a sweet (and Saltie) reunion

Sub Stack Episode 1: The Scuttlebutt

Welcome to Sub Stack, the newest member of the Debt Heads cinematic universe. It’s a podcast and newsletter about sandwiches and life. 

I’ve been joking about writing a sandwich-centric newsletter entitled Sub Stack, since I joined the newsletter hosting platform, Substack, two years ago.

Hungry as always for content, I claimed the domain, forgot about it, and focused on my other Substack, Jamie AF. Every so often, I’d try to imagine what I could possibly contribute to the very saturated world of food content. 

Eventually, the joke newsletter started to feel like an opportunity to find levity in storytelling about something as simple and pleasurable as the sandwich. Here in New York, what we consider to be the sandwich capital of the world, everyone’s got a favorite sandwich. Chances are they also have at least one funny, sad, or meaningful sandwich memory. 

So, in each one of these Sub Stack newsletters and its accompanying podcast (listen above!) we’ll interview a different person, over a sandwich of their choosing. We’ll share stories, sandwiches – and stories about sandwiches. 

As we set out to launch this project, we knew we had to tell the story of The Scuttlebutt - a sandwich we loved but hadn’t been able to eat since its inventor closed up shop six years ago. 

The shop was Saltie, and it served the Scuttlebutt for nearly a decade before closing its doors in 2017, and since then, the Scuttlebutt became only a memory - albeit a memory we often recall and discuss with longing. 

Then, we found out that the Scuttlebutt was miraculously alive and well in a different – but similarly beloved location: Marlow & Sons. 

So, for this inaugural installment of Sub Stack – which happens to be launching on National Sandwich Day! –  we booked it up to Williamsburg to get our hands on an old favorite, to see if the magic was still there all these years later. 

The Sub Stack #1 - Nov. 3rd 2023

Sandwich: The Scuttlebutt

Sandwich eater: Jamie Feldman

Location: Marlow & Sons

Borough: Brooklyn

Sandwich Details: The Scuttlebutt is a combination of salty, sweet, fatty, yeasty, and acidic flavors; it is a seasonal sandwich that is usually comprised of heavenly piles of feta, delicately jammy eggs, bright capers, briny beets, bright parsley and a slather of pimenton aioli on magnificent focaccia bread. 

Q&A with Jamie

Q - What's the scuttlebutt on The Scuttlebutt?

A shared love of the Scuttlebutt is one of the earliest foundational components of my friendship with Rachel. I’ve thought of it so fondly over the years, partly because it’s perfect, but also because it reminds me of her, of our friendship. Like all good memories, I worried that perhaps my positive memory of the sandwich was outsized due to all the meaning I’d assigned to it over the years. 

I should have known better than to worry. The Scuttlebutt is just as much a revelation today as it was all those years ago. Just as we both remembered it, in all its salty, sweet, crunchy, punchy, flavor bomb glory. 

The Scuttlebutt could have just lived on in our memories forever, a delicious chapter in our friendship story. But now, getting to eat them together again, is just as – if not – even sweeter. 

Q - What is the best sandwich you ever ate? 

A few years ago, I went to a friend’s wedding in Queens, where my mom lives. I drove to the wedding, thinking I’d sleep at my mom’s and drive home the next day. Well, after getting entirely too drunk, eating a weed edible and falling asleep on the couch at the after party, I woke up… not in Queens. And deathly hungover.

In my gown from the night before, booze seeping from my pores, I got in a cab from Brooklyn, back to my car in Queens, and planned to drive to Manhattan to meet my mom. She promptly informed me there was nowhere to park – I’d better not drive. So, I got into the backseat of my car on a hot June day, changed into a daytime outfit, and took another cab to Manhattan. We had tickets – and I’m serious – to an immersive Van Gogh exhibit. I spent most of our time there in the corner on the floor.

When I finally got back to my car in Queens, I was hanging on by a thread. I Googled “Italian sub near me” and found Sal, Kris & Charlie’s – an Astoria institution. I got one of the biggest subs I’ve ever seen, a giant bag of salt and vinegar chips and a jug of Arnold Palmer. I raced home, took my pants off, and did damage. 

It saved my life that day. 

Q - What's the worst sandwich you ever ate? 

One day in elementary school, my mom packed me a salami sandwich on a salt bagel. It was so unbelievably salty that it tasted poisonous. I was so traumatized, I didn’t eat salami again until junior year of college, when I studied abroad in Rome. 

Q - What's your best sandwich memory? 

My dad instilled a deep love of food and the joy of sharing a meal in me from a young age. We were going out for sushi when I was five. I have a memory of him making a grilled ham and cheese on simple, white bread in a pan with butter. 

The thought of this cheesy, melty, crispy sandwich and the thought of him, and the sandwich brings me comfort, and reminds me of him, and the positive food influence he had on me when there’s so much negative food influence in society. 

Jamie Feldman is …

A writer and performer living in Brooklyn. She got her start in journalism working as a fashion and lifestyle editor at HuffPost before launching her own newsletter, Jamie AF, on Substack. She also co-writes, produces and hosts the newsletter and podcasts Debt Heads and Sub Stack. Follow her on TikTok and Instagram.