DeMarco's Italian Specialties

1338 Jackson Street
Philadelphia, PA 19148
(215) 463-9666 or
(866) ITAL-YUM
Website

This is a place I had driven by a number of times, but had yet to stop in. Although, upon my visit this weekend, I did have a feeling I had been there before. Anyway, it's perfect for a stop on your way to the stadiums, as it's right next to Broad street.

Tiny place with a pretty substantial menu. I was on my way to see the Fly-boys so I went with a couple of hoagies.

They slice their meats fresh, always a sign of a good deli, and they had a variety of drinks to chose from.

I threw the tubes of delight into my car and headed for some tailgating.

The blazin Brian was an Italian hoagie on spicy PED's. It came with both sharp prov and hot pepper cheese, hot coppa, hot soppressata, fried long hots, roasted garlic, and hot pepper pesto.

As you can see, this sandwich was no joke.

Notice the long hot, the pepper pesto, and the chunked sharp prov all hanging out?

See the whole clove of roasted garlic hiding at the bottom?

They really went above and beyond with the ingenuity, which is what gave them their four cheesesteak rating.

The next one was a bit of a curve ball. As an ode to the famous Turkey Schwartzie at Primo's, I asked for a Silver Streak with turkey instead of corned beef. This one was good, with the turkey adding some spicy pepper kick, but the meat was sliced too thick for my liking. The coleslaw, Swiss, and Russian dressing were also nice, but I could have used a bit more slaw. I can't really fault them because I ordered a sandwich with a substitution, something I usually frown upon, but the thick turkey needed to be shaved more thinly for me to have been wowed. Not a big deal at all, just splitting hairs.

I guess I wasn't too concerned about the turkey sub(stitution) because the Silver Streak is stated to come with "thinly sliced corn beef," so I assumed the turkey would also be sliced thin. You know what they say about people who assume though... lesson learned, DeMarco, lesson learned.

The bread they used was good, and it really stood up to the plentiful ingredients. This is a solid sandwich to take tailgating, and they have hot food too. Can't imagine this will be the last time I snatch up some fuel at DeMarco's before hitting the lot.