The customer was in rare form, growing steamed after ordering ketchup on his steak sandwich in a Florida Subway shop late New Year’s night. In the end, however, police intervened, and the Subway clerk faced firing and possible charges for his part in the resulting conflict.
Could a few packets of ketchup have prevented the Subway cheese steak sandwich debacle?
OK, it wasn’t the Magic Kingdom, or even Adventureland.
Instead, the spicy incident occurred in a Subway shop located inside an Orlando WalMart store.
And it almost became bloody; as the Subway counter clerk and the customer nearly came to blows.
As the story goes, Lawrence Ordone tried telling customer Luis Martinez that Subway doesn’t carry ketchup, after Martinez asked for the condiment on his cheese steak sandwich. Ordone apparently suggested Martinez pick up a bottle in the WalMart store to put on his own Subway order.
Soon, a fiery confrontation supposedly ensued, peppered by profanities.
Martinez called 911 and allegedly even claimed Subway employee Ordone threatened his life. No one was injured in the incident, and no arrests were made, although the Florida State’s Attorney’s Office is said to be investigating further.
What’s in Subway’s Big Cheese Steak Sandwich?
Built on a standard Subway hoagie roll, the sandwich special contains beef steak and a host of customer choices. Ingredients may include banana peppers, black olives, cheese (American, cheddar, Monterey blend, Parmesan, Provolone, pepper-jack, or Swiss), cucumbers, green peppers, jalapenos, lettuce, onions, pickles, sweet peppers, and tomatoes.
Subway will even toss on a few condiments on the Big Cheese Steak Sandwich. Customers can pick from chipotle Southwest sauce, mayonnaise, mustard, oil, sweet onion sauce, and vinegar. But no ketchup. Subway simply doesn’t carry one of America’s most popular sandwich toppings.
Perhaps it’s time for Subway to stock up on ketchup.
Granted, Subway’s six-inch Big Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich already contains 500 calories, along with 17 grams of fat, 1310 milligrams of sodium, and 51 grams of carbohydrates (including eight grams of sugar). One can only imagine the nutritional breakdowns of the 12-inch version.
A single tablespoon of ketchup would add about 20 calories to the Big Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich at Subway, including 140 milligrams of sodium and five carbohydrates (with four grams of sugar). Ketchup generally contains no fat.
Plenty of respectable cooks add ketchup to Philly steak sandwiches.
Diners visiting authentic Philadelphia luncheonettes may find such iconic subs made with ketchup or marinara sauce.
Also in Philadelphia, Pat’s King of Steaks has been known to pour the popular tomato-based sauce on his menu favorite.
“Bam!” Even Emeril Lagasse puts ketchup on his Philly steak sandwich.
Maybe Rachael Ray doesn’t reach for ketchup for her steak sandwich, Wolfgang Puck pours on steak sauce, and Martha Stewart adds something called giardiniera, but lots of other cooks surely opt for good old-fashioned catsup.
C’mon, Subway. Catch up.
Maybe it’s just an honest mis-steak, and nothing fire up a food fight.
Still, at least in America, it’s a crime to run out of ketchup – or not to stock it in the first place.
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