The Yellow Submarine has been one of Concord’s go-to locations for shack-based food for many years now. The original North State Street location is the epitome of the grab-’n’-go, side-of-the-road, sandwich-’n’-fries hut. So when we heard they started opening for breakfast, we didn’t know what to expect. The only seating there is outside, and it is winter, so it’s strictly to-go. Would we be eating poached eggs out of our bare hands whilst driving to work? The Snob is up for any challenge, so we took a slight detour on our commute to the office and stopped in for some breakfast.
The Snob ordered an omelette with home fries and toast and the Snob’s companion ordered a breakfast BLT. Fortunately, no one else stopped by to order anything during the seven or so minutes we were waiting, or we would have been getting pretty intimate in those cozy confines. After that short wait, we grabbed our food and high-tailed it back to the office to wolf it down (yes, we were able to control ourselves until we got out of the car).
Once we got back to our home base, we cleared off the table (fan mail just keeps piling up!) and dug in. The Snob’s omelette ($6.65) was a hefty one, with American cheese, bacon, peppers, onions and mushrooms. Coming off a griddle top usually reserved for steak subs and the like, this was a sort of bacon bomb omelette – a bacon bomblette, if you will (note to Yellow Sub staff: Feel free to put that name right on the menu). It came with a healthy helping of home fries and a couple slices of toast. The omelette was greasy and delicious, which is all one can really ask for in the morning. The peppers, onions and mushrooms were grilled up nicely alongside the bacon and eggs, and the American cheese melted into every nook and cranny to give it the perfect texture.
Unless toast is made from outstanding bread or topped with something memorable, it’s basically edible napkins, and we treated it as such. The home fries, however, were amazing. They were seasoned to perfection and griddle-grilled to the crispy-on-the-outside, smooth-on-the-inside sweet spot. We dispatched them in minutes flat.
Our dining companion then unleashed his breakfast sandwich ($5.96). It was a breakfasty take on the traditional BLT with an Italian twist: It came on ciabatta bread with pesto, spinach and provolone accompanying the bacon, egg and tomato (a BET?). The bread was grilled, but still soft, and went a long way towards wresting breakfast sandwich conveyance away from the bagel/English muffin stranglehold. The bacon packed a crisp, savory crunch, complemented nicely by the spinach and pesto. The egg was a dead-on over medium, the cheese melted into harp strings of flavor playing for our taste buds to hear. It was truly a unique breakfast sandwich.
