I May Never Eat Another Meatball Sandwich

We’re solidly in the Ms now, which puts us about halfway through the list. If you’ve been following along, you’ll understand what I mean when I say that there’s only so many ways you can put things between bread before you start getting some repeats. It seems like so many of my sandwich posts lately revolve around the “What can I write about X sandwich?” question lately, and I don’t know whether it’s because the sandwiches lack novelty or I lack motivation. And while we haven’t explicitly done anything quite like a meatball sandwich yet that I recall–it’s a meatball sandwich. It’s a basic. Around here they’re considered a South Side Chicago thing, but I’m fairly sure you can find a meatball sub wherever you find Italian-descended folks making sandwiches.

Meatballs are like tiny little meatloaves. You take some meat (generally speaking an Italian-American meatball is going to be made with ground beef or a mixture of beef and pork), mix in some seasoning, bread crumbs, and eggs, and you roll them into balls and bake them. Then you soak them in some red sauce, slap them on a roll with some peppers and cheese, and you’ve got a meatball sub. The meat stays moist and soft due to the bread crumbs retaining its juices, the red sauce soaks into the bread, and the whole thing is a sloppy and tasty mess.

I have eaten a meatball sandwich or two in my life, and enjoyed them. (I can literally only think of two I’ve had before this month–from Bombacigno’s J&C Inn and the Stanger at Calabria Imports, both in Chicago.) They’re not my favorite, and I’ll rarely order one, but I’m generally satisfied when I do.

Some people are big fans though.

https://twitter.com/delusions_of/status/885147351957987330

While other would take us to task for not calling it a meatball sub (which is is, but sub is short for submarine sandwich so that’s splitting hairs a bit I think).

https://twitter.com/joeypiazza/status/882277427988377601

As it happens, I live less than a mile from Bartolini’s, a restaurant famous for its meatball sandwiches. Infamous, maybe, as they have a meatball sandwich challenge.

If you can eat the 3ft long, 10lb meatball sandwich in less than 3 hours, you get it free. If you can beat the record, you get some cash out of it. PROTIP: you aren’t beating this lady’s record (also, do not watch this video if you’d like to continue enjoying food):

Bartolini’s meatballs are the moistest meatballs I’ve ever had. However, a fully loaded meatball sub with red sauce, giardiniera, and provolone cheese turns out not to be terribly photogenic.

It’s also difficult to eat. The sauce provides all the lubricant needed for the peristalsis of bread, cheese, and hands to push a meatball out onto the plate (if you’re lucky).

I tried a few others. I visited Bombacigno’s, a previous favorite, for a late lunch one day. They only had one meatball left (which I found out 25 minutes after I’d ordered the sandwich) but they filled the rest of the sandwich with Italian Beef instead. This was not the worst thing that could have happened to me. The meatball was dense and dumpling-like from a longer-than-usual swim in the red sauce, and the thin-sliced beef had begun to shred. Neither were presented at their best. Yet this was a good enough sandwich that I wondered why it wasn’t a standard combination, except that it didn’t really combine the two, just appended them one to the other. Still, a meatball/beef combo may be an idea whose time has come.

Bombacigno’s has been in business for a long time, and I like the place a lot. I’m not going to let one lackluster experience keep me from going back. However, not only were they just not on their game that day but everybody seemed… tired. I certainly hope that I’m only imagining things but I wonder how much longer they want to keep going. Then again, Mike Gebert wondered the same thing 4 years ago and they’re still kicking.

I also checked out the meatball sub from Loop stalwart Luke’s. Like most everything they do, it was a perfectly competent example of its kind.

I kept thinking about those meatballs at Bartolini’s though, so I returned for a meal on their patio. I requested the sandwich on garlic bread this time, and dry with sauce on the side, hoping for a better photo. I also ordered their “pub style” fries, which are tossed with garlic butter and parmesan.

To my surprise, the meatballs didn’t look terribly tasty, sitting naked on that garlicky grilled bread. Some red sauce and parmesan fixed that (for me, at least. Reddit still thinks this sandwich looks too dry).

No cheese (well, a little Parmesan), no peppers, but some juicy meatballs and a good red sauce are all you need for this sandwich, I think. Of course many will disagree, and they’re welcome to their opinion. In fact, they’re welcome to the sandwich. I’ve eaten more meatball sandwiches this month than I ever cared to, and while they were enjoyable enough, I can’t see myself going for one when there are so many other options that will be more satisfying.

The thing about a meatball sandwich is, they’re enormous, and they’re filling. That first bite is great, and the second, but before long, fatigue sets in. I think that’s why I liked the Bombacigno’s sandwich so much. When I was tired of the meatball half, I could take a bite of the Italian beef half to recharge.

If you’re a fan of the meatball sub, I do recommend the one at Bartolini’s. (The standard size, that is. I still can’t quite wrap my head around the 3ft long version). They also do a meatball pizza. I’ll probably try one of those before I ever have a meatball sub again.