A Quest To Find The Best Sandwich in Salt Lake City

One day last year, my daughter introduced me to Central 9th Market in Salt Lake City. You see, she is a bit of a sandwich connoisseur and she raved about the sandwiches at Central 9th Market. And so we went…and I was indeed very impressed. We’ve returned several times, and on a recent visit – while savoring my favorite, their turkey sandwich – I found myself wondering if it might just be the best sandwich in Salt Lake City.

Well, regular readers know that I love a Food Quest when I travel. And even though Salt Lake City is home, I couldn’t think of any reason not to launch a Food Quest here. And so began my search for the best sandwich in Salt Lake City.

Is that best sandwich indeed at Central 9th Market? Or could I find a better one someplace else? Let’s see what happens…

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Rules of The Quest

Now of course it’s not possible for me to try every sandwich in Salt Lake City. As with any of my past food quests (like this one to find the best Churros in Madrid), I did some research before I set out eating.

I read online opinions from local food bloggers and other media sources. And I relied a lot on Google Maps – both for its visitor ratings and its visitor-generated images. After all, this is how I typically decide where to eat when I travel.

Plus, given that I am a local resident, I have my own long-time favorite sandwich places. And existing opinions about places that I personally feel are over-rated.

So, ultimately I narrowed down my Quest to just a handful of candidates for the best sandwich in Salt Lake City. I then set out to see if I could settle on which was The Best – usually with my sandwich-loving daughter in tow.

Central 9th Market

Given that lunch at Central 9th Market triggered this quest for the best sandwich in Salt Lake City, let’s talk about this place and their sandwiches first.

Central 9th Market is a small deli and market in central Salt Lake that specializes in offering top quality local produce and other local goods. And they have a wood fire oven. And from this oven, they produce the best focaccia I’ve ever eaten…..

It’s soft and airy and chewy, with a slightly charred crust, sprinkled with a touch of sea salt. It is perfection!

And with this focaccia they make their amazing sandwiches….

As I mentioned in the intro, my personal favorite sandwich at Central 9th Market is their turkey sandwich. They smoke their own turkey in house – no typical bland deli turkey meat here. They add homemade sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and a mustard-forward Russian dressing.

The interplay and balance between all these flavors really is perfect. Plus, add in the char from the bread…. it’s so good! It’s really no wonder that this was my starting gold standard for the best sandwich in Salt Lake City!

My daughter typically orders their beloved mortadella sandwich. And they also make great breakfast sandwiches, like the one below with organic mushrooms and egg.

Sandwich prices at Central 9th Market currently range from $10-$16. The Market does frequently host a variety of unique events such as Farmer’s Markets & Pop-up Dinners. Following their Instagram page is the best way to keep up with these events and offerings. (Note that there isn’t any seating at the Market other than a single outdoor picnic table)

Clearly then, I started this Quest with a favorite in the forefront of my mind. Will I be able to find a sandwich that can beat it? Let’s move on to the next stop….

Enrico’s Deli

Enrico’s Deli & Pizzeria is a New York style deli located at the Jordan Landing in West Jordan. While it’s not as centrally located in Salt Lake as the other places on my Quest, when I saw photos of their pastrami sandwich, I knew I had to visit.

They call this sandwich The Rico. They make it with 1 lb (!!) of imported pastrami. Pastrami they ship in from Brooklyn every two weeks. The pastrami itself is grilled, and stuffed in between two thick slices of toasted rye bread, along with Swiss cheese and spicy mustard

I love pastrami sandwiches, and this was by far the best I’ve ever had anywhere. In the past, I’ve eaten the pastrami sandwich at another Salt Lake City deli often mentioned on Best-Of Lists called Feldman’s Deli. But theirs isn’t even close.

At Enrico’s the pastrami was incredibly tender and packed with smokey flavor. Plus there was just the right amount of cheese and mustard. And this sandwich is huge! My daughter and I split it. Even half a Rico was plenty for each of us.

I will have to say though that we were underwhelmed with the other sandwich we ordered from Enrico’s. My daughter has a fondness for Italian deli meat (remember she gets the Mortadella at Central 9th.) So she made it a point to order an Italian deli sandwich everywhere we visited together.

At Enrico’s, we tried the Da Gabagool, and we both thought it mediocre (though good-looking). Not a lot of flavor from the dressing and the bread was harder than we liked.

So in my opinion, the reason to visit Enrico’s is to eat The Rico. If you love pastrami, then this is definitely one of the best sandwiches in Salt Lake City. (Cost $20.99. Yes it’s expensive. But not when you split it. And it’s worth it!)

Caputo’s Market & Deli

Caputo’s is certainly Salt Lake’s most beloved deli and gourmet market. It’s been around for almost 30 years and was even named the best deli in Utah by the Food Network. I’ve been eating sandwiches from Caputo’s for nearly that long, and for many years their Muffaletta was my favorite sandwich in Salt Lake City. I would stop and get one anytime I was near Caputo’s at lunchtime.

But Caputo’s had dropped off my eating radar in recent years. So I thought it only natural to return, and see if that Muffaletta still deserved to be included as one of the best sandwiches in Salt Lake City.

In case you aren’t familiar with the Muffaletta, it is a sandwich invented by Italian immigrants in New Orleans.  It’s typically served in a round bun and filled with salami, ham, mortadella, provolone, and topped with an olive salad. I love olives. For me, a sandwich with olives or any sort of olive tapenade will always rise to the top of a list. I even made a pilgrimage to the home of the original Muffaletta on a trip to New Orleans.

And yes, Caputo’s version of the Muffaletta is still great. In fact, it’s better than I remember. I’m not sure why I let it drop off my radar. You should know though that it’s quite spicy, since the olive salad at Caputo’s contains hot peppers too. So keep that in mind.

Caputo’s has a varied selection of hot and cold sandwiches. The place was very busy at lunchtime, and all the sandwiches coming out of the kitchen looked really good. My daughter was happy with her cold Italian sandwich. And their hot pastrami also looked good, but not nearly as good as Enrico’s.

My only knock against Caputo’s is the bread quality. It’s never on the same level as some of the other places on this list. That does keep it from the top spot on my quest to find the best sandwich in Salt Lake City. But it’s still a great choice.

Prices range from $12-16 dollars for full sandwiches (half sizes are also available).

Pretty Bird

Another of my long-time favorite eateries in Salt Lake is called Pretty Bird. Like Caputo’s, I hadn’t visited for a little bit. But I decided that I unquestionably needed to stop in and reassess their Hot Chicken Sandwich on this Quest. It blew my mind the first time I tried it. Did it still deserve consideration as the best sandwich in Salt Lake City?

Pretty Bird is owned and operated by Utah’s best-known celebrity chef. His name is Viet Pham. And while he’s never had his own cooking show, he’s been a fixture on Food TV competitions for a number of years (winning most of the time).

Pretty Bird is his fast-casual hot chicken restaurant with several locations around Salt Lake. And the star at Pretty Bird is the Hot Chicken Sandwich. In fact, Pham beat Bobby Flay with this very sandwich on Beat Bobby Flay

And my recent return visit confirmed that it is a great sandwich….still.

This sandwich features a huge fried chicken thigh and you can choose your desired level of spice. The fried chicken itself is very crispy on the outside, yet tender and juicy on the inside. It’s covered in the chef’s multi-ingredient special sauce, thick-cut pickles, and a mound of purple slaw. It currently costs $11.25 (a very fair price given the size and quality of this sandwich)

However, at the end of my Quest, I did find a fried chicken sandwich I liked better than Pretty Bird’s. So while this sandwich is a worthy competitor, I don’t think that it’s the absolute best sandwich in Salt Lake City. More on that other option to come.

Salt Egg City

During my pre-Quest sandwich research, the breakfast sandwiches at Salt Egg City seemed to receive a lot of love. So the next stop on my Quest for the best sandwich in Salt Lake City took me to this small sandwich shop. While I doubted that a breakfast sandwich could come out on top, I would never know unless I tried it, right?

Every traveler knows that some of the best food is found at hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Well, Salt Egg City is literally a hole in the wall. It’s a small counter and kitchen located inside of a new food hall in the central city. Here, they focus specifically on creating elevated breakfast sandwiches using premium ingredients and their own fresh-baked brioche bread.

I ordered the Sausage, Egg, & Cheese Sandwich. It included a fried organic egg and sausage from a local purveyor called Gerome’s. The cost was $9.25.

I loved that the fried egg was still runny on the inside, dripping along the sausage and into the bread. And the Brioche was excellent. But I thought the sausage needed more flavor. They do have a version with thick cut bacon. I may try that next time.

Overall, it was a good sandwich, but not the best sandwich in Salt Lake City. I prefer the breakfast sandwiches at Central 9th Market.

La Casa de la Arepa

While I was eating my breakfast sandwich at Salt Egg City, I noticed that the neighboring restaurant seemed to be the busiest in the food hall. I also noticed that it was named for the typical sandwich of Venezuela and Colombia – the Arepa.

I love Arepas. I’ve written a blog post all about the Food in Cartagena Colombia where I first ate Arepas. While there are many different ways to eat Arepas in South America, one of the most common is in the manner of a sandwich – various ingredients stuffed inside two halves of the corn meal arepa.

A quick check on Google Maps showed a 4.9 rating and lots of reviews suggesting that this Venzuelan restaurant serves what many consider to be the best Arepas in Salt Lake. I’ve tried Arepas elsewhere in town and was a little disappointed. So I returned to La Casa de la Arepa on a different day – after all, the best sandwich in Salt Lake City doesn’t necessarily have to be traditional.

This is their Pabellon Arepa – the very type of arepa I ate repeatedly in Cartagena. Slow cooked shredded beef, black beans, fried plantains, and cheese, covered with a green cilantro-based Venezuelan sauce. (Cost is currently 11.95)

It was outstanding! The beef was very tender and flavorful. And the enveloping Arepa itself was one of the best I’ve had. Definitely equal to any that I ate in Colombia.

Moral of the story… Do not sleep on a great arepa when questing for the best sandwich in Salt Lake City. This one belongs high on the list!

Silverside Deli

The last stop on my SLC sandwich Quest was Silverside Deli – located in Salt Lake’s Sugarhouse neighborhood. When I first perused their website, I immediately knew my Quest required a stop at Silverside. Their actual stated purpose is to create the best sandwiches in Salt Lake City!

And one look at their menu demonstrates a very high level of creativity and originality. Silverside not only offers a core group of regular sandwiches, but also offers 3 newly-created speciality sandwiches for each month.

Silverside is operated by a chef named Zach Wojdula who has lots of fine dining experience. They make all their own sauces and condiments from scratch. And his stated goal is to consistently find the perfect balance of ingredients between bread.

This is their Korean Fried Chicken Sandwich…

Its ingredients include a sriracha chili crisp mayo, a ginger-garlic gochujang sauce, crispy onions, and a kimchi bacon jam (it’s not as spicy as these ingredients would lead you to believe).  It only took one bite to convince me that this is one of the best sandwiches in Salt Lake City. The intense complexity of flavors, the perfectly fried chicken, and a really outstanding ciabatta had both me and my daughter raving . It’s better than Pretty Bird!

We also tried their Collard Greens Melt. I love collard greens. And so I naturally gravitated towards this choice. It’s an unusual sandwich for sure. But it was delicious! The collard greens are braised for five hours in spicy miso, beer, onion, and garlic. Add a spicy slaw and Swiss cheese. Plus toasted rye. For vegetarians, this has to be one of the best sandwiches in Salt Lake City (though I did think it had a little too much slaw)

And if you’ve been paying attention, you won’t be surprised to learn that my daughter ordered their Italian Cold Cut Sandwich. We both agreed it was the best traditional deli meat sandwich of the Quest. Super flavorful dressings and outstanding bread.

All in all, I was very impressed with Silverside Deli. I look forward to trying more of their sandwiches in the future. Their prices currently range from $12-16 and they do have breakfast sandwiches too. It was most definitely a fitting place to end my Quest.

And the Winner Of The Quest Is…..

Honestly, it’s not possible for me to declare a single winner from this Quest to find the Best Sandwich in Salt Lake City. There are clearly several outstanding sandwiches in town.

But did I find a sandwich that beat the Turkey Sandwich at Central 9th Market – the sandwich that launched this Quest?

No! I still personally feel that it deserves the title for best sandwich in Salt Lake City.

But, it’s a shared title. The Rico Pastrami Sandwich at Enrico’s and the Korean Fried Chicken at Silverside both deserve a place at the top too. And given that all three sandwiches are completely different, I think there is room up there for each.

Also, I’m confident that there are other great sandwiches in Salt Lake City I’ve yet to try. So if you have a favorite, feel free to leave a comment below.

Finally, if you would like to read about some of my other Food Quests around the world, then check out these posts

A Quest to Find The Best Loukoumades in Athens

A Quest For the Best Tacos in Merida Mexico

An Evening Quest for The Best Chicken in Lisbon

And if you need suggestions for other things to do in Salt Lake City, then be sure to check out this post:

7 Amazing Things To Do In Salt Lake City – A Local’s Guide