Well today I set out for the city of Huntington Beach. I was doing some research online and found a place off Beach Blvd that is supposed to have one of the best Philly Cheesesteaks around. Wait you say, wasn’t this an article about Italian Subs? I was having a craving and after having a Philly Cheesesteak at Philly’s Best earlier in the week, I decided I needed to go out and find a better one. Yes, I wasn’t that impressed by the Cheesesteaks at Philly’s Best. The sandwich is passable, but it needs something. The bread for me is too soft, I like a little crunch to my sandwiches.

So I’m driving down to the beach and decide to take the long route and drive along PCH. What a beautiful day. Lots of people watching on my part. Suffice it to say, it was difficult to concentrate on driving.

The place I’m heading to is John’s Philly Grille. A little shack off Beach Blvd. Here you walk up and order from the outside and there is seating outside under a few tents next to the shop. Nothing fancy here, just order and wait for the cook to yell your name and pick up your order. I ordered a 1/2 Cheesesteak with grilled onions, no peppers. Just your regular classic Cheesesteak. You can also order it with Green Peppers, Mushrooms or all three!

While I was there, I saw they had an Italian Sub (what they call the Philly Hoagie) on the menu. Score! I ordered a 1/2 Italian Sub. The sub comes with Ham, Salami, Capicola and Provolone with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, oil and vinegar, oregano and hot peppers on request.

I took my order to go and drove around near the beach before I found a place to pull off the road and enjoy my sandwiches. It must have been at least 15 minutes before I had my first opportunity. Both sandwiches were wrapped tight in white butcher paper. The cheesesteak was full of oil and wasn’t dripping, surprising since it sat for 15 minutes. So the first thing that caught my attention was the bread. Crunchy on the outside, soft in the inside. This bread flaked when squeezed and I liked that very much. Most places use a soft sub roll. The flavor was good, they actually seasoned their meat and the onions didn’t over power the meat. The cheesesteak I had at Philly’s Best had large chunks, yes chunks, of onions and it wasn’t grilled all the way. Nothing was worse than biting into a huge piece of onion. At John’s the onions were sliced thin and grilled first then added to the meat. This was a good sandwich, I was happy. I wish John’s had a location in South Orange County. No matter, driving up to HB for the occasional cheesesteak fix wasn’t going to be a problem for me!

So what about that Italian Sub? Well I have to be honest and tell you that the 1/2 size Cheesesteak filled me up. It wasn’t until I got home about 2 hours later that I had my sub. Again, this is the same bread they used on the cheesesteak. Even after a couple of hours, the bread still had a slight crunch to the outside, but the wait has allowed the oil and vinegar and oregano to absorb into the bread. This is key to any Italian sub in my opinion. Order your sub, make sure it’s wrapped tight in butcher paper and let it sit. Give it time for the oil and vinegar to work its way from the center to the outside. This is your simple Italian sub, but it was fantastic when it came to the flavors. Even 2 hours later, it still tasted like it was just made.

I’ve had Italian subs now from Claro’s in Tustin and from Lucci’s Deli in Huntington Beach. So far, John’s comes in first, then Claro’s (a VERY close second) and then Lucci’s.

Do you know of a place that has a good Italian Sub? I’m looking for a crusty bread, good seasonings and good Italian meats. If you know of a place I need to try, let me know!

John’s Philly Grille has three locations, the one in Huntington Beach off Beach Blvd, another in Seal Beach off PCH and a third at Edinger and Goldenwest also in Huntington Beach.

John’s Philly Grille
20379 Beach Blvd.
Huntington Beach, CA
714-969-8755