Philadelphia Style Hoagies in San Francisco?

Yes, this is an Oyster blog.  No, this post is not on Oysters.  But, I recently found something so incredible that I had to share it with other SF and Bay Area residents.  And you know it's got to be good if it warrants a non-Oyster post. 

Upon moving to San Francisco, there were many culinary treats I thought I would miss from the the Mid-Atlantic.  But, I soon came to realize that a soft pretzel is a soft pretzel, for the most part.  There actually are good cheese steaks out here, despite what some may say.  All the great microbreweries around made me soon forget Yuengling.  And there are so many "micro-chipperies" that Herr's potato chips are easily replaced.  However, the East Coast delight that has simply not been made in the Bay Area is the Philadelphia style Italian Hoagie.  Over the past two years I've been frantically searching for one, taking any and all suggestions.  None have been up to par, until now.

I've paid $10 for my fair share of SF sandwiches, and some are very good.  However, often you just end up with avocado covered nonsense, shabby "house roasted" turkey, and some damn "aioli" that you wish you could forget.  Nothing like the value and quality you receive with an Italian Hoagie.  Also aioli is not technically aioli if it does not have garlic in it.  It means "garlic" and "oil."  Somehow, mayonnaise has become a dirty word and aioli has replaced it, even though 9 times out of 10 it's not actual aioli.  My buddy's been bitching about this for a while and I kind of agree with him.  A bit pedantic, but true.

Anyway, this is one of the few sandwiches I have no qualms paying more than $10 for (but they only charge $10).  The owner of Deli Board, famous for its baked-to-order bread and corned beef sandwiches, has started a pop-up out the back of the store called 1058 Hoagies.

Plenty of places in SF have claimed to make an "italian hoagie."  Sorry guys, it takes a bit more than just putting Boar's Head on an Amoroso's roll.  The bread needs to be soft and toothsome with ends that are almost over-saturated with oil and vinegar.  Properly shredded iceberg lettuce.  Hot peppers and and italian seasoned onions so aromatic passing pedestrians can smell them through the bag.  Tomatoes prepped on an industrial slicer so they're translucently thin.  Only a thin layer of provolone as to not over power but give just the right bite.  And there needs to be so much meat it would make a nun blush.  That's the proper hoagie, and 1058 Hoagies is making a damn good one. 

 

It's an unapologetic monster at 12 inches long.  Size is irrelevant unless quality is there though, and it certainly is.  1058 easily passes all tests.  Great sesame seed fresh baked roll, well seasoned onions, salt & pepper, oil & vinegar, cherry peppers, shredded lettuce adorably known as "shredduce," and the perfect ratio of thinly sliced provolone to generous helpings of capicola, mortadella, and genoa salami (Italian delis' holy trinity).  I have to admit the pictured sandwich is not the Italian Hoagie I speak of, or "the #1" as it's known at 1058.  I couldn't make it home to take a picture before devouring the whole thing like a crazy person on the street and bus (passengers definitely noticed the onions, ha).  However, they were so kind that they gave me a free hoagie, the #10 on their website.  Be it a misfire or just pure generosity, I certainly appreciated it and will be returning soon for a bite into the East Coast's best.

   

They are open on select nights, listed on their schedule on the website (seems to be in sync with Giants home games).  Whether you follow them on Twitter, schedule the dates on your iPhone calender, or camp out on the corner of Russ St. and Folsom St., I highly recommend getting one of these hoagies.  I'm sure you'll see me there.

Cheers,

The SF Oyster Nerd/A Hoagie Junkie

  

The Hangtown Fry

Sourdough, Cioppino, maybe the Burrito. Irish Coffee, Green Goddess Dressing, or Dungeness Crab Louis if you're getting a bit more in depth.  And no, for those of you reading in Tulsa or Omaha, definitely not the namesake "treat," Rice-a-Roni.  There are several culinary specialties native to San Francisco that enjoy worldwide fame.  However, there is one dish in particular that doesn't receive much attention, and that is the Hangtown Fry.  But first, a little background.

Many people hear San Francisco and think ultra-liberal, hippies, sustainable, smug, cable cars, etc.  And all of this is true in some way, the good and the bad.  It's a great place with many forward thinking people, but they do tend to know it, and are more than happy to let you know it, too.  I'd feel bad for saying that, if I weren't one of them.  However, I haven't found a better place to live in the US.  Now, rewind 160 years. San Francisco and the surrounding area was a very different place with a very different culture.  

Northern California was prospectors' territory, not exactly attracting your educated, upright-citizen elite.  The Gold Rush lured the down-on-their-luck who wanted to hit pay dirt (literally), and, in turn, those who wanted to relieve them of their newly found fortunes.  All of this wealth soon brought plenty of booze, brothels, and baccarat.  Wrought with vice, San Francisco replaced New Orleans as the major US gambling Mecca.  All those little alleys in SOMA with female names: Jessie St., Minna St.  Legend has it they're named after famous SF ladies-of-the-night.  Point is, the City and Northern California were much seedier places than they are now.  And with so many unsavory characters running amok, a reactionary capital punishment system soon followed.

This brings us to Hangtown, now known as Placerville, located a little more than 100 miles northeast of San Francisco.  Originally called Old Dry Diggings (due to the fashion of panning in the area), it was a forty-niner community that sprung up close to Coloma, where gold was first discovered in California.  As a center of the "Wild West" of California, the population of Old Dry Diggings quickly grew from hundreds to thousands.  As the riches and population grew, so did the crime.  Residents soon took matters into their own hands and began executing the offenders by hanging, namely three men at a large oak tree in the center of the town in 1849, leading to the name "Hangtown."

The Hangtown Fry, itself, has quite a few stories behind it.  The most widely accepted version is that a man, just having struck it rich, walked into the El Dorado Hotel and asked for the most expensive dish in the house.  The cook came out of the kitchen and said the most expensive items he had were eggs, which were fragile and had to be carefully carted into town, bacon, which had to be shipped from the East coast, and Oysters, which had to be packed in ice and brought in from San Francisco daily.  According to Doug Noble, El Dorado County writer and historian, the prospector responded with "scramble me up a whole mess of eggs and Oysters, throw in some bacon and serve 'em up."  The result:  The Hangtown Fry

This is considered one of the closest to the original versions of the Hangtown Fry, served at Tadich Grill, California's oldest restaurant.  Dining there is quite the experience.  Martinis, manhattans, veteran bartenders dressed in white lab coats, marking them as doctors of "inebriology."  It has a certain 1950's Madison Ave. feel to it, where I'm sure million dollar Pacific Stock Exchange deals were brokered over charbroiled chops and Crown Royal. Check out Anthony Bourdain's visit to Tadich Grill here.

The version of the Hangtown Fry's origin I prefer, despite likely being apocryphal, begins with an unnamed man on death row in 1850s Hangtown.  When asked what he would like for his last meal, he didn't go with the traditional, opulent Diamond Jim Brady style 32 oz. steak and potatoes.  Rather, knowing the difficulty to obtain the ingredients, he ordered bacon, eggs, and Oysters.  All of these items would have to be shipped into town, delaying his execution by at least a day or two.  Did it work?  I'd like to think so.  If not, there's still a silver lining in the delectable dish that was born out of his doom.  Perhaps the original California Cuisine.

It's a pretty tasty omelette.  I mean, bacon and Oysters.  Kind of hard to mess up.  Cured meats and shellfish are one of those brilliant marriages in any form.  It would certainly be on my short list of last meals.  So, I thought I'd try my hand at making it, but with a little more contemporary kick.  Butter griddled English muffin, sauteed spinach, thick cut slab bacon, sunny side up egg, and corn flour Old Bay fried Oysters.

The only thing that's missing is the sauce.  I couldn't decide on what to add.  Hollandaise, red pepper coulis, mornay?  Any and all suggestions are welcomed, so please share your thoughts.  And, of course, get out and try the rare and delicious bite into California history that is the Hangtown Fry for yourself.

Cheers,
The SF Oyster Nerd