The Art of Sandwich Making

When you feel your stomach grumbling and decide it is time for a sandwich, what do you do? Many people go to a local sub shop during their lunch break to satisfy their hunger, but do they really know what goes into making that delicious combination of meat and veggies squeezed between the two sides of a sub roll? I consider myself an expert in the field of commercial sandwich production, and today I am going to fill you in on the behind the scenes struggle to bring sandwiches to hungry Americans.

I am a team member at the D’angelos in Derry, and have been for 8 months. Technically the company is called D’angelo, but that doesn’t have the same ring to it that D’angelos has, so I prefer not to call it by it’s real name. My area of expertise is the cheese steak. I have been known to cook upwards of 6 cheese steaks on the grill at the same time and only occasionally do they come out overcooked and chunky. On my best days I can make a cheese steak so juicy and tender that I feel honored to serve it to a customer. On my worst days I feel too ashamed to look the customer in the eyes while handing them their food, and avoid looking in their direction for the duration of their meal. Thankfully I have been having mostly good days lately.

This wasn’t always the case. There were some hard times in the beginning of my stay at “D’angelo Grilled Sandwiches” (the official, even less catchy name). My first day on the job I impressed Dave, the General Manager, with my steak slinging abilities and I was dubbed the “Grill Master”, a title I flaunted frequently. As I started to learn the art of sandwich making I had many setbacks. There were days where I would drop an entire large portion of steak on the grill and throw in mushrooms only to find out the customer requested no mushrooms. My manager shook her head in disgust as she threw the sad, mushroom tainted steak into the trash. I was sent home one day after ruining several pounds of steak accrued through a series of botched orders. I needed a change of scenery and that’s what I got.

After finding itself short a prep lady, my store was in dire need of a team member to make food preparations every morning, and I was chosen as the new prep lady (a vulgar, less politically correct term has been used from time to time). I learned my way around a meat slicer (only after a recent mishap that landed me in the emergency room), and I became the official prep lady.

Over the months employees have come and gone, managers have had meltdowns and walked out, and customers have vowed never to return after finding a hair in their clam chowder. Yet, one thing has remained the same. If you have the opportunity to order a steak and cheese and I happen to be on grill at the time, and I’m in a good mood and I got enough sleep the night before, there is roughly a 70 % chance that I will cook you the best steak and cheese you have ever tasted.