Jimmy John's Vito Picklewich

Today, we review Jimmy John’s Vito Picklewich, a limited edition offering. This sandwich is a variation of the popular Vito (Italian meat) sandwich. Instead of bread, it uses a large pickle.

Jimmy John Liautaud founded Jimmy John’s in 1983. After Liautaud graduated from high school, his father gave him a choice to either join the military or start a business. Liautaud decided to start a hot dog business, which he later changed to sandwiches due to costs. Headquartered in Champaign, Illinois, today Jimmy John’s has 2,745 locations, with 98% of them being franchises.

The Construction

The Jimmy John’s Vito Picklewich has the same ingredients as the Jimmy John’s Vito sandwich. The difference is that a pickle is used in place of bread. This sandwich was ordered with all defaults, with no customizations or substitutions. However, options are available to make changes. The Picklewich is seven inches long, which is one inch shorter than Jimmy John’s regular size with bread (eight inches).

Whole Sliced Pickle (Default)
Capicola (Default)
Salami (Default)
Provolone Cheese (Default)
Lettuce (Default)
Tomatoes (Default)
Onions (Default)
Oregano – Basil (Default)
Oil and Vinegar (Default)
Weight: 9.5 ounces
Length: 7 inches
Sandwiches Eaten: Two
Location: Mint Hill, NC
Price: $7.79

The Experience

For this assessment, we used a similar scoring to that used for most sandwiches. The pickle was not scored as a condiment but in place of bread.

Meat/Cheese 4 points
Pickle: 2 points
Condiments: 2 points
Intangibles: 2 points

Meat and Cheese

The Vito Sandwich is simple. Capicola, salami, and provolone cheese comprise the meat and cheese component. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of Jimmy John’s turkey on the Turkey Tom, the Capicola and Salami on the Vitowere pretty good. There was just the right amount of zip from the meats. The cheese was more on the mild side of provolone than sharp.

One other observation is that this sandwich had a nice amount of meat. This differed from the Turkey Tom, where I was less than satisfied with the amount of meat and cheese.

Score: 2.75 out of 4.00 points

Pickle

Much like bread could be a deal-breaker for a sandwich, the pickle plays that role with a picklewich. The good news is that when it comes to the pickle, Jimmy John’s really delivers. This pickle was a dill pickle with the right amount of spice and a perfect crunch and snap. This is a pickle I would enjoy standalone. The drawback to having a pickle instead of bread is a pickle is wet. While the wet pickle didn’t ruin the other components, handling a wet sandwich was a little tricky.

It’s important to note that Jimmy John’s hollows out the pickle. They do this with their sandwich bread, too. It’s a good thing because it helps better house the meat, cheese, and condiments. The wet nature of the Picklewich still makes it messy—but it wasn’t as messy as I expected.

Score: 1.50 out of 2 points

Condiments

The way the Vito Picklewich is constructed, the lettuce and onion were one layer, the meat and cheese another and the tomato was a third. Saying this is top or bottom is tricky since it’s hard to tell which way to go with this sandwich. This wasn’t a sandwich that overpowered with lettuce. I wouldn’t say any condiment stood out above average, but there was nothing below average.

The condiments used good ratios. Oil and vinegar are the default options. They enhanced the flavor nicely.

Score: 1.00 out of 2 points

Intangibles

The good news is that this sandwich had excellent proportions of the meat, cheese, and condiments. The flavors together were good, but there were two problems. First, the pickle tasted really good, but it overpowered this sandwich. This is probably another good reason why Jimmy John’s hollowed out the pickle. The flavor overpowered both the meats and condiments. Second, as mentioned, the Picklewich has a wet, slippery feel. It wasn’t a soggy sandwich, but it’s simply not a good feel. The Picklewich comes wrapped in paper. However, the paper still became somewhat wet. Eating the Picklewich while keeping it wrapped in paper is also very difficult.

While the proportions were good, the Vito Picklewich wasn’t a very filling sandwich. If you are hungry, you will want to order a second.

Score: 0.75 out of 2 points

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

I will say we don’t review the shop because different shops have different specialties. With Jimmy John’s, based on the Turkey Tom, I wouldn’t go there for that. It’s a different story with the Vito, as the meats were better. It is worth noting Jimmy John’s has a Turkey Picklewich, and maybe that is something to do down the stretch. On the other hand, while it’s not perfect the Jimmy John’s Vito Picklewich was still enjoyable. I would eat it again, and I hope this makes a return after its limited run.

The $7.79 price for a deli sandwich isn’t exorbitant, but if you’re hungry, you might want two. I’d have no problem doing that.