SF Eats: Palm City Wines

There are few joys in life than a perfectly proportioned sandwich. The perfect flavors, perfect size, and the possibility of it still being good the next day is a combination that is hard to come by…but, damn it, Palm City Wines has done it more than once.

I forget where I first heard about them, but it feels like it didn’t take very long for them to get to the top of everyone’s Must-Try list, which then made it even harder to get one of these delicious sandwiches! They offer online ordering and then reserve a few sandwiches for walk-up orders. The first time I tried to order a sandwich online, they sold out incredibly fast. The same thing happened the second time 🥲

I received a few tips that they actually have a lot of sandwiches held for walk-ups so I decided to try that the next time since online ordering was a bust. Luckily, my company gave us mental health days the first Friday of every month for a few months and I took the opportunity to try walking up. Not wanting to risk anything, I showed up right when they were scheduled to open at 12:30 pm, and a few people were already waiting at the door!

Let me tell you — IT WAS WORTH IT. On this first trip, I bought the Italian American and the Roasted Pork hoagies for Alan and me to try. They were absolutely delicious and I was impressed by the size of the sandwich too. (They’re a bit pricey at $17 a hoagie.)

The Italian American Hoagie is a cold cuts delight. It has mortadella, arugula, shaved onions, N'duja, provolone, and salami (I might be missing an ingredient) — the combination is surprisingly refreshing! The arugula and onions cut the fattiness of the rest of the sandwich and the soft deli meats with the fresh bread fall away easily as you bite through. The bread is apparently made in-house by the way!

As you can see by the photos, these sandwiches are stuffed to the brim and rolled up pretty tightly. I was pretty impressed by how it didn’t fall apart as I was eating it like most sandwiches tend to do. The Italian American is a great sandwich for a hot day at the park or the beach.

The Roasted Pork Hoagie came out of nowhere for me as a favorite! The thinly sliced pork is reminiscent of the thin meats used in shabu or hot pot — so thin and fatty that it melts in your mouth. And when this sandwich is eaten fresh…I’m drooling just thinking about it.

Another element of this sandwich that I’m kind of obsessed with: the broccoli rabe. It’s cooked perfectly and provides a little bit of a bitter contrast to the fatty pork, and then the cherry pepper relish ties it all up like a nice spicy bow gifted straight to your tastebuds. This sandwich is rich, tender, and a decadent meal giving you totally different but equally delicious vibes compared to the Italian American hoagie.

Since then, I’ve been back to Palm City Wines another two times and I’ve dipped out of my comfort zone to try a third sandwich: the Hoagie au Poivre.

Don’t get me wrong — this is a very good sandwich that is on par in quality and taste to the other two. But when ranked against my two favs, it just falls slightly short! The roast beef is tender and thinly sliced, and it is paired with green peppercorn aioli, comte cheese, arugula, and sliced apple on the same bread as the other two. The apple provides a nice flavor contrast to the spicy peppercorn and rich beef, but also adds some nice crisp texture to the sandwich.

It is a delicious sandwich and I would highly recommend all three — it just really depends on how you’re feeling when you go!

And Palm City Wines has other items on their menu, but nothing really stood out to me as much as these gigantic sandwiches. We tried their lemon cake and found it too dense and somewhat generic tasting (like a Betty Crocker mix), and I’ve heard good things about their cookies but haven’t tried one yet.

If you’re in the Sunset one day, I highly recommend stopping by Palm City Wines for a sandwich and then whatever else catches your eye! I wouldn’t even bother trying to order online, but, if you want to try the walk-up option, the earlier the better.