A sandwich at Pop's Deli & Grill, a deli in Hayward, California.
out of 100 · outstanding
Outstanding, and the road to 90 is open.
Reads as a fully realized meatball sub, four of six roles on the board.
More umami 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.
french roll, toasted: whole meatballs; marinara sauce; melted provolone cheese.
Balance
| Axis | Value | Catalog percentile |
|---|---|---|
| salt | 1.7 | 79th |
| acid | 0.8 | 62nd |
| fat | 2.0 | 45th |
| sweet | 0.5 | 66th |
| umami | 2.9 | 90th |
| heat | 0.0 | n/a |
| bitter | 0.0 | n/a |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| french rollscored as Hoagie Roll | bread | soft crusty | the frame |
| whole meatballsscored as Meatball | protein | umami 4 fat 3 salt 2 soft juicy tender | +14 |
| marinara saucescored as Marinara | sauce | acid 3 umami 3 salt 2 sweet 2 soft saucy wet | +24 |
| melted provolone cheesescored as Provolone | protein | fat 3 umami 3 salt 2 soft melty | +15 |
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
- Meatball + Marinara: marinara is the meatball's native sauce
- Meatball + Provolone: provolone melted over the meatball sub
How to raise it
- Outstanding, not legendary: nothing on this sandwich is house-made, named or exceptional.
All the sandwiches at Pop's Deli & Grill · The menu this was read from · Build your own in the Sandwich Builder