GIGA GRANADA HILLS

  Balloons and streamers heralded the opening of a new Togo's restaurant in Granada Hills in the OSH shopping center last month -- right across the street from the Jersey Mike's opened in 2010. But does new interloper Togo's pose a threat to Jersey Mike's sandwich supremacy? Giga Granada Hills pitted sandwiches from both stores against each other in a salami-to-salami face off to see which sub Granada Hillsians should let into their hearts and mouths. Sadly, it was no edge-of-the-seat contest, as one combatant's the victory was swift and decisive. Seems that the new sub in town just couldn't hold off the Jersey boy. Our panel of six tasters -- which included a new mom eager to shake off the shackles of her pregnancy-proscribed cold cut drought -- quickly came to unanimous consensus that Jersey Mike's Number 13, the "Original Italian" bested Togo's Number 16, simply called "The Italian." Taster comments on Togos:  ...

"I'm so glad you're here!" a fiftysomething woman gleefully clutching a sandwich tray says to me. I'm puzzled for a moment, and then I realize that she's mistaken me for an employee of the sub shop, because I'm standing there holding a folder. "You mean Jersey Mike's?" I ask. "Yes!" she exclaims. "I'm from Jersey, and I haven't been able to find sandwiches like the ones back home until I found this place. I'm so glad you're here," she repeats. "So they're as good as you remember?" "Just like I grew up with," she smiles, and then the woman floats back over to her table on a cloud of cold cut joy. From the looks of her, I can tell this lady's eaten a sandwich or two in her day, and this place has made her so very, very happy that she's anxious to tell that to anybody who'll listen. Smilin' Steve Yeager It's not just former residents of the Garden State who are...