Tat’s Delicatessen

Taste the East Coast on the West Coast

Tat’s is an East Coast deli in Seattle that serves steaks & subs. Cheese steaks head the list: thinly-sliced beef piled into an Italian roll. Top it with your choice of provolone, Swiss, cheddar, American, pepper jack, mozzarella or, of course, Cheez Whiz. Options include onions, mushrooms, and peppers. The beef is grilled to velvety succulence. Fresh rolls pack oomph, even if they lack the yeasty flavor of the very best bakery rolls that set the benchmark back in Delaware Valley cheese steak country.

Hot Subs

Hot subs demand appetites’ attention. Pay special attention to the one known as Tat’strami. In that, you get melted Swiss cheese, cole slaw, and Russian dressing. In other words, they present you with a Rachel on a roll. The pastrami itself makes it sing. Spicy, tender, and juicy, it radiates smoke flavor. Traditionalists can choose the more familiar Reuben — a similar configuration but with corned beef instead of pastrami. Have that on a roll or on rye bread. The hot-sub repertoire includes torpedoes of sausage, fried chicken or chicken parm, eggplant parmesan, meatballs, and roast beef.

Cool Hoagies

Tat’s makes the traditional distinction between subs (which are hot) and hoagies (which are cool and customarily dressed with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and mayo or oil). Among the latter you will find a classic Italian made with capicola, salami, provolone, coteghino bologna, and hot and sweet peppers. All sub-roll sandwiches, hot and cold, come in 8-inch or 12-inch sizes. Even the smaller version ought to satisfy all but the most Homeric appetite.

To Heck With Roadfood Rules

A noisy, high-spirited Pioneer Square eatery with a crowd of tables inside and a few on the sidewalk, Tat’s isn’t by-the-rules Roadfood. After all, sub sandwiches do not belong on a list of unique Seattle dishes. They provide the flavor of the Northeast, but in the Northwest.  So, to heck with the rules. If you crave a hefty sub, hoagie, or cheese steak in Seattle, this East Coast deli is a place you want to visit.