Sandwich Safari: The Sandwich Stop

The Sandwich Stop at 2285 St. Laurent Blvd Building C #10, is another in a long line of informal eateries servicing workers in industrial parks. 

Brothers Tom and Manny bring 37 years of hospitality experience to their latest venture. After a series of restaurants in Kanata, and still hoping to enjoy greeting customers, they opted to downsize with a sandwich shop. 

In addition to their menu of 17 sandwiches, they also offer salads, soups and home-baked cookies. Eating here is a value proposition as sandwich prices range between $10.40 and $15. I ordered two sandwiches, the Italian Hero and The Bull.

As I have a meatball recipe that took years to get my hands on (a story for another time) I wanted to see how these Italian brothers fared with their meatball recipe. It was better than I was expecting. That included the bread, which they get from the in-house bakery at the Italian grocery store Farmer’s Pick. 

The meatballs were freshly made (with no fridge taste) with a mix of beef and pork and just the right amount of garlic and herbs. They were not too dense and tasted as if they’d been stewed in tomato sauce. 

The sauce too was fresh and house-made and although there was a blanket of mozzarella the sauce did its job of brightening and lightening the eating. Easily one of the best meatball sandwiches I’ve had in Ottawa.

The most expensive of their sandwiches is The Bull. This was a hefty Canadian AAA roast of top sirloin sliced and then layered with horseradish aioli, red onions, Havarti, lettuce and tomatoes. No deli meats here.

It was succulent and dripping with beef flavour and no one needed to tell Tom that red onion and horseradish are the sine qua non for a beef sandwich. An essential seasoning seemingly always missing from a beef sandwich is that “roast” character but here it was and along with the general tender quality, it made a world of difference.

In my talk with him, Tom proudly pointed to his vegetarian sandwich, emphasizing that he roasts the vegetables himself and that he feels this sandwich is one of the best veggie versions out there. 

I’ll take up that challenge and report back.