Hey all, I’m working on the new subs for my shop and got a couple questions for ya.
What kind of onions do you guys use? Yellow, white, purple? I was testing yellow this morning but man is that potent on a sub!
As far as vinegar and oil is concerned, i was planning on using red-wine vinegar and a pomace olive oil. Am I on the right track or no?
And I’ve seen a couple of sub shops mix the vinegar and oil together and just shake it up before squirting it on the sub, I’m thinking that would deter some customers that only want vinegar or oil… what are your thoughts?
From a customer standpoint… keep the oil and vinegar separate. Red wine is good but a nice balsamic really makes a sandwich. Long shelf life…offer both? Onions for a good sub I would say spend the extra and use sweet Vidalia onions. Not too “oniony” or strong…and great flavor.
Yes I will also have balsamic as well…
As far as the onions, isn’t a red onion (or purple) or a white onion suppose to be a little sweeter then a Vidalia?
I had a red onion last week and thought it was to “onoiny” for a sandwich too
Vidalia region is just a couple hours from me, and I can give you the low-down. They are grown in low-sulfur ground, and therefor have far less sulfur compound in the onion. Thst means less fumes and sweeter, mellower flavor.
As for oil, pomace oil has little to no flavor to it at all. You end up paying some extra money for little benefit. Pomace is the lowest end of the olive oil family, and is chemically extracted. If you want light olive flavor, then go with a blended olive oil, or a lightly flavored one (NOT a ‘light’ olive oil) . . . or some other sort of oil. There are even some interesting infused oils on the market that could give you a signature flavor. Price points are wide and varied, and you can find one to your needs that, bluntly, isn’t the junk Europe won’t use.
Like Blackjack’s, we use the red onions on our sandwiches. I think mostly it’s a “looks” thing for us. Some bags can be stronger than the yellows we use in our other menu items, some well sweeter. I imagine it simply has to do with who’s field they were harvested from.
We use red wine vinegar, also offer balsamic as an option but it’s not getting much play. We use a 80/20 canola/olive blend on our oil.
And…if someone has found a GREAT par-baked hoagie roll that they’re loving…I’d sure like to hear about it. I’m still trying to find the perfect light crispy-crunch to the outer layer that holds that tender white crumb in the interior. It’d have to be something commercial most likely as there aren’t any bakers in my general area that would be make it feasible to drive to every morning.
314, do you get people that ask just for Oil or just vinegar?
Luckily I have a few bakers by us that make subs so I got some bread samples from them all… for a 12" it’s averaging around $.60 brought in fresh every morning (no fuel or service charges because we’re not to far away from any of them) How is that pricing compared to all of yours? High/Low?
I bought red and white onions last night so I could test them out last today. I know what you mean about the different fields. Half the time I have a red onion they are perfect, not oniony at all… other times it’s like biting into a yellow super potent… cant even eat the darn thing.
Have any of you been to a Jersey Mikes? If you get a sub there “Mikes Way” they completely drench the sandwiches in oil and vinegar… you can tell by the color that it’s red wine but it’s not vinegary at all, do they dilute the crap out of it with water or what? It looks like there putting 6oz each on a freaking 6", i’m talking pouring that stuff on!
It happens so rarely that I cant really answer that with authority. Our subs come “The Works” always so people remove items they don’t want but we list O&V as a single line item so that probably solves that issue.
314 you should ask your printer for a higher resolution pdf for your website…And one that does not have all the printing details on it…The poor quality really sticks out to me…
It is a simple website and it needs some attention. Technically I sold the business the last week of November and the am carrying the NEW OWNER - my former GM - but it will get an update soon…Thanks for the comments though!