It’s weird how we come across new places to eat. My girlfriend needed to make a quick stop at National City. While inside the lobby, I saw a take out menu for Submarina. We get back in the car and she says she’s hungry and suggests Steak ‘N Shake. I happen to have that take out menu in my back pocket and I take it out and show it to her. Now, I know both places are chains. Steak ‘N Shake actually got it’s start in Normal, IL which is close to where I used to live, so I’ve eaten at Steak ‘N Shake’s many times. We decide to give the new place a try. Usually, I hate anything related to California (Submarina is marketed as California Subs), but Submarina is new to town and it’s the only location in Michigan. The majority of the chain is located in San Diego County with just a few locations outside of that…again, mostly in California.
The shop is in a strip mall and it’s pretty tiny. There are only a few booths, but they do have two flat screen TV’s. It’s like most sub shops where you order at the counter then watch them make your sandwich in front of you. Nothing out of the ordinary there, but the menu is anything but.
I got a six inch East Coast sub. Proscuitto, cappocola, ham, salami, and pepperoni are sliced fresh on a deli slicer right in front of you. It’s not like the sub standard place that has the portions already packaged out between sheets of butcher paper. They cut the meat right in front of you. The sandwich starts with a bed of provolone then the fresh sliced meats are piled on top. After that, you have a choice of a few toppings. Not as many as the other place, but they do have a couple items that make them “California.” I passed on all those and went just with lettuce, Italian dressing, and mustard. The sandwich was good and the meat was really piled on there. Unforunately, the flavors all kind of ran together. I love the taste of proscuitto and I couldn’t really taste it. I do prefer this sandwich over Subway, but let’s face it, it’s a cold meat sandwich.
My girlfriend got the Peppered Garden sandwich on Squaw bread. Again, the peppered turkey was sliced fresh right in front of us. The sandwich is supposed to come with Havarati, but they must have been out as they asked if Provolone was alright. On top of the turkey was a balsamic vinagrette and sprouts. She really liked the sandwich and actually took some of the turkey off because there was just too much there for her to eat. Good thing is, I get a little bit extra meat for my sandwich. 🙂
Submarina is a chain and normaly I hate chains. I don’t hate Submarina. The service was a little slow, but that’s because they were cutting their own meat (have I mentioned that already). There are a lot of sub shops popping up and each one needs to do something different to make it. Submarina offers unique ingredients like avocado, pepperocinni’s, and sprouts. The combination of meats and fresh ingredients make all the difference. For a little over $11, we had a quick, delicious and somewhat healthy lunch…..better than the hamburgers I probably would have cooked.
Lansing, MI 48921
So, today, I started out with my homemade piza dough from a recipe I got from one of my friends moms. She used to make homemade pizza for us every Friday and Saturday night. It was definately the highlight of the weekend when I was in high school. It’s a pretty simple, basic pizza dough recipe of yeast, water, salt, sugar, canola oil, and flour. I’ve healthied it up a little bit by doing half AP flour and half wheat flour. It changes the taste a little bit, but nothing bad. I actually think it might taste better. I let the dough rise over night then fired up the grill after running a few morning errands.
Now it was time to cook the pizza. After rolling the dough out and brushing on some garlic butter, the dough rounds when straight on to the grill grates. I had considered using a cast iron skillet, but thought I’d try this. It worked great. The fire was hot enough the dough cooked really quickly. Almost too quickly. I was yelling back in the house to my girlfriend to bring the sauce and cheese. After
only a minute or two, I flipped the dough and started spooning on the sauce. It didn’t take long at all. By the time I was putting on the cheese, I was a little worried that I was taking too long and the pies were going to be burnt on the bottom. At this point, I put the grill cover on for just a couple seconds to melt the cheese. Less than five minutes after I put the raw dough on the grill, I was taking them off. 
So, how they’d stack up to Weber Grill’s? Pretty darn close. The crust had a nice smokey flavor. The cheese was perfectly melted. I add a few spices (oregano, thyme, and red pepper flakes) to the sauce and that made for a spicy sauce. This was much, much better than cooking them in an over and it was really quick. It took longer for the coals to warm up. I felt bad about wasting the fire so I grilled some burgers for dinner later tonight and I grilled some pineapple and peppers for my girlfriend to eat. Don’t be intimadated by pizza on the grill. It’s not as hard as you would think it would be. If you don’t make your own down, just buy one of those pre-packaged ones. All the flavor is coming from the fire and it’s totally worth the time and effort. 
Mid-Michigan Dining 
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