Conveniently located on Main Street in sunny downtown El Segundo is The Original Rinaldi’s Italian Deli. From the outside, you see that Rinaldi’s is a no-frills, old school deli.
Inside it’s no different, with plastic chairs and seemingly foldable tables. The menu on the wall has enough unvegan delicacies to delight even the most casual carnivore. Steak, turkey, bacon, sausage and more adorn the various sandwich descriptions, making it hard to decide the appropriate meat for the moment. As soon as I saw the Fatboy, though, I knew it had to be mine. The ingredients were sausage, beef meatballs, pepperoni, marinara sauce and (provolone) cheese. I ordered the 10″ rather than the mildly girlish 6″.
Once I ordered, there was a bit of a wait, and I could hardly contain my excitement for the meaty sandwich. When it did arrive, it looked the perfect part. Light on marinara and huge on meats. The pepperonis were easily the largest I have ever seen and would have taken a few bites to get through had I been eating them on their own. I took my first (difficult) bite and my mouth was filled with happiness. I say difficult because the sandwich was so packed with meat, I had to take three bites just to get from the top to the bottom.
By the time I was finished, I was one happy unvegan. The combination of meats were enough to make my palette jump for joy and the fact that they never even considered tainting my sandwich with vegetables filled my life with bliss.
I wonder who could have tipped you off to the great unvegan-ness of Rinaldi’s! A whole 9.5….score!
If you want pure protein go with the Undercover J designed for an undercover cop I heard. Grilled chicken breast, ground lean turkey and eggwhites. Most of their sandwiches are designed for the airforce people besides the godfather. I may get a “godmother” in my honor one day ; )
Or put any item on the menu in a PAN. Tada….
To me the Fatboy is just like pizza but with real servings of meat…nothing skimpy or mysterious bits and pieces of grease call meatballs, sausage and pepperoni on a pizza, seen?
nuff said.
Actually Queenie, most of the original Rinaldi’s sandwiches were created for body builders and local Hermosa Beach surfers. Mike Rinaldi, the restaraunt’s namesake was a body builder who opened the first two in Redondo Beach and in Arizona.
In the early 90s, he opened one in Hermosa Beach and sold it to a guy named Chris, who was also a body builder. Right around the corner is The Yard, a hardcore body builder/fitness freak gym. The majority of the “classic” Rinaldi sandwiches came from the Hermosa location and were named for locals (Pauly’s Ed, Russel, Chris, Hermosa etc). If I remember correctly the, Rajun Cajun and the Friday Turkey Lasagna were also developed at the Hermosa location.
The El Segundo location came much later, and the tradition of naming sandwiches for local types (Air Force, Fireman, Loyola, USC, UCLA, Airport) near El Segundo. Good food for sure