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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again many, many more times: unless you put a baseball, a slice of apple pie, and a bald eagle between two slices of Wonderbread there is no sandwich as American as the Thanksgiving turkey sandwich. 

And it is officially Thanksgiving turkey sandwich season.

For me, it’s the Super Bowl of sandwiches. We get to early/mid-October and restaurants start trotting out their takes on the kind of sandwich we whip on Thanksgiving for the late football game with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy and whatever else tickles your fancy.

I practically count down the days until I can get my hands on some Thanksgiving or Holiday Sandwich (both names are fine), and I make a list of all the places that offer versions of it and then plan my attack.

This year, I thought I’d pay it forward and lend you some of my expertise on this subject by going out and trying some of these cornucopias of flavor and reviewing them. That way, if you’ve got a hankering for some turkey and stuffing on a roll with a splash of cranberry, you know where to go, and perhaps where to skip.

Some would say it’s heroic of a handsome writer/high school hockey all-star like me to do this on behalf of the sandwich-eating public and they’d be correct. But, I’m taking you along for the journey, and together we will find the perfect Thanksgiving turkey sandwich.

So, let’s get things rolling with our first sandwich courtesy of the folks at Firehouse Subs.

Well, not courtesy of them… I paid for it. They made it though.

Firehouse Subs’ take on the Thanksgiving sandwich, the Thanksgiving Turkey Sub. (Credit: Matt Reigle)

Firehouse Subs’ Thanksgiving Turkey Sub Bats Lead-Off In Our Search

I’ll be honest: I’m not particularly well-versed in the work of Firehouse Subs. I know that they do a lot of work to support first responders, which is fantastic and makes me like them already, but I’ve only had a sandwich from there once. It was very good, but it was a turkey club, which is a totally different ballgame than a Thanksgiving Turkey sandwich (the turkey notwithstanding).

So, I was anxious to try their take on a Thanksgiving turkey sandwich. 

Per the website, Firehouse Subs’ Thanksgiving Turkey Sub is a limited edition offering consisting of “Carved slices of tender turkey breast, savory Thanksgiving stuffing, sweet and tart cranberry sauce, and may served hot on a toasted sub roll.”

So how’d it taste?

As I said in the video, I thought this was a solid sandwich that didn’t skimp on turkey but was still very stuffing-forward. My one complaint was that I would’ve liked a little more cranberry sauce, but that’s a personal preference.

Firehouse’s bread is very good, but a little on the soft side, which is great if you’re into that, but I prefer a slightly chewier roll, especially when it comes to Thanksgiving turkey subs. There’s a lot happening — turkey, cranberry sauce, sometimes even gravy — which makes structural integrity a concern. Firehouse’s sub held up alright but I usually prefer slightly more robust bread.

We’re going to score these sandwiches out of 5, and considering this is the first one, it’s kind of tough to give it a blind score. So, I went with a very respectable 3.7 fireman hats out of 5. Very good, and worth grabbing, but I’m fairly confident that as the season progresses we’re going to run into some sandwiches that will dunk on that score.

This is just the beginning. We’ve got plenty more sandwiches to sample.

Do you have a preferred Thanksgiving turkey sandwich spot that I can check out? Let me know!: mattreigleoutkick@gmail.com