6156 S. Westnedge AvenueI keep seeing Facebook posts for Food Trucks in Portage. I don’t get to Portage that often so I miss them.
I was kind of excited on Friday because I had to make a trip by myself to Portage in the afternoon to do something real quick while my colleague continued working on something in the office.
Unfortunately, the food trucks I had been looking forward to weren’t out on Friday. They were getting ready for their weekend gigs and took the day off. Both of them.
I was still hungry and didn’t want to go back to work empty handed. There are a lot of options along Westnedge Avenue so I really had my pick of a lot.
I picked the chain I hadn’t been to in a couple of years.
Jersey Mike’s moved in to Portage a couple of years ago after Lefty’s Cheesesteak’s closed. The shop is in the Southland Mall Plaza near the road and near the corner of South Westnedge and Milham. The East Coast Sandwich shop is sandwiched between Two Fellas Grill and Noodles & Company. This is the second Kalamazoo area location with the original one being on West Main Street in Kalamazoo Township.
Jersey Mike’s is set up like any other sub shop but the space it does it in is pretty small. I was always amazed even when this was a Lefty’s at how narrow and claustrophobic the whole thing felt to me.
There’s an order counter on one side right as you walk in. You have to go all the way to the back of the space to order. Menus hang from the high ceiling above the grill. I’ve only been to Jersey Mike a couple of times and it’s actually been a few years so I didn’t know what I was going to order when I walked in to the shop.
The other side of the small space has a few tables. Not a lot because, again, there just isn’t a lot of space in this shop.
I passed on the cheesesteak and went with a deli meat sandwich instead. I picked the Original Italian on white bread. I didn’t get chips or drinks because I already had a couple of Pepsi’s in the car and didn’t need chips. The cost for a Regular sandwich was right around $12.
The Original Italian is layered with Provolone, ham, prosciuttini, cappacuolo, salami, and pepperoni. The sandwiches all come “Mike’s Way” which is onions, lettuce, tomatoes, red wine vinegar, olive oil, oregano and salt. I passed on almost all of that and got my sandwich lettuce, banana peppers, and Hot Chopped Pepper Relish.
The Hot Chopped Pepper Relish really made this sandwich for me. It wasn’t super hot but there was a kick too it and also a sweetness. The meat was layered up pretty high and there was a generous handful of lettuce that really made this sandwich a pretty hearty meal. I was kind of regretting only ordering the “regular” size when I saw the bread but this was actually perfect. The giant size was way more expensive and would have been too much for one meal.
There are a lot of sandwich shops in Kalamazoo…including one right next door to this location with Two Fellas Grill….but they all offer something just different enough that there is a reason to keep moving around between them. A sub sandwich is a sub sandwich so it comes down to little things like toppings and bread. The Hot Chopped Pepper Relish is the thing at Jersey Mike’s that will make me think of stopping every time I drive by.