With about a dozen choices just in the middle of our fair city, there's bound to be a sandwich joint that'll make your mouth water. Here's a quick look at the options.
Journal Star staffers | Posted: Wednesday, October 3, 2007 7:00 pm
You can’t swing a baguette in downtown Lincoln without hitting one sandwich shop or another. Like skinny jeans, giant sunglasses and quarterbacks with just one sleeve, sandwich joints are all the rage around here.
Seriously, what’s up with all of these places? How saturated can one market get? And how can they possibly differ from one another?
With these questions in mind, we nobly embarked on a mission to instill some order to the chaos produced by so much meat, cheese and bread in such a tiny geographic area. What we found led to a number of surprises (mainly of the pleasant variety).
But first, our "rules."
- To keep this all manageable, we limited our focus to only sandwich shops on and north of O Street to UNL, and from the Haymarket to 16th Street.
- Sure, you can get sandwiches lots of places. But we're only talking about places where the main offering is sub or deli-type sandwiches served on bread. Tortillas, pitas, wraps, gyros, bagels and hamburger buns need not apply.
- We included only the spots where you go up to a counter to order. Some of us think Bison Witches has an amazing PB&J, but we’ve left it off this mega-map because it’s a sit-down-and-order place (and a bar).
The numbers coordinate to the map above right.
1. Subway: The ol' reliable. So reliable, in fact, there’s two of them just in downtown Lincoln.
2. Quiznos: With subs featuring prime rib or chicken and spicy sauces, this place kicks up the flavor a notch.
3. Planet Sub: Perhaps the sunniest outdoor dining spot with a sunny color palette to match. The help’s friendly, too.
4. Doozy’s: This longtime presence is a no-nonsense option … sort of like the small-town café that knows how to feed a hungry diner.
5. Jimmy John’s: Clever signs. Funny T-shirts. Speedy delivery trucks everywhere. They’re doing something right.
6. Erbert and Gerbert’s: What if someone opened a coffee house and a sandwich shop broke out? The old Homer’s location is sure to become a cozy study spot.
7. Highnooners: The old soda-fountain-shop feel (but with “al fresco” dining) sets this O Street staple apart.
8. Roost: All sandwiches have one central ingredient: cold, diced chicken (Roost … get it?). The creative menu and the variety of sandwich sizes power this cool one-shot.
9. Danny’s Downtown Deli: Go to watch ’em slice the meat for sandwiches named after Lincoln streets. Stay for the friendly banter and trivia questions.
10. Brown Baggers: The local staple is now in the Haymarket next to Scooter’s, giving 8th and P a potent one-two punch.
11. The Manhattan Deli: Start spreadin’ the news. You can get about any sandwich, hot or cold, in true NY fashion. And don’t forget the potato latkes.
12. Bread & Cup: Easily the fanciest of the offerings. This is also the only one with wine and beer on the menu.
Whew. Now, tell us which downtown sandwich shops set themselves apart …