And that ain't Suburpia

By: Rob Hausknecht

Posted: 2/6/08

Due to my self-professed expertise in all things food, my editor sent me on a mission to investigate the newest purveyor of sammiches on the East Side: Suburpia. I remember Suburpia being around as far back as the early 80's. The Suburpia on the East Side is a recent addition, however, located at the corner of North and Prospect.

The day I chose to go to Suburpia was a cold and rainy one and I was dismayed that Suburpia offered no indoor seating. Upon entering I found it to be little more than a counter. The menu was on one wall and a soda dispenser was at the end of the counter. There was a listing of the diverse soups of the day, a different one for every day of the month with few repeats. I was going to take the food home on the bus, so I decided to pass on the Chicken Noodle soup, which was the soup du jour. The menu was quite simple, listing only the main ingredients on each sub. There was also a listing of salads, basically subs without the bread, and a few different desserts. There were two vegetarian subs on the menu, however I decided upon a roast beef sub titled The Cattle Baron and a Miles Standish, or turkey sub, for my dining companion. The two subs were made in the back, and passed to the front. Not knowing from the menu what was on the sub, I was disappointed that they weren't made where I could see. I like being able to see what's going onto my sammich. The two, smallish subs cost me a total of $9.80, not incredibly expensive, but nearly as cheap as other sub shops.

My roast beef sub was decent. The sesame seed bread it was on had a nice crunchy crust and tasted relatively fresh. There was a good amount of meat, onions and lettuce, which was complimented with an oil dressing. The cheese was of the processed variety, disappointing in the heart of dairy country.

All things considered, Suburpia is fine. I certainly wouldn't say it's great, but neither would I say it was crap. However, for the price, convenience and menu choices, you are much better off going to one of the major sub chains. Lack of convenient parking and indoor seating make it a bother to eat there. If you want to put up with hassle, go where the food is worth the trip. And that ain't Suburpia.