Local hero: Norristown's zep sandwich

December 09, 2009|By Derrick Nunnally, Inquirer Staff Writer
(Page 3 of 3)

"And talk to your cardiologist first," said Montgomery County Sheriff John Durante, who calculated he had eaten "hundreds" of zeps in his life, starting in Linfante's.

"Put it this way: I could eat 20 to 30 a year, and that's a low estimate," Durante said.

Just don't try asking for one by name in hoagie territory. The Hindenburg went over better.

"It's a localism. It's just a variation of the same sandwich," sniffed hoagie expert Howard Robboy, a sociology professor at the College of New Jersey who has researched sandwiches, and their names, for decades.

Story continues below.

He has never had a zep, but doubted it could shake his devotion to his sandwich of choice: the three-meat Italian hoagie served by DiCostanza's in Boothwyn.

If Robboy brought that recipe to a certain Norristown spot in the time of restaurateur Lou Bondi, the sandwich-shop founder would have glowered, reported his kin.

"My grandfather always said, 'You want a hoagie? Go to a hoagie shop. This is a zep shop,' " Lou Alba said.

 


Contact staff writer Derrick Nunnally at 610-313-8212 or dnunnally@phillynews.com.

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