Capo Deli, Tysons Corner, Virginia

As regular readers know, I’ve been on a quest to find the very best Italian sub in the Washington area. I’d heard that Capo Deli was very good, so I went to the nearest branch with parking, the one in Cabin John in Montgomery County, Maryland. It was a disappointment. As reported here, the sandwich was a big miss. The sub roll was outstanding, but the meats were bland, the dressing unbalanced, and the lettuce, well, enough said.

I posted my review and a chorus welled up and grew into a roar telling me in a nice way that I should have gone to the original in Tysons Corner at 8359-B Leesburg Pike, which has a different menu and is, after all, the original — or so I was told. And there also were advocates for other locations. I might have braved the storm of complaints, but that roll was so good that I determined instead to brave the ever-expanding endless sprawl of Tysons Corner. An opportunity arose when Nancy and I took our annual shopping pilgrimage to Orvis. Their nearest brick and mortar location is in Tysons Corner within a stone’s throw of the Tysons Capo, at least for someone with a really good arm.

The Capo mothership is small, with a counter at which you order, and some display cases. There also is a narrow shelf along one windowed wall that offers indoor dining, but the main business is carryout, and a brisk business it is. As we were leaving, a couple of firefighters came in on a sandwich run for their station. There aren’t many better indicators for a quality sandwich shop than a fire or police station sandwich run.    

Off to the left as you enter is another narrow and all but completely separate space with an incongruous full bar that offers a roomier space to eat.

The bar was unattended and the television was muted. Nancy and I ordered and sat in the bar area and listened to the cheery buzz of ordering and syncopated music (Sunroof) on a moderate-volume sound system.

Nancy ordered a Grilled Chicken Salad with balsamic dressing on the side.

First, the wooden “tray” for the salad looks to be the same width as that narrow shelf for in-house seating. Clever. That fascinating detail out of the way, isn’t that a generous salad? Nancy was very enthusiastic about it. The ingredients were varied, fresh, and abundant. She kept saying that it was “great” and “really good.”  The salad was a big hit.

I ordered a “build your own” sub. One complaint I’d had about the Cabin John location was a lack of variety in the meats available on their subs. I’d added meats (hot soppressata) to the standard subs at A. Literi, Vace, and the Italian Store (Westover). A variety of meats is one of the things that makes a great Italian sub. This time I chose Genoa salami, soppressata, and mortadella, plus the usual provolone, lettuce, tomato, onion, and house dressing — basically the Capo Special with Genoa salami. Here it is —

First, behold that roll. As I said about the Cabin John Capo branch,

“The roll is excellent, one of the very best rolls in town. The sesame seeds studded a good crust and it had a slightly lighter density than some other Italian breads. The flavor was excellent. The sesame seeds helped, of course, but this is a good-tasting bread.”

I should have said very good tasting. You’ll also notice that the sub came with a robust helping of meat.

And that’s a reasonable amount of finely shredded lettuce and, in sharp contrast to the Cabin John lettuce, this was perfectly fresh. All of the meats were very thinly sliced.

I took a bite, felt and tasted that wonderful bread, and immediately tasted the Genoa salami. The soppressata was strangely muted, and actually ended up in a supporting roll to the silky texture of the mortadella. There was none of the big punch you get from the hot soppressata and hot capicola, or the earthiness of prosciutto crudo. I’m told that they use Boar’s Head meat, which makes great sense for a chain with five locations, and you can do a whole lot worse. It doesn’t seem the same, however, as the meats from Italian vendors.

So the meat, while good, was not the best in the area, but the bread! Oh, that bread. If you want some other sub, maybe a ham or roast beef and cheese, or if you want a hot sub, say a meatball or parm, I’ll bet Capo Tysons is a great place to go. I may go back there to try their cheesesteak — Original style. Cheesesteaks on good rolls are hard to come by around here, and I’ll head back to Capo for one, maybe even before next year’s Orvis Outing. You should try one and let me know.

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