Raves

New York Magazine ~ Critic’s Pick for Soups & Sandwiches

Amid all the arguments about what makes a sandwich great—it’s the bread! No, the fillings! No, the sun-dried tomato-and-pesto topping!—one of the most overlooked ingredients is the setting. Family run and a West Village staple for decades, the Original Sandwich Shoppe is, despite the gratuitous use of Ye Olde lettering, an unpretentious and comfortable place. With scuffed buttercup-yellow walls and wooden tables filled with St. Vincent’s staff, families, and the occasional residual starving artist type, T.O.S.S., as it’s colloquially known, is staffed by friendly guys who know their way around a bun. Or rather, around a baguette and a few slices of real roasted turkey: Piles of white and dark meat sit on the counter, ready to be stuffed into their signature sandwich, Rudy’s Special (great with melted cheese and roasted peppers). Soups, salads, desserts, and a few breakfast dishes—avocado and marinated onions elevate the standard schmear—round out the menu. But it’s the classics—egg salad on black bread, meatloaf on sourdough, and liverwurst with Dijon—and the low-key attitude that keep this shop(pe) popular with the locals. — Melena Ryzik