A Pop Quiz from Hog Island Deli, Austin.

Here's something a little superficial to lighten up your Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  It has to be superficial, because I'm doing laundry while I write, which means that every 24 minutes I have to jump up, run to the laundry room, and switch out a load of clothes.  I kinda miss having a washing machine in the house.

And gotta run out again!  Sheets are due to go in the dryer!

And I'm back.  It's a regular Fractured Consciousness Monday around here.  (That would sound better were it a Friday.)

Anyway!  Pop quiz, suckas!  Look at this menu, and then tell me, is the Old Italian sub served hot?  How about just the regular Italian?

If you said yes, Hog Island thinks you're a fool.  But don't worry, they don't have a high opinion of us, either.  We went to Hog Island Deli on Saturday, wanting a good sub with nice, Italian-dressed deli meats on a toasty length of bread, but that's not what we got.  Instead, we got Boar's Head on a gummy cold roll dressed with limp lettuce, plain balsamic, and a way too-healthy shake of oregano.

When our sandwiches arrived, we were momentarily pleased at their appearance.  That is, until we touched them to discover their chill.  

I went up to explain to the guy behind the counter that we were a little surprised at having received cold sandwiches, given that the ones we'd ordered were listed under "Hot Stuff."  His verbatim response: "yeah, some retard listed those under 'hot stuff', I guess because they're hot sellers.  I've been asking them to change it forever now.  Sorry."

So there you have it.  If I were Hog Island Deli, and this was an ongoing problem,  I think I'd tell people who ordered things listed under "hot stuff" not to necessarily expect a hot sandwich.  Or if they were surprised at getting a cold sandwich when they thought they'd ordered a hot one, and they TOLD ME ABOUT THE PROBLEM, perhaps I'd, I dunno, offer to TOAST the stupid thing for them!  (And I probably wouldn't call someone I work with a "retard," while I was at it.  That insult is so '90s.)

I guess I wouldn't care a whole ton, except that for somewhere around $18 for two sandwiches and a soda - I enjoyed my delicious root beer, thanks! - I felt like we'd paid enough to get a good sammich.  Guess not.

Lesson learned.  If what we're really craving is a tasty dressed Italian sandwich on a toasty fresh bun, we should just freaking go to Home Slice.  Logan said he wouldn't have another desire to cheat on their subs anytime soon.

Hog Island Deli is at 1612 Lavaca Street in Austin.  

Comments

[Albany Jane]

Bah on that! Apathetic folks are so lame. Why wouldn't you fix a known problem, or at least fix it instead of putting up with rightly annoyed customers?

At any rate, at least there's a good old faithful spot you guys can fall back on.

[Laura]

Yeah, that's lame. Boo on hog island.

[AyeEat]

That menu looks suspiciously like a chalk board. How hard can it be to fix?

If I ever have the urge to spend $20 on a sandwich I could make at home I know where to stop. :)

Appreciate the heads up!

[Jaye @ Food Porn]

Next time you guys want this, but a cold version, check out Tucci's Southside Subs. There's one at the Y in Oak Hill in the shopping center with the Golden Chick, and one at Wm. Cannon/35 next to the Gatti's. He does an awesome Italian sub with Boar's Head meats and awesome peppers and stuff.

[Boots in the Oven]

AJ, too true... every time I look at this post I want to go to Home Slice!

Laura, seriously!

AyeEat, too true. What the effing eff. And you're so welcome. :-)

Jaye, thanks for the tip - I'll remember if we find ourselves in that part of town!

Rachel

[RB]

GAD! Well, as you said, it looked nice.

I constantly amazed at the help in most eateries. Most here In Pasadena Ca, are just crap. No real decent foodie places on the smaller mom & pop scale since Greco's went down. I was recommended "The Hat" here in Pasadena and I also tried the original in Alhambra and they both suck. Haven't been over to Pink's on Melrose Ave in years. I was also recommended Porto in Glendale... Got a cuban sandwich... not grilled the cubano way and the meats were tragic. Huge place with lotsa stuff to order so may try it again.

I made a tragic mistake while in Rome with my family... I asked for mayonnaise on my panini... oops! I guess it's like ordering a latte for dinner. This, a place she frequented while in school at St Stephens, was an amazing place to eat and all they offered were panini's and some gourmet items.

Hope you had better results with your laundry.

[Chris]

My office is smack dab between two different downtown Hog Island locations, and I never find myself with an urge to go there. I don't hate the place, but nothing's special there. As far as their hot sammies go, I usually opted for the Philly. But even that was only just decent. Don't get me started on Phillies in Austin. Never had one that compares to the one I got at Rocky's (a small east coast chain) in Miami. Haven't had subs at Home Slice. Will have to give 'em a go. Can they make anything as good as the meatball sub at Enoteca?

[Boots in the Oven]

Thanks, RB! The laundry went well. Sorry to hear about your negative panini experience! I'll have to remember your list if we make it to Pasadena.

Chris, I've heard their Philly is decent - maybe we should have tried that? And I haven't had the meatball sub at Enoteca, but I can tell you the Italian sandwiches at Home Slice are rockin'.

Rachel

[todd]

Oh man, imagine my surprise to see this because the same thing happened to. If you look at their menu carefully you see that the Italian is listed under both hot and cold menus. So, yeah, that's pretty weak. But really, their sandwiches are not that bad. Somewhat better than thundercloud next door, but you're right. For the price, it could be a little better. Also, I think they have recently changed their bread. Used to be crunchier, actually too crunchy. Better now.

[KMTBERRY]

GO TO FRICANO'S DELI!
SRSLY
There is no reason to ever go to any other sandwich place
THis is me Kate THornberry BTW
Not somebody FROM Fricano's!

[CART]

I wouldn't expect them to be hot. Being from Philly, I would expect hoagies, (aka, things with lunch meat) to be cold. MOF, it surprised me the first time I went someplace outside of the Philly tri-state area (Boston, I think), ordered a grinder/sub/whatever (something in my mind that was hoagie-like), and saw that it was served hot. It was then and there that I started ordering only things like meatball subs, since they were meant to be hot anyway. I felt the same way, out in California, at a sub shop when they asked me if I wanted mustard on my sub. Mustard is not for subs. Light mayo is acceptable, but the best thing is oil, preferably seasoned oil (like what you get when you order it Mike's way at Jersey Mike's).