First up, the roasted turkey ($11). The ingredients are fairly traditional, turkey, lettuce, tomato, onions and some herb mayo. It was warm and fresh and incredibly moist. The roll was wonderful too, soft and fluffy without being chewy or too forgiving.

Second, the Italian, $10. This one is straight by the book too: chopped veggies, cold cuts (salami, cappicola, salami cotto) and cheese (mordatela and provolone), only instead of piling them all so high it turns into a salt-lick, Torrisi gives you just enough to taste without overpowering anything. It’s a dignified Italian hero, perfectly balanced.

Finally, the chicken parm, also $10. The same light sesame roll as on the other two, but topped with pan-fried, breaded chicken and melted mozzarella. Often when you get a chicken parm, the chicken is tough, rubbery and chewy. Yuck. Torrisi somehow managed to keep the chicken incredibly moist, tender and absolutely delightful. This one was the favorite of the group, though only because it’s got crispy chicken and melted cheese.

When in soho, Torrisi.

All three are stellar:

I tried two sandwiches, both served “hot”, both $9:
Roast beef: Horseradish, Pickled Endive, Fried Scallions
Turkey Cubano: Pickled Daikon, Chinese Mustard, Swiss

In reality both were served barely warmer than room temperature. Perhaps they sat a bit after they were finished or maybe they were never properly warmed? Regardless, they would’ve been much better piping hot. Both sandwiches combine odd flavors and ingredients in new ways. I’ve never heard of fried scallions and would never have thought to put them on a roast beef sandwich; likewise for pickled daikon on a cubano. These guys are really pulling out the stops to spice up old standbys. It usually works, though can occasionally be a bit too ‘funky.’ My sandwich companion didn’t much like how red the roast beef looked and didn’t really like the turkey because it had a funky sweetness to it. I was intrigued by both, but haven’t rushed back to have them again.

The roast beef was the better of the two: the beef was tender and moist. I loved the spice and crunch from the daikon and horseradish. The scallion provided a pleasant crunch, but the one hard over-fried bit I got, made me a bit wary of knocking out a tooth each time I took a bite
The turkey was delicious, but a bit funkily sweet. I ate most of the sandwich wondering what that mushy stuff was and eventually settled on ‘pulled turkey’ (brown meat). It was good, but didn’t taste anything like any cuban sandwich I’ve ever had.

In all, No 7 Sub has some creative sandwiches that are fun to try out now and then. It’s not the kind of place I could ever go back to regularly, but if I’m with someone who likes to try new food experiences and doesn’t mind being a little risky with their $9 sandwich I’d go back.

What comes out of this tiny “deli” stall? Sandwiches of course! Sure they sell soup and chips and stuff but who cares. Shamas is all about sandwiches. I tried their ‘spicy turkey’ (which is really just “Cracked Pepper Mill Smoked Turkey Breast” from Boars Head) sandwich on a roll ($8) with hot peppers, cheese, mayo and some fixins. Yeah, you read that correctly, you order from the tiny stall and they still charge you $8! You aren’t even INSIDE when you order and they charge $8! It’s amazing what people will get away here. Aside from the horrible pricing, the sandwiches are tasty, a bit above par. The bread is nice and soft and the ingredients are fresh. The sandwich’s on the menu are a bit boring and there’s not much to challenge your taste buds, but if you’re looking for something dependable, it’s a good decision.

The ‘deli’:

“Spicy Turkey”:

Pastrami:

It sounds incredibly boring on the menu, “Cold Turkey Sandwich: everything kaiser roll, fresh mozzarella, grilled eggplant” ($12). I was expecting drippy, dry mozzarella; ice cold, dry turkey and some sweet, grilled eggplant slices. What I got instead took me all night to unravel. The turkey tasted like the day after thanksgiving, the mozzarella was subtle and salty and the eggplant, oh the eggplant. What they left off the menu might as well be summarized with one word: “magic”. I have no idea how they did it, but they added these magic sauces to both sides of the kaiser that just makes the sandwich come alive. I think it was some kind of red-onion, mayonnaise and dill. This sandwich is incredibly complicated, though you’d never know by the lame billing. Go eat it and be amazed!

The fried cod wasn’t as exciting. The menu bills it as a textbook fried cod sandwich: “Fried Fish Sandwich: tartar sauce, shredded cabbage, potato roll. ($10)” Yawn. The sandwich was decent, but as you can see below, the fish was HUGE and the little roll seemed like a joke. Are they telling us to use a knife and fork? Why not give another roll? Or, gosh, find a roll that fits? Just like they left the “magic” off the menu, for the fish sandwich they left off one ingredient: sprouts. Yes, sprouts. After a few bites I realized it’s because they really don’t belong in the sandwich. The perfectly cooked fish would crumble and give beautifully, but those damn sprouts just wouldn’t let go. I had to pull on them with my hands, with all the grace I could muster — it was kinda gross. Much too gross for the classy digs. I guess they wanted to give it a ‘spin’ and it spun wrong.

I’d head back for that magic turkey and a nice glass of wine.

All the food was well prepared, but the cold turkey was a bit more complicated:

You can’t see the magic from here:

There it is, at the top and the bottom!

Gigantor-fish:

Delicious fish, evil sprouts:

First up is the Handwich, a turkey and cheese sandwich cut to look like a hand. Brilliant, what would kids love more than eating gigantic hands? Don’t bite the hand that feeds you or how about a knuckle sandwich, ha ha ha! The package comes with the small handwich, a fruit roll up, Annie’s organic cheese crackers and a bottle of KidFresh branded water. So how was the sandwich? Bland, dry and uneventful. Maybe kids don’t care about sandwiches, or maybe they don’t have the taste buds for flavor, but I think these sandwiches are about as bland as you can get. They taste like what you’d get if you just put bread and turkey and cheese together: dry, bland and dry. Thank god they come with water! Maybe this is a secret plot to get kids to drink water at a young age (and locking them into the bottled water industry).

The second lunchbox is more of the same but in a different shape. It’s a chicken sandwich cut into an adorable teddybear. The package comes with the bearwich, yogurt in a tube (which is really bizarre), cheese crackers and water. Like the handwich, the bearwich is really dry. The chicken is only slightly more moist than the cheese and like before, you’ll be glad you’ve got your water.

Overall, the KidFresh lunchboxes are great for little kids, but not if you want them to grow up as sandwich enthusiasts. Couldn’t they have added a little lettuce, or a tomato or maybe some condiments? For $5 a box, I think they could manage. Buy them for your kids, but don’t bother eating them yourself, I had to eat both boxes to get full.

WichPlot:

Here’s the handwich:

The handwich unpacked:

I wonder who gets to eat the outside of the mold?

Too dry!

The Teddy Chicken

Bearwich:

Look how flattened the bearwich was:

Better luck next time bearwich:

Delicious

Corned Beef

Pastrami

Turkey

Chicken