First, check out my short Ride & Review video HERE:
My wife and I finally got in here for a sandwich.
The place has been around for a long time, and I have to say, there’s a reason for it. The sandwiches are GREAT! This was a little expensive at $17, but when you compare to a place like Joey Roses ($8), which are smaller, the price makes sense. The quality is great from the bread to the Calabrian chili paste to the meats and mozz.
We went with the Uncle John (mortadella being the big selling point) and we added the chili paste.
I finally got over to Defonte’s to try some sandwiches. My buddy Nick and I rode over on our Zooz bikes. It took us 10 or 15 minutes from downtown Manhattan – a trip that would otherwise take a half hour and cost an arm and a leg in cab or Uber fees.
These things really are the best way to get around the boros, especially for food crawls! If you want one, get one with my coupon code JOHNNYPRIME for $100 off at THIS WEBSITE.
Anyway, we started with the hot roast beef dip sandwich that’s topped with fried eggplant and fresh house made mozz. Awesome!
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Next up was the Italian special, which is a cold sandwich that features a variety of Italian meats, along with some spicy bomba sauce, lettuce, tomato and dressing. This was the big winner for me.
I’ll be back here for sure, especially to try the roast pork sandwiches, and something chock full of mortadella.
This little place makes some really great sang-witches. One day my wife and I went over there and picked up five different selections and brought them over to my parents so we could all try.
We tried the Louisiana Lightning (grilled cajun chicken with lettuce, tomato, onion and spicy stealth sauce), the Reuben (my favorite of them all), the Stealth (roast pork with lettuce tomato onion and stealth sauce), the Philly Cheesesteak, and the Big Steer (essentially a cheeseburger sandwich). All were excellent, but the Reuben really stole the show, with the Big Steer and Louisiana Lightning coming in close behind. Perhaps the Super Steak would have been the better choice than the regular Philly, as it comes on toasted garlic bread!
Louisiana Lightning:
Philly Cheesesteak:
Reuben:
Big Steer:
Stealth:
TJ’S HERO SHOP
524 Mastic Rd.
Mastic Beach, NY 11951
I whipped this bitch up after a surprise trip to the Mosner family meat processing plant for a tour and butchery class. Check out my write-up of that shit HERE.
Once we got home, I was itching to try some of what we just worked on, so I took the stew meat scraps and threw them into the slow cooker with some apple shit and some spice shit.
I set it on low and slow. Four hours later the result was amazing. My wife and I threw it onto a sandwich with some pickled cabbage and a spicy mayo. Check out the recipe below assholes:
What you need:
about a pound, or pound and a half, of pork stew meat
apple moonshine or brandy (3/4 cup)
can of apple sparkling water (12oz) or apple juice
one serving of apple sauce (unsweetened – 4oz)
2 tbsp brown sugar
3 cloves of garlic (cut each into thirds or quarters)
1 small to medium sized onion (halved)
kosher salt to taste
crushed red pepper to taste
cloves (about 10)
1 small cinnamon stick
fresh cracked black pepper to taste
handful of baby carrots, sliced thin
shredded cabbage
white vinegar
mayo
habanero hot sauce or sri racha sauce
sliced jalapeno
sub/hero bread
THE MEAT
1) Mix the apple sauce, apple brandy, and apple sparkling water to use as a braising liquid base. Add to the slow cooker.
2) Drop your stew meat into the slow cooker.
stew meat swimming in the slow cooker
3) Add salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, cloves, cinnamon, garlic, and onion into the slow cooker.
Me, magic-wanding in a mix of kosher salt and crushed red pepper
4) Set slow cooker to 4 hours on LOW. Mix that shit around every so often while it’s going.
5) When finished, pull out of the liquid and cut the meat into manageable chunks for a sandwich.
NOTE: This meat is going to come out sweet if you go light on the spice, so what I did below was create some extras to balance the sweet with a little kick of spice. Be a man – do it.
THE TOPPING
1) Get some tupperware and put the carrots, cabbage and white vinegar into it.
2) Add some spices as you see fit.
3) Let that shit sit and soak until it’s party time.
THE DRESSING
1) Add habanero sauce or sri racha sauce to mayo as you see fit.
2) Mix.
NOTE: if you have the ability, like my wife did, then you should make your own mayo from fucking scratch. How? Whisk together 1 egg yolk, a little blob of dijon mustard, a little white vinegar, a pinch of salt, a little olive oil, and a squirt of lemon juice until it becomes like a nice aioli. That shit will have a little zing of acid to cut the sweetness and spice of the other sandwich elements.
homemade mayo/aioli
PUT ALL THAT FUCKING SHIT TOGETHER
1) Toast your bread to your liking.
2) Assemble the sandwich by first dressing each side of the bread with the mayo/aioli.
3) Add your meat and some of the pickled veggie topping. Here’s where you throw on some of those sliced jalapenos.
