I made the 110 mile drive from Tucson to Phoenix in 104 deg heat just to try the Reuben at Chompie’s. To be honest, there was also a college graduation party for my twin nieces, with food created by a James Beard award winning chef later on, so I was able to “kill two birds with one stone.”
Chompie’s is a small chain of New York Style Deli’s & Bakeries in the Phoenix area. They are known for the plentiful sandwiches. Since I had a dinner to go to in a few hours, I opted for the $12.99 ˝ Reuben and soup combo. The full Reuben was $16.99 and included Fries and coleslaw. The ˝ Reuben comes with coleslaw and the “soup of the day”. I chose the Matzah Ball and chicken noodle soup- more on that in a bit. Chompie’s provided a tray with some pickle spears to munch on while waiting for the meal. A few of the pickle spears were great tasting, but a few of them tasted like they needed a few more months in the pickle barrel.
The ˝ Reuben is quite a sandwich by itself. You are going to get messy eating it- there is quite a bit of corned beef between the rye bread. The corned beef was thick sliced- I prefer thin sliced, but its tenderness was decent- not the most tender I’ve had. The major problem I had with the sandwich was with the pieces of FAT that were attached to the corned beef- one of which is seen in the photo. This was not the type of fat the melted in your mouth, but the type that dragged the rest of the sandwich along with it when you took a bite and moved the sandwich away from your mouth… The rye bread itself was toasted about the right amount- they make their own bread. The Reuben sauce was marginally applied and had a pretty indiscrete flavor. Sauerkraut was applied appropriately, but there could have been more Swiss cheese. The coleslaw was forgettable. The Matzah Ball chicken noodle soup was ok- nothing to write home about, but I am spoiled as my grandma and mom were Jewish caterers who made the best Matzah Ball Soup.
With everything said, I am going to give Chompie’s Reuben a grade of a C as the Fat pieces really took away from the experience.