- We're in South San Francisco,
going to a beloved sandwich institution,
affectionately known as Little Lucca's.
This place specializes in obscenely
large Italian deli sandwiches,
as big as your head.
If your head is enormous and oblong-shaped.
What Little Lucca's really specializes in,
which is tiger bread or Dutch crunch bread,
which is this special kind of bread
that's treated with a rice paste on the outside
so it gets this really wonderful, crunchy, chewy,
and mottled look and texture.
We're gonna try a few of these incredible
sandwiches that they're famous for.
I'm really excited.
(funk music)
I want one three-meat special
- [Yvonne] Okay.
- And then let's try the combo, the classic.
- Okay, the mortadella, salami, provolone, cheese, right?
- Yeah.
And then we'll try the one that you were
telling me about, the tri-tip.
- The tri-tip special?
- Yeah. - Of course.
- So we got three sandwiches.
And garlic sauce on all of 'em.
And hot sauce on all of 'em.
- And of course you gonna get the Dutch crunch bread, right?
- The Dutch crunch bread.
(funk music)
(singing "The Circle of Life")
♫ Little Lucca mama
A child is born in South San Francisco.
The once and future king.
Not one, not two, but three enormous sandwiches
for which I can play three-sandwich monty.
Where did I hide it?
We have the tri-tip special,
which was recommended by Yvonne.
We have the classic Little Lucca combo,
so why don't we have an unveiling ceremony?
You know if you can see through the paper
that it's gonna be good.
Oh, it's just ...
It's just so beautiful.
I'm so proud.
I know what a parent feels like now.
Look at this thing.
So beautiful.
That is the tri-tip,
this is the three-meat.
You ready for some NC-17 (bleep)?
Oh, yeah.
My beautiful baby boy.
I shall name you Lucas Jr.
I shall name you Lucas the 3rd.
I shall name you Lucy.
My daughter.
Oh, yes.
Even one more beautiful than the last.
♫ You make me feel
♫ Like a natural Lucas
♫ Lucas
- You remember that Murphy Brown episode
when she has a baby?
Of course you don't,
'cause who remembers Murphy Brown?
♫ You make me feel
♫ Like a natural
♫ Woman
- But that's what Candice Bergen sings
when she has a baby.
It was a big deal.
It was a big deal when that came out.
Why don't we just get going with the original?
The Lucca combo.
As you can see from the beautiful outside
of this Dutch crunch bread,
sometimes called tiger bread,
sort of mottled striations across the top,
which are absolutely beautiful,
and also chewy and delightful.
It's not cheese, which is what I originally thought
when I ate this,
but it's done with rice paste.
So rice paste is covered on the outside of the bread
and then when it's baked, it sort of cracks and breaks
and creates this really great texture
that is both a pleasure to look at and to eat.
It has salami, it has provolone, and it has mortadella.
What is provolone, you ask?
Provolone is cheese.
Provolone is a soft cow's milk cheese.
What is mortadella?
Mortadella is Italian luncheon meat.
Finely hashed pork meat
in which there consists, like, pork fat.
And what these little cubes are
in the mortadella, that's pork fat.
And then salami is made from beef or pork.
Sometimes it's made from veal.
And it's put into a casing,
frequently in which mold is injected.
And so it gives it that kind of funky tang,
spiced with garlic and pepper
and sometimes wine and vinegar.
I almost don't wanna eat it,
'cause it's just too beautiful.
But I will.
I'm sorry.
I love you.
The key to a good sandwich is the bread.
And what this has,
there is that crunchiness that gives way to a chewiness.
And that's the key.
And that's what makes this bread
particularly good and particularly pleasing.
And then, of course,
there is the garlic sauce,
which is so pungent, so garlicky,
it tastes like it has some herbs
and a lot of Italian parsley and olive oil.
Oh!
I'm just in heaven.
I could eat this sandwich all the time,
all day, every day.
This is the classic.
This is the Little Lucca.
What we have here now,
the one that I sort of custom ordered.
Coppa, the cured neck muscle of the pig
that runs from the neck of the animal
down to like the fourth or fifth rib.
And it is cured frequently with wine,
giving it a little bit of like a lighter, sweeter flavor.
And then prosciutto, which does not come
from the belly but which comes from the hind leg of a pig,
or even a wild boar.
It really has everything you could possibly want.
The garlic, the wine, the pepper, the spices.
You've got that whole crunchy sweetness,
the pickles, and then the really sharp tang
of the garlic sauce.
And then it's all sort of held together
by this really excellent bread.
Okay, we have one more sandwich,
another battleship of a sandwich.
This is the tri-tip.
It looks like it has
tri-tip, bacon, cheese.
What is tri-tip?
I believe it's from the bottom sirloin.
What a beautiful mess this is.
And it looks like it's done with cheddar cheese.
That's good, too.
It's still enormous.
It still has all the garlic sauce
and the hot sauce and all the great things
about the other sandwiches.
What you would imagine a Quizno sub to be,
10 times better, that's what this is.
This place is so small and modest,
and basic in the best sense of the word.
But they ...
Produce a great product,
and a very reasonably priced one, too.
So, Little Lucca's,
I love you.
Don't change.
I really hope you enjoyed this episode
of Dining on a Dime from Little Lucca.
Specialty sandwich shop in South San Francisco,
if you'd like to watch more,
please click here.
It's out of a little piece of bread.
And put it on our face.
And wear a little mask.
Looks ridiculous.
It looks like some Eyes Wide Shut (bleep).