Pete Sitcov believes there’s a special equation for creating the perfect sandwich. “There’s some sort of sauce, there’s something salty-fatty, there’s something creamy, and something crunchy-bitter or crunchy-sour,” says the chef, who opened the 14th Street sub shop Compliments Only in early December with his business partner, Emily Cipes.
There are only eight subs on the menu, all made with “really nostalgic, recognizable ingredients” and sub rolls from Lyon Bakery. Case in point is the Teamster, Sitcov’s rendition of a classic Italian sub made the usual suspects that fulfill his special equation. There’s ham, capicola, and Genoa salami for the salty-fatty element; provolone for the creamy component; hot and sweet peppers, paper-thin onions, and shredded lettuce for the crunch factor; and oil and vinegar for the sauce.
“I’m really proud of the fact that when someone eats one, they feel like they’ve been transported,” Sitcov says. “They’ll say, ‘Oh, this is just like this one I get at this place in Virginia Beach.’ We’ve all had Italian sandwiches that are super fancy, but at the end of the day what’s going to take you back and make you feel nourished is the nostalgia you taste.”
He strays from tradition with Blanche’s Gentleman Caller, an egg salad sub accented with Old Bay to “pay a little respect to the DMV” and filled out with pickled carrots, crumbled bacon, fresh dill, and slivered scallions. The Wonder Wharf riffs on a niçoise salad by complementing tuna salad with hard boiled eggs, radish rounds, Bibb lettuce, pickled green beans, and Dijonnaise. For a plant powered option, there’s the veg packed Farmers Market After Dark; roast beef takes lead in the deceptively titled Never Been Cheddar; and there’s a club sandwich in sub form (which might irk purists).
The chef’s father is from Buffalo, New York, and his mother is from nearby Rochester, so the Ranch or Blue Cheese? sub pays homage to the wings he grew up eating. Shredded Buffalo chicken and a carrot and celery salad comes with the choice of either dressing. The chef always eschews blue cheese himself. “It’s like chartreuse,” he says. “I want to love it, but I don’t.”
The subs can be complemented by Utz chips, Dr. Brown’s sodas and other drinks, a pickle, and brown butter-boosted Rice Krispies Treats. Currently, they are only available for takeout and delivery.
Compliments Only is the latest chapter in a life story dominated by sandwichery. Sitcov been making sandwiches since he was 14 years old, when he got a gig working the line at the legendary Italian Store in Arlington. On and off for the next seven years, he learned the art of the sub. There were non-sandwich-centric stints at St. Ex and Bar Pilar before he and his wife, Lyndsi Sitcov, opened Yang Market in Eckington in 2017. At the deli counter, he gained a loyal following turning out oversized sandwiches with names referencing his favorite movie, My Cousin Vinny. (Continuing that tradition, Compliments Only has the Marisa Tomei Eats Free made with capicola, Genoa salami, mozzarella, basil and arugula salad, and honey chili aioli).
The couple shuttered the market at the end of 2018 (it has since reopened under new ownership), and Sitcov found a job in the kitchen at Adam Greenberg’s sunny-minded Coconut Club, where Cipes was working as the general manager. Over the summer, Sitcov and Greenberg launched Crush Subbies out of the restaurant as a delivery-only sub shop. When Coconut Club went into hibernation for the winter months, Sitcov and Cipes decided to pursue Compliments Only.
But how did his new venture get such a quirky name? It came to him when he was working on creating new sandwiches for Crush Subbies. As a joke, he’d tell his testers, “Can you taste this for me? Compliments only.”
Compliments Only is located at 1630 14th St. NW. Hours are Wednesday- Monday 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
