One of the great cliches of the sandwich industry is naming sandwiches after someone famous.  I don’t really know a better way of operating, but you definitely get a sense of a restaurant based upon how they name their sandwiches.  A place that has a “portobello wrap”, “grilled cheese”, and “eggplant parmesan” will usually be a straight-forward no-frills type of place.  However, a place that has the Paganini, the Burt Bacharach and the Sgt. York may or may not have better sandwiches, but they will definitely charge you more (likely because they have to pay for their copyright violations).  Nick Varano’s Famous Deli definitely fits into the latter section of sandwich shops.  If you didn’t think the North End was overpriced enough, Nick Varano’s decided to associate all of the sandwich with local and national celebrities ranging from Eddie Andelman to Dom DeLuise.

I decided to order the eggplant parmesan (because that was the only vegetarian option on the menu), which coincidentally was Frankie D’s favorite!  Frankie D was apparently a famous tattoo artist who died (hopefully not from the eggplant parmesan).  I wonder if this sandwich was his favorite because Frankie D was also vegetarian.  Because if you want a non-eggplant parmesan sandwich here, you will not be able to get anything.

The eggplant parmesant was pretty tasty (if slightly greasy); I enjoyed the San Marzano tomatoes and the focaccia was quite tasty (despite not being made on-site).  But for over $10, I wouldn’t recommend it.  For having a lack of options as well as being overpriced, I’m giving Nick Varano’s Famous Deli two cheese sandwiches.  Maybe next time they could add a hummus wrap (“Natalie Portman’s Preferred Choice!”) or portobello melt (“Moby’s favorite!”).

Nick Varano’s Famous Deli
66 Cross Street
Boston, MA 02113-2314 
(617) 391-0050

When reviewing restaurants, its best not to judge a book by its cover. One of my favorites, Mike and Patty’s in Boston, is just a dingy hole in the wall, while one of my least favorites, Tamarind Bay, is the epitome of style without substance. Pizzeria Rico is another of those restaurants to appear as if it were a fancy dining establishment, when in reality it is a pretty mundane delicatessen. I went with Kenny to Pizzeria Rico, and he was slightly skeptical when arriving, as Pizzeria Rico has a very fancy sign and is located close to Suffolk Law and the Financial District. So, he was expecting some fancy wood-fire pizza establishment. Turns out he was pleasantly surprised, while I was woefully disappointed (Kenny is a man of simplicity, while I am a sucker for pomp and circumstance).

Kenny ordered a broccoli chicken pasta, and I decided to get the eggplant parmesan sandwich. This was a mistake for a few reasons. For one, I should have ordered a regular instead of a large. The regular is the same as the large, but without 2” on either end of the hoagie roll. The eggplant parmesan as a large was only filled up until this 2” limit on either end. So, basically I paid another dollar for 4” of bread (which I actually didn’t eat, because the bread is quite awful).

When first looking upon the sandwich, you can’t help but notice how unappetizing it looks. In general, I try to take a picture to make the food as appealing as possible, while still composing it to give the reader a good idea of what kind of dish it is. In this case, no matter what angle I took the picture, the eggplant parmesan is completely unappetizing. You may wonder why I didn’t get a Pizza at Pizzeria Rico? Well, the pizzas were all sitting out on racks, looking dried out as if they were made either early (5 A.M.) in the morning or the day before. So, I rationalized, that I probably shouldn’t review stale pizzas, and give Pizzeria Rico a fair shot.

Probably the highlight of my Pizzeria Rico experience was discovering that there was actually a guy named Rico who worked there. I don’t know if he was the owner, but I would like to imagine that they coincidentally hired a guy named Rico who they would complain to all the time (which they did). It is probably unfair to say Pizzeria Rico is all style and no substance, as my notion of them being “stylish” is my own. So, let’s just say Pizzeria Rico is little substance, especially considering there are several other places that serves the redundant function of Pizzeria Rico. If you want a better pizza – New York Pizza and Boston Kitchen Pizza are good options. Al’s makes a better eggplant parmesan, and Viga will have better pasta. There are a lot of options for vegetarians here, so I’ll give them two cheese sandwiches at least.

Pizzeria Rico
32 Bromfield Street
Boston, MA 02108, United States
(617) 423-7426

Kenny and I were talking about trying to get a sandwich someplace, and I have reviewed all the eggplant Parmesan’s within a 10 minute radius of where we work.  As a result, we decided to try out the South End, at a place called Giorgiana’s, which Kenny normally frequents.  Unfortunately for Kenny, he gave up eating meat for the week in religious observance, so he had to eat the same veggie sandwich that I got.

We both ended up getting an eggplant parmesan sandwich which I knew from the outset was going to be a disaster.  For starters, their eggplant is premade in tupperware containers that they microwave on demand.  Whether that is better storage than eggplant that has been stewing in a water bucket (like what most other deli’s have) remains to be seen.  This is primarily due to the fact that this eggplant is not fried or breaded (just lightly roasted and topped with mozzarella cheese, basil leaves, and very little tomato sauce).  In order to augment the woefully inadequate tomato sauce content, they took spoonfuls out of their meatball trough!!!  Both Kenny and I witnessed this happening, and we had that moment of panic that every vegetarian experiences when exposed to meat contamination.  Is it better to stick to your principles and be obnoxious, or be polite and suffer injustice?  We decided to stick to our principles, and the following conversation ensued:

Kenny/Me - “We can’t eat that sauce from the meatballs.  We’re both vegetarian.”

Sandwich Maker - “It’s just sauce, I’m not putting any meatballs in.”

Kenny/Me - “Yeah, but we can’t eat that sauce because it’s been stewing in meat.”

The Sandwich Maker then unceremoniously tossed the sandwich into the trash and begrudgingly began preparing another sandwich without the meatball sauce.  She did apologize afterwards for her meat contamination (intentional or no), but that was a very souring experience.  Some restaurants go out of their way to cater to specific diets (such as vegetarian or vegans), while other just blatantly disregard other peoples concerns.  Unfortunately Giorgiana’s falls into the latter category.

After all that hubbub, we took our sandwiches back to work, and were thoroughly disappointed in them.  The sandwiches were on outstanding bread (Iggy’s), but the fact that there was little to no tomato sauce made them more arid than a Degree antiperspirant covered underarm (and not too dissimilar in taste either!).  The experience at Giorgiana’s was quite disappointing, not to mention the fact that the sandwiches were over seven dollars each.  I won’t give Giorgiana’s the automatic one cheese sandwich because they prevented the potential meat contamination, but I’ll only give them two cheese sandwiches because the food is overpriced and under quality.

Giorgiana’s Specialty Foods
532 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02116-6337 
(617) 542-0101

If you work downtown, there are very few good Italian options (surprisingly) unless you are willing to trek to the North or South End. However, the sole beacon of Italian(ish) goodness is Viga. While not a strictly Italian eatery, they are probably the only place to get cheap pasta during lunch. In fact, Viga is so popular, that you can expect to wait 30 minutes during the lunch rush just to get a slice of pizza. Your patience is well rewarded, provided you do not get their pasta, as it usually has been sitting in a tray for some time and is often overcooked.

I went to Viga on two separate occasions with Kenny (who I think goes to Viga almost weekly, and who also introduced me to Viga). On the first occasion, I decided to try their Eggplant Parmesan sandwich. You can get their sandwiches on white or whole wheat foccacia, Italian braided roll or baguette (though I recommend the foccacia on all occasions). And I was amazed when I saw how much Eggplant Parmesan was put in the foccacia - approximately 16 in3, or two Rubik’s cubes. This is an astonishing amount of eggplant, so much so that I could only eat half a sandwich. The eggplant was breaded, fried, and had been soaking in tomato sauce for some time, so there was a good blend of flavors (unlike Figaro’s which adds tomato sauce at the last minute, making the sandwich very eggplant-y).

My second excursion to Viga was to get a pizza slice meal, which includes a pizza slice, garden salad, bread, and can soft drink (or bottled water). I was originally planning on getting a pasta meal, but there was no pasta that was vegetarian that day! There was a baked ziti, but I do not care for ziti, as it is the poor man’s penne (and a rich man’s rigatoni). So, I went to get a slice of pizza, and the only options available that were vegetarian were cheese, mushroom, and mushroom and green peppers! This is really disappointing, as normally Viga has a fairly decent selection of vegetarian options (~5-6 sandwiches/wraps, 3-4 types of pizza and 1-2 types of pasta, depending on the day). Unfortunately, I think I came on a bad day.

The pizza wasn’t very special, but had outstanding physics, and wasn’t too greasy, so I’d rate it in the top quartile of pizzas in Boston. The salad tasted very fresh, and had a good mix of vegetables (olives, tomatoes, carrots, pepperoncini, cucumber, and lettuce). There is also a Greek salad option, but that doesn’t come with the lunch special. You can get all of this food for under 6 dollars (excluding tax), which is pretty neat. Overall, I like the food at Viga outside of the pasta which is terrible, even if it is vegetarian. But, you can’t have good pasta unless it is made fresh, and you can’t have fresh pasta and be a lunch place like Viga that has such a high turnover in a short period of time (12-1:30). But they are the only pasta game in town, so I won’t dock them too many cheese sandwiches for this transgression. As a result for having a pretty decent selection of vegetarian options (on a good day), and not many on a bad day, I’ll have to give Viga three and a half cheese sandwiches.

Viga Italian Eatery and Caterer
304 Stuart Street
Boston, MA‎ 02116-5242
(617) 542-7200‎