Beep Beep picked me up at YVR for our girls’ trip to Seattle. We wanted to get a bite to eat before the drive over to the border. I saw on Yelp that Sakana Sushi was a popular bet, so off we went.
Beep Beep parked her car and we walked to Sakana, which is a few doors past Bob’s Submarine Sandwiches. I’ve read about this sandwich joint but I never tried it. Sitting by the front window, I saw two guys with huge smiles on their faces, just about to dig into their footlong sandwiches. Screw Sakana… Beep Beep and I were going to eat subs.
I walked up to the guys and asked them what they were eating. They told me they got a large Teriyaki and Deluxe hot subs. Each half sub is cut into two pieces, so each of their subs looked like four sandwiches. Based on the expression on their face, I wanted to try Bob’s submarines.
Inside the shop, it’s like a time warp. The decor and set-up reminds me of a 80’s style diner, a dingier version of the coffee shop in Seinfeld. There’s a steady line-up of customers and tables filled with dirty plates. There’s one chef at the front grilling the meats for the sandwich, a young man at the cashier and a woman popping in and out of the kitchen.
I noticed an empty heater for fried chicken. There was grease and crumbs littering the bottom of the case. When we left, it was refilled with freshly fried chicken. Maybe next time…
We shared two small hot submarines, the Super Sub ($5.90) and the Teriyaki Chicken ($5.90) and a side of fries with gravy ($2.50). The Super Sub was the best of the two sandwiches. Packed with double layers of melted mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, salami, capicollo and steak, this is one of the meatiest subs I’ve ever consumed. The toasted seasame bun looked puny compared to all the meats, grilled onions, shredded lettuce and tomatoes.
The Chicken Teriyaki sub came with big, meaty pieces of chicken. I could see the teriyaki sauce but I couldn’t taste it. Flavour-wise, both subs could use more seasoning, like salt and pepper and maybe some mustard or mayo. I found the chicken a bit bland.
The subs were hot off the grill and messy to eat. Oddly enough, the fries tasted better when cold. Filling, super cheap and retro cool, I think this is a neat place to check out. If you’re a germophobe, I would skip this place for something more sterile, like Subway.
Hitting the Sauce 