Page 8 - Italian-American Herald - February 2025

8 ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM | FEBRUARY 2025 ITALIAN-AMERICAN HERALD
BOOKS
Italian hoagie from DiCostanza’s in Boothwyn, Pa. The shop
doesn’t offer lettuce.
The Old Italian from Primo Hoagies.
Chicken cutlet Italiano with spinach from Shank’s Original in
Philadelphia.
PHOTOS BY MIKE MADAIO
Sandwiches: Author hungrily delves into a Philadelphia phenomenon
Continued from front page
even, about Philadelphia that other places
just can’t claim,” Madaio writes in his
introduction. “It’s unlikely that this stems
from one specific factor; rather, it comes from
a combination of many forces – including
industrialization, a neighborhood-based
culture, a strong street food scene and
immigrant culinary traditions – all leading to
a perfect storm of sandwich perfection.”
The author fondly recalls growing up in a
family where vastedda sandwiches were served
after midnight Mass. Today sandwiches are
a Christmas breakfast tradition in his home,
served with plenty of discussion about whether
they had the right rolls or the right cheese.
“The fact that my Italian-American family
– who always held food traditions in the
highest esteem – could value a sandwich this
much only served to further my personal
belief that sandwiches are as important as any
other foodstuff,” he writes.
Starting with Philadelphia hot dog pioneer
Abraham Levis (who first appeared on the scene
circa 1890s) and continuing through the rise
of the hoagie in the 1930s and the ascendancy
of the cheesesteak and the modern-day
sandwich sadness that occurs at convenience
stores like Wawa and Sheetz, “A History of
Philadelphia Sandwiches” is a meaty saga
with much hidden history to chew on.
Along the way, readers will meet a gallery
of sandwich pioneers and artisans, including
Leonard Kravitz, Domenico Bucci, Tommy
Luke, Anthony Milano, James Vento, Gaetano
Nicolosi, Al DePalma, Emilio and Antoinette
Iannelli, and many more.
The book also pays long-due homage to
overlooked sandwich creations such as the
chicken cutlet Italiano from Shank’s Original,
a mouthwatering assemblage that Esquire
magazine in 2008 declared the top morning-
after sandwich in the world, and which Philly
chef Georges Perrier awarded a perfect score
in a 2010 competition.
Perhaps the best parts of Madaio’s book
are the unexpected nuggets and intriguing
tales he finds in the nooks and crannies of
history. Among them:
Hoagie origins
Madaio (and others) trace the name of
the sandwich to Hog Island, a massive World
War I-era shipyard on the Delaware River that
at its height employed 36,000 workers. Their
lunch, the story goes, was often long loaves of
Italian bread filled with cold meat and came
to be known as “hoggies,” which evolved into
“hoagies.” A chain of shops belonging to Al
DePalma, self-styled “king of the hoggies,”
helped catapult the sandwich and cement the
name into Philly posterity.
Hoagie construction
A common variation is the “Delco meat
wrap” style, where vegetables are wrapped
inside the cold cuts, resulting in the meat layer
appearing through the opening of the roll.
“Per the name, this format is associated
with – but not limited to – Delaware County,
just outside of Philadelphia,” Madaio
explains. “Fans argue this ingenuity keeps the
sandwich together and creates a better meat-
to-vegetable ratio
in each bite, while
opponents find these
hoagies aesthetically
displeasing and
difficult to eat.”
Hold the mayo
“Mayonnaise is
probably the strictest
hoagie rule; simply
put, it has no place
on the Philadelphia
Italian,” he writes.
“On a turkey or roast
beef hoagie, sure, mayo is fine. But on an
Italian, only olive oil is acceptable, though
today, many places – even in Philly – use an
inferior olive oil and vegetable oil blend.”
Cheesesteak origins
Pat Olivieri ran a hot dog stand across
the street from the future home of Pat’s
King of Steaks. Tired of eating hot dogs, the
story goes, he bought some trimmings from
a butcher shop and cooked them on the
hot dog grill. He gave half a sandwich to a
hungry cab driver, who suggested Pat was
in the wrong business. Accounts differ on
whether Pat used a hot dog roll or two slices
of bread.
Meatball parmigiana sandwich from Angelo’s Pizzeria South Philly.
Why the Whiz?
With his business up and running in the
1950s, Pat Olivieri embraced the processed
cheese product because putting real cheese
on the same grill as meat would not have
been kosher, and he worried about his Jewish
customers.
While Madaio is not the first food writer
to assay this sort of territory, it’s hard to
imagine any before him applying such
rigorous method to their research. The book
is copiously indexed, and includes more
than 500 footnotes that document his source
material, much of which came from personal
interviews and phone calls with the sandwich
purveyors and their families. His efforts there
may be the last chance for some of their
voices to be heard.
Madaio is a food and wine writer whose
career began with the creation of Main Line
Dine, a popular restaurant and dining blog
covering the Philadelphia suburbs, and his
writing has appeared in publications such
as Wine Enthusiast, VinePair and Edible
Philly. IAH
Writer Al Kemp is the managing editor of
the Delaware Valley Italian-American Herald.
Email him at akemp@todaymediainc.com
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