“I wish I had something to sell you,” Feliza Salazar said with an apologetic furrowed brow as I dove into the Oscar de La Tienda convenience store in Alta Vista just after 2 a.m. on a hot Thursday afternoon.
Salazar owns and operates The Wicked Wich, a community-focused in-store sandwich counter, a hub for locals to display their art and purchase coffee beans, lucky charms and magnets Page refrigerator cabinet.
I had been caught in the whirlwind of supply and demand, and the lunch rush that had started at 11 o’clock had wiped out Wicked Wich in three hours. Exhausted. Faded away. Salazar only supplies the store with what should sell that day. Fresh, fresh, from bread and sub rolls and vegetables bought every morning to the chickpea salad that Salazar makes by hand.
And not only was it all gone, Salazar was dealing with an equipment failure that threatened to spread the next day. But true to the hustle and bustle of the hungry entrepreneur, Salazar was back on Friday morning, thriving with two co-workers building every sandwich to order.
Location: 801 W. Russell Place, Suite A, inside Oscar de la Tienda Convenience Store, Instagram: @thewickedwichsa
Hours: 11am-3pm or full Tuesday to Sunday
It’s mostly take-out, apart from three seats at the compact counter and a table in the back. Apart from the six sandwiches on the menu and a rotating special, there is nothing else to do. Nothing apart from a whole mini market of fries, drinks and desserts. Cupcakes, kombucha and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, anyone? Or maybe just a six-pack of Miller High Life ponies.
Salazar honestly comes from the hustle, having spent seven years working for Subway, eventually running three stores. But it’s not accurate to compare Wicked Wich to this franchise factory. Except to say that’s what they want to be when they grow up.
Call it Subway, in a good way.
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Best sandwich: Wicked Wich isn’t by mission or menu a vegetarian operation, but damn it if that doesn’t make a great vegan chickpea salad sandwich ($8), piled high with sprouts, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and pickles on soft multigrain bread. But the chickpea salad is the real hero, made by Salazar using mashed chickpeas, paprika and vegan mayonnaise for a consistent, flavorful and hearty spread.
Other sandwiches: When it’s flex time at Wicked Wich, this flex has a name: The Beast ($12). It’s layered like a lunchbox birthday cake with roast beef, turkey, Genoa salami, capicola, soppressata, mortadella and provolone.
And that’s where Salazar leaves Subway behind, because it’s not just a salty, greasy pile of unaffiliated meats. They help each other, balancing the athletic leanness of turkey with the velvety gloss of bologna, the stoic reserve of beef with the swagger of capicola. It’s all built on a soft underroll with a dress full of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, vinegar, oil and brown mustard to keep things from getting too stiff and formal.
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Take the beast down a notch on the aggro meter and you get the hero ($10), a classic Italian charcuterie number with Genoa salami, capicola, soppressata, mortadella, provolone and a falling cherry peppers and pepperoncini that added a bit of twang to a conversation between old friends.
I almost never order anything but a turkey sandwich. ‘Cause when I wonder – “Is it the day after Thanksgiving?” — the answer is almost always no. It’s the turkey sandwich that might change my mind, just a clean pile of sliced turkey in the right proportion with the sub roll, finished with provolone, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles and a little oil and vinegar ($9).
I’ll be at the Cheetos if you need me.
[email protected] | Twitter: @fedmanwalking | Instagram: @fedmanwalking
