Italian Combo Sub from Gabor Brothers Main Street Grill

So, as you may or may not have noticed, both the title of this blog (Supreme Sandwich Task Force) and the mission statement below it on the main page ("Some hungry guys...") imply that there is more than one person involved in this project. And while it's true that I'm the only one writing on this thing (for the time being), I definitely have some fellow travelers on this journey through sandwichdom; namely my dad and brother-in-law. Once a month, we set aside a Saturday afternoon to go grab a sandwich together. Aside from the obvious benefit of companionship, the other great thing about this is that we rotate turns selecting that month's site, and because of that, I've been to a couple new places that I don't think I ever would have discovered on my own. Today's post features one of these new discoveries: Gabor Brothers Main Street Grill in Layton, UT where we traveled based on the recommendation of my bro-in-law.

If I was forced to categorize Gabor Brothers, I would call it an italian restaurant rather than a sandwich shop - as you can see from their menu, they specialize in pizza and pasta dishes, but also serve burgers and sandwiches. Serving sandwiches seems to be a growing trend among pizza joints - even Domino's got in on the game when they added sandwiches to their menu awhile back. Not surprisingly I guess, most of these sandwiches that I've tried seem to taste like...well...pizza. That can be a good or bad thing depending on what you're in the mood for, but it seems to be a fact of life when ordering a sandwich at a pizza restaurant. I suppose at this point I could raise the inevitable "Why would you go to a pizza shop to order a sandwich?!?" question, but I really don't see that as a problem. As long as it's qual, you go ahead and make whatever you want, restaurant owner. Probably not the best business plan, but you go ahead and do it. You want to make tamales at your fried chicken joint? Why not. You want to make burritos alongside your sandwiches? Fine by me. As long as it's good. Sorry, McDonald's, but this clearly means you can't go back to the McPizza. That crap was REESTY.

But I digress. Let's get back to the restaurant at hand. After perusing the menu, I settled on the Italian Combo, figuring it would offer a good representation of what this place's sandwiches were about. The Italian Combo looks something like this:

• Type of Bread: French Roll
• Condiments/Dressing(s): Vinaigrette Dressing
• Toppings: Pepperoni, Salami, Ham, Sausage, Mozzarella Cheese, Bell Peppers, Onions

Now seriously - take a look at those toppings and if you didn't know any better, what do you think I'd be making with those things? See what I mean about sandwiches at pizza joints being just like pizza? I mean the only thing missing is the crust! Again, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but come on - think outside the box (no pun intended. Get it? cuz pizzas come in a box?? ha ha) a little, right? Anyway, uncanny resemblance to pizza aside, let's take another look at this sandwich and then go to the judges:


Here are the scores for the Italian Combo Sub from Gabor Brothers Main Street Grill:

• Quantity/Value: 5/5 - As you can see from the picture at the top of the post, this sandwich is ENORMOUS. As soon as they dropped that thing in front of me, I knew I'd be taking some of it home (turns out I just barely finished half of it). It set me back $9.95, but that price also included your choice of fries, salad, or soup. Thinking the sandwich might be a bit on the heavy side, I opted for the salad - this was a wise choice. Slamming an order of fries on top of that sandwich would have had my heart hating me big time.
• Originality: 3/5 - Definitely nothing over the top in originality here - a very typical Italian type sandwich - cured meats, mozzarella and vinaigrette dressing. The presentation offered a little bit in terms of originality, but I'll cover that next...
• Appearance: 7/10 - Here's one more close-up shot of the sandwich:




• Again, the thing that you'll notice right away is how much this looks like a pizza. Part of that is appealing - for example, the herbs sprinkled on top give it a nice touch and the bread has been buttered and passed through the oven to give it a nice shiny glow. Part of it however, I think takes away from the appearance. As you can see, they obviously just took their ingredients already prepped for making pizzas and just tossed them on the sandwich. The cheese is shredded and the meat is cut into small pieces. It just kind of looks like someone took the toppings, threw them in all in a blender and then dumped them out on the bread. A little haphazard if you ask me.

• Quality/Freshness: 8/10 - Although I'm guessing the ingredients used on the sandwiches are the same they use on their pizza, that is not to say that they weren't fresh or of good quality. They were. Everything from the bread to the cheese to the meat and veggies looked and tasted fresh. Nice job.
• Taste: 16/20 - The one word I would use to describe how this sandwich tastes is "heavy". All of the meats and cheese and dressing combine to form a very rich sandwich experience. As with a pizza, the peppers provided a nice contrast in both taste and texture to the other ingredients. All together, the sandwich was very savory and satisfying, but it wasn't too long before I had to wave the white flag. Tastes great, but perhaps this is a case of a little too much of a good thing.

All together, The Italian Combo from Gabor Brothers Main Street Grill earns a very respectable score of 39/50. If you've got a serious hunger working and want a delicious pizza turned into a sandwich, this is definitely the place for you.