A Lil’ Taste of Philly at Serena’s Pizzeria and Hoagies

menu766 Fort St
Victoria, BC

Hours: 11 am to 9pm daily
Website: https://www.serenas.ca/
Phone: (778) 433-9696

Throughout my search for a proper Philly Cheesesteak outside the City of Brotherly Love, my quest is not over. Even though Serena’s Pizzeria and Hoagies certainly deliver in taste, the best greasy spoon diner style I had was while making a stop in South Lake Tahoe. If I remember right, I ate at Little Philly Cheesesteaks, and it was so sloppy, slippery and oh so good left an impression. Sadly, they closed a long time ago.

But the further away one gets from the State that gave rise to this sandwich, any operation’s claim needs to be tested against those memories. What I sampled warmed me all over. On the chilly day my buddy and I visited, we were searching for crispy fried chicken and found the advertising for House of Chicken, misleading. The offerings may have been for Doordash delivery rather than in-house. Although we looked at the menu, we were not in the mood for Pakistani style food and opted to leave.

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A Touch of the Euro at Charelli’s Cheese Shop, Delicatessen & Catering

Charelli’s Cheese Shop,
Delicatessen & Catering
2851 Foul Bay Rd
Victoria, BC 

Hours: Tues to Sat 10am–3pm
Phone: (250) 598-4794

Just why I haven’t been to this deli in the past, when I was studying Applied Communications (now Digital Communications) at Camosun College’s Lansdowne Campus simply boiled down to time. A fit person could race down the hill and hike back up it when there’s an hour to kill between classes, but I’m the roly-poly type who may not achieve it. Plus, I want to enjoy my lunch more than to scarf it down before resuming my work in the a/v edit suite or be in class. Eating during session is obviously discouraged.

This operation opened back in 2003, and I’ve been aware of it for a long time. I needed a proper reason (other than being hungry) to head down, and when I heard they sold truffle oil flavoured potato chips–I was there faster than a bee to a spring flower!

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Designing New Sandwichs with this Card Game!

Disclaimer: A preview copy was sent for review.

If you missed the As You ‘Wich Kickstarter from last month, you can still preorder this hilarious card game from Studio7 Games.

Even wanna be witches can have fun with this game as it is about being creative with the goods (the cards) to create an appetizing sandwich! When considering October is the season of the witch, the fact this game has some gross out ingredients (eye of newt and all that), is certainly perfect for this occasion.

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Where to find Quick Bites during the Victoria Fringe Festival 2019 Edition

August 21 to Sept 1
Victoria, BC

Officially, Intrepid Theatre’s Fringe Festival has a deal with The Joint Pizzeria, Chocolats Favoris, Bao and 2% Jazz Coffee so active theatre goers can fuel up in between shows. By showing your button, a 10% discount is applied.

This list is updated to reflect upon a few new operations that have opened since, and is organized by proximity to the performance venues.

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All Chorizo or Churro All The Time?

Chorizo & Co.

807 Fort St
Victoria, BC
Hours: Tues – Sat 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Phone: (250) 384-6066

The buzz around town about the “closure” of Chorizo & Co. last year (in May) was that they were not likely to continue. When I have churro cravings and the Gordon Head diner has not been in operation for more than a year now, just where can I go? There’s La Taquisa and Chorizo in the crazy downtown core. The former makes them nice and hot (but lacks variation) for a nice price of $5, and the latter–when I learned they are back open (since mid-October 2018)–I knew its time. All it takes is the craving for a particular dish to have me walking through this revamped operation.

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The Sandwich Nazi Reigns Again … on VOD!

viff2015sandwichnaziLa Charcuterie
19080-96th Avenue Unit 8
Surrey BC V4N 3R3
(604) 882-0881

While everyone loves to have a good sandwich, not every body visits the same place to have it made … and hear the life story of the shop owner at the same time. The Sandwich Nazi made waves last year at the film festivals. As I wrote in my review of the film, “A trip to the industrial neighbourhood of Port Kells in Surrey, BC is needed to experience ’s capricious if not salacious behaviour in The Sandwich Nazi. Yes, the allusions to Seinfeld are there, and if the two had to be compared, Kahil is funnier.”

Filmmaker Lewis Bennett said in an interview on otakunoculture.com about how he loves how juvenile humour can play out on screen (i.e. when the cameras are rolling). “I’ve been drawn to people like Salam since I was in kindergarten. He kept making us laugh so we wanted to spend more time with him. The project started with a short documentary and as we were making that film we felt that there was a whole lot more to his story so we expanded it into a feature,” revealed Bennett.

I thought about visiting this operation on my last recent trip over to the Lower Mainland since I was there with a friend driving us around, but alas … it was on a day when the shop was not open. Fortunately, for those people who have not seen this funny, serious and somber documentary, it is now available on iTunes and Google Play. Additional services include Vimeo on Demand, Amazon Instant Video, and Microsoft Video.

To stay abreast with other releases, including a physical home video release (let’s hope there will be outtakes!), please visit them on:

Twitter @TheSandwichNazi
Facebook @NoSandwichForYou