Parker's Table - The Adult Sandwich Shop

Parker's Table Experience Summary

Almost every sandwich shop I've visited in the last several months is a deli or a restaurant.

Parker's Table is an actual Sandwich Store.

Aimed at the fifty-and-over crowd, there weren't police officers and office workers. It was all gentlemen with shirts tucked in and ladies with oversized brooches on their necklaces.

This store is an adult establishment, where I was twenty years younger than anyone else, and I'm an 80-year-old trapped in a 36-year-old's body.

The menu comprises grown-up words like sopressata, prosciutto cotto, and finely-hashed pork. Everything on the menu is "served" with brand-name meats and cheeses.

And that was the exact flavor of sandwich I got.

A salami sandwich fit for fine dining in your retirement years that was -- and I know this is a bit of a weird word -- thrilling to eat. An 8.5/10 sandwich that puts it in the top rung of St. Louis sandwich royalty in my book.

I don't know what I expected after ordering a "served hot" salami sandwich, but it blew any preconceived notion of what I thought I was getting out of the water.

That was, straight up, an absolutely fantastic sandwich that had me simply wishing it was bigger.

And the whole experience was anything but pretentious or "fancy." It's a deli that grew up to become a Sandwich Store.

The layout of Parker's felt a lot like following the sandwich rabbit down the rabbit hole at Nomad, but if Alice was going to end up at a wine tasting instead of a bar for twenty-somethings.

Service was friendly but slow like they wanted you to look around the store while you waited. We were 3rd in line, but it took us 6 minutes to get to the counter and another 15-20 minutes to get food. Update: Went back 3 days later, and there was no one in line on a Monday at noon. Got our sandwiches in under five minutes. So could be time of day or day of week related.

The dining area is around back to the left and features large tables and several, in my opinion, museum-quality works of art. They are working on a wine bar they hope to have open in the next year or two.

For parking, we had to put $.50 in the meter for parking, which made me sad, but I didn't see any other immediate options.

I had so much unexpected fun at Parker's Table that it's hard to describe. And it was just a damn good sandwich.

The Food At Parker's Table

I don't know what I was expecting when I ordered a "Salume Beddu soppressata salami sandwich, served hot, with Provolone, a light fresh Sott'aceto relish, & whole grain mustard," (emphasis mine) but I got one of the best sandwiches I've had in St. Louis out of nowhere.

Yes, my buddy has been telling me to go here for months.

And yes, Parker's Table had a 4.9 on Yelp.

And yes, I love fancy soppressata.

But this was a Sandwich.

They melted the provolone into the layers of soppressata. The relish coated both sides of the meat. And the mustard added the right kick but let the meat do the talking. All on a fluffy ciabatta bun they get from a local bakery.

The result was a flavor explosion that probably extends your life and explains why the older patrons around come here to draw on the power of the Sandwich.

It was thrilling.

8.5/10, it's worth making the trek from 15-20 minutes away to get a sandwich here.

Pricing is odd on this one. On a pure $/oz basis, $13 for a 9oz sandwich with 4.8 oz of meat is expensive, but it comes with a drink and chips. The day before, I had Blues City Deli, which is $10.50 for a sandwich, but then $5 for chips and a drink.

Being cheap, I bring my own Coke, but most normal people don't. So, it's fairly priced as a meal, but I'd prefer to get 1.5 sandwiches and 13.5 oz for $12.

And that's probably my biggest gripe here. I just wish there were more sandwich. The bun was a 5" square, so they couldn't just pile more meat on and throw off the topping ratios. I can't even recommend they order Union Loafers bread because they already order the perfect bread for the sandwich.

The other nitpick with the sandwich was the "light fresh Sott'aceto." From my googling, it's Italian for pickled vegetables, but they didn't really seem to add much besides a crunch. I don't think I actually wanted to taste them now that I think about it, but I didn't taste them at the time.

Confusing.

On the literal other side of the table, my father-in-law got the Smoked Brisket. He let me sneak a bite in, and it was a legit brisket like you'd expect from Salt and Smoke. I didn't get enough of a sense for a proper review, but he said it was fantastic and thanked me for the tour-de-force of St. Louis sandwiches I brought him on over the past two days.

I ordered a Parker's Salad to go for my wife. It was surprisingly lackluster, given everything I had experienced to that point. It, too, was small, and for $11, I was expecting more of a Union Loafer salad experience than we got.

Disclaimer: I spoke to the owner again when I was leaving, and he threw in a couple of chocolate chip cookies for free. I had already rated the sandwich at this point.

Parker's Table Atmosphere And Miscellaneous

You know you're in for something different the moment you walk into Parker's Table.

Instead of being in a dimly lit deli the size of a large broom closet, you're entering a cavernous wine cellar fit with the finest meats and cheeses in all the land.

My 70+-year-old father-in-law was in heaven and ran over to the whiskey and wine selection like my kids run to the toy section in Target.

I accidentally picked out the owner, Jim, a fine fellow, to ask where I could find the sandwiches. He gave me a short tour of the selection of the local meats, cheeses, and goodies. Truth be told, I was too preoccupied with the decision between prosciutto and soppressata to remember exactly what was on the shelves, but they had a very pretty assortment.

As it turned out, the sandwich counter was in the way back. Next to a cheese case, you place your order and then turn around through a hole in the wall to find the seating area. And like a Harry Potter tent, it just opens up into a wonderfully lit, large area with beautiful paintings on an exposed brick wall and tables with tablecloths.

Fitting.

After having spent a fair amount of time at the Saint Louis Museum of Art recently, I'd say some of the art would fit right in.

Like a lot of the clientele, the service was a bit slow. It took us over twenty minutes to be served the sandwiches from third in line to first bite, but no one was in a rush. Update: On my second visit they got us our sandwiches in under five minutes. So, time may vary.

Parking At Parker's Table

We parked at the metered parking right outside. I looked around for a hot minute to find unpaid parking, but nothing legal seemed to make sense. Update: I ended up driving around and found a spot a two-minute walk away for free, but the whole area seems dicey parking-wise in that I don't know if I parked in front of an apartment building or something. Definitely do not park in the laundry mat's lot.

I also realized while parking that we were a stone's throw from Carl's Deli.

Parker's Table Receipt

Sandwich Size Comparisons