie's did not invent the Cheesesteak, but when it comes to getting an authentic version of this Philly staple, you can't do much better than Moochie's. And besides the sandwich, as I mentioned earlier, the shop itself is definitely an original and needs to be visited.
• Appearance: 9/10 - I probably should have opened the sandwich up a little bit more in the picture I took that is seen at the top of this post. As it is now, it doesn't really do it justice. When you unwrap that foil and expose the sandwich inside, it is a thing of beauty. The perfectly grilled steak smothered in melted cheese spilling out of the roll are tantalizing enough, but when you add in the beautiful reds and greens of the roasted peppers, the appearance is positively amazing and make you want to dive right in.
• Quality/Freshness: 10/10 - If you're going to charge over $10 for a sandwich, it better be huge (check) and it better use only the best ingredients - check and mate in this case. Not only are the ingredients top-shelf quality, but the key is that they are prepared to order - they don't just have a pile of steak keeping warm somewhere that they use; they throw that meat down on the grill only when you order your sandwich -that is key. Another example of freshness is that the peppers used in my sandwich were roasted on site. You could get around that if you wanted to, but the fact that they're willing to do it is why Moochie's earns a 10 here.
• Taste: 19/20 - If I haven't alluded to it enough already, this is a great tasting sandwich. I mean really great. It has everything that you want - there is a contrast in texture with the crunchy bread and the chewy ingredients within, there is a wonderful contrast in taste between the savory meat and cheese and the sweetness of the peppers. And, on top of that, there is some degree of intangible tastiness in knowing that this thing was prepared on the spot for you. I think the best way I can sum up how good this thing is is that the last time I had one, I couldn't finish it (not unusual). But by the time I got home and had a chance to digest and was ready for more, I couldn't even wait to heat it up - I yanked it out of the fridge and pounded it and that was that.

That all adds up to a huge score of 46/50. And for those of you keeping track, that puts the Pepper Steak from Moochie's into a tie for first place with The Deluxe from Grove Market. Very impressive. Very impressive indeed.

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Meatball Marinara from Subway

I know I've made this point already, so just by way of re-iteration, if you're looking exclusively for reviews of high-end sandwiches with ingredients like arugula and pork tenderloin, this is probably not the right place for you (but keep reading anyway)! As I've stated from the beginning, the goal of this project is to search high and low for sandwiches in all their variations. While it is true that sometimes this involves going to an amazing deli with absolutely top shelf ingredients, more often than not it involves going down the block to your local sandwich chain shop. Which is where we find ourselves today. It's hard to believe that a little over 40 years ago, Subway didn't exist. Especially since today you can't hardly throw a rock into the air and not have it plummet down onto one of these omnipresent sandwich joints.

The history of Subway is an interesting one. You can read all about it here, but here's the Cliff's Notes version - back in 1965, a 17 year old (!) named Fred De Luca needed to generate some money to pay for college, so he borrowed a thousand bucks from a family friend and opened up a sandwich shop in a mediocre location in Bridgeport, CT. Apparently the place was packed from Day 1 and it's never slowed. Today, with nearly 33,000 Subway locations in 93 different countries, Subway has been rated the #1 Global Franchise and Mr. De Luca is a billionaire. Hmm, I wonder if he ever bothered going to school?

So how did this place go from a barely pubescent lad's glorified lemonade stand to the global behemoth that it is today? Certainly some savvy advertising along the way was useful (Get out of my head, $5 Foot-long jingle!!!), but basically it all comes down to this guy. Just kidding....sort of. Interesting side note: when Subway finally put the brakes on the Jared-as-pitchman train, their sales plummeted 10% and they immediately got him back on board to keep shilling sandwiches. Now how is that even possible??? How does a googly-eyed nerd holding up a pair of fat-pants make people go eat sandwiches?? Who knows. Anyway, I might be wrong, but I'd have to say that Subway's success can be attributed to the simple fact that they offer a good product at a good price. Notice I didn't say "great", I said "good". I think the Subway brain-trust has somehow isolated a magical formula where they make their product just good enough to keep people coming back and charge them just enough to make a fat profit without breaking their customers' bank. This has resulted in unheard of commercial success. Good for them. Seriously. I wish I could do that.

Okay, enough about the somewhat brief but storied history of Subway. Let's get down to reviewing one of their sandwiches. The sandwich on the docket today is the Meatball Marinara. Long before Subway started offering a toasting option for all their sandwiches (to compete with rival Quiznos), the Meatball Marinara was one of the few "warm" sandwiches that could be ordered at Subway. Maybe this is why I started ordering it - especially in the cold winter, sometimes a warm sandwich really hits the spot. Obviously you could dress this sandwich up anyway you wanted to when you ordered it, but at it's core, it consists of the following:

• Type of Bread: Again, you can choose any of Subway's bread options. I went with what I usually do - Monterrey Cheddar.
• Condiments/Dressing(s): Marinara Sauce
• Toppings: Meatballs, Cheese of your choice (Provolone for me), Parmesan Cheese

The only other decision to make is whether you want to take advantage of the relatively new toasting option. Even though the meatballs and the marinara sauce they come in are already warm, I would highly recommend toasting if for no other reason than to melt your cheese. Besides that, you sandwich will stay warmer longer. Once I got my sandwich ordered, put together and toasted, here is what I ended up with:

Again, notice the difference between the appearance of the sandwich in the Subway ad at the start of this post and the actual thing above. It's almost comical. Granted, this sandwich endured a car ride home, but despite it's appearance I did not sit on it for said car ride. Let's get to it:

• Quantity/Value: 5/5 - I got this foot-long bad boy for a mere five bucks as part of Subway's $5 Foot-long promotion. That is a lot of food for not a lot of money which is, of course, the goal of sandwiches trying to do well in this category. Obviously if and when the promotion end and this thing's price goes up, the rating would have to change accordingly.
• Originality: 4/5 - Was Subway the first restaurant to come up with a meatball sandwich? I seriously doubt it. But, it was the first place I saw them offered and even now it's not every place where you can get a meatball sandwich, so this rates quite well.
• Appearance: 6/10 - Yeah, this thing looks pretty sad. The advantages of toasting the sandwich have been mentioned above. The one drawback is that heating it up makes everything a little more pliable. Couple that with an immediate tightly compressed wrap in wax paper once it's out of the oven and by the time you get it out to eat, that thing is squashed. Does it make it taste any worse? No, but with the bread compressed to about 1/4 inch thick, as soon as you squeeze down on the sandwich, those meatballs practically fly out every which way which is not going to put you where you need to be.
• Quality/Freshness: 7/10 - Subway's meatball sandwich is going to take another bit of a hit here. There's no way those meatballs are made fresh on site, and once they're warmed up and go into the stainless steel holding bin, the only thing that determines how long they've been sitting there is how many (or how few) people before you ordered the same sandwich. The meatballs I've experienced have at times been on the soft and bland side and I'm sure that's a result of significant time in the sauce bath. Where the sandwich gains some points back, though is with the bread. As with all the Subway breads, it gets made fresh daily and that is key.
  
• Taste: 16/20 - Despite the less than perfect ratings in the appearance and freshness departments, the fact is that this sandwich tastes pretty good. The bread is wonderful - especially when toasted for some added exterior crunch to contrast the soft meatballs and marinara-soaked interior. Aside from the odd batch that's been sitting for too long, the meatballs in general are seasoned well and they're not stingy with them. The marinara sauce is warm and flavorful, with some nice chunks of tomato -it's not just a tomato soup that the meatballs sit in. And it's all finished with some lovely melted cheese to pull it all together (literally, if you look at the photo above).

Add it all up and that gives the Meatball Marinara from Subway an SSTF rating of 38/50. It's not the best sandwich you'll find around - it's not even the best meatball sandwich you'll find around, but if you've got a hankering for a meatball sub and not a lot of time, the news is good - chances are you're within spitting distance of a Subway and you won't be disappointed.