Board & Brew
Turkey Pesto · del mar · $$
The sandwich that built a thousand surf trips. Smoked turkey, pesto-mayo, sprouts, the works — wrapped in butcher paper because it's going in a cooler.
The score
Day-maker
The basics
1212 Camino Del Mar
Open · closes 7pm
Pairs with
Iced tea, sand in your shoes
Every San Diegan has a Board & Brew memory. Mine is sitting in a 2002 4Runner with a wetsuit drying on the roof rack and a Turkey Pesto in my lap. My cousin's is the same memory, different car. We argue about whether it's actually the sandwich that's good or just the situation. We've had it indoors and decided: it's the sandwich.
“There is no wrong order here. Only wrong amounts.”
The bread
A sub roll engineered for a long beach drive. Holds the pesto-mayo, doesn't sog under sprouts, survives sand. My cousin docks it points for being too soft — he says the roll gives up halfway through. I think he's wrong. It's a beach sandwich. The roll is supposed to give a little.
The filling
The pesto-mayo is the move. Smoked turkey, sprouts, lettuce, tomato. People order it Mike's Way (extra everything) or modify it to death. We get it as it comes because the kitchen knows what it's doing.
The people
A parking lot that's been packed since the early '80s. A counter that runs on muscle memory. The line is long, it moves fast, and nobody is mad about being there. That's a kind of magic.
The verdict
It's a workhorse. The sandwich you get on the way to a thing, not the thing itself. That sounds like a slight. It isn't. Most sandwiches collapse outside their natural habitat. This one was made for the cooler.