A Sandwich a Day: Tuna Salad Sub at Tony's Italian Deli & Subs

[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]

As I mentioned during my recent Italian beef feature, Tony's Italian Deli uses some really great bread. It's light and airy, yet still has that all important crisp and flaky crust. Honestly, it kind of reminds me of the bread Jimmy John's uses—just, you know, much better. Sadly, as I also mentioned, the messy Italian beef, with all it's gravy and beef juices, probably isn't the best fit for the delicate loaf, since the middle broke down after a couple minutes. But you know what is a good fit? The deli's tuna salad ($3.99).

Much like the bread, the tuna can best be described as light. That's mostly due to a cautious hand with the mayonnaise (a condiment that too often leaves tuna salads gloopy and greasy), which consequently allows you to actually taste the fish. Everything else does a good job of adding texture without getting too much in the way: the lettuce is crisp and tomatoes are thinly sliced. But the sandwich is mostly about the combination of airy bread and cool tuna salad, which make the sub the opposite of a gut-busting experience.