defonte's

3rd ave & 21st

website

i think this might be my new favorite sandwich. it's definitely a close race between defonte's hot roast beef sandwich and num pang's pulled pork sandwich. i discovered defonte's through the "a sandwich a day" feature on the nyc seriouseats blog. the original defonte's is in brookyln, but thankfully there's a manhattan outpost that delivers to my apartment.

the hot roast beef sandwich is so much more than what the name implies. at defonte's, the sandwich is served with crusty french bread, soaked in au jus, piled high with thinly sliced juicy roast beef, house-made mozzarella, and get this - a slice of fried eggplant. ridiculous. it gets a little cold in the delivery process, but wrap in foil and toast it in the toaster oven for a minute and the bread gets crispy on top and the mozzarella and meat warm through perfectly. yum.