September 21, 2012

Jake’s Sandwich Board


One of the more creative sandwich shops in Philadelphia is Jake’s Sandwich Board. Jake’s is known for its pork sandwiches, considering its Twitter handle is @gotpig, but you can also find plenty of other options.

Overall, Jake’s serves up some darn good sammies, albeit with some minor slip-ups in each of my visits.

My first sandwich was the "50/50" specialty sandwich consisting of 1/2 pulled pig and 1/2 smoky grilled bacon topped with sriracha mayo and sharp provolone. How can you resist, right?

50/50 at Jake's Sandwich Board
Surprisingly, the pulled pork was not warm, which threw me off at first. Is that normal? Overall it was a solid sandwich, but didn’t reach my lofty expectations.

On the positive side, the crunch and saltiness of the bacon was a perfect combination with the pulled pork. The roll was excellent, too, and the sriracha mayo went well with the sandwich even though I’m not really a mayo guy.


What irked me about the 50/50, though, was the lack of an even spread of mayo. It seemed the first half of the sandwich was dripping in mayo, while the second half had almost none. An even spread might have boosted the 50/50 into the upper echelon of Sandwich Quest.

I noticed a plaque on the wall during my first visit highlighting that Endless Simmer named Jake’s "Garlic Bomb" as a top new sandwich of 2012. Since Endless Simmer's list of America's top sandwiches was an inspiration for Sandwich Quest, I knew I had to go back and try it.

It took five months, but I finally made it back to crush the Garlic Bomb. It’s another unique combination of cheesesteak with provolone and a roasted garlic spread, topped with fried, crunchy garlic.

Garlic Bomb at Jake's
The garlic bomb was slightly better than the 50/50. Be prepared though, as it is called the Garlic Bomb for a reason. Buffy could have used this sandwich to keep the vampires away for a few weeks.

I decided after eating the first half to kick it up a notch and ordered some long hots. Call it the garlic hot bomb. Smart decision - adding a little extra heat went well with the meat and garlic flavor. Give it a shot yourself.

The meat was a tad dry and similar to the 50/50, more effort could have been spent on the preparation. You can tell in the picture that the cheese was not spread evenly.

Jake’s Sandwich Board satisfies any desire for a good bite and surpasses most sandwich shops in terms of eating something new and different. A slight improvement in overall execution would make Jake’s a can’t miss spot.

Watch them make the sandwiches...

The counter at Jakes'



Jake's Sandwich Board on Urbanspoon

3 comments:

A and J said...

Besides the poor attention to detail, we're glad you liked Jake's-- it's a solid sandwich shop that often gets overlooked. We've never had a problem with meat temperature though- not OK!

Jules said...

I NEED that Garlic Bomb!

Bradd said...

Try the Garlic hot bomb Jules. And bring Dave. I still want to try some of their other sammies.

A and J - thanks for the comment. We agree that Jake's is a solid shop that is overlooked. Definitely worth checking out.