A sandwich at Gambino's New York Subs, a sandwich shop in San Francisco, California.
out of 100 · excellent
Excellent, with one move worth +11.
Reads as a fully realized caprese, four of six roles on the board.
Holding the summit: balance 0.80 or better
More sweet 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 mozzarella (high tier); basil; tomato; balsamic vinaigrette.
Balance
| Axis | Value | Catalog percentile |
|---|---|---|
| salt | 0.4 | 18th |
| acid | 1.5 | 90th |
| fat | 0.9 | 12th |
| sweet | 1.1 | 90th |
| umami | 0.9 | 26th |
| heat | 0.0 | n/a |
| bitter | 0.4 | 88th |
73 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 mozzarella (high tier) | protein | fat 3 soft creamy melty | +32 |
| basil | aromatic | fresh herbal soft | +11 |
| tomato | texture | acid 3 umami 3 sweet 2 juicy soft fresh | +16 |
| balsamic vinaigrettescored as Balsamic (vinegar, glaze) | acid | acid 4 sweet 3 wet saucy | −1 |
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
- Fresh Mozzarella + Basil: basil perfume over milky mozzarella
- Fresh Mozzarella + Tomato: caprese core: milky against sweet acid
- Fresh Mozzarella + Balsamic (vinegar, glaze): dark acid against milky cheese
- Basil + Tomato: shared-compound classic: tomato and basil
- Tomato + Balsamic (vinegar, glaze): vinegar on tomato, salad logic
How to raise it
- Between you and 90: balance 0.80 or better (0.07 short).
All the sandwiches at Gambino's New York Subs · The menu this was read from · Build your own in the Sandwich Builder