A French Dip Journey - Exploring the Interactive Sandwich at Philippe's, Harlowe's, Hillstone - Houston's, Victor Jr's, Westside Tavern and Gjusta!

This would be amazing! :grin:

WOW - breaking out the WMDs from the get-go. Waving white flag…

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Great report! Thanks!

I dream of the Hillstone/Bandera French Dip Sandwich almost daily, while I’m on this no bread thing. It is not only the best French Dip in town, but maybe even the best sandwich.

Hi @A5KOBE,

I can’t believe that package says “Vegan”. Nothing that destructive to humans, that causes animals to flee in fear, that causes plants surrounding it to wilt, could be “Vegan”! :stuck_out_tongue: :wink:

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Serious question: If denizens of Los Angeles are called Angelenos, then are denizens of Las Vegas called Vegans?

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Victor Jr’s meatball sub is very good, nicely herbed–however, I usually ask them to make it with the cheese extra melty since otherwise it does not always come out with the cheese as integrated into the sandwich as I like (true of a lot of places that serve meatball subs). They also do a decent cheesesteak and an Italian cold cuts that is worth considering.

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Wow, reading his thread made me feel great! And hungry.

Victor Jr.'s is a great little deli. Their Italian beef sandwich, as discussed, is succulent and well-priced. They also do a fine job with eggplant parm and salads. I find their pizza to be on the thick side, insipid, and overpriced. But their service is great and they wrap things for takeout carefully.

Eastiside Deli, just west of Chinatown, does huge old-style roast beef swimming in juices that can be combined with similar pastrami or meatball or sausage sandwiches. Bay Cities, where so many can’t get beyond the cold side for Godmothers, has options more on the hot side with warm beef or even their rich potroast sandwiches.

I can see the attraction of the pink, gorgeous prime-rib sandwiches, but I don’t like to spend way over $10 for lunch.

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Hi @nosh,

Thanks for your rec for Victor Jrs! It was really delicious (just a little heavy ;)). But that flavor was really great! Thanks for the new recommendation for the Eggplant Parm. I’ll have to try that next time.

So Bay Cities has some good hot sandwiches? I’ll keep that in mind.

We can’t afford to eat the $22 Prime Rib Beef Dip Sandwich often, but if you do get a chance, try it once at Hillstone / Houston’s or Gjusta’s Prime Rib Butcher ($16). I think they are worth it for the quality and flavor you get.

This is what I get at Victor Jrs.



Chopped salad with salami (though you can get it with turkey for whatever reason :slight_smile:



Garlic Knots, great blood thinner!

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Hi @Gr8pimpin,

Nice! :slight_smile: Wait, where’s the Beef Dip Sandwich? Or Meatball? :slight_smile:

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I really like their Italian sausage sandwich. I take it home, take it out of the wrapper and throw it in the oven @ 350F for 10 minutes and it makes the bread so amazing.

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Hi @A5KOBE,

Nice! So by default (at Bay Cities) it’s normally not toasted? Is it warm at least? Thanks.

It comes hot and you can eat it there, but I think throwing it in the oven takes their bread to another level. The bread gets a little soft in the wrapper, so when thrown in the oven, the outside gets super crispy, the texture of a delicate crouton but the inside stays soft and fluffy. I don’t think they toast the bread.

The sandwich itself doesn’t have too much sauce, which I appreciate. And their sausage is so damn soft.

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@Gr8pimpin Nice! I do like that chopped salad.

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French Dip Sandwich, La Dijonaise Cafe

Nice bread, good beefy au jus, but the meat was dry today. They can be inconsistent like that. It comes dressed with Swiss cheese and Dijon mustard. $8.50

In the background is my salad (I keep forgetting how bad their salads can be), and a cup of seafood bisque. The soup surprised me, nice, big pieces of properly cooked fish, not dry at all, which I was expecting, and very tender little chunks of shrimp and squid rings, all in a subtle, thin milky broth. It was very acceptable, just a touch salty.

La Dijonaise Cafe, Helms Bakery District (next to Lukshon), 8703 Washington Blvd., Culver City 90232

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Update:

The Briks

This was one restaurant we had hoped to visit since @ipsedixit recommended it. It is an African restaurant that happens to feature a Lamb French Dip Sandwich, but only on their Lunch menu, and only Mon - Fri. So the limited availability made it a bit harder for us to try it until recently.

The Briks Dip (Braised Lamb, Muenster, Lamb Jus, French roll):

The Briks’ version of a Lamb French Dip was quite tasty! :slight_smile: I can see why @ipsedixit likes it. It’s very flavorful, rich in Moroccan spices (the waiter told us the reason they don’t have this for dinner is that the same Lamb is served as their Moroccan Lamb Shank dinner plate).

It is easily the most interesting / exotic tasting Lamb French Dip on this journey, but it could be argued that it’s more of a “Moroccan Lamb Sandwich” in some ways than a “French Dip,” but the Lamb Jus is quite flavorful as well, made from the drippings (fat skimmed off) so the flavors reinforce each other.

The one knock on this Lamb Dip was that their kitchen didn’t do a good job of inspecting the meat they put in it: I had a huge piece of the silverskin (connective tissue) that was the length of an entire half of the sandwich, and it was chewy and basically inedible. :frowning:

The positive is that it was clearly from a large, whole cut (not pre-processed / pre-sliced), but it was a bit disagreeable. But other than that, these were nice chunks of Moroccan Lamb Shank, thick sliced and put into a Sandwich. The Bread was pillowy and softer than most of the other places, with only a tiny bit of a crunch / outer crust.

French Fries:

The Lamb Dip came with French Fries, but these were very disappointing. :frowning: They were like In-N-Out Fries (single cooked): Limp, mushy, bad. :disappointed: So overall, the best Fries we had on this journey were at Harlowe’s with Westside Tavern’s Fries second.

At $13, this felt fairly priced with tender, very flavorful Moroccan Lamb Shank. Definitely a place worth stopping by for lunch. :slight_smile:

The Briks
1111 S. Hope Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Tel: (213) 746-7766

http://www.thebriks.com/

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Cole’s French Dip

The meat is tender and thick cut, but bland, and the au jus is very bland. The bread is chewy and not good at all. Great mustard, though!

Cole’s bar. Lots of large older men drinking lunch, and me.

Cool bar, but not fabulous or anything. The bar table area and the dining room felt kind of depressing to me. And not in a satisfying Bukowskian or angst-driven way.

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Wait…You aren’t a large old man??

Did you try to walk through the back into The Varnish??