Jersey Mike's Vs Subway: Who Makes The Better Italian Sub?

A traditional Italian sub is one of those deli classics that is easy to visualize but hard to describe in detail. It's the kind of dish that's been around for long enough to earn dozens of regional variations, so it can be hard to narrow down what makes a genuine Italian sub based on where you are in the country. But, like every classic piece of culinary culture, an Italian sub has a foundation that has been continually reinterpreted over the years.

From an anthropological perspective, a true Italian sandwich starts with a holy trinity of meats —capicola, salami, and pepperoni. As far as toppings and condiments go, an Italian sub doesn't require much. Shredded iceberg lettuce, tomato, onion or sweet peppers, provolone cheese, oil, and red wine vinegar usually do the trick. Of course, all that goodness should be contained in a long Italian roll in order to keep everything tidy. When assembled correctly, a good Italian sub combines a nice mix of smoky cured meats, fresh veggies, and a hint of acid from the vinegar.

While the Italian sub is available at corner delis all over the country, Jersey Mike's and Subway are two of the most prolific purveyors of fast food Italian subs. In an effort to see which restaurant does Italian subs best, I put the Original Italian Sub from Jersey Mike's up against the Italian B.M.T. from Subway in a head-to-head showdown.

An Italian sub is a combination of a few simple ingredients that are prepared in just the right way. In order to rank these two sandwiches, I will refer back to the ingredients that are traditionally found in Italian subs. I evaluated each sub based on the following aspects:

• Bread: Good bread is the backbone of any sandwich, so this will be an important factor in my evaluation. I was after bread that had the structural integrity to hold all the sandwich ingredients but still maintained a pleasant texture. Neither Jersey Mike's nor Subway ranked particularly high on our ranking of fast food sandwich bread, so the field is evenly matched here.

• Meat: Italian subs should have a three-meat combination of salami, pepperoni, and ham capicola. Each of these meats packs some strong flavors, so I wanted to make sure all three of them worked together well on the sandwich.

• Veggies: Greenery is not why one orders an Italian sub, but the veggies on these sandwiches should taste fresh and crisp. Ideally, these veggies would provide a crunch texture to the sandwich as well. I kept both sandwiches as identical as possible as far as vegetables went, making sure not to add anything other than lettuce, tomato, and onion.

• Condiments: Italian subs are known for oil, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper, so that's all I got on my sandwiches. I was looking for these condiments to act mainly as flavor enhancers, so I didn't want them to be too aggressive.

• Balance: Overall, I was looking for a sub that balanced all of its elements. I wanted to be able to taste everything equally, and I wanted the bread to hold its own as a flavor element while keeping the sandwich together.

While I wasn't overly picky about the type of bread each sandwich used — Italian subs aren't necessarily limited to a traditional sandwich roll — I wanted it to provide its own fresh-baked flavor while keeping the sandwich structure intact. Both Jersey Mike's and Subway opt for the traditional elongated sub sandwich roll, which made the decision-making process fairly straightforward.

In my past experiences, Jersey Mike's sandwich bread has been an issue because it's usually on the dry and crumbly side. This time around, the bread was much better than it had been on my past visits. It kept all of the sandwich innards in control, and its interior texture was nice and soft. Its exterior remained pretty dry, especially right along the edges. It tasted fine, but its flavors didn't add much to the overall experience.

Subway's bread actually fell short on the same bases, which made this decision a bit harder than I had anticipated. In the end, it came down to a textural issue with Subway's bread, which lacked a bit of substance, almost as if the dough hadn't been properly leavened. It was a narrow margin, but Jersey Mike's wins the battle of the bread.

This category is arguably the most important aspect of an Italian sub, so I gave it a bit more weight in my overall ranking. Jersey Mike's combination of ham, prosciuttini, cappacuolo, salami, and pepperoni threatened to overwhelm the trio of ham, pepperoni, and salami on Subway's Italian B.M.T., but the latter really came in swinging with its meaty trio.

Jersey Mike's goes all in on quantity of meats in its sandwich, and each bite is replete with cured goodness. Outside of a general deli meat saltiness, however, Jersey Mike's meats don't really jump out and smack the taste buds with flavor — each meat's individual flavor isn't strong enough to stand out, so the result is a vague but not unpleasant mishmash of flavors.

Subway doesn't necessarily skimp on the quantity of its meats, so the B.M.T. was just as stacked as Jersey Mike's even though it lacked prosciuttini and cappacuolo. I was concerned that Subway's Black Forest ham wouldn't work as well on an Italian sub, but it ended up bringing the meat's flavors together quite nicely. Subway's pepperoni also had just enough paprika-infused kick to remind my taste buds that it was there, so I have to award victory in the meat melee to Subway.

Veggies provided yet another narrow margin, as neither restaurant is really known for its vegetable toppings. For that matter, Italian subs aren't really known for their veggies no matter where they come from. All the same, the non-meat aspects of an Italian sub play a crucial role in its flavors and textures.

Jersey Mike's keeps its Original Italian simple by recommending shredded lettuce, sliced tomato, and sliced white onions, which works in its favor. Even though I don't like onions on my sandwiches, this veggie lineup works well with the sandwich. I liked the fine shred on the iceberg lettuce — a pro-tip for those making Italian subs at home — and the onions were sliced thin enough to add a bit of flavor without hijacking the whole palate.

Subway's lettuce and tomato game was good enough to compete, but its reliance on red onions was the death knell in this particular battle. Subway's onions aren't there to hang out in the background and offer a small whiff of allium flavor. They're sliced thicker than those at Jersey Mike's, and the sweeter flavor profile doesn't really contribute to the savory meats. One more point for Jersey Mike's in this category.

Perhaps the trickiest battle on the list since oil, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper are there to enhance the sandwich's flavors rather than stand on their own, this part of the contest took the longest to sort out. Since neither restaurant is using anything special on these fronts, it all came down to how well these seasonings were used.

As a big part of Jersey Mike's menu is getting a sandwich "Mike's way," which includes shots of all four condiments, the amount of oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper was great here. The finely shredded lettuce does a lot of work distributing the liquids throughout the sandwich, and it really helps even out the bread's dryness. The salt and pepper were just noticeable enough to provide a flavorful kick to the sandwich, so I didn't really have any complaints about this aspect at Jersey Mike's.

Subway's take on these four condiments is admirable, but my sandwich here didn't have quite the same level of seasoned nuance that I got at Jersey Mike's. I think it came down to not enough oil and vinegar on the Subway sandwich, so I didn't quite get the same flavorful impact as I wanted. Score another one for Jersey Mike's.

As a whole, both of these sandwiches have their issues, and those issues have impacted their overall balance. That said, I think Jersey Mike's takes the win on balance. Regardless of the flaws in Jersey Mike's Original Italian sub, I could taste everything in the sandwich. The oil and vinegar enhanced the flavor of the meats and veggies, the bread had a good flavor while maintaining structural integrity, and the combo of cold cuts was substantially meaty. Even though I don't like onions, I liked them on the Jersey Mike's sandwich because they balanced the rest of the flavors.

Subway's B.M.T. may have had the best meat combo, but its skimpy portions of oil and vinegar along with its inferior onions and bread texture made for an unbalanced sandwich. It may be a higher-tier sandwich item on Subway's own menu, but it has faltered in this particular head-to-head battle.

Based on the score so far, Jersey Mike's has Subway beat 4 to 1, meaning it is the winner of this head-to-head battle. When it came down to it, Jersey Mike's Original Italian sub got the little things right, making for a more balanced and successful option. I think the option to get sandwiches "Mike's way" helped give this sandwich an edge — dressing its sandwich with the right amount of oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper really helped Jersey Mike's take the lead.

I also think Jersey Mike's veggies played a big part in its win. It takes a lot of effort to make me want to add onions to my sandwich, and I think I'll always get them whenever I go to Jersey Mike's. It was interesting that Subway's meat combo was good enough to beat out that of Jersey Mike's — before going into this ranking, that was the area I was sure would go to Jersey Mike's. But Subway's pepperoni is a pretty decent cold cut and worth adding to any sandwich for a bit of spicy kick.