Some dishes are conversation pieces more than culinary masterpieces. I have a feeling that’s why The Bomb sandwich made it onto TONY’s Top 100 list. Because besides the ginormity and novelty of making a sandwich like The Bomb, there’s not much else to talk about.
But I’ll manage to talk about it. The Bomb is basically the kitchen sink of Italian sandwiches. I know most delis have their version of this, but I’ve never seen one as gigantic and comprehensive as the one at Sal, Kris, and Charlie’s Deli in Astoria. This deli is a far cry from the Jewish delis I’ve been patronizing (and critiquing) on my Corned Beef/Pastrami search although the sandwiches are just as big – if not bigger.
We arrived about an hour or so before the store was closing for the night. There were a handful of patrons picking up drinks or snacks like they would at any local bodega in this city. But I’ve heard at lunch time, the crowd here could be quite a sight. We missed the rush, but after waiting in eternal lines at Shake Shack and Mile End in the last few weeks, I’m fine with just getting my damn sandwich.
We knew ordering one sandwich would be enough and The Bomb was so gargantuan that I really only needed a few bites to fill up.
It’s advertised as containing everything and I think that’s pretty accurate. Based on the research I’ve done online, there are many theories as to what is actually in this monster. And the big problem for me was since there were so many things working against each other, it was hard to taste much. I like to think I have a decent palate, but I couldn’t pick out anything specific – just some meat, some cheese, vinegar, sweet, spicy, and bread. Lots of bread.
I know for sure, trapped between those huge crusty loaves, sat turkey, ham, salami, pepperoni, mortadella, American cheese, provolone, maybe swiss, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles, peppers (both sweet and hot), oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. It’s like a Subway sandwich gone postal.
They use Boar’s Head meat here, which leads me to believe that anybody with a big enough collection of processed deli meats could make this sandwich themselves. I guess the point is that only this place had the cojones to put everything together. And I have to applaud them at the construction of the beast. Biting into a sandwich this big, I’d expect some of the ingredients to slip out of the bread. The Bomb stayed together pretty seamlessly until that last explosive bite.
And it tasted fine. Everything you’d expect a big sandwich to be. But I sort of wished I could have tasted each ingredient as opposed to just an overwhelming “big sandwich” taste. Then again I don’t think this list item was really about taste. I think it was more about the spectacle and the conversation. And look at this, I got a great blog entry out of it. Discuss.
Would Sal, Kris, and Charlie’s The Bomb make my Top 100 of the year? Not if we’re going by taste alone. It’s a great gimmick and I can see why people love it, but I want either a more interesting sandwich or one that’s much simpler. For their creative concept though, they get a 6 out of 10.
