Delivery Or Sub Shop Best Sandwich Bet?

Anytime you read an article about fast or convenience foods, a requisite part of the text is the exhortation to make it yourself and save money, time or calories.

One glaring exception to this rule, for most folks, is the sub sandwich.

Call it a grinder, a hoagie or whatever else you'd like, these sandwich creations are usually best left to the experts. Sure, you can do it yourself, but when you ask your butcher to shave you off two ounces of five different meats and three different cheeses, he's likely to offer to stick your hand in his meat slicer.

And try buying just one sub bun. Unless you live near a bakery, and you'll be flat out of luck.

If you've got a family to feed, then by all means have a homemade sub night. Get a variety of meats, cheeses, relishes and breads and make a party of it. However, if it's a weeknight or you don't have a gang to feed, your local sub shop is your best bet.

Like any fast food, there are two types of restaurants plying the trade: your local joint, with one or two locations and a menu that likely reflects local and regional tastes, and the national chains that offer a standardized menu, "value" meals and, usually, somewhat lower prices.

Now, however, the game has changed a bit with the entry of Domino's Pizza into the field. Making toasted subs in a pizza joint makes perfect sense. The roller oven used to cook the pizzas does a good job melting cheese and toasting bread for sandwiches, too. And the pizza-making station could easily do the job for sandwiches.

But what about the quality? No matter how easily something fits into a framework, it's still going to remove a bit of focus from the core product. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't.

In this test, we're matching Domino's new Italian sub against comparable creations from Subway and Quizno's, the two major players in the submarine sandwich market. Each sandwich was graded on taste, appearance and overall impression, with letter grades awarded.

Domino's Oven-Baked Italian Sandwich: 880 calories, 45 grams fat, 120 mg cholesterol, 2,560 mg sodium, 71 grams carbs.

The appearance of this sub was great. The thickness of the bread compared to the toppings was excellent, and bits of melted cheese oozed out all around. The taste was no slouch either, with the pepperoni taste dominating the salami and the ham, the mozzarella with a bit of bite and the peppers and onions, grilled with the sandwich, adding their own good notes.

The bread, however, was not a strong point. It left a greasy after-impression and didn't have much flavor. The absence of any fresh veggies was also a demerit. We understand not offering lettuce, but tomatoes are offered as a pizza topping and should be on the sandwiches -- along with some black olives. Final grade: B+.

Quiznos Classic Italian (regular): 920 calories, 49.5 grams fat, 105 mg cholesterol, 2,850 mg sodium, 69 grams carbs.

This one was a bit puzzling. The ingredient list is impressive, with capicola, salami, pepperoni and ham making the meat component.

However, almost none of the flavors one would expect from those meats were present in the sandwich. The meaty texture was there, but the flavor was lacking.

The bread was good, with a chewy interior and a fairly crisp crust. The vinaigrette dressing was a nice touch, also, adding a good vinegary tang that would have danced well with more flavorful meats. Final grade: C

Subway Italian BMT (footlong): 900 calories, 42 grams fat, 110 mg cholesterol, 3,570 mg sodium, 74 grams carbs.

Subway has always distinguished itself by the latitude offered in how your sandwich is prepared.

With the BMT, the only hard-and-fast rule is the meat trio of Genoa salami, pepperoni and ham. You can even, if you've suffered a head injury of some sort, choose to top your sandwich with processed American cheese.

The test sandwich used mozzarella, as nature intended. We added lettuce, tomato, black olives, banana peppers and a bit of olive oil blend and vinegar. The result was the clear winner of the test. The bread (we chose white, although there is a tempting array of options) was bakery-fresh and nicely crusty. The meats each had definite, distinguishing flavors, the cheese was quite good and the fresh toppings really added punch. Final grade: A.

All these sandwiches were within a dollar of each other on price, between $5 and $6. If you choose the Domino's and want it delivered, though, you'll need to order at least two.