Classic Rock Sandwich Shoppe

This was one of the "new" coupons in the book and luckily, to a place I really wanted to try out...

so that is what TC and I did  a few weeks ago during our recent Fall break where we went out almost every day and tried to use coupons as much as possible...

It's a few doors down from the very retro Lucky's on the corner of North Park Way and Grim. I like that this is a bit "hidden" and not on the main drag of North Park...

I remember it being a super hot day and not eating any breakfast so I could enjoy the sandwich more, ha ha.

Only one guy was working there that morning. A very nice and patient man and left handed (yay!) to boot. Us lefties notice these things.

There was music memorabilia everywhere. This is what you see when you enter (on the right), these posters with album covers. I spy one of my favorite Police albums, "Zenyatta Mondatta" (1980), and Pat Benatar "Crimes of Passion" (also released in 1980), Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers "Damn the Torpedoes"  (1979) along with The Rolling Stones, Hall & Oates, and Billy Idol just to name a few.

All of their menu items have a musical connection such as being named after a classic rock band or musician. There were also musical references in the menu descriptions. The owner of the shop Cheryl D'agostaro really put a lot of thought into this shop and I could tell she was passionate about her love of classic rock music, one of my favorite genres.

TC and I got the Awesome Airplane and the Rolling Stone...

While the man was making our sandwiches, TC and I had a lot of fun looking at all of the framed photos of the rock stars. Of course, the Beatles were easily recongizable. All of the greats were there...the Stones, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendriz, and even Michael Jackson (even though he wasn't really "rock").

Beneath the front counter were books on sale; they were mainly rock star memoirs. The last one on the end? Pattie Boyd? That was the former wife of late Beatle George Harrison, who later shacked up with Eric Clapton. There is even a book by John Lennon's first wife, Cynthia Lennon, simply titled "John".

One of my favorite rock bands of all time is Led Zeppelin, which formed AND released two albums the same year I was born, 1969 (69 dudes! Ha ha, that's a line from "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure").

TC and I hung out by the counter looking at all of the photos and noticed that the napkin dispensers were also bedecked with rock star photos. In this case, it was the Led Zep axe man Jimmy Page...

"Whole Lotta Love" has got to be one of their best and hottest songs ever (also used to great effect in Rob Pattinson's DiorHomme ad that I had on my blog for thie longest time, ha ha). It was also the song that Leona Lewis sang at the Beijing Olympics closing ceremony in 2008 accompanied by Jimmy Page himself, as London was to host the games in 2012. They had to change some of the lyrics because it was considered too racy (the "every inch of my love" line). Prudes. Ha ha.

Damn, that's a goodass song!

This isanother of my favorites, the more acoustical "The Rain Song". This version is from the 1994 tour of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page's collaboration, "No Quarter":

Robert Plant had a great head of hair back then and even in the mid 90s! Not sure what he looks like now!

Towards the back of the shop was a Woodtock tribute poster...

Below, a cut off poster of the Abbey Road album cover (you can see John Lennon in the white suit), Jimi Hendrix and an autographed photo of John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful (I had to look him up since I wasn't as familiar with his music; the only song I knew off the bat was "Do You Believe in Magic").

More Beatles...

Magazines on the counter for your reading pleasure. I thought the "free" sticker on the Rolling Stone cover with Miley Cyrus was funny. Like, get rid of this!

Finally, our sandwiches. TC's on the left and mine on the right.I also got some chips for us to share and a new drink called "Switch" (watermelon strawberry flavor).

My sandwich was called "A Rolling Stone" ($7.50). This was on multi-grain bread (you could choose between that, white, wheat, squaw, sour dough, and rye). The only change to mine was the deletion of the red vinegar, oil, and mustard. This had salami, ham, provolone, mixed lettuce greens (it was actually only one type and it was very fresh!), tomatoes and red onions with mayo. Both of our sandwiches came with a sweet pickle spear and pretzels, which was a nice touch. My sandwich was quite "meaty" and filling.

TC's Awesome Airplane ($6.50/this was the free sandwich)had sourdough bread and was filled with  provolone, bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomatoes and honey mustard. I liked her sandwich almost more than mine because of the avocado and the honey mustard.

We really enjoyed both of our sandwiches. We didn't mind the wait since we liked looking at all of the decor/memorabilia while our sandwiches were made fresh to order.

Here's another napkin dispenser featuring the iconic image of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" album cover (1975) which features the songs "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" and "Welcome to the Machine". It's quite notorious for the "man on fire" image.

The album cover was designed by English art design group Hipgnosis, known also for their album covers of other rock bands including:  Led Zeppelin ("Houses of the Holy"), Emerson Lake and Palmer ("Trilogy"), AC/DC ("Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"), Def Leppard ("High 'n Dry"), one of my favorite albums), as well as ELO, Genesis, the Scorpions, 10cc and Bad Company to name a few more.

Here's a cool video of Storm Thorgerson of the design group Hipgnosis:

Haha, they used an orchestral/muzak version of Pink Floyd's "Money".

Behind me was a Led Zep poster featuring a hooded figure and the symbols from their fourth album, which was untitled but popularly referred to as Led Zeppelin IV or "Zoso". Each symbol represented a different band member (Robert Plant - the feather, drummer John Bonham's were the interlocking rings, the "Zoso" symbol was guitarist Jimmy Page's who claimed that it wasn't meant to be a word, and the circle with the triquetra was bassist John Paul Jones).

We ended up saving the other halves of our sandwiches for later. They were quite sizable and we wanted to save room for dessert.

I would definitely go here again even without a coupon. In addition to sandwiches, they also offer wraps, salads, and soups.

Classic Rock Sandwich Shop
3042 North Park Way
San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 692-1969

www.crss1969.com

Reviews:
SD Reader March 12, 2012
and yelp

Around the corner was the yogurt place that TC was craving, but first a revisit to Indulge so I could use my 20% coupon...Later one we wanted to check out this cool exhibit featuring sharp objects!