Sandwich Master

Sandwich Master

Rindge New Hampshire

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As most of you can tell by now, I'm a big fan of what people in other counties would consider "Traditionally American Food", by that I mean things like barbecue, fried chicken, ribs, things like that, among those such things would be sandwich with many names, "the grinder", "the hoagie", "The Hero", "The Foot Long", "The Sub", or its proper name, The Submarine Sandwich, but whatever name you call them, they are all the same, a 5 to 8 inch average loaf of bread split open in the middle and stuffed with various meats and cheeses and other awesome things, I am seriously a big fan of these things, as is any proper male on the planet, thats why when I was recently told by a friend who lives one town over in Jaffery NH, that not far from him, in the town of Rindge, which is less then 20 minutes from me, there was a newly opened sub shop called The Sandwich Master, who was making some completely insane sandwiches, that were so good, they were infact almost an artform, naturally, i had to check it out, i mean really how could i not?

Sadly no, the minivan with the autobot symbol is not mine, but you can see my suburban's door!

I must admit, going into this one i was abit leery, i like to do my research on a place before i go, check out the menu, see what the place looks like, see what the prices are so i know how much money to bring, stuff like that, and i was rather saddened to discover that all this place has is a rather sparse Facebook page, as well as a website and twitter, both of which are not in operation, something that is rather important to have these days, I understand they're just starting out on their own instead of being stuffed inside a mini-mart, so I can give them a pass on these things, after all they're not deal-breakers, some places don't need to use Social Media, its not the end of the world, as long as the food is good the people will come from miles around, and judging by the crowd that was in there when i went in, late on a Saturday afternoon, the word of mouth seems to be getting them in the door just fine with out any online help, seriously they were packed for 4pm on a Saturday in October when both the Red Sox and the Bruins were playing less then an hour later, for those of you outside of New England thats a hugely impressive thing.

The location itself, is very small, but for a place thats just starting out on their own, you don't really expect there to be a big open location, though they could have more seating given the volume of people that come in and wait for their food, there aren't alot of chairs or tables and the place does feel slightly claustrophobic given how much stuff is crammed into the location, they also have a very odd picture menu for their "sandwiches gone MAD!!" which is their signature menu obviously, its not that the picture menu is odd, so much as if you're going to have a picture menu, you shouldn't have it basically sitting on the floor, alot of people have back issues and can't really bend all the way down to read the lower part of the menu, i know that seems like nitpicking, and i guess to some it is, but as someone with back issues, I notice stuff like that, but again, i stress, its just my personal opinion, it shouldn't effect anyone's personal ideas of the place itself.

cheese and bacon fries, fresh fries, real bacon and real shredded cheese, mmmm

As for the food, I will tell you this, if you are in a hurry then this isn't the place for you, or, if you have the ability to call in your order beforehand, then do so, the food, though excellent, does take a long time for them to get out, i think we waited something in the area of 45 minutes after we put in our order of two subs and one side dish. Now some could consider this a bad thing, but honestly, as long as the food is worth the wait, no one should really care about the wait, after all, some steakhouses and high end eateries have up to an hour or more wait for food after you place your order, and in places like that, most of the time you don't get nearly as much food as you do at Sandwich Master. And really, though I have pointed out alot of negatives about the place, i wanna stress, the food, which really is all that matters, is BEYOND amazing, all the small nitpicking things are worth ignoring just for the food, after all we only care about the food, and nothing else really.

Before I get into what we ate, I have to tell you, the menu is HUGE, I mean seriously huge for a place thats got everything made to order fresh like, and options galore. I kid you not, the take home menu is almost the size of a concert poster, and has stuff printed on both sides. The menu is divided into various groupings; "Sandwiches Gone MAD!!", "Hot And Cold Sandwiches", "Fried Foods", "Nachos", "Funnel Cakes", "Soup", "Salads", "Wraps", "Flat Breads", "Grilled Cheese", "Quesadillas", "Smashed Quesadillas", "Pizza Quesadillas", "Family Friendly" and "Appetizers", each of those headings has a TON of stuff under each thing, its seriously amazing the size of this menu, and more so, how amazingly good it all sounds. Seriously, the guy behind this place is like the Willy Wonka of sandwich makers, the place is a dream for people like me who love to chow down and really enjoy what they're eating, and again i point out thats all that matters.

the amazing savage carnivore, its truly a work of art.

We both ordered off the "sandwiches gone MAD" menu, each getting "The Savage Carnivore" which consists of a foot long sub roll full of pulled pork, Italian sausage, imported ham, shaved steak, grilled chicken and bacon, all covered in a very delicious barbecue sauce, which is one of like 10 sauces you could have on the sub, and we split a large order of cheese and bacon fries, which honestly, we should have bumped up to the larger family size. As for the subs themselves, they were AMAZING, these subs were stuffed to the hilt with meats and covered in sauce, now first off, a foot long or longer sub is hard to come by, most places a large is 10 inches at best, but to come across a foot long sub thats literally STUFFED full of food is a true rarity, and one that i happily enjoyed discovering, though I do wish i had gotten some cheese on my sub, but thats me, i'm a cheese on a sub kind of guy. The cheese and bacon fries were also a very pleasant surprise, i have to admit, i was expecting a really cheap frozen fry with some of that yellow cheese thats made for melting, and some bacon bits or those finally chopped bits of imitation bacon, thats what you get at most places like this, but oh no, you don't get that crap up in this joint, these tasted like freshly made fries seasoned before fried, then with real shredded cheese ontop of that, with REAL bacon, yes you read that right, REAL BACON ontop of, and mixed into the fries and cheese. The prices weren't that bad really, for two foot long subs, a large cheese and bacon fry and two fountain drinks with free refills came to alittle over $33.oo which honestly isn't all that bad for what we got. Infact half way through eating we were already looking over the take home menu and plotting out what we'd be getting next time we went there, its truly a great place, and somewhere that you should try atleast once, they truly are a haven for unique one of a kind sandwiches that you can can't get anywhere else, which really, is what most people want in a sub shop, i honestly can't wait to go back again.

So for the big question, is it truly worth going too? Well yes, though I pointed out alot of the small nitpicky things that personally bother me, that doesn't detract from the fact the food is so amazing it makes up for any flaw the location has, and though yes, you have to wait a while for your food, it comes down to a case of, do you want something generic and fast, or something made with time and care and quality so you know its the best it truly could be? Or if you don't wanna wait around the building, you can as i said earlier, call in your order, they welcome those. And honestly, with a place that has foot long subs that consist of things like chicken fingers and mozzarella sticks and onion rings in a bun covered in cheese and marinara sauce, or basically a thanksgiving dinner in a bun, or barbecue chicken with granny smith apples and a special sauce, or the countless other insane creations Sandwich Master has created, its seriously like a sub lovers wonderland. And as I said, I can't wait to go back again for more, and if you're up in the Rindge area, give them a look, you won't be sorry you did.

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Chris