Brianno’s
I have a friend who lives in Eagan, a Twin Cities suburb. I never envied her locale. It takes me a few highways to get there, and I have to travel at off-peak times, or I’d be stuck in traffic. Plus it’s a normal suburb: there’s not much to walk to and it’s full of chain stores and restaurants. When I read a review of Brianno’s, though, some envy began to nip at my brain. And when I tried it with my friend, the envy emerged full blown. Brianno’s is a gem to have close by. I took a closer look at the neighborhood I’m in, and there’s nothing to compare. I’ve got a family restaurant that’s sometimes good, a friendly coffee shop, a bad new pizza place, and a couple good Indian places that are not too far. What I do not have is a kick-ass Italian grocery and deli, with to-die-for sandwiches, which I will refer to as hoagies, because I moved here from Philly*.
I browsed Brianno’s shelves and freezers. They had every kind of dried pasta shape imaginable (my food coop doesn’t even carry farfalle) and cases full of pre-made foods: ravioli, lasagna, soups, and more. I restrained myself to the takeout order I’d come for, a full-size eggplant parmigiana hoagie, a half of a classic Italian hoagie, and a small size Caesar salad.
I imagined that I’d eat a quarter of the Italian hoagie, a quarter of the eggplant, the half salad, then split leftovers with my husband for lunch the next day. I was barely able to leave a bit of the Italian hoagie undevoured. It was a perfect blend of Italian meats and cheeses, with a vinaigrette on a great bun. The dressing on the salad was unexceptional, but the croutons were crisp and flavorful. The eggplant parmigiana was enveloped in a rich, meat-full sauce. Unfortunately for my husband, who took it to lunch the next day, the eggplant hoagie didn’t keep as well as my sliver of Italian hoagie did.
When I lived in Philly, I had a hard time finding a good hoagie. I lived in a little town just outside the city and there was nothing close. The best hoagies I had were from a place called The White House in Atlantic City, a trip that was both far and usually involved gambling. The trip to Eagan is shorter, and casino-free. I’d still give a lot to live closer to a really good hoagie shop.
*For your edification, here is the note about sandwich terminology from http://dictionary.com, excerpted from The American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth Edition.
Regional Note: The long sandwich featuring layers of meat and cheese on a crusty Italian roll or French bread goes by a variety of names. These names are not distributed in a pattern similar to that of other regional words because their use depends on the business and marketing enterprise of the people who create the sandwiches and sell them. Submarine and sub are widespread terms, not assignable to any particular region. Many of the localized terms are clustered in the northeast United States, where the greatest numbers of Italian Americans live. In Maine, it is called an Italian sandwich, befitting its heritage. Elsewhere in New England and in Sacramento, California, it is often called a grinder. New York City knows it as a hero. In the Delaware Valley, including Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, the sandwich is called a hoagie. Speakers in Miami use the name Cuban sandwich. Along the Gulf Coast the same sandwich is often called a poor boy. In New Orleans, a poor boy is likely to be offered in a version featuring fried oysters.