Sub Sandwiches

A sub sandwich is a subcategory of the hero sandwich, aka zep, torpedo, wedge, grinder, hoagie, etc. It is a long, tubular affair, usually containing several ingredients, hot or cold, from salami and cheese to chicken parmesan. It is logical to assume that the name “sub,” most common throughout the Delaware Valley, comes from the sandwich’s resemblance to the long, loaf-shaped underwater warships of the silent service. But Tom LaRocca, longtime employee of the venerable White House Sub Shop in Atlantic City, offered another explanation: “Atlantic City said ‘submarine’ long before this place opened [in 1946],” he told us, explaining that the length of bread used to make the sandwich was always known as a sub. “Because it is not a full-size loaf. It is subsized.”