Reggie’s Old Fashioned Sandwiches

Reggie's Old Fashioned Sandwiches
571 King Street West
416-979-9992
Lunch for two with all taxes, tip and soda: $30

When we talk about gentrification in Toronto, most people's minds rush to dissecting Queen Street West and the Ossington Strip. We often forget that King West wasn't always the upscale restaurant, club-friendly area that it is today. And while the hipster set claimed Queen and Ossington a long time ago, condo-dwelling, bottle-service lovers also need a new place to hang out from time to time, and King Street is very accommodating to the demographic. Restaurants and clubs in the area have provided King Westers with the fancy food and expensive drinks they craved, but for the longest time, post-bar, late night food was a limited to a slice of pizza or a street meat cart. Fear not, young up and comers, Reggie's Old Fashioned Sandwiches is here to save the day. Or at least try.

Open for two months, Reggie's serves up large, gluttonous sandwiches at reasonable prices(relative to the neighbourhood). Located immediately next to Craft Burger, the two spots are similar in layout (long and skinny) and target market, but offer distinctively different fare. While Craft Burger is all about the gourmet beef, Reggie's is there for lovers of the fine art of sandwich making. Friendly and knowledgeable staff always makes a meal better, and owner Bryan Burke has obviously spent the necessary time with his staff to get them on point and enthusiastic. While Reggie's design is not entirely unique, it isn't completely devoid of a few quirky takes on the norm. Counters are made from lacquered plywood, and the back wall is adorned with a giant black and yellow Coca-Cola logo. Food comes in wax paper-lined baskets, so the fussy need not apply.

But precious few are going to Reggie's for the design aesthetic or place settings. It's all about coming in hungry and leaving stuffed, and for that - mission accomplished. Sandwiches are, without exception, too big for one person. Unless specified on the chalk-board menu, the feast comes served on one-inch thick white bread (although customers can ask for a wrap version) and are stuffed in abundance. A duck-confit sandwich ($7.55) is perhaps the most interesting item on the menu, but disappoints, with dry duck, too much brie, and not enough julienned apple. Not to mention that half of the over-stuffed sandwich ends up in pieces back in the basket. The flavours are all there, just with the wrong balance, and the duck particularly could benefit from a more interesting bread than what amounted to a thick, glorified slice of Wonder Bread.

Pulled pork ($6.95) borders on pure flavour perfection, but could use a finishing touch. The soft pork is appropriately drenched in barbeque sauce, but lacks the punch it needs to fill the palate and could benefit from some chili heat. The out-of-the-bag kaiser roll is probably not doing the meat any favours, and is a surprise from a restaurant that takes great pride in making many of its ingredients from scratch. A roasted turkey sandwich ($7.95) is the best thing on the menu, plentiful with moist turkey meat that was actually pulled off a bird - no turkey roll here. Accompanied by a house-made mayonnaise, the normal accoutrement of a turkey sandwich, it was great to see Reggie's get one really right.

But the highlight of the meal was, of all things, the deep-fried mac and cheese ($5.55). Served with the house-made mayo spiked with sriracha and ancho chili powder, the dish looks more like fish sticks than anything else. Cheese-coated pasta is packed into rectangles, breaded and deep-fried, making for a hot and stringy delicacy that register at a nine on the Richter scale of colon punishment. The flavour and texture are both spot on - crunchy outside, moist and gooey on the inside and the mellow cheese and saltiness of the batter is nicely offset with the spicy mayo.

At almost $15 per person, the price tag is slightly steep, but with well-paid marketing executive-types as customers both at lunch and late night, price becomes less of an issue. And Reggie's has another factor to count on for business. Unlike its neighbours, it's open 24 hours - a rarity for a non-chain, non-fast food, sandwich joint. The long hours will likely assure Reggie's a certain modicum of success, but some work on their sandwiches would probably go a lot further.