There are sandwiches, and then there are sandwiches.
There are the kind my mom used to make, or have us make for ourselves. Loaf bread, Oscar Mayer cold cuts, cheese and mayo or mustard or — hold onto your hat — both. Technically, that’s a sandwich. It will sustain you, but unless you are coming from a famine-plagued land, I do not think it will excite you.
There are restaurants, even “sandwich shops,” that serve something similar to those aforementioned sandwiches. Those are not restaurants I generally visit twice.
And why would you when such a thing as a Hobby’s Hoagies exists?
With two locations — 325 N. Walker and 222 S. Santa Fe in Edmond — Hobby’s is there to make you forget those other sandwiches. No longer will the counselor hold your hand, show you an outline of those bland stacks of bread and meats and ask you to point out where the sandwich hurt you.
Hobby’s sub sandwiches start with a really good roll. Tender inside, a little chew on the outside. That’s the kind of roll that can be stuffed with hot or cold fillings and doused in sauce without ever coming close to disintegrating in your hands.
The first sub you should get is The Special Italian ($7.39 for a 12-inch), especially in the summer. Chilled meats, including capocollo ham, salami and regular ham, with provolone, shredded lettuce, onion and tomato. Sounds kind of pedestrian, yeah? It would be without the cherry pepper mash they put on top. Now, it’s got zing and zip and zazz. So, so much zazz. Somebody put that sandwich on the zazz train to Zazzville and it never came back.
That cherry pepper mash does a lot for the other sandwiches, too. But it’s a role player. It never dominates the sandwich; it only accentuates.
Arguably,
the Philly cheese steak ($8.19 for a 12-inch) doesn’t need the help.
It’s chopped steak, mixed with onions and peppers and melted cheese. It
is delicious on its own, but the cherry peppers just perk it up.
I
probably get the Philly more than anything else at Hobby’s because
every bite delivers. But, about three or four times in a foot-long
sandwich, you’ll get a perfect bite. It’s just the right combination of
chewy bread, savory steak, cherry peppers and melted cheese.
Hobby’s
also does a respectable tuna sub ($7.19 for a 12-inch) and a tremendous
grilled cheese ($3.89), although the latter comes on grilled Texas
toast, buttered to perfection.
If
that was all Hobby’s did, I’d be satisfied. But it also makes a pretty
outstanding pizza, especially if you’re the type who craves a pie from
back East. I am an equal-opportunity pizza devourer and destroyer — like
Shiva, but with a taste for pepperoni — and OKC has plenty of great
pizzas from which to choose.
I
can’t say that I’d rather have Hobby’s than any other pie in the metro,
but I certainly won’t be disappointed if you show up at my door bearing
one of these beauties. Simple sausage is great, but if you want to
really confuse and delight your taste buds, the Philly cheese steak
pizza ($17.49 for an extra-large pie) is the way to go.
Hobby’s
does homemade desserts, too, but I find myself drawn time and again to
that back-East favorite, the Tastykake. I would apologize, but … have
you tried a Tastykake? I would sing Boyz II Men songs to Tastykakes, had
the owners of Hobby’s and members of the seminal ’90s R&B group not
asked me to stop.
Listen,
some people like their white bread, mayo and reconstituted turkey-ham
sandwiches. I will not argue with them. Partly because arguing personal
taste is ridiculous, but mostly because they’ll stay at home with those
sandwiches.
And while
they’re home, that’s one less person in line at Hobby’s, meaning my
bounteous sandwich and pizza feast will come that much sooner.
Oklahoma
Gazette’s restaurant review policy is to highlight the positive
aspects, and include constructive criticism regarding food, ambience or
service when appropriate.
This article appears in Apr 25 – May 1, 2012.