Toasty Subs serves up sandwiches with a side of sushi and ramen

When’s the last time you selected the toppings for your order of nigiri sushi and made your choice of white or wheat bread on your sub sandwich—at the same meal?

If you answered, “Just yesterday,” then you were the guy in front of us at Toasty Subs and Sushi Kitchen in Maplewood. And we sincerely hope next time you visit you check out the menu before you get to the counter because you took, like, fifteen minutes to make your decisions. (Dude, seriously. It’s a dinner. It’s not like you’re choosing a bride on the final episode of The Bachelor.)

If, on the other hand, you answered, “I could more easily recall the last time I had a meal composed of oh, say, pizza and hot fudge—which is to say ‘Never,’” then, well, you need to get yourself over to this still relatively new and happily inventive eatery.

Your surprise—and skepticism—are understandable. Sushi and sammies? Hey, why not General Tso’s Reuben? Foie gras gyros?

The explanation for the odd combination is less pedestrian than you might expect. Alex Liu and his wife, Lily, both natives of China, once ran a chain sandwich joint here in St. Louis, giving them the background to eventually put together their own, independent operation.

So you’ve got your chipotle turkey sub, subs loaded with chicken Parmesan, peppered roast beef, a cheesesteak. But you know, sometimes you want a little something on the side. Sure, you could get chips or whatever. And have a soda. How about, though, if you’re in the mood for a crunchy shrimp tempura roll? And a fruity bubble tea?

That’s where Lily, something of a food visionary, saw the future and it was, at least in the culinary marketplace, vinegared rice and fishy toppings. She had already opened a sushi catering business here in St. Louis. Her booth, at the food court of the Missouri Botanical Garden’s annual Japanese Festival, is inevitably found at the end of a long line of those queued up for a meal.

When Alex decided to open his own sandwich shop, Lily decided that what was really missing in your average sandwich joint was sushi. A hard point to argue. They renovated an old Naugles in Maplewood, right at Big Bend, with easy access just south of I-40. And so we got the most creative combination restaurant since the now gone, now legendary Lucky House Chinese Mexican emporium in Maryland House.

So, is Toasty Subs fast food genius? Or Franken-fusion?

We set out to decide. On our early evening visit, the restaurant was crowded with families (start asking people with younger children and you’re going to be astonished at how many of them will tell you their kids’ favorite food is sushi), several couples, and a pair of Maplewood police officers on their dinner break.

The action behind the counter was controlled, but since the dinner hour was upon them, frantic, with sushi rolls and nigiri nuggets crafted alongside toasted subs—oh, we discovered they’ve recently added ramen just in case, along with a pining for a good turkey club, you’ve also got a hankering for noodles and broth.

We figured if a place is going to be dancing out on a limb to offer these kinds of potentially unholy “Jiro Dreams of Tampopo Capicola” amalgamations, we owe it to them and us to go all in. Bring on an Italian Special and a six piece set of nigiri—and let’s have a bowl of tonkotsu ramen to serve as a sort of porky-rich palate cleanser.

A plate of edamame arrives, salty little verdant bean nubbins popped directly from the pod. And a can of Pokka Jasmine Green Tea, which promises “a refreshing enjoyment with natural antioxidant goodness” in Indonesian. (You know those people who complain about the evils of having too many choices in products? Like 37 different kinds of toothpaste? They’ve never been confronted with the Costco-sized array of drinkables available all over Asia. Toasty Subs has a fair representation.)

It was just about six o’clock, when the crowd continued to pick up and the Lius and their small crew were all working hard, that we tried to make the edamame and that green tea antioxidant goodness last, figuring it’ll be a while, and are pleasantly surprised when both sushi and sandwich arrive. And the steaming bowl of ramen follows soon after.

So here’s the deal: The sushi? There is better to be had in St. Louis, though not much. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the sushi sold at your local Pump ‘n Munch and 10 being better than Tokyo, they rate a solid 5—which is no worse than 96.4 percent of St. Louis sushi. The toppings were correctly proportioned, fresh, and most importantly, the rice was properly prepared and shaped. We’d go back again for it. There are rolls, of course, the Cheez Whiz of sushi, with all the usual: imitation crab meat, cream cheese, spicy mayo, wasabi honey, much beloved by the kids and those who still have those adorable kids’ palates.

Toasty Subs’ ramen is a lot better than you’d expect from a place named Toasty Subs. The Lius have tinkered with a basic, pork-infused broth and produced one that is suitably rich and oily in an agreeable way. Split, boiled eggs, magnificently fatty pork belly, pickled ginger—the ingredients here are the expected and all quality without any skimping.

It was the sandwiches that were most surprising. Toasted and stuffed to bulging. The bread comes from Fazio’s and it goes through a conveyor oven, rendering that just slightly crisp surface that adds a wonderful texture. If you’re a fan of Quizno’s, these will taste familiar. The Italian we tried (and by “tried” we mean ate every bite) was heavy with pepperoni, ham, salami, and capicola, with provolone, black olives, red onions, and a light, herby vinaigrette. Warm and fragrant and satisfying.

There are other sub offerings: a meatball sandwich, with provolone and a thick, luscious marinara, a chicken Parm, a turkey club. If Toasty Subs were just that, toasty subs, it’d be worth making an occasional stop for lunch or dinner. Add in the sushi and ramen and you’ve got the kind of place that can easily be a regular destination.

Just remember to tell them to hold the wasabi on your tuna salad sammie.