Papa Dom’s Italian Sub Reviews: Wegmans’ “Danny’s Favorite”

July 9, 2016 Papa Dom

Y’know the great thing about having your own website? I can review whatever I want. Today, I’m reviewing a sub that I ate for dinner. Maybe I’ll make this a regular thing, maybe I won’t, but you say one thing for Papa Dom – say he knows his way around a deli. I consider myself a pretty picky guy when it comes to cured meats, and I’m very particular about deeming whether a menu item called an “Italian sub” should actually be deserving of that title.

In order to call oneself an Italian sub (in case you’re an Italian sub and you’re reading this), I expect you to contain a few certain components.

Provolone: If you aren’t using this as the foundation for your sub you can just get the fuck right out of my face. Looking at you, Subway.
Capicola: My favorite part. I’m a big fan of just this, provolone, and vinegar peppers on a roll by themselves sometimes. I’ll say this once, loud and clear — CAPICOLA AND “HOT HAM” ARE NOT THE SAME THING AND CANNOT BE SUBSTITUTED.
Salami: Every Italian sub worth a shit has this. Some companies are bold enough to throw this on a roll, add some provolone and maybe some regular ham and call it an Italian sub. No. Stop. Be better.
Sopressata: If I’m getting hot capicola on my sandwich, I’m contrasting that with sweet sopressata. The yin to the capicola’s yang. A must-have, but a never-see in most chains.
Mortadella: Another rarity if you’re not getting your subs from a decent deli. Throw some pistachios in there one time for a real G. Please and thank you.

Now that we’ve got the formalities out of the way, let me set the stage. Its 7pm. I just get out of work. I’m hungry, and new to the area. Coworker says “go check out Wegmans, they have a whole cafe and a deli there”. He wasn’t lying, the place was colossal. Elevators and everything. I didn’t browse too much but I’m not entirely convinced they didn’t sell televisions and appliances as well as groceries, the place was that big. Anyway, I step up to the deli counter and notice a sandwich menu. Nice. I don’t see “Italian” anywhere, but I did notice a sub named the “Danny’s Favorite” which had mooooooosttttt of the components listed above. I was surprised to see capicola on there at all, so I grabbed a medium (7″) and a bag of chips (Cape Cod or die) and a Coke Zero cause I was feeling mad healthy.

Lemme just say right here – the people at Wegmans are really, REALLY nice. Usually this would throw me off since as far as delis go, the more rude the people are the better your sandwich is gonna be. I can’t back this up with facts but I’m pretty sure that quote is directly from Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Don’t Google it though. The woman behind the counter, Sue, surgically assembled my sandwich, but I couldn’t help but notice how thick each cold cut slice was. I’m talking grab a book off your bookshelf, hold 15 pages between your thumb and forefinger, and that’s how thick each slice was. Not the end of the world, but I’m a big “sliced thin” guy. I need my cold cuts to be the thinness and opacity of tissue paper every time. All of that being said, the sandwich was expertly assembled, so I had high hopes. Now on to the taste test.

The bread was fresh and fluffy, which was awesome considering how late in the day it was. The veggies I got on it (hot and sweet peppers, lettuce, tomato) were equally fresh and crispy which was also very dope, and the cold cuts – while sliced wayyyy too thick – were delicious. The amount of food they stuff into a 7″ sub was pretty impressive, not like those swindlers at other big chain sandwich places. Being the macho manly man I am, I declined Sue’s offer to slice my sub in half for me, which I probably should’ve taken her up on since the thing was gigantic.

All in all, Wegmans’ “Danny’s Favorite” needs a little fine tuning to be truly great (throw some sopressata in there and slice your cuts a litttttttle bit thinner, and you’re golden), but is definitely one of the best Italian subs I’ve had at any place that doesn’t have Italian flags dangling from the rafters. If you’re in a pinch, and need a solid cold cut fix, hit them up.