PrintTiny's Giant Sandwich Shop
Editor's note: Robyn Lee, is also known as the Girl Who Ate Everything, and that's not far from the truth. She's out and about so much around the city that I asked her to write about some of favorite New York spots for this site. This is the first of them. —Ed Levine
The outside and inside of Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop, along with some sandwich innards
The Lower East Side's Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop is my most oft-visited sandwich shop in the city. They may not make the best sandwiches in the city, but the quality is much better than what you'd expect for the price, and the location and setting make it a convenient, relaxing place for me to eat dinner with friends.
What's Good?
My favorite sandwiches involve melted cheese, from standards like the seemingly butter-laden grilled cheese and tuna melt, to more interesting ones like Silly Philly Portobello (portobello mushrooms, sautéed onions, and provolone cheese) and Southwestern Chicken (breaded chicken cutlet, melted cheddar, bacon, onion, and barbecue sauce). If you're not into gooey cheese, you can create your own sandwich from their wide selection of breads, ingredients, and spreads.
Many sandwiches can be made vegetarian, I assume by way of replacing the meat with a soy-based substitute. I've never tried these sandwiches, but I heard they're very good. And if you don't want a sandwich (which would be crazy, but hey, whatever floats your boat), there are plenty of salads to choose from.
The bread they use is surprisingly awesome, my favorite being the toasted sesame semolina roll. It's crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and full of nutty toasted sesame flavor.
A small, grilled cheese sandwich
All sandwiches come with potato chips (there's no other choice) and most sandwiches can be ordered large or small. Despite my gluttonous ways, I've never felt the need to order a large; the small is just enough to satisfy my hunger, far from giving me a food coma. You should only go for a large if you're starving.
The clean, spacious restaurant can fit a large group of people, a quality that can be hard to find for a place that mostly sells sandwiches. Sometimes I'll eat here with one other friend, other times with five friends. Why do they all want to eat here? Because small sandwiches only cost $5 or less, with large sandwiches costing about $3 more. It's easy on the struggling, young 20-something's wallet.
And if you're hankering for something sweet after polishing off your sandwich, just hop across the street to Sugar Sweet Sunshine, home to some of the best cupcakes in the city.
What's Not So Good?
If you go late at night for dinner, they may have run out of certain ingredients and types of bread, a problem I've witnessed on multiple occasions.
The crab cake sandwich was the worst sandwich I've ever had there. Maybe it was a one-time fluke that the crab cake was an overly mushy, somewhat tasteless patty, but I never wanted to try it again to find out.
Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop
Address: 129 Rivington Street, New York, NY 10002 (near Norfolk Street)
Phone: 212-982-1690
Website: tinysgiant.com
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9 Comments:
Ed... would you by any chance be THE same Ed Levine who wrote a rave review, one I've always remembered very fondly, for the Village Voice circa 1983? The book was THE DAIRY HOLLOW HOUSE COOKBOOK (you liked the idea of chilling salad plates, as I remember, among much else); and I was then and remain Crescent Dragonwagon. I've owed you a thank you for many years --- if you are that Ed Levine. And if you are - THANK YOU! (I'm at crescentATdragonwagonDOTcom).
crescentd at 10:15PM on 05/07/08
tiny's giant! that spicy rizzak- so good.
sloppydelicious at 8:37AM on 05/08/08
their brunch is really good too - I love this place!
laurelie at 8:51AM on 05/08/08
omg! i've only been once but this place was so cute and so tasty -- don't ask what i got tho o_O but it was tastyyyyy
can't wait for your next favs! (gives me ideas of what to eat ^-^)
tumblebunny at 10:55AM on 05/08/08
Isn't it hard to find a well-executed sandwich? So when can find a place with more than a couple, it's a keeper! So many places just mindlessly pile on ingredients with no thought to taste or texture; this place looks like it got it right. That said, I think crab cake sandwiches rarely succeed...too much breading, or mush, or both.
minoric at 11:35AM on 05/08/08
@sloppydelicious: I'm going tonight, so maybe I'll be eating that for dinner! ;)
@laurelie; I never had brunch there! Thanks for letting me know.
@minoric: This place definitely has their sandwich formula down. :D Except for mushy crab cakes.
roboppy at 12:09PM on 05/08/08
I ate at Tiny's for the first time a couple weeks ago and I'm totally hooked. Such a satisfying and delicious sandwich for a TINY price (in NYC anyway). I had the chicken parm. Delish.
crafty at 4:53PM on 05/08/08
@roboppy: Just went for the first time, it's right around the corner from my GF's apartment. Great stuff.
They were out of the breaded chicken cutlets, but were substituting them for grilled breasts. Yummy.
One thing we did notice is the...odd (?)...amount of waste per meal. Plastic cup, paper in tray, paper on sandwich, thin paper napkins. Other than that thanks for the reccomendation!
Prairie at 2:34PM on 05/10/08
@Prairie: I went on Thursday night and had the same prob: no breaded cutlets, only grilled! Also, they ran out of 7-grain bread and brioche. I got a chicken po boy sandwich though and it was SOOO GOOOD, oh yeah.
You're right about the waste though. Maybe they don't have the capacity to wash lots of dishes? But they they have a lot of waste to deal with. I've never asked them about that before..
roboppy at 2:41PM on 05/10/08