I Tried 5 Treasure Valley Sandwich Shops. Here’s How I Rank Them

At the beginning of August, I gave myself what seemed like a pretty easy assignment.

It was National Sandwich Month, so I decided to visit five locally owned Treasure Valley sandwich shops. Five shops. Five sandwiches. One month.  Easy, right?

Well,  August got away from me a little bit., but on the final day of the month, I finally made it to sandwich shop number five.

Cory Mikhals

And now comes the part I’ve been not looking forward to and really, kind of dreading:  Ranking all five.

But first, we’ve got one more sandwich to talk about.

Stop #5: Uncle Giuseppe’s in Garden City

If you’re looking for something that feels like a true New York neighborhood deli, Uncle Giuseppe’s in Garden City may be about as close as you’re going to get in Idaho.

Cory Mikhals

They’ve been around for 17 years, tucked into the shopping center near Glenwood and State.

This wasn’t my first visit, in fact I used to go there quite a bit when I spent more time in that part of town, but somehow it had been close to 10 years since I’d been back.

Cory Mikhals

Walking through the door, it didn’t feel like much had changed.  The Italian flags are hanging from the ceiling. The walls are covered with old pictures and memorabilia. There are imported Italian foods everywhere. And, of course, there’s the deli counter.

Then there’s the owner.  We ended up talking about the old days in New York and what it was like growing up as a New York Italian.  He’s quite the character and I mean that as a compliment.  The whole place just feels authentic.

Cory Mikhals

I Went With The Soprano at Uncle Giuseppe’s

For my final sandwich of the month, I ordered The Soprano and because I've developed at least a little restraint after a month of sandwiches, I ordered a half.

Don’t be fooled by the word “half", it’s still a big sandwich.  The Soprano comes with salami, soppressata, mortadella, provolone, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, oil dressing and roasted red peppers.  I also ordered a side of the antipasto salad.

Cory Mikhals

Both were delicious.  The sandwich was every bit as good as I remembered Uncle Giuseppe’s being all those years ago.

After not visiting for nearly a decade, I walked out wondering why I’d waited so long to go back.  If you’ve never been, put this one on your list.

Okay, It’s Time to Rank All Five Treasure Valley Sandwich Shops

Before somebody gets mad at me over a sandwich, let me establish the rules here.

This is my ranking based on my experience and the specific sandwich I tried at each place.  I paid for all of my food. I wasn’t compensated by any of these restaurants, and these are simply my honest opinions.

And there’s another important thing to know, once we get past number five, this gets REALLY difficult.  I would happily go back to any of these places.

But a ranking is a ranking.  So here we go.

And here’s probably the biggest problem with spending a month doing this, I now have an even LONGER list of sandwich shops I need to try.

Every time I wrote about one of these places, someone inevitably said, “Yeah, but have you been to…?”  So maybe we’ll have to do this again. Just not next month... I think I’ve consumed enough deli meat to carry me through September.