John G.
Yelp
I came upon an article on SFGATE several months ago regarding this place and I quickly bookmarked after reading.
Quick synopsis: Owner Teresa Gee studied pastry and graduated at San Francisco's Le Cordon Bleu and moved to Florida to work for a celebrity Chef at the W Hotel. She got homesick and moved back home to work as a pastry chef at Il Fornaio and Oracle's headquarters in Redwood City. At the young age of 24, she took over this sandwich spot since she had the urge to create more savory dishes. Create she has...and the rest is history.
I finally got a chance to visit this place last week since I had to return a rental car at the airport. The cafe is located across the Embassy Suites Hotel right by Robert E. Wooley State Park. Initially, I thought Waze had given me the wrong direction since it appears it's only an office building until I saw a sign with an arrow indicating Gigi's Cafe. Turned right into a spacious parking lot and the entrance is right in the middle. You have to order at a couple of kiosks inside and you'll receive a text confirmation on your order. The pick-up window is outside, and they'll call your name once your order is ready.
I have to mention that the menu is extensive with all kinds of specialty sandwiches that includes vegan options. They also have salads, build-your-own sandwiches, sweet treats, smoothies, chips, coffee and breakfast. I'm far from being a vegan, so I ordered my meats in the form of a sandwich named the Rich B*tch ($18.88 - a lb. of meat that includes pastrami, ham, cheddar, jalapeños, roasted bell peppers, onion, mayo, mustard & chipotle on toasted Dutch Crunch.) and a Knuckle Sandwich ($14.50 - hot pastrami, Swiss cheese, bell peppers, onion, jalapeños, potato chips, mayo, mustard toasted on Dutch Crunch).
OH MAH GOODNESS, these sammiches were packed and beautiful to look at. They are sliced in the middle so you can see the layers and layers and layers of ingredients that they don't skimp on. You get what you pay for, and my mouth wasn't big enough to tackle these husky sammies that I had to start on the corners in order to make a dent. To say they were filling is quite an understatement as I could only finish half of each.
But then I got greedy. Well...technically I decided to order 3 more to go for my wife and kids and decided on the following: Sam Sandwich ($14.50 - salami & ham, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, pepperoncinis, mayo & house vinaigrette on toasted French Roll), Teresa's Chicken Teriyaki Sandwich ($13.99 - chicken teriyaki and toasted Dutch Crunch roll with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and mayo), and Spicy BBQ Chicken Sandwich ($15.50 - spicy breaded chicken, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, mayo & BBQ sauce on toasted Dutch Crunch.)
I spent quite a few bones that day; but technically, this was both for lunch and dinner. The greedy part was me sampling each sammies as I couldn't resist the temptation. The also cool place about this location is that it's right next to a park overlooking the bay, a saltwater lagoon and the airport. You can enjoy your sammy while watching the planes land and take off, or just the calm scenery with a cool breeze coming from the bay.
Oh yeah, I will be back with friends and family....or just by myself.