A few weeks ago I found myself in Atlantic City for the 2011 ECAC Men's Hockey Tournament. The outcome of the games... well, we don't really need to talk about that. But I was happy to be down there because it gave me an opportunity to try out the White House Sub Shop. If you're not familiar with it, the White House is a famous deli not far from Trump Plaza (which, by the way, has free self-parking just a couple of blocks away) that's been turning out huge, awesome, cheap sandwiches for decades, and has the yellowed celebrity photos on the wall to prove it. You can't read a review of the White House without hearing stories of how people stop there on the way out of town to buy a bunch of sandwiches to take home, or have them delivered by courier, or how Frank Sinatra reportedly had a bunch shipped to his movie sets. So, I had to give it a try.
I had read stories of people waiting in line for an hour or more at the White House, but my arrival was conveniently in the lull between lunch and dinner and there were only a couple of people in line ahead of me. Once my number was called, I gave my order to the sandwich-maker (who called me "Chris" because apparently I look like a guy named Chris): a half tuna and a half White House Special. My plan was to eat the tuna for a late lunch/early dinner, and the Special (salami, ham, provolone, capicola) as a snack on my ride home later that night. It should be noted here that a half is on a half a loaf of bread - about a foot long, still a big sandwich. The tab for both sandwiches came in at around $14. I took my sandwiches to a little park across the street and dug in. Here's a picture of the tuna sandwich:
Or, let's be more precise: this is HALF of a half tuna sub, after I had devoured the first half before it occurred to me to take a picture. Note 20 ounce soda bottle shown in the background for perspective. You get a lot of sandwich for $7. The bread was fresh and awesome, and actually sturdy enough to basically hold all the ingredients; the tuna was chunky and tasty and not overly mayonnaise-y; the tomatoes were fresh; the onions and oil and vinegar gave it some kick; the lettuce... was lettuce. This was a delicious sandwich, and big enough that I couldn't finish it. (Without any chips on the side or anything, either.) Stashed the other sandwich in the trunk of the car (so the inside wouldn't smell like meat for days afterward), went to the game.
Well, I think the picture of the first sandwich demonstrates the flaw in my plan: these sandwiches are way too big to eat while driving. As a result, I wound up making my way back to the Parkway and pulling off at the first rest area I found, only a couple of miles up from the Atlantic City Expressway, to pick up a bottle of water and go to town on that bad boy. Unfortunately, because I was eating in the car (sorry Mom), I wasn't able to take a picture of the Special, so I'm borrowing these, with credit to Always Hungry New York:
In addition to the great bread and the delicious meats and cheese and lettuce and tomato and onion, note the hot pepper relish on top. That stuff was a particular highlight, definitely something that sets sandwiches from the White House apart from what you might find elsewhere. Because I wasn't all that hungry after eating the tuna sub earlier, I ate half of the Special and brought the rest home for my father to enjoy (and also out of guilt since I had made a sandwich with the last of the roast beef for lunch earlier in the day).
Incredible sandwiches. Just thinking about them makes me want to go have lunch right now. If you ever find yourself in Atlantic City, you should definitely make a stop. I'm told their cheesesteaks and meatball subs are excellent as well. (NB: They also have a location set to open in the Trump Taj Mahal sometime within the next couple of weeks.)
Part 2 soon to come...
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