A great meatball sub is one of the most important credentials needed for accreditation as a sandwich city. If you didn’t know, I will enthusiastically plant the flag: Dallas is a Sandwich City. We have the sloppy, saucy, cheese-stretchy meatball hoagies and the stained receipts to prove it.
Here are five of my favorites. First things first: Jimmy’s meatball sub is not on this list. It doesn’t need to be spotlit like it’s some hidden gem. Jimmy’s meatball with sweet peppers is as iconic to Dallas culture as the Red Pegasus, the blinding reflection from the sun on Museum Tower, or WFAA meteorologist Pete Delkus casually mentioning that we’re all going to burn to death. Every chef that I spoke with on the list below recognized that the meatball sub at Jimmy’s is the OG. Jimmy’s is family. End of discussion. These are five newer subs you need to meet.
Fortunate Son
Downtown Garland
Culinary director David Peña worked with his team to sculpt the wildly marbled Texas-but-Akaushi brisket and wagyu beef and Pecorino cheese. (If Parmigiano Reggiano is the king of Italian cheeses, then Pecorino is the rogue, the handsome heir who denies the crown but altruistically accepts it later.) Some all-beef meatballs dry out or taste like a ball of hamburger. Not at Fortunate Son. Their meatballs get a quick sear—enough to form a crust that locks in the seasonings and juices—along with onions caramelizing in Marsala wine and roasty peppers.
A single bite of this new classic sub, and you’ll find a sandwich that is simultaneously garlicky and saucy, like a red-checkered tablecloth in New Jersey, and as wide on beef flavor as Texas’ blue skies. A simple red sauce of San Marzano tomatoes, pulsed with salt and herbs, is a bright note to lift the heaviness, like the saxophone in Springsteen’s Born to Run album. It’s a meatball sub for a Sandwich City…