Los Angeles has a lot of great sandwiches. If you’re a fan of twice baked rye pastrami, then Langer’s has his deli. If anyone says other pastrami sandwiches are better, they’re wrong.

A few years ago I compiled a list of the best Italian submarines in the city. It contains a dozen.

The tuna salad sandwich at Bub & Grandma’s in Grassell Park is a lunchtime staple. Beet’s Reuben in Rome in downtown Los Angeles is a compelling revelation for carnivores and vegetarians alike.

Here we add two more sandwiches to our list of the best sandwiches in the city. Perfect for your next power lunch, beach picnic, or any situation that needs something in between breads.

All Lorenzo California Sandwiches

In the fall of 2019, Renato Araujo and his wife Cynthia Ruslan spent a month eating sandwiches in Florence. Araujo, a longtime restaurant manager in Los Angeles, was on a research trip to find the best. Earlier that year, he and his wife decided to buy a house with the money they saved and open a sandwich shop instead.

Araujo couldn’t find the store when he and his wife trekked to try a new sandwich. As they walked up and down the streets of Florence, they spotted a family with a little boy. They were so fascinated by him that they stopped and said hello.

“He was dressed like a gentleman,” he said. “I said to him, ‘Hey, you dressed up so nicely.’ I asked his name and he said ‘Lorenzo.'”

The family happened to be standing in front of a sandwich shop.

“Thinking about the little boy, we stopped to talk to the family,” he said. “We would never have found the place. When we were wondering what to call our house, my wife and I looked at each other and we both said ‘Lorenzo’. .”

Shortly after returning to Los Angeles, the pandemic hit and plans to open a store were put on hold. Three years later, Lorenzo California opened in Little Santa Monica, Beverly Hills in March.

This sandwich is modeled after what he ate in Florence, with a minimum of ingredients on delicious bread.

Frederico Fernández, the chief baker, bakes bread at 4am each morning according to recipes that Araujo and I have worked out together. A variation of focaccia, but baked into individual rectangles rather than a large loaf that needs to be cut. It is thin and light, and the skin cracks, but not completely. With good extra virgin olive oil and flaky sea salt, focaccia has the earthy flavor of focaccia without a dense, heavy middle ground.

Bread is baked once a day, making about 75 sandwiches. When they come out, the day is over.

Ruslan takes orders next to the deli case, while Araujo slices meat to order and makes sandwiches.

Lorenzo California’s Zola Sandwich includes bresaola, truffle honey, white onion agrodolce, Gorgonzola cheese, and fresh truffle slices.

(Wonho Frank Lee)

The fennel-flavoured finocchiona salame that accompanied the salamino sandwich was shaved so thin that it seemed to melt into a cushion of sliced ​​artichokes soaked in silky Parmigiano sauce and oil.

The eponymous Lorenzo sandwich is served with roasted red bell peppers, toasted pistachios and a sheet of pale pink mortadella in a Parmigiano sauce, the same blend of boiled cream and Parmigiano Reggiano. increase. The taste is simple and straightforward, but Araujo says some purists still ask for sliced ​​mortadella on bread.

The most indulgent menu item is the Zola, which consists of a thick, smoky bresaola, a drizzle of truffle honey, white onion agrodolce, and gorgonzola cheese. A whopping $35. Considering the freshly shaved black truffles are plentiful on top of the finished sandwich, the sticker shock isn’t much of a shock.

In the near future, Araujo plans to turn off the lights in the delicatessen in the evening and open for dinner with a full menu of pasta and wine.

Lady & Larder’s Venice Cowgirl

Santa Monica’s Lady and Larder’s Venice Cowgirl Sandwich has sliced ​​nectarines, but that might change to peaches later in the summer.

(Yesenia Campos & Kyle Kawamoto)

More than any other sandwich in Los Angeles, Santa Monica’s Venice Cowgirl from Santa Monica’s small cheese shop and supermarket, Lady & Larder, evokes a moment and a sense of place in the city. Its re-appearance on the menu each year signals the beginning of summer. More than frozen desserts, salads and barbecue.

Sisters and co-owners Sarah Sims and Boo Sims came up with this sandwich as a way to represent a particular cheese, much like the rest of the store’s sandwiches. The star of the Venice Cowgirl is Cowgirl Creamery’s Mount Tam Triple Cream. The cheese is sliced ​​into thick tiles, garnished with habanero and apricot jam, sliced ​​nectarines, basil, wild arugula, extra virgin olive oil and salt, and layered on a crusty baguette of Clark Street Bread.

“People don’t necessarily think of sandwiches as seasonal, but for us they are very seasonal,” Sarah said in a recent call. “Venice he cowgirl just returned. Only available during drupe season.”

Nectarine may change to peach depending on the stock situation. Last week’s nectarines were sun and sugar heavy, ripe but not too soft. These are the perfect companions for cheeses with a bloomy crust, with a slight firmness around the edges that turns buttery towards the center. If you’ve eaten something with more cheese than fruit, expect to eat a ton of raw white mushrooms.

Basil should be bright and floral, such as Thai basil, purple basil, or green genovese. Mr. and Mrs. Sims are buying Pepper Her Jellies from Ojai Her Jerry Sues her McClellan. He’s driving to Los Angeles handing bottles. The sweet heat of the jelly reminds her sisters of the appetizers their mother serves for company. It is typically a soft, young bright cheese served with pepper jelly.

This particular combination left me greedy and giddy. Heavy bags of cherries and drupes make my arms sore, especially after a fruitful summer trip to the farmer’s market. The baguette is so packed with goodies that you’ll want more. More nectarines. More cheese. More pepper jam.

“It has everything you want: salty, sweet, sour, texture,” says Sarah. “We packed everything that brings us joy into the sandwich.”

The Sims started making sandwiches due to COVID-19, but orders for trays of cheese and charcuterie had plummeted due to city shutdowns and subsequent cancellations of events and parties. Two to three varieties are usually packaged and ready to pick up from the counter.

The Venice Cowgirl only appears during drupe season. Get it while you can.