A sandwich at Domenico's Italian Deli, a deli in Alameda, California.
out of 100 · excellent
Excellent. Small moves left on the board.
A cubano with layers outside the form; six of six roles, most layers have a partner.
More acid than 90% of the catalog.
Each bar is one pillar of the score, 0 to 100. The tick marks what a sandwich at the summit needs; an amber bar is the one holding this sandwich back.
hoagie roll (the menu offers a choice of bread; scored on this one), served cold: fresh cut smoked ham; lettuce; tomato; red onion; pickles; pepperoncini; mayo; mustard.
Balance
| Axis | Value | Catalog percentile |
|---|---|---|
| salt | 2.1 | 90th |
| acid | 2.4 | 90th |
| fat | 1.2 | 18th |
| sweet | 0.5 | 65th |
| umami | 1.1 | 34th |
| heat | 0.5 | 85th |
| bitter | 0.2 | 70th |
96 Balance, out of 100
The seven flavor axes of the whole sandwich, each summed across its layers. The shaded ring is the catalog's middle 80%; the small number under each axis is where this sandwich falls in the catalog. A shape that sits inside the ring is in the range most sandwiches live in; a spike past it is where this one stands apart.
What each layer brings
| Layer | Role | Flavor and texture | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| hoagie roll (the menu offers a choice of bread; scored on this one) | bread | soft crusty | the frame |
| fresh cut smoked hamscored as Ham | protein | salt 4 umami 4 fat 3 soft silky tender | +23 |
| lettuce | texture | crunchy juicy fresh | +14 |
| tomato | texture | acid 3 umami 3 sweet 2 juicy soft fresh | +16 |
| red onionscored as Onion | texture | sweet 2 crunchy juicy fresh | −3 |
| picklesscored as Pickle (cucumber) | acid | acid 5 salt 4 crunchy juicy pickled | +3 |
| pepperoncini | acid | acid 4 salt 2 pickled crunchy wet | −6 |
| mayoscored as Mayonnaise | sauce | fat 5 acid 2 creamy saucy | +11 |
| mustard | sauce | acid 3 salt 2 heat 2 saucy smooth | +6 |
Points: what the Sandwich Score would lose if that one layer were left out, everything else the same. A negative number means the sandwich scores higher without it. Flavor runs 0 to 5 on each axis.
Pairings
- Ham + Pickle (cucumber): the cubano lesson: brine cuts cured pork
- Ham + Mustard: deli constant: hot mustard on cured pork
- Tomato + Mayonnaise: summer tomato sandwich: acid on rich
How to raise it
- Outstanding, not legendary: the menu does not name its bread.
All the sandwiches at Domenico's Italian Deli · The menu this was read from · Build your own in the Sandwich Builder