I grew up in New York and New Jersey where mom and pop subs shops were all over the place. My father is Sicilian and first-generation American, so good food was a very big part of our household. The town I grew up in New Jersey was very small, only about 15,000 residents, yet we had our choice of six or seven great sub shops to go to. On top of that, we had another three Italian Deli’s, all of which made amazing subs.

When I moved to New York city after college, I was fortunate enough to live only a block and a half from the best sub shop in New York, the legendary Luigi’s on 8th and 53rd. Luigi’s became dinner at least three nights a week for the next three years. I then moved downtown where although I missed Luigi’s very much, there were plenty of other places to get a great sub. I never in my life had a problem finding one until I moved to San Francisco…

My husband felt the same way. He was from Boston and he had his Victoria’s. Every time we went back east our first destination was our respective favorite sub shops. Then, the Christmas before last, I was pregnant, and my craving for a good sub became even worse. At 10:00 am Christmas Eve in a small New Jersey town, the idea for Gambino’s was born over a pepperoni and cheese with everything on it. My husband and I couldn’t stop talking about it and as soon as we got back to San Francisco, we started working to make our dream a reality.