Lunch breaks are a sacred moment in a worker’s day, offering time to unwind while indulging the stomach’s pleas for food. However, this sacredness can be spoiled by a 28-minute round trip to order, retrieve and pay for food that must be hurriedly consumed in the two minutes of lunch break left.
In hopes of providing a faster — and healthier — option for hangry workers in North Whidbey, partners Steve Clarke and Jean Hamer opened Slab City Sammies, a sandwich shop that gained such popularity since it opened in January that one day it ran out of food due to the high volume of orders from hungry and excited community members.
Staying true to Clarke’s motto “Good Food Equals Good Mood,” the shop offers wholesome sandwiches made with local bread and generous amounts of fresh filling that make for big, gratifying bites to enjoy in the privacy of a car or office.
Customers walk up to the window, and within five minutes or less of placing their order, they’re walking to their car with a “bag of goodness” in their hands, as Clarke said.
Basically, it’s guilt-free fast food.
According to Clarke, the most popular menu item is the Pastrami Sammie, made with hoagie roll, sliced roast beef, pepper jack cheese, au jus mayoli, sliced red onion, tomatoes, spinach and arugula.
Other sandwich options include the Turkey Sammie, the Roast Beef Sammie, the Ham Sammie, the Grill Cheese Sammie and, upon request, the Peanut Butter and Jamming Sammie.
Slab City Sammies also serves salads, including a colorful beet salad with red onion, mandarin orange, feta cheese, tomatoes, walnuts, kale, spring greens and balsamic dressing.
Clarke’s favorite is the Chicken Ceasar Wrap, made with romaine, croutons, bacon, Parmesan cheese, grilled chicken and Caesar dressing wrapped in a spinach or flour tortilla.
For people who can’t consume gluten, Clarke said he can make a gluten-free wrap with the other sandwich fillings and wrap them with the spinach tortilla.
Some might opt for the soup of the day, which is not made in house but can be a great side with some oyster crackers.
The shop is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and currently offers pick-up only, as the business makes what Clarke called “baby steps.” However, he said, he hopes to eventually open on Saturdays and late nights as well.
Slab City Sammies is a dream come true for Clarke and Hamer, who have been married for 29 years and have been working on opening the shop for the past two years.
Despite the numerous slabs of granite and marble that once occupied the parking lot, the couple saw potential in that building owned by Northwest Granite and Flooring, and signed a lease with the company. To focus on renovating the building, Clarke quit his job and was unemployed for a year.
“It means the world to me,” said Clarke, who has years of food service under his belt, and had been long considering opening a sandwich place where he would want to take his friends.
The shop’s exterior brings some summer nostalgia with its island-themed logo, the pier-inspired walls and the bitten surfboard next to the window.
Almost 20 years ago, before customers lined up for the opportunity to take big bites of a Sammie, Pugsley — Clarke’s 15-year-old blind dog — took an even bigger chomp off that very surfboard.
Though he is long gone, Pugsley’s influence on Slab City Sammies can be found in the paw prints on the logo and in the big bite on the surfboard.
Anyone who’s craving a wholesome meal or has a hunger that would nearly outcompete Pugsley’s yearning for surfboard can visit Slab City Sammies at 648 Mobius Loop, Oak Harbor, or call 360-675-4675.
Steve Clarke hands a hungry Whidbey News-Times reporter her order. (Photo by Luisa Loi)
The Pastrami Sammie. (Photo by Luisa Loi)
Steve Clarke hands out an order at his new sandwich shop, Slab City Sammies, which he opened after two years of hard work with his with his wife Jean Hamer. (Photo by Luisa Loi)
Steve Clarke poses by the surf board that welcomes customers to Slab City Sammies. Almost 20 year ago, Clarke’s late pug Pugsley bit off a large chunk of the board, something Clarke and his wife decided to memorialize and pay homage to. (Photo by Luisa Loi)
