Regular Combo Beef & Sausage

Regular Combo Beef & Sausage at Al's Italian Beef

alsbeef.com

A

This is a once-a-year kind of sandwich, and by that I mean I'll probably die if I eat it more often than that. But it's so good. Al's classic Italian beef, super tender and savory meat sliced thin enough to melt into your face and saturated in "gravy," is augmented here not only with provolone, hot giardiniera and sweet peppers but also a char-grilled spicy pork sausage. You can't really see the link in this pic but it's there, lurking beneath the meaty, saucy mountain, piled into a soft, delicious roll. It's almost impossible to pick this thing up and eat it like a proper sandwich; you're better off knife and forking your way to glorious gutbomb satisfaction. Worth the effort, and the occasional splurge.

The French Dip

The French Dip at Therapy

therapylv.com

B-

It's hard not to order a French dip for lunch when you see it on a menu, even if you're having lunch in a place that probably doesn't specialize in French dips ... say, a hip downtown bar, where you should probably get a charred kale salad or baked ricotta gnudi or a chicken and red velvet waffle slider. But really, don't you just want a French dip? This one is serviceable, bolstered by delectable horseradish cream and high quality roast beef. The jus was savory and fine, as well, but there was something missing. It was the hoagie roll. It wasn't toasted well, as advertised, and you need a little more crisp, toasty goodness on your French dip if it's going to stand up to all that juicy meat and an extra dip. Whatever. Still not going to get the salad.

Hoagie

Hoagie at Herringbone

herringboneeats.com

B

One of our all-time favorite Vegas chefs, Geno Bernardo, has returned to the city and taken up residency at Herringbone, a casual yet still fancy seafood-oriented restaurant at Aria. What do you get when a great Italian chef runs the show at a Strip seafood spot? Great Italian food in an unexpected venue, of course, including this legit sub. The bread is a bit softer than our favorite versions of this classic sandwich, but all the flavors are on point, from the sharp provolone and thinly sliced red onions to the oregano-laced oil-and-vinegar dressing decorating the shredded lettuce. Pickled cherry peppers bring some extra fun to the party and help cut through the rich, fatty goodness of this neat pile of salami, prosciutto and mortadella. There's plenty of other great dishes on this lunch menu, but this will always be an option.

Zydeco Special

Zydeco Special at Zydeco Po-Boys

zydecopo-boys.com

A+

So Zydeco's debris po-boy might have been our favorite new sandwich of 2015. Its luscious combo of slow-cooked brisket, classic Leidenheimer bread from New Orleans and spicy jalapeño mayo is simply fantastic, and we couldn't imagine eating a better po-boy sandwich. But that was before we tried the Zydeco Special, which is the same exact sandwich perfection with the addition of thick, juicy slabs of house-brined turkey breast and sweety, salty ham (also cooked here and used to flavor other dishes like red beans and rice). It's way, way over the top, so much incredible meat stacked and stacked, along with lettuce and tomato and provolone cheese. But you can still taste each amazing ingredient. You know you're overdoing it, but that's kinda the point. It's great on great, the crispness of the bread pushing you along each savory, meaty bite. Could this be our favorite sandwich of 2016? We're gonna go get another one right now and see.

Meatball Sandwich

Meatball Sandwich at Great American Food

greatamericanfoodlv.com

B

The oddly named Great American Food specializes in sandwiches, mainly of the Italian variety. Sure, you can grab a burger or a Reuben here, but at its core this is an Italian deli, so ... let's go meatballin'. On a toasty French roll, homemade all-beef meatballs—firm and well spiced—are slathered in melty mozzarella and fresh, bright marinara sauce. It's a nice hot bite through and through, super satisfying and flavored with familiar. If you like your sandwiches straight-ahead, maybe Great American Food is for you.

Debris Po-Boy

Debris Po-Boy at Zydeco Po-Boys

zydecopo-boys.com

A+

Let me just say this: When I took my first bite, "We Are The Champions" started playing in my head. This is exactly the rich, fresh, ideal po-boy we were expecting when we first visited Zydeco, and the debris is the sandwich that seals the deal. That's just the way it is when you find a sandwich you want to eat every day. It starts with Leidenheimer bread, of course, but the oven-roasted brisket is the star, well-spiced, unbelievably tender, falling apart and saturated in the gravy-ish drippings from the pan it was cooked in. Please give me a whole plate of this stuff? Add Swiss or provolone (I chose the latter) plus fresh lettuce and tomato, and the secret weapon: jalapeño mayo. It's no joke. Creamy and zingy, its brightness magically weaves in and out of each rich, meaty bite, providing the perfect foil for the brisket's fatty flavors. Now time to stop typing and head Downtown to Zydeco. 

The Winston Cooper

The Winston Cooper at The Sandwich Spot

thesandwichspot.com

B

Back to the friendly neighborhood Sandwich Spot for this mega meaty bite. We're not sure who Winston Cooper might be or may have been, but his sandwich is certainly satisfying. Hot pastrami, salami and roast beef mingle as an ultra-savory, slightly oily and spicy combination, with the addition of your cheese choice (we did Swiss) and the standard SS toppings of mayo, mustard, the garlic-herb-oil "secret sauce," lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions and peppers. It's basically the sandwich equivalent of a meatlover's pizza, for those who just can't get enough. This is enough, trust me.

Catfish Po-Boy

Catfish Po-Boy at Zydeco Po-Boys

zydecopo-boys.com

B-

The first shot at this promising new Cajun joint and sandwich haven is, well, promising. Downtown's Zydeco Po-Boys starts with Leidenheimer bread shipped straight from New Orleans, a wise and delicious move. Perfectly fried catfish, meaty fillets coated in crispy goodness, provide the foundation for this sandwich, finished off with provolone cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and a Creole spiced mayo. There's a nice, light crunch to this sandwich, and the fish is definitely in the spotlight, but it is in need of several healthy splashes of hot sauce. But that's on the table so you can do it yourself. We are very much looking forward to returning to Zydeco to get at the fried shrimp and debris sandwiches as soon as possible.

Country Club

Country Club at Jimmy John's

jimmyjohns.com

B-

All these years I've been eating Jimmy John's subs and only ordering from the 8-inch sub sandwiches portion of the menu, eschewing the more meat-filled, slightly more expensive giant club sandwiches portion of the menu. Why? Well, the bread-meat-veggie proportions for the regular subs are just right. Moderation in all things, right? Still, the bigger sandwiches are pretty great, too, like the Country Club, crammed with turkey and applewood-smoked ham plus provolone, lettuce, tomato and mayo. It's a simple sandwich to be sure, but the ingredients are all delicious, which is the key factor why JJ's is way, way better than Port of Subs or Subway or whatever. The chewy-soft sub rolls make a much more satisfying meal with that much more meat inside. Give 'em a shot.

Togarashi Chicken

Togarashi Chicken Sandwich at Glutton

gluttonlv.com

B

We didn't expect new downtown restaurant Glutton to have a lunch menu full of delicious sandwich options, but there was this gem, right between a chicken salad sandwich with pickled tomatoes and a charcuterie panini with manchego cheese and fig preserves. (How good do those sound?) This selection, dropped on a French roll to create a sorta-banh-mi effect, features crispy chicken thighs breaded in light, crackly goodness with miso aioli, pickled vegetables and furikake, plus some greens action. It upgraded the typical banh mi, not only with much better bread but also the crunchy texture and rich, fatty meatiness of the poultry, both of which go great with the sweet brine of pickles. There are too many other interesting choices to get at this one again before trying something new, but it's a solid first step toward another great downtown sandwich destination. 

Slaw Be Jo

Slaw Be Joe at Capriotti's

capriottis.com

C

It's a little weird to eat a Cap's sandwich on an actual plate. We're all just used to munching through these suckers on top of the paper they were wrapped in, probably over our coffee tables while we watch basketball on TV at home. But I guess that's what happens when Capriotti's lands at the fancy new Downtown Summerlin shopping complex. Anyway, a plate does nothing for the appearance or taste of this bland sandwich, chunks of dry, house-roasted beef, provolone, coleslaw and Russian dressing slathered all over a submarine roll. Cap's sandwiches are consistently mediocre, and at this point, the only reason we eat them is when other people want to meet there. Let's do better.

Three Meatball Sub

Three Meatball Sub at Meatball Spot

meatballspot.com

B+

I'll confess: I wanted to make fun of Meatball Spot. That's the only reason I went to eat there. It started out as a silly Italian restaurant concept with a sorta celebrity chef attached, planted in a mega-mall south of the Strip. It evolved into a quick-serve counter in another mega-mall, the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood on the Strip, with the alleged attachment of P-Ho resident performer Britney Spears as an investor. So, yeah, it seemed a safe assumption that the food would be a joke. Turns out this meaty, spicy, messy, tasty sub is pretty kick-ass. The meatballs themselves—these are the "classic" variety, a blend of beef, veal and pork—could be a little more moist and a little less firm, but those issues are less of a factor piled into a respectable, dense roll and smothered in a spicy tomato-meat sauce and parmesan cheese. If Brit has anything to do with this delicious sandwich, congratulations.

Italian Hero

Italian Hero at Montesano's

montesanos.com

B+

Cappicola, Genoa salami, mortadella. Is there a better all-pork meat combination? Salty, slightly sweet, oily, a little spicy, fatty, wonderful. Put them on a crusty sub roll with some thick-sliced provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, oil and vinegar, and you've got a fan in me. Longtime Las Vegas Italian deli Montesano's augments their classic Italian sub with onions and pepperoncinis, plus a roll that has a little more chew to it. But this one is all about the meat, and they don't go light with these high quality piggy slices. They also layer the meats just so, creating a thick, savory, juicy bite every time. This is one sandwich where it's a good thing if the meat-to-bread proportion seems a little heavy on the meat side.

Peppered Pastrami, Turkey and Swiss Cheese

Peppered Pastrami, Turkey and Swiss Cheese at Port of Subs

portofsubs.com

C+

I ate sandwiches at Port of Subs and Subway within days of each other and perhaps this goes without saying but Port of Subs is way, way better. It's still totally mediocre in every possible way, but it doesn't screw up easy stuff the way Subway does. Anyway, this is a pretty solid combination … pastrami and turkey get along very well together, and Swiss has enough of its own flavor to hold up against these salty meats. You can actually taste it, unlike the easily overshadowed mass market provolone that shows up on so many of these sandwiches. Wheat roll, lettuce-tomato-onion, mustard, oil and vinegar. I think I had this for breakfast.

The Runnin' Rebel

The Runnin' Rebel at the Sandwich Spot

thesandwichspot.com

B

Just a few weeks old and the Sandwich Spot is already one of the most promising new sandwich spots in Las Vegas. They have a cool, Vegasy decor—despite the fact that it appears to be a California-based franchise—and a menu of simple but well-constructed creations, some of which have Vegasy names. This is one of those, a pile of hot salami with melted pepper jack cheese and bomb sauce, which is a funky combination of a bunch of other sauces. It's a bit spicy, a bit sweet, and it even tastes a bit like … meat? Maybe. It's a lovely complement to any pork or beef product, and the Sandwich Spot does a lot with those. Note all the extras that come on this sucker (lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, peppers, plus mayo, mustard and "secret sauce"), and also pay attention to the dense, slightly sweet Dutch crunch roll. You just don't see this kind of bread in a lot of sandwich shops. It's a nice little detail that proves these folks take their sandwiches very seriously.

Ill-A-Delph

Ill-A-Delph at Coast 2 Coast Deli

c2cdeli.com

C-

I've been wanting to sample the goods from this Las Vegas food truck for a long time, and when I finally got the chance, I'm sorry to say it was a bit of a disappointment. The menu supposes to specialize in sandwiches from across the country, or at least sandwiches inspired by different cities, and the description of this "Loaded Philly" sounded totally delish: a roll stuffed with shaved NY Strip and ribeye steak, beer-cheese sauce, caramelized onions, crumbled bacon, scallions and a ranch dressing drizzle. The meat was just sad, fatty and gristly stuff that was much closer to cheap ground beef than shaved steak. So it goes with cheesesteak meat; you never know what you're gonna get. The sauce, allegedly made with local brewer Tenaya Creek's Calico Brown Ale, was tangy and smooth and quite tasty, but there simply wasn't enough to go around. The onions were also barely present. The other ingredients were fine, though the roll was a bit dry and crumbly, and toasting it slightly seemed to be an attempt to cover for poor quality. It seemed like a great idea and it sure looks good, but the flavor just didn't follow through. If I find this truck again, I'll give it another chance, but I'll order something as far from a cheesesteak as is available.

Banh Mi Thit Nguoi

Banh Mi Thit Nguoi at Dakao Sandwiches

Dakao at Yelp

B-

A return trip to this little spot yields a different sandwich, one with cured pork and pork roll, but similar results. This super salty banh mi is plenty pleasant, chewy slabs of piggy inside a crusty baguette with all the familiar friends. I guess it's just proof that the most basic, cheapest version of this French-Asian sandwich—in this case filled with two different meats that are tough to distinguish from one another—is pretty good. The worst possible scenario is fairly delicious.

Boar's Head Italian Sub

Boar's Head Italian Sub at Smith's

boarshead.com

C+

It's a sad thing when all you have time for is the tearful grabbing of a pre-made grocery store sandwich, an unfortunate substitute that can never satiate the true craving within. And yet this Boar's Head prepared sub encased in plastic at our local Smith's market was surprisingly solid, a puffy multigrain bun stacked with provolone, salami, pepperoni, ham and lettuce leaves. It was badly in need of some oil and vinegar or maybe even a bit of mustard to moisten things up, but on a pre-made sandwich, there's a huge risk of sog. So dry will do, I suppose. But there was a nice portion of high quality meat stuffed inside, making for a pleasant if unspectacular workday lunch experience.

Chicken Cheese Steak

Chicken Cheese Steak at Capriotti's

capriottis.com

B-

The Philly cheesesteak has been bastardized and has thus become boring. Making a cheesesteak with chicken is almost blasphemous, and yet it's still pretty tasty. Capriotti's version uses grilled chicken and melted provolone, and gives you the option to add peppers, onions and mushrooms. The super-soft sub roll Cap's uses—often a detriment—actually works well for cheesesteak purposes, with pliable chewiness that complements the melty meatfest within. So yeah, it's boring, but it'll do.

Fourteener

Fourteener at Backcountry Delicatessen

backcountry-deli.com

B+

Our final Colorado sandwich on this trip comes at a casual, comfortable deli that wasn't around the last time we hungrily swept through Old Town Fort Collins. Backcountry has four locations in Colorado and one in Jackson Hole, and for what appears to be a mini-franchise, this shop has an impressive array of sandwiches on its menu, all utilizing top-notch ingredients. The Fourteener is stacked with deliciously rare, thinly sliced roast beef, powerful blue cheese crumbles, sweet roasted peppers, crunch romaine leaves and a zingy horseradish mayo. The sauce is a little lighter than you would expect, which actually works out perfectly with the strong, creamy cheese, with neither element overpowering the beefiness. The sub roll is spongy and tasty in its own right. Backcountry will definitely be a must-bite on our next Colorado sandwich adventure.