Midtown Lunch

I can’t even tell you how many times in the last couple of years I’ve devoured every bite of my Downtown Lunch and immediately regretted that decision as the food coma crept up on me. Last Friday was one of those days. After learning that the awaited Saluggi’s Sandwich Shop – an offshoot of pizza shop Saluggi’s a couple doors away – was finally open in the old Sea World space at Church St. & Lispenard, I headed up to order myself a deli sandwich and some waffle fries.

There’s a wide menu here that surprisingly stays away from any of the offerings at Saluggi’s (which itself has great Italian sandwiches).  Here you can get deli heroes, burgers, salads, pastrami sandwiches and melts and disco waffle fries, but no parms.

While a couple of the burgers sounded tempting, it had been a while since I ate a deli hero so I followed my heart and ordered  the one with roasted turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy for $8 which included the default waffle fries. When I saw the counter guy take out a loaf of bread the size of a small baguette, I knew I was in trouble. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later I was handed a square takeout container that was literally bulging at the seams.

Beware when opening the container as they just dump some waffle fries on top of the sandwich and they tend to fall out. The sandwich itself was cut in half and took up the entire container. There was a good portion of Boar’s Head deli turkey (not the hot roasted kind I had expected), with a smear of mashed potatoes and drizzle of brown gravy. I really wished there was more gravy for added moisture, so you may want to ask for extra. The sesame-seeded bread was nicely toasted on the outside and did a good job of soaking up that gravy.

The waffle fries were nothing special, but they really rarely are. Mostly they serve as a counterpoint to the huge sandwich.

This was a tasty lunch, but I think I would order the spicy roast beef hero or one of the burgers next time.

Saluggi’s Sandwich Shoppe, 321 Church St. (at Lispenard), (212) 775-1175