The best sandwich in California is worth the road trip

The very best sandwich in California, not less than in keeping with Yelp, is in Prunedale. Ring a bell? No? It’s a rural city of 20,000 proper off U.S. Freeway 101, 99 miles south of San Francisco.

Subsequent time you’re within the space, en path to a weekend getaway to Carmel, or on hour 5 of your white-knuckle drive from LA to San Jose, you may wish to make a cease on the Prunedale Market & Deli, the one with the right five-star score courtesy of its slow-cooked barbecue sandwiches. 

Scratch that. Make it your vacation spot. 

Carry your urge for food — and money. 

‘I needed to present the highway building guys one thing to eat’

Straightforward to identify heading northbound nearly 6 miles outdoors Salinas, the little crimson constructing that homes the very best sandwich within the state comes at you quick on U.S. 101. When Martin Muñoz, 57, purchased the market in 2005, it was ideally positioned on the finish of an offramp, however Caltrans completely closed it in 2015. 

Should you occur to roll proper by the massive signal with the Yelp emblem that Muñoz shows proudly, don’t fear — you haven’t missed out. Take the Pesante Street exit. From there, it’s a few proper turns and also you’re headed previous the row homes on Orchard Lane, which ends up in a lifeless finish again on the freeway. 

Should you arrive early sufficient, you’ll discover a grey plume coming from the market’s big propane tank-sized smoker to assist information your manner. 

Earlier house owners struggled with the almost fixed roadwork on U.S. 101, and when Muñoz purchased it, the house had been vacant for 3 years. He satisfied himself he may take it over, get issues going once more, after which flip a fast and tidy revenue. He began by making barbecue sandwiches large enough to fill the stomachs of the viewers that was already there: highway crews. 

“My neighbor had a grill that I may use, and it was the most affordable, simplest approach to get loads of meals going,” he stated. “I needed to present the highway building guys one thing to eat. They’ve massive appetites, and I needed to maintain them coming again.”

Not a fast chunk

Apart from Sunday and Monday, Muñoz, who lives in a house behind the market, begins his days at 4 a.m. outdoors the restaurant on the smoker, additionally painted crimson. He mixes his personal rub, will get the fireplace going, preps the meat, begins on the soup of the day and proceeds to cook dinner from about 6 a.m. till the shop’s doorways open at 10 a.m.

“You don’t wish to cook dinner too early or too late,” he stated, “I’ve been doing this loads of years, and it’s at all times about timing it proper.

“A part of that’s you possibly can’t predict when you might have folks come. Generally there’s a line at 10 a.m., and I’m out of meals at midday. Generally I don’t see anybody till 5:30 within the afternoon.” 

As soon as contained in the market, you’ll discover a sparsely furnished house scored with beige linoleum tiles underfoot. There is a again wall lined with beverage fridges, with a flat-screen taking part in native information, or a recreation if one’s on, hanging above them. Three assist beams line the center of the constructing, and the middle one acts because the de facto again of the road (except it occurs to be stretching out the door). It holds a gasoline station dispenser of brown paper towels — which you’ll want loads of. 

Whereas the house has seating and an out of doors patio, most prospects drop their meals at one among three indoor tabletops and tuck into their meals whereas sitting or standing subsequent to 1 one other for a convivial expertise. 

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(left to proper) A buyer enjoys a custom-made barbecue sandwich at Prunedale Market & Deli; Martin Muñoz, proprietor of Prunedale Market & Deli, usually steps out from behind the counter and swaps tales with prospects. (Andrew Pridgen/SFGATE)
(left to proper) A buyer enjoys a custom-made barbecue sandwich at Prunedale Market & Deli; Martin Muñoz, proprietor of Prunedale Market & Deli, usually steps out from behind the counter and swaps tales with prospects. (Andrew Pridgen/SFGATE)

Prunedale Market & Deli isn’t a fast chunk, neither is it an expertise meant available in solitary. Except you’re taking it to go, the sandwich can flip into an all-afternoon affair, particularly with the best firm, which the market at all times appears to host. 

‘I’ll repair you up’

Stopping there just lately, I arrived simply after the noon lunch rush had ebbed, however Muñoz was nonetheless busy behind the counter. Upon introduction, he smiled and stated, “I don’t know the way a lot I may also help you in the present day — sort of busy,” head down, getting ready a tray to ship to an area memorial service on the town. “However belief me, the sandwich isn’t that nice.”

His deadpan supply caught me off guard, and I instinctively backed away from the counter to look at whether or not there was any discernible menu. There wasn’t. He will need to have sensed my non permanent confusion, as a result of he seemed up from his work, cracked a smile and stated, “I suppose you wish to see for your self. Go hang around, and I’ll repair you up.”

With that, Muñoz slid over a cup of his selfmade chili — together with a disclaimer that he believes within the craftsmanship and high quality of his soups as a lot as these of his sandwiches. His dedication to the soup, a default appetizer, implies that he makes a recent batch each morning whereas he’s working the smoker. 

“Rattling man, what’s on this in the present day?” requested Joe Canchola, a Salinas resident and a daily on the market, after taking a few bites of the chili. “I style the meat and the beans. There’s one thing else.”

Muñoz tore off a swath of tinfoil to wrap a flat tin of ribs, washed his fingers and got here out from his put up to discipline questions on his newest concoction. “You want that? I put some artichoke in there,” he stated. “It’s acquired that nice style, and I needed to put just a little extra filler in there — meat is so costly.”

“You probably did it, man,” Canchola stated. He swallowed a beneficiant chunk and dug via to search out one other spoonful of the area’s favourite delicacy. “The artichoke goes so effectively in right here. I’d’ve by no means considered it.”

“Don’t get used to it,” Muñoz stated. “Artichokes are getting costly too — even right here.”

‘Right here, everybody eats’

Ready for my sandwich, I spoke with Rafael Lee, a Hayward resident who makes the journey to the market not less than as soon as per week. “He comes right here to eat and stays within the afternoon,” Muñoz stated. “Truly, I believe he simply comes to speak.”

Lee was nothing wanting an evangelist however dodged my query of whether or not it was the fabled sandwich that stored him coming again. “I imply, in fact,” he stated, “however everybody is aware of concerning the sandwich. It’s not simply that.”

Lee defined Muñoz by no means ceases to shock him with small acts of kindness. “I’ve been right here so many occasions, and somebody will stroll in. They’ll don’t have any cash, they’re hungry, they’re homeless,” Lee famous. “And each time, they get the identical therapy as any buyer. He says, ‘Go forward, sit down. I’ll make you a plate.’ And he does. Right here, everybody eats.”

The market’s reputation may also be traced again to an act of goodwill from Muñoz. When he first opened, the neighborhood children would come by and ask for a snack after college. “They had been at all times hungry, they usually had no cash,” Muñoz stated, “So I did what I do, and I made them meals.

“One afternoon, one among them stated, ‘We’re going to place you on Yelp. We’re going to place you on-line. We’re going to make you well-known.’ I laughed — however they did. And right here we’re.”

Muñoz grew up in San Jose. For many years, he was a chef there on the Authentic Joe’s, the bistro that has served Italian and American requirements in San Francisco since 1937 and in San Jose since 1956. 

Simply when Muñoz was prepared to hold up his chef’s coat and retire, a buddy informed him concerning the little market simply down the highway in Prunedale. 

‘Greater than a game-changer’

Muñoz stated enterprise just lately has been good and regular however not overwhelming. “Bear in mind, it’s simply me, myself and I,” he defined, counting off every pronoun on a finger of his proper hand. “Simply the three of us. So I by no means wish to get it too busy — by no means need folks to have to attend an excessive amount of.”

The wait, if there’s one, is effectively value it. After I had spent 10 minutes chatting with just a few patrons, a large sandwich, leaving not one of the Dixie plate beneath it exhibiting, dropped in entrance of me. It was tri-tip on a French roll — however like none I’d ever seen. 

The meat was sliced skinny and stacked excessive, New York deli fashion. Served open-faced, the sandwich was garnished with lettuce and tomato drizzled in a lightweight garlicky vinaigrette-type dressing. All of that topped with Flamin’ Sizzling Fritos, which Muñoz hand selects from an open bag behind the counter. 

Tri-tip could be a tough lower to cook dinner. It usually comes out too dry. At Prunedale, the meat was burnt on the ends and pink and juicy within the center, because of its time within the smoker. It dissolved in my mouth extra like a filet. 

I informed Muñoz this, and he nodded. “Good man,” he stated. “It’s easy, what I do. Every part comes right down to doing a pair issues effectively and doing it daily.”

Muñoz combines a conventional California lower of meat with a smoking fashion extra carefully associated to Texas barbecue and comes up with one thing uniquely his personal, making his creation — within the phrases of buyer Canchola — “greater than a game-changer, greater than the reality.”

However for all of the acclaim that Muñoz’s sandwiches have gained, it’s a troublesome life, he says. “It’s onerous to stand up early daily and do that and never know who’s going to come back in. We’re onerous to search out, onerous to get to. However I gotta maintain doing it, man. I gotta maintain shifting.”

Earlier than they dispersed, all the market’s patrons had been certain to let me know that Muñoz’s true abilities went past the meals. It was all about his interactions with folks — the kindness and generosity that one way or the other discover their manner into his cooking.

“He’s proper: It’s not the sandwiches which can be nice,” Lee stated. “It’s him. He’s the one who’s nice.”