Kevin K.
Yelp
Alright - so here's the thing about Vegas. It's pretty much designed to hustle you the second you get off the plane (see the slot machines in the McCarran airport terminal) - it's at least 20 on a taxi to get from the airport to your hotel, and each/every hotel casino on the strip offers all sorts of services...as long as you are willing to pony up, and even then, the results can be mediocre (every buffet joint on the strip is a different variation of meh). The locals (unless they party) pretty much avoid the strip due to its exorbitant cost and bullshit. So, what does the frugal intelligent traveler do? Well, you rent a car (not that expensive if you comparison shop), plot stuff on the GPS and go to the joints on the side streets away from the ridiculousness. It also helps if you have a local who can tell you where to go to get better bang for the buck. For example - Capriotti's.
Capriotti's is a medium size regional sandwich joint based in Wilmington, Delaware, somewhat similar to Jersey Mike's. They used to have stores in the South Jersey metroburbs outside Philly, and at least one location in DC (Joe Biden used to buy subs to bring back to the White House), but they mostly closed down for various reasons. Nowadays it's within the upper reaches of Delmarva, and some stores that are running up against Wawa/Sheetz in Northeastern PA. Their focus area is Northern California (their franchisee in the Inland Empire closed a bunch of stores), and of course Vegas, which features at least 7 stores that are owned directly by the corporate parent. This one on Sahara Blvd is about the closest it'll get to the strip, walkable from SLS Las Vegas and the Monorail stop.
Their claim to fame is the Bobbie, which is essentially taking your Thanksgiving leftovers and jamming it onto a hoagie roll. Great idea as long as you plan to take a nap afterwards. My interest is a decently priced quality Italian hoagie that me and the missus can munch on during our flat-out high speed burn through the frantic oblivion of Baker, Barstow and Berdoo (aka Southbound on Interstate 15), and as Uncle Duke can tell you, you can't stop for food there, it's bat country. So, how did Capriotti's do in that regard?
Pretty good - one of my pet peeves with Italian sandwiches (at least when it came to New York joints) is the sandwich-maker's propensity to douse it up with oil, vinegar and herbs, making it a soggy mess. Then there is the eternal question of the quality of the cold cuts - is it cold and taste like it was freshly sliced off the machine? Also, the entire thing should work well together, as in, if you are going to provide a bunch of relatively soft cuts of meat, make the hoagie roll chewy and correspondingly soft enough to sink your teeth into, as there is nothing more frustrating than to gnaw on a decent set of cold cuts and tomatoes, and then run into a bun that require the jaws of life to cut through. So the version that I had was clearly freshly made - I waited almost 10 minutes for it, and the sandwich maker did not prompt me for the fixins', while the place was clean the service was just merely passable. The sandwich was neatly packaged, the cold cuts were cold and fresh, and while it has tang of the dressing, it was applied with restraint and discipline, yielding a flavorful but toothsome product that did not fall apart with each encompassing bite. All this was surprising for a medium sized sandwich shared amongst me and the missus at around $11. I mean, granted, I was hoping for something better than just a sub, but the Singaporean chicken place nearby was closed for renovations, the kosher tax on the Israeli falafel joint was a bit much, and I need to get to LA before the Friday freeway traffic kicked in, and for that, Capriotti's delivered.
