All your sad
and lost apostles
Hum my name
and flare their nostrils
Choking on the bones
you toss to them
Another Tuesday... another Taste! It's back to back weeks we're checking out delicatessens, with this one quite recently spreading its wings towards the eastern side of Toronto. Don't fall asleep just yet... it's time to check out Elm Street (Italian Deli Edition).
For the origin story we need to look no further than Lawrence La Pianta, whom we talked about a little bit last year in my double Cherry Street Bar-B-Que review. While barbeque is his first love, La Pianta wanted to explore something closer to his Italian roots and so opened up this sandwich counter detour on elegant Elm Street in February of 2020 (obvious yipes). Fortunately for him, takeout sandwiches happened to be one of the more pandemic-proof restaurant ventures. The deli flourished to the point of outgrowing its modest downtown home, leading first to an additional stall at the Eaton Centre down the street... then a full on second location at Queen Street East and Leslie, opening up just last month.
Hey, Queen and Leslie? I know Queen and Leslie! I go by there all the time! Funny that, I first discovered Elm Street Deli had opened this new location not via any social media channels or word of mouth... I was looking out the window of a Queen streetcar (probably to get off at Leslie) and just happened to notice this new unfamiliar deli while looking south. That's effective marketing the old fashioned way...
The inside layout is about as straightforward as it gets. A counter facing the enormous front window (which is the entire public-facing wall), another long counter where you order on one side and pick up on the other... plus a modest fridge full of drinks in the corner. It's pretty transparent this space was previously a garage or autoshop: the blunt boxiness of the layout, the front window looking like a glass garage door that once upon a time lifted upward, the high ceiling lighting and the open spaciousness... all lending itself to a vibe of grabbing a toolbox and getting underneath the hood (at least that's what I imagine happens... not a car guy).
There are few stools to sit upon so it's very much more of a takeout joint at the moment. Good thing sub sandwiches generally travel well, even in the winter. Also a distinct touch: the colourful paper pages serving as the menu. Every single one of the subs are the same price: twelve bucks for a medium size, twenty for the big one (or 19.99 if you want to be obsessively precise)... and while yes that's a hefty tag for a sub sandwich, a lot of them do sound both complex and really good. A meatball sub (the "Bobby B") with rapini and caramelized onions... a spiced pork shoulder (the "Paulie Porco") with crispy pancetta and a giardiniera aioli... or their version of an Italian meat trio ("Don of Elm St.") using mortadella, genoa and beef salamis with provolone, pickled onion, a basil aioli and roasted peppers as the supporting band.
I confess to not catching most of the references these sandwiches are named after (I know who Sammy Davis Jr. and Sergio Leone are, while I can't shake the notion one of the others has to be a GoodFellas or Sopranos easter egg I'm just not getting).
The sub I went for is the "Il Capo", a smoked roast beef with provolone, garlic rapini, arugula, basil aioli, sub sauce and caramelized onion. For no reason at all, here's an unflattering side shot of it:
I wasn't kidding about the unflattering part. What is that thing? It looks like one of those red shelled turtle-like flying enemies from Super Mario Bros 3. What are they called? Do they have a name? No, I'm not talking about a koopa! (I know you were thinking that). Sheesh, give me a little credit. It's actually this thing:
(Hats off to artist Drums107 on DA)
But it's not that far off, right? Look again at the side angle of the sub, then back at our winged friend here. Those slices of cheese sticking out could be the wings, the roast beef is where the head is...
I'm also pretty sure this enemy only appears in a single level throughout the entire SMB3 game, thus explaining why I can't remember or easily find its name anywhere. Regardless... the real lesson is: full on side angles to not make sub sandwiches look appealing... unless you're in the mood for turtle soup or something. *Cough*. Right! Here's a more appetizing look at the Elm Street "Il Capo".
I feel less bad about wasting time on a silly similarity tangent, because this here is a sandwich you need to take your time with. This roast beef is exceptional: there's a juiciness and streak of fattiness throughout that makes even those thicker bites not too hard on the gums... which is good because you might be stretching them a bit to get this thing to your teeth. The bread is quite fresh but firm and a bit crumbly, so open wide. Geez, there's no good way to write that phrase without it coming across awkward, is there....?
The provolone is a quality presence although the slices are so thin they're nearly transparent. Immediately I think of the Kramer line of "I've cut slices so thin, I couldn't even see them!" How could I taste this provolone? I... guess I just assumed.
What I like most about this sandwich is how it nearly tastes like an actual prime rib dinner, just in sandwich form. The side salad of arugula, rapini and caramelized onions just happen to be mixed in tightly adjacent to the delectable meat. There's a nice undercurrent of smokey flavour to the roast beef that matches nicely with the garlicky bitterness of the greens here, or the sweeter touches of the onions (like a red wine sweetness in particular) with the creaminess of the basil aioli. Each bite brings its own different amount of all those, giving all their dynamics ample room to shine. It's an impressive and tasty trick indeed and this sub going cold does little to lessen any of that tastiness... always a very good sign when evaluating what is still technically a cold cut sandwich.
It's great! Genuinely a really great sub sandwich. Impressed enough I was, that upon noticing that first visit they offer a daily breakfast sandwich between 7am (when they open) and 11am... I resolved to wake up early one day and make a return visit in short order. In retrospect I must've been more impressed than I realized... you know how difficult it is to motivate me to get outside before 11? It has to be something I really, really like doing.
Anyhow, within a week I'd made it during the hours of this breakfast sandwich... so here it is!
A couple things: first is they give you the choice between strip bacon, peameal or a vegetarian substitute (this here is the peameal, which is fine though a little stiff in points) and second... this might be the closest breakfast sandwich I've had that actually approximates it's rudimentary inspiration, the eggs benedict. (Third is also that it's a very flat sandwich, thus the awkward positioning in the picture)
How can this be? Here it be! The egg on the outside has that familiar fried egg gelatin-like texture, but inside is an actual runny yolk. Not super runny... it doesn't coat the entire inside of the sandwich and drip onto your fingers thankfully... but it does ooze out enough that you get that unmistakable taste and texture of an egg yolk, which is wonderful. Very good stuff there (I would've taken a cross section photo had I known).
The bun is very squishy (which suits this floppy sandwich) and semi-sticky to the touch, almost like a very faint honey glaze. There's some red pepper-like mayo and caramelized onions to help things along as well (the browned sweetness of those onions again an inspired touch) with the main focus of the sandwich being that flavourful egg, the bacon and the bun. Not all that complicated but the flourishes are subtle and the execution is right on target.
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Overall! While I can't vouch for the Elm Street Italian Deli actually on Elm Street proper... I'm gonna wager there's a strong chance they're in a similar ballpark of goodness as their Leslie/Queen expansion. This was fantastic! And, a bit of a gradual grower: my anticipation towards eating the second half of my sub was much higher than it had been before my first bite of the whole thing. This is the kind of sandwich that pops back in your head a day or so later and you think: "Hey, yeah that really was incredibly good".
Certainly quite an impression made on me. I would absolutely recommend checking them out. Again, it's a hefty bill for a mere sub, although the bigger size is filling enough to save half for later in the day.
Without question a positive addition to an overlooked (and bizarre) stretch of Queen Street that does feature some food gems, this one being the latest. Thumbs up here.
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Burnt Ends
The food of my European trip, part one! This series will be continuing the next couple weeks, publishing on Saturdays. Here's that first installment if you missed it:
http://westcollierstreet.blogspot.com/2025/12/globetrotting-bites-pt-i-ireland.html
Also... starting on the 13th... I have a lot of reviews backlogged from not posting anything in November (again November sucks) so... consider this the first annual West Collier Street Reviewzmas! Twelve days... twelve articles! Saddle in! At least to watch see if I can actually pull it off...
Tuesday Tune
Another project I've been working on (much more slowly) is another discography ranking, this one exploring the catalogue of legendary alternative rock outfit R.E.M. Going in I knew a few albums pretty well and a bunch of singles... but a thirty year run tends to result in a lot of output. It's taken a while to get a feel for the discography as a whole but there are some pretty great songs hidden away throughout, like this one off their second last record.
(Not to mention, with all the betrayal shit I've dealt with this year... the name of this song feels especially poignant)
That's it for this week! We'll be back for the 12 reviews in 12 days madness starting this Saturday (with part two of the Euro Adventure) so until then! Stay safe, stay warm, stay smart and most of all... don't spill that mustard.
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