Sub'r Bowl Review: Earl of Sandwich

My second review for the SUB'r Bowl is the Earl of Sandwich. It's in the National Chain Restaurant, Under 1000 Locations division.

Last I checked Earl of Sandwich had locations in Nevada, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and, of course, Texas. Oh, and there's apparently one scheduled to open in Disney Village in Paris, France. This probably has something to do with the fact that the first shop opened in the Disney Resort in Orlando, FL. Whatever the rhyme or reason for the franchising locations, I'm glad there is not one but THREE locations in San Antonio alone; and, as far as I can tell, that's the highest concentration anywhere.

Although you can get soup and salad, the primary product of Earl of Sandwich is their hot subs. They're all made on an "artisan baked loaf," which is baked in the store. The bread is the perfect sandwich bread: lightly crusty on the outside, soft and slightly chewy in the inside, with a hint of buttery goodness. It did have one weakness though, which I'll describe later.

They have over 12 sandwiches on the menu, so we asked what their most popular sandwich was. The guy at the counter told us both the Earl's Club, which more or less sports classic club sandwich innards, and the Full Montagu (named for the Earl of Sandwich), containing roast beef, turkey, swiss and cheddar cheeses, lettuce, tomatoes and "the Earl’s Mustard Sauce," were their best sellers. Greg and I were both mulling over the Full Montagu as well as the Italian, our de facto standard for comparison, so we decided that we'd each order one or the other, then split them so we could each try both sandwiches.

For me, first up was the Full Montagu. The meat was shaved thin, so it was kind of piled on the bread, topped with the cheese, lettuce and roma tomato slices. The mustard sauce tasted to me more or less like a salty dijon mustard with a bit of honey (or perhaps high fructose corn syrup; I don't know exactly what the ingredients are). It was a good flavor combination, but it didn't "wow" me. That is, until I got to the end of the sandwich, where the roma tomato had been placed.

Apparently the sandwich had only 2 slices of tomato on each half of the sandwich, positioned toward the ends of the bread. That seems kind of frugal to me, but maybe it makes more sense if I was eating the entire sandwich. However, since the sandwich is cut in half, you tend to eat from the middle to the ends. I wish I had moved the tomato toward the middle of the sandwich, because that changed the whole flavor profile of the sandwich to something closer to "wow."

Next up was the Italian, and the flavor of this one did wow me from the start. This was an excellent tasting sandwich, but it had a couple of flaws. The first one was the somewhat soggy bread from the Italian dressing. This probably wouldn't have been so much of a problem had I tackled this sandwich first. As I mentioned earlier, the bread is great, but for an Italian sub I would have liked a more robust bread that could have stood up to the vinegar and oil a little better.

Secondly, I was missing the taste of peppers on the sandwich, hot or sweet. I found out later, after picking up a to-go menu, that I had the option of having peppers on the sandwich; however, I was not informed of the option or asked by the employee taking my order if I wanted peppers on the sandwich. I see this more as a service failure than a sandwich failure though, but I'll never know how much better (or perhaps worse) the sandwich could have been.

I ordered the combo, which comes with chips and a drink. I got the Earl of Sandwich labeled salt and vinegar kettle chips, which were only lightly tangy. I wouldn't choose these chips as a standalone snack, but, as an accompaniment, it had just the right amount of bite without overpowering the sandwich. The soft drinks, Pepsi products, were all flat; I informed an employee, and I saw about 5 minutes later someone came out to swap out the CO2. I'm not into Pepsi products anyway, so it wasn't that big of a deal for me. Instead I got some of the "Earl's Grey Lemonade." It's billed as mix of lemonade and Earl Grey tea, but it was a fusion that didn't work for me. It was pretty strong on the sour lemon side, but not sweet enough, and the tea just kind of clashed with the flavor of the thing. It might have been better if I had sweetened it more, but I didn't feel like it was worth refilling to try.

I rated the following categories:

• Bread: 6
• Sandwich Stuff: 6
• Price/Value: 6
• Non-sandwich Stuff: 3
• Bonus points: 0
• Total: 21 points

I enjoy going to the Earl of Sandwich. I've been there many times in the past, and my favorite sandwich is the All American, which tastes like Thanksgiving in a sandwich. So I was not surprised at all by the high ratings these sandwiches received and the compliments from all who went. Even though it's a national franchise, it has the prices of a local sub shop ($5.95 for an approximately 9 inch sandwich), but it's totally worth it. Highly recommended for anyone who likes a gourmet sub.

See Also:
Greg's Review