Jimmy John's. A sandwich shop. That I've likely walked by, many times, over the years, without giving a second look. I'm not a sandwich girl in general, and I didn't grow up anywhere with a Jimmy John's, so, it was entirely off my radar.
That is, until a T-Mobile Tuesdays freebie promotion offered a free sandwich. You know me and my freebies (yes, just like Subway, which I reviewed in this same way before, although Subway I was far far more familiar with).
As often happens when I start to write a blog post about a place I am not familiar with, I got sucked into the hole that is learning about Jimmy John's. It was fascinating! Short story, yes, started by a guy named Jimmy John in 1982. Long one ... he was a horrible student, parents wanted him to go into military, he loved hot dogs, wanted to start a hot dog stand, turned out to be too high cost, so he ... pivoted to sandwiches. Yadda yadda, did really well, worked a ton, expanded. Now they are franchised and also corporate owned.
Jimmy John's entire premise, as I discovered once researching the place, is, *fast*. They have streamlined absolutely everything to be as fast as possible. This means, that compared to other sandwich shops, they have far fewer options. Some would call it an "opinionated" menu. I did kind of appreciate the simplicity."FREAKY FAST® FREAKY FRESH®"
"We slice our all-natural* meats and fresh veggies in-house every day. Our fresh-baked bread is made right here where you can see it, and our house-made tuna salad is fresh every day. The flavor of a ripe tomato, crisp shredded lettuce, combined with fresh-baked bread, fresh-sliced meat and real Hellmann's® mayo - that's when the magic happens. Made with love every single day since 1983. That's Jimmy Fresh!"Their other premise? Freshness. They claim to, literally, slice all their meats, every day, in each store. The produce is sourced locally. The bread all baked at each store, and (the French) is only used within 4 hours of baking. They produce their own brand potato chips (Jimmy Chips, cooked in peanut oil), and have their own branded hot peppers and mustard. They even claim to make their Ranch dip in house every day?
I pulled up the menu to investigate. The menu contains the "Originals", simply numbered 1-6, basic sandwich offerings, plus "Favorites", numbered 7-17, that are curated combos (e.g. roast beef AND turkey together, for the #14, vs roast beef alone (#2) or plain turkey (#4)).
Storefront. |
Little John's
"It may be littler than our 8" Original sandwich but it's just as tasty, and the perfect size for your kid's meal or snack time. You can customize your Little John with any of your favorite Freebies or Add-ons."
They offer 5 kinds of meat: ham, roast beef, turkey, salami, and capicola. Tuna salad. Oh, and bacon.
Nicely Wrapped! |
Little John #2. Sliced in half. Don't scoop. $3. |
Interestingly, by default, they actually scoop out and remove some of the top bread, but you can always opt to have this left in (and they dominantly tell you how many calories this adds in - 100 for regular 8", 80 for the Little John). I asked to have it left in, and for the sandwich to be sliced in half.
Little John #2: Inside. Lots of extras. |
Little John #2: More Inside. |
The “Jimmy mustard” is just a grainy dijon, nice for a little flavor, but I ended up adding a lot more mustard, mayo, and sriracha to mine (sriracha packets I had with me in my bag, of course).
So overall? Um, yeah, it was a basic roast beef sandwich, with fresh enough ingredients. No more, no less. For $3 (or, ok, free), not a bad little thing, but I don't see any particular reason to have one again.
***.
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