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It is an exciting time for Blackpink, as on Wednesday they shared the release date for their forthcoming album Born Pink, mere days after announcing their tour dates and the new single “Pink Venom.” But there’s another reason for celebrating: One of their members, Rosé, was named one of Variety’s 2022 “Power Of Young Hollywood” honorees.

The list highlights artists aged 25-and-under for their impact in the entertainment industry. “There are times when it feels like a lot of pressure,” the 25-year-old told Variety, “but it’s what drives us to create new sounds and push ourselves.” Along with her success within the K-Pop group, the New Zealand-born artist also launched her solo career back in 2021 with the records “Gone” and “On The Ground.”

Rosé spoke about the difference between Blackpink’s catalog and her own, saying, “It differs from BLACKPINK’s [music] in the sense that it is still in the process of defining itself,” and “There are so many genres that I’ve always wanted to explore.” Her explorations haven’t stayed within music either, as she appeared as a contestant on King Of Mask Singer and Fantastic Duo 2 back in 2017.

With Blackpink gearing up for Born Pink, arriving on September 16 via YG Entertainment and Interscope, it seems Rosé is just scratching the surface of what is yet to come, both on her own and with the group.

Check out the full “Power Of Young Hollywood” list here.

Details are slowly emerging about why the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, which has sent Donald Trump and much of MAGA land into a frothing frenzy. But one detail must particularly irk the big guy: The feds were reportedly tipped off by an informant. Who was it? What did they tell them? Will it mean the slammer for the may have flushed official documents down the toilet? Thing is, even before learning he may have been sold out by a mole, he was already a paranoid wreck.

Sources tell Rolling Stone that this summer, as he’s investigated by the New York State attorney general’s office and by the Jan. 6 committee (and possibly the Justice Department, too), he’s been particularly prickly. Specifically he’s been worried about a “rat” or “rats,” and even worried friends had turned stool pigeon.

“He has asked me and others, ‘Do you think our phones are tapped?’,” one source said. “Given the sheer volume of investigations going on into the [former] president, I do not think he’s assuming anything is outside the realm of possibility.” They added, “He’s talked about this seriously [in the past few months], but I know of one time when he made a joke that was something like, ‘Be careful what you say on the phone!’”

He’s even been suspicious of the many visiting Republicans who come down south to kiss the ring, wondering aloud if they’re “wearing a wire.”

Those suspicions have only ballooned since FBI recent visit:

One Trump adviser tells Rolling Stone that since Tuesday, MAGA loyalists have been asking to pass their suspicions to Trump, telling him not to trust certain individuals and to investigate them for possible contacts with federal authorities. “I’m getting a lot of messages saying [things like], ‘This guy must be the informant,’ and others…calling for the [former] president to start doing phone-checks of his staff,” says the adviser. “To be honest, a lot of it feels like people trying to screw over the ones they don’t like [in Trumpworld.]”

Trump has always been paranoid, but as Rolling Stone points out, “in this case, he has reason to worry,” given the “various criminal, civil, and federal investigations into Trump, his sprawling family business, and his political allies in his attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential election.”

In other words, Trump, a man who demands absolute loyalty (which he rarely reciprocates) may not be in jail — yet — but he may already be in his special version of hell.

(Via Rolling Stone)

Wednesday brought two new trailers about cannibalism, both concerning the stars of Call Me By Your Name (and in one case, its director, too). One was for House of Hammer, Discovery+’s forthcoming documentary series about Armie Hammer, the subject of disturbing accusations of sexual misconduct, even cannibalism (though the latter may have just been talk). Around the time those allegations surfaced, his CMBYN costar Timothée Chalamet and director Luca Guadagnino announced they were reuniting for a movie about…cannibalism. And lo and behold, here’s the first teaser.

It’s called Bones and All, a pretty unnerving title for a movie about humans eating human flesh, but the 30-second teaser really is just that. It shows Chalamet, his floppy hair a touch shorter and dyed partially crimson, on the road with a woman (Taylor Russell), locked in embraces, swapping doe eyes, and alluding to something truly sinister. “Do you think I’m a bad person,” Chalamet asks his paramour, their heads touching. “All I think is that I love you,” she replies.

What isn’t revealed is that they’re both young cannibals and are cruising around America in the Reagan ‘80s, trying to stay off the grid. It’s based on a novel of the same name by Camille DeAngelis, and when it was announced, it couldn’t help but feel like accidental commentary on their former Call Me By Your Name coworker, whose own personal exposé no doubt put the kibosh on the once-planned sequel to their last collaboration.

You can watch the Bones and All teaser in the video above. It hits theaters on Nov. 23.

(Via Variety)

Broken Bells, the indie rock duo made up of Danger Mouse and James Mercer, shared two pieces of good news Wednesday. First, they dropped their new video for the track “Saturdays.” Then they announced that their forthcoming album, Into The Blue, will be available October 7 via AWAL after almost four years of teasing their comeback.

“Saturdays” is an ethereal visual experience backed by enchanting guitars, heart-pounding drum patterns, and zesty vocals. The video features an old filter reminiscent of televisions with antennas as a space shuttle takes off into space. “It’s a gift or maybe it’s a curse / Don’t know which is worse to define,” Mercer sings as the video transitions between footage of the shuttle’s liftoff, a person working in a control room, and an empty laboratory with a TV screen showing a cartoon-like version of Mercer’s face.

Into The Blue will mark Broken Bells’s first release since 2014’s After The Disco. In the interim, they shared loose singles “Shelter” in 2018 and “Good Luck” in 2019. Earlier this year, they kicked off the road to Into The Blue with the lead single “We’re Not In Orbit Yet…”, which lends some context to the space themes found in the “Saturdays” video.

Check out the “Saturdays” video above.

Into The Blue is out 10/7 via AWAL. Pre-order it here.

It is always fun to see one of your favorite bands perform live, and even better when they bring out a guest who breathes new life into certain records. This month, those who attended The National’s shows in Calgary and Alberta were treated to an appearance by Bartees Strange, who added his own flavor to “Mistaken For Strangers.”

Strange, who is booked for four of The National’s North American shows, tweeted his excitement about it Tuesday along with video of the performance. The 33-year old said “Last night in Missoula, So beautiful. So gorgeous to play on a mountain and to meet so many kindpeople. Will not forget! We hit again with @TheNational in Ogden Utah. My third time in Utah in the last year Here’s Us singing mistaken for strangers again!” with a variety of emojis scattered through the caption.

The National echoed the excitement in an Instagram post earlier this week, writing, “Our first time in Calgary, definitely not the last. Special thanks to @bartees_strange for playing a better version of Lemonworld than ours and joining us on Mistaken For Strangers.”

This is a special moment for Strange, as his 2020 EP Say Goodbye To Pretty Boy featured five covers of The National’s songs, including “Lemonworld,” “Mr. November,” and “All The Wine.”

Check out a clip of Bartees Strange and The National singing “Mistaken For Strangers” above.

Attempts by Friends alumni to find worthwhile TV follow-ups haven’t always gone smoothly. But while Matt LeBlanc will always have Episodes, Lisa Kudrow will always have The Comeback, her instant cringe classic about a washed-up sitcom star desperately, bleakly angling for another hit. There are only two seasons of the show, made nine years apart, the last in 2014. Alas, when asked if she’s ready to drop a third season when the next nine-year mark hits next year, she was the bearer of bad news.

“I don’t think we’re gonna make it! Not make it ever, but I don’t think we’re gonna make it in nine years,” Kudrow told The Daily Beast, referring to her and co-creator Michael Patrick King. “We also don’t know if HBO wants it, by the way. But we haven’t asked. We’re both sort of like, ‘I’m not gonna ask, are you?’ ‘No, I don’t want to hear ‘no.’ It’s something we love so much. That’s why it took nine years the first time!”

Kudrow does say she and King “always talk about what it would be,” adding, “I love being her. My God, that’s one of the easiest things to do.”

The Comeback is a satirical mockumentary purporting to be found footage of Kudrow’s Valerie Cherish, who achieved fame on a late ‘80s/early ‘90s sitcom called I’m It!, as she repeatedly attempts to return to the public eye. In real life, she happily refrains from returning to network television, and openly speculates that a version of Friends today would definitely not be all-white. In the meantime, perhaps someone at HBO should pay attention to what one of their stars is telling the press — even if they have their own problems right now.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Coheed and Cambria’s frontman, Claudio Sanchez, surprisingly is not the kind of person to embrace being personable with others. In an interview with the Washington Post, Sanchez dove deep into how he has been using Twitch as a way to embrace being a little more open with fans of his band. It is a really interesting example of a star in a completely different industry using something like Twitch as practice for their main career.

Amidst the interview though, Sanchez did drop one really interesting tidbit about his game of choice, Fortnite. Sanchez has seen other stars of music, such as Ariana Grande, get virtual Twitch concerts and while he’s not demanding that Epic Games put his band into Fortnite, he thinks Coheed and Cambria could put on a pretty unique show.

“I don’t know if we’re at that place where ‘Fortnite’ would be like, ‘Yeah, let’s throw a Coheed and Cambria concert,’” said Sanchez. “That being said, I think we do have all the assets to create something pretty interesting with ‘The Amory Wars,’ the ‘Vaxis’ story, characters, music. There’s something there I think we have that others might not.”

While Fortnite has never publicly considered Coheed and Cambria, that is something they may want to reconsider because they have a hardcore fanbase that would absolutely turn out for a virtual concert. It would also be an opportunity for Epic Games to break out into doing something a little different with their in-game concerts. So far they’ve mainly focused on showing huge megastars like Grande, but maybe with a little variety, we could have a chance at an entire music festival being hosted in-game.

As for Sanchez, anyone interested in catching him on Twitch needs to do it while he’s actually live. He doesn’t keep VODs or upload his streams to YouTube so it really is one of those “had to be there” moments whenever he does something.

Earlier this year, Bright Eyes shared reissues of their older albums, namely A Collection Of Songs Written And Recorded 1995-1997: A Companion, Letting Off The Happiness: A Companion, and Fevers And Mirrors: A Companion. However, they put a special twist on it: They loaded up each companion EP with five newly recorded versions of songs from the original albums, in addition to covers from artists of whom they are fond. Today, the band announced their second wave of companion EPs, which will release on November 11 via Dead Oceans.

Listeners will be treated to Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground: A Companion, I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning: A Companion, and Digital Ash In A Digital Urn: A Companion. These three projects will also feature contributions from Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings, Becky Stark and Maria Taylor, as wella s covers of “November” by Azure Ray, “Fare Thee Well, Miss Carousel” by Townes Van Zandt, and “Agenda Suicide” by The Faint.

To jumpstart the lead-up to their November releases, Bright Eyes shared three new tracks Wednesday: “You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will.,” “Old Soul Song (For The New World Order),” and “Gold Mine Gutted.” For a band that has been around as long as them, it’s clear that Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nathaniel Walcott are still very committed to connecting with their fans through old songs and a new approach, especially ahead of their upcoming tour.

Check out “You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will.” above.

The three companion EPs will be out 11/11 via Dead Oceans. Pre-order them here.

Some good news and bad. The good: Disney+ is adding an ad-supported alternative for those who can’t afford to pay a steep monthly fee for regular access to Million Dollar Duck (and, for the records, lots of good movies). The bad: Those with regular subscriptions might have to think about downgrading. Oh, and there’s more bad news: The same goes for Hulu and ESPN+.

As per Variety, Disney, which owns all three aforementioned streamers, has unveiled that Disney+ Basic, the name for said ad-heavy version, will arrive on Dec. 8. This iteration will include a combined four minutes of ads spread throughout each hour. The price will be a low-low $7.99 — which happens to be the current price of the regular Disney+, which will soon be rechristened Disney+ Premium. That service will jump a whopping 38%, or $10.99 — a steep price so you can watch Mr. Boogedy in peace.

But there’s more! As of Oct. 10, the price of Hulu with ads will rise a relatively puny dollar, from $6.99 a month to $7.99. And then there’s ESPN+, which this month will leap from $6.99 a month to $9.99. Even one of the bundles is increasing. The Disney Bundle, aka Disney+ Premium, Hulu with ads, and ESPN+, will rise a buck, from $13.99 to $14.99. The version that features Hulu without ads will stay at $19.99.

Disney+ isn’t the only streamer making the leap to ad-supported versions to attract more customers. The foundering Netflix is doing the same, due in part to a combination of fleeing subscribers and movies they probably shouldn’t spent all the money in the world on.

(Via Variety)

Is Subway trash? I write about food pretty often, and in doing so many food rankings over the years, I’ve come to find that almost all fast food chains have die-hard stans who will rip me to shreds if I forget to include their favorite restaurant.

I’ve drawn the ire of Arby’s heads, angered Rally’s fiends, and don’t even get me started on whipping up the A&W goblins. Through it all, it stands out that I’ve never received a single comment, email, or random Twitter attack complaining about excluding Subway from a ranking.

These days it seems like Subway is known less for delicious sandwiches and more for things like bread that isn’t bread, tuna that isn’t tuna, and foot longs that aren’t a foot long. And that’s not even the worst press Subway has ever gotten (Jared Fogle, anyone?).

And yet, Subway remains one of the largest fast food chains in America, bringing in $16.1 billion in revenue in 2020. Until recently, it was second only to the mighty McDonald’s in number of locations (which may have had something to do with their allegedly predatory franchising practices).

If no one likes Subway enough to defend it, why is it so ubiquitous? All of which impels me to attempt to answer a fairly simple question: is Subway any good? Have we been sleeping on Subway? There are at least three Subway restaurants within walking distance of me, one of which is open 24 hours. Who is eating Subway in the middle of the night (don’t say drunk people and stoners, they go to Jack in the Box)? And more importantly, why?

Thanks to some reporting by John Oliver and others, we now know that part of Subway’s omnipresence across the fast food landscape can be explained by how easy they make it to open a franchise. Yet the pandemic has been especially unkind to Subway, who slipped from the second biggest fast food chain in America to the eighth. Of course, that’s still pretty good in the grand scheme of things, and there are signs that brand is finally trying to innovate and improve. Which brings us to the Subway Series.

Subway is a brand built on its endless customization options. Yet the Subway Series poses the question: what if Subway had a real menu? Now, in addition to your usual customization, Subway fans can order 12 different signature sandwiches, broken up into four different categories: Cheesesteaks, Italianos, Chicken, and Clubs. This is a potential game changer for Subway because now they’ll actually have things on their menu that people can recommend to friends, talk about, and most importantly (for us at least) rank! So we ordered all 12 sandwiches in the Subway Series and ranked them from worst to best. All in an attempt to finally answer the question: is Subway trash?

We also took pictures of each sandwich. I understand that fast food press photos always show food in the best presentation possible, but the way Subway sandwiches look in advertising vs. the way they look in reality is one of the most jarring differences I’ve ever seen in fast food. I’ve never felt so catfished by fast food.

For the record, I bought all my sandwiches for this ranking from two different Subway locations in Long Beach, California. I would’ve picked a single Subway location, but after being told the first location didn’t carry a specific type of bread, I bought the remaining sandwiches at a different Subway, just to stay consistent with the Subway Series’ recommended bread options. These just happened to be the closest Subways to me, and one of them was open 24 hours, which meant I could eat a sandwich at any hour of the day, even the middle of the night like some kind of lunatic.

12. The Great Garlic

What’s In It?

Rotisserie chicken, bacon, provolone, lettuce, tomatoes, and red onions with creamy roasted garlic aioli, toasted.

Tasting Notes:

The centerpiece of Subway’s The Great Garlic is a new roasted garlic aioli. They need to go back to the lab with that shit. This is one of the most off-putting sandwiches I’ve ever eaten in my life, and no I’m not one of those weird people that dislike garlic. I love garlic, but nobody loves garlic this much.

The flavor of this sandwich is entirely dominated by the taste of garlic with the slightest hint of smokey bacon on the aftertaste. That’s it. You can’t taste the cheese (ever at Subway apparently), the lettuce, the tomatoes, or the red onions. Do you realize how difficult it is to not taste red onions? That’s how powerful this garlic is.

What’s worse is the roasted garlic aioli is extremely bitter. Roasted garlic should not taste bitter. Roasted garlic has a wonderful mild sweetness and floral caramelized earthiness that packs a lot of depth of flavor. Garlic only tastes bitter when it’s burnt. Burnt is not roasted, Subway.

The Bottom Line:

The great garlic? More like the… not so great garlic. The Bad Garlic! It’s the only objectively bad sandwich in the Subway Series. Even if you love garlic, this sandwich is straight-up gross.

11. Subway Club

What’s In It?

Turkey, Black Forest ham, USDA Choice Roast Beef, provolone, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, and mayo, on toasted multigrain bread.

Tasting Notes:

This is the sandwich that Subway decided to put its own name on, so it’s got to be good right? Wrong. It’s not that this sandwich is bad, it’s just incredibly boring. Subway’s USDA Choice Roast Beef doesn’t taste all that much better than their regular steak, but it still provides a good medley of beefy flavor along with the roasted turkey and Black Forest ham. It’s the veggies that leave something to be desired.

The tomatoes are a bit watery, and the lettuce is the lowest quality iceberg and muddles the flavor of the meat, leaving the red onions as the only veggie to add flavor. Green peppers, banana peppers, cucumbers, spinach — anything else would make this sandwich better! The toasted multigrain bread is also not nearly as good as Subway’s Italian Artisan. It’s dry and tastes a little like cardboard.

The Bottom Line:

The worst sandwich in Subway’s collection of Clubs, which is pretty ironic considering they attached their name to this one.

10. The Champ

What’s In It?

Rotisserie chicken, double Monterey cheddar cheese, green peppers, red onions, peppercorn ranch, toasted.

Tasting Notes:

You’re going to notice a lot of redundancy in Subway’s new menu. The brand launched 12 sandwiches and about half of them aren’t ever worth ordering. Unfortunately, this sandwich is one of those. The issue with the Champ is that Subway also makes a sandwich that is essentially the same as this one, but with steak and bacon instead of Rotisserie chicken, and it’s so much better.

It’s hard to taste the rotisserie chicken through the heavy helping of peppercorn ranch. That creamy, slightly tangy, and earthy cracked black pepper sauce dominates the flavor here, totally drowning out the meat.

The Bottom Line:

The Champ? More like the Chump. If you like the build of this sandwich and you’re flexible about the meat, order “The Monster” instead. It’s the same sandwich with a meatier and more savory flavor.

9. All-American Club

What’s In It?

Roasted turkey, Black Forest Ham, bacon, American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, and mayo, toasted.

Tasting Notes:

A nice medley of meaty flavors. I’m tasting some thyme from the turkey, a nice savory sweet smokiness from the ham, and a bit of crunch and more smoke from the bacon. I think this is a solid sandwich, but Subway has all the ingredients on-hand to make this a significantly better experience and I don’t know why they don’t.

This sandwich is in desperate need of better lettuce and more veggies. Pickles, jalapeños, black olive — this sandwich needs something to elevate the meaty flavors with some fresh vegetal backing. Subway’s mayo isn’t flavorful enough to add the tang this sandwich needs.

The Bottom Line:

Its only sin is that it’s boring.

8. The Philly

What’s In It? Steak, provolone cheese, green peppers, red onions, mayo, on toasted bread.

Tasting Notes:

The Philly is part of the Subway Series’ Cheesesteak family; probably the only sandwich in the Series that doesn’t need a description. This is Subway’s take on a classic Philly Cheesesteak. It’s fine, though I actually think it tastes a lot better if you don’t associate it with a Philly cheesesteak. With that as a point of comparison it comes up wildly short. If only Subway could carmelize onions, it would vastly improve the flavors of this sandwich. Sadly they can’t, so think of this more as a beef sandwich, not a classic Philly cheesesteak.

This sandwich helped reveal to me that Subway’s steak, as thin and pale in color as it is, is actually pretty good. It has a savory beefy flavor that tastes great with the toasted bread and green bell peppers. It’s hard to hate this simple sandwich, but it’s also hard to love it. As it stands. It’s just fine.

The Bottom Line:

A simple beef sandwich, add bacon and pepper and you’ve got a massively better sandwich.

7. Mexicali

What’s In It?

Rotisserie chicken, avocado, pepper jack, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, Baja Chipotle sauce, toasted.

Tasting Notes:

I really wanted this one to be good, as it’s very similar to the sort of sandwich I’d build myself at Subway, and uses Subway’s best sauce. In theory, it should be good, in practice it’s just okay. The issue is Subway’s chicken. It’s not horrible, but rotisserie chicken is known for being tender and juicy, and Subway’s chicken is dry and stringy. The chicken does a lot to weigh this sandwich down.

With this sandwich, Subway is attempting some kind of Mexicali Baja-inspired flavors, but this really misses the mark. It seems Subway thought that by putting a Baja Chipotle Sauce with some avocado and pepper jack they’d have some approximation of Mexican flavors, but once again they’ve merely taken an adequate product and damned it with unfortunate expectations. This sandwich is bland, a thing Mexican food never is. Subway needs to ditch the lettuce and start stocking cilantro, and there is absolutely no reason this sandwich doesn’t have jalapeños. Subway has jalapeños, but they’re pickled, another thing they need to remedy.

The Bottom Line:

It’s an okay sandwich but mostly just shines a light on ingredients Subway needs but still doesn’t have.

6. Turkey Cali Club

What’s In It?

Roasted turkey, bacon, BelGioioso Fresh Mozzarella, avocado, spinach, tomatoes, red onions, mayo, multigrain bread, toasted.

Tasting Notes:

Subway should just call this sandwich “The Subway Club,” because it’s easily the best sandwich from the Subway Series’ Club family. Subway’s roasted turkey is pretty good, it has a nice thyme-forward flavor with a subtle hint of smoke which gets accentuated by the bacon. The meat pairing here is nice — sweet, herbal, and smokey. No complaints there.

That smoked flavor is nicely complemented by spinach, tomatoes, red onions, and creamy chunks of avocado, while the mayo adds some of the savoriness missing from the turkey and bacon. I think adding green bell peppers would do a lot to elevate this sandwich even further.

The Bottom Line:

The best Club sandwich in The Subway Series. For the best experience add another veggie (we suggest green peppers) and get it on Artisan Italian instead of the too-dry Multigrain bread.

5. The Monster

What’s In It?

Steak, bacon, Monterey Cheddar, green peppers, red onions, creamy peppercorn ranch on toasted artisan bread.

Tasting Notes:

What did I tell you? Add bacon to The Philly and you’ve got a massively better sandwich. I also suggested adding pepper, and this peppercorn ranch sauce gets you there, offering an earthy, creamy, and slightly tangy top note to each beefy bite. This sandwich is meaty, smokey, and satisfyingly savory. It wants for nothing, making it easily more essential than The Philly, despite having a very similar build.

The Bottom Line:

A massive improvement over the similarly built Philly. Beefy and smokey.

4. Bella Mozza

What’s In It?

Black Forest Ham, capicola, BelGioioso Fresh Mozzarella, spinach, tomatoes, red onions, banana peppers, MVP Parmesan vinaigrette, toasted.

Tasting Notes:

The Bella Mozza is part of the Subway Series’ Italiano family, and despite being the weakest sandwich in that category, I still think it’s pretty damn good. It has a delicate smoked flavor to it, courtesy of the thinly sliced Black Forest ham and the meatier capicola, which the New Jerseyans among us may or may not prefer to pronounce “Gabba Gool.” The Capicola is a new addition to Subway’s roster of meats and it’s pretty tasty, offering a sweet and salty flavor with roasted top notes. Gabba gool at Subway? Fuggeddaboutit.

That medley of meats gets a nice mix of veggies to help elevate it, the combination of spinach and mozzarella adds a refreshing quality to each bite while banana peppers add more dimension to the overall flavor, adding some spicy tang to the sandwich.

I’m torn on the inclusion of BelGioioso Fresh Mozzarella. On one hand, it’s easily the most flavorful cheese Subway has. It actually tastes like, you know, cheese, instead of the weird shit Subway usually puts on their sandwich. But on the other hand, that fresh mozzarella comes with a lot of moisture, and that moisture will absorb into your sandwich, turning it a little soggy. That ultimately holds it back.

The Bottom Line:

Delicious, but the fresh mozzarella makes it wetter than we want it. Consider eating this one in a Subway booth instead of letting it sit in a bag for too long.

3. The Outlaw

What’s In It?

Steak, double pepper jack cheese, green peppers, red onions, and Baja Chipotle sauce, toasted.

Tasting Notes:

By now you’ve probably come to the realization that the Subway Series would function better as a four sandwich menu. Case in point, The Outlaw, the best sandwich in the Series’ Cheesesteaks Family, and probably the only one that deserves that signature spot. It combines the best of the Cheesesteaks family: layers of thinly-sliced beef, the undeniable combination of red onions and green peppers, and elevates it by adding some pepper jack cheese and a spicy and sweet Baja Chipotle sauce.

The pepper jack cheese doesn’t differ a whole lot in flavor from the provolone and Monterey cheddar, but it does add a subtle kick to the creamy salty flavor. The real star of the show is that Baja Chipotle sauce. It’s bright and sweet forward with a slight peppery burn that plays well with the savory beef notes.

The Bottom Line:

The best sandwich in the Cheesesteaks family. The only way this sandwich could get any better is by adding bacon, so definitely do that. Subway could’ve just done that for us, but they decided to f*ck around.

2. The Boss

What’s In It?

Meatballs, marinara sauce, pepperoni, BelGioioso Fresh Mozzarella, and parmesan, on a toasted Italian herb and cheese bread.

Tasting Notes:

I’m fully aware this sandwich looks less like food and more like a murder scene, but I promise you, this was the best way to take a picture of it. This sandwich is supposed to be built on Subway’s Toasted Italian Herb and Cheese Bread. Mine wasn’t, because apparently at Subway it’s not entirely out of the norm for a franchise location to have limited bread options. When I was told by the Subway employee that they “don’t carry toasted Italian herb and cheese bread” I said, “never?” To which they replied, “ever.” Despite the bread mishap, this sandwich still kind of blew me away.

Yes, I’m using the words “blew me away” to describe something I ate at Subway. I fully expected this sandwich to be bad. Despite how much I liked it, Subway’s meatballs are weirdly flavorless and very dry. But it kind of doesn’t matter, because this marinara sauce is so good and laid on so thick that you hardly notice how the balls come up short. Plus we’ve got pepperoni and it gets the job done.

The texture of this marinara is like velvet, with a nice balance of garlic and onions and an herbaceous earthy oregano flavor to boot, with a slightly spicy aftertaste that lingers on the tongue in the best way. It’s hands down the best part of the sandwich.

The Bottom Line:

The best sandwich in the Italiano line, but it’s a few steps away from being perfect. Some sort of combination between this sandwich and the Supreme Meats would be ideal but I haven’t figured out the build yet. But I won’t stop trying, that is my promise to you.

1. Supreme Meats

What’s In It?

Black Forest Ham, Genoa salami, pepperoni, capicola, provolone, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, banana peppers, MVP parmesan vinaigrette, toasted.

Tasting Notes:

Supreme Meats combines all of Subway’s best meat and throws it into a single sandwich, and you know what? It pays off. The thin slices of meat combine to produce a bouquet of smokey, peppery, savory, salty, and sweet flavors, with veggies that provide tangy umami notes, all ensconced in a bright parmesan vinaigrette.

Delicious flavor aside, this sandwich also has a mouthwatering and intoxicating smell. The ingredients are in harmony here, coming together to produce something greater than the sum of its parts.

The Bottom Line:

A sandwich for meat lovers, this is about as meaty a sandwich you can get at Subway without getting meatballs.

The Big Takeaway: Is Subway Trash?

Absolutely not. It’s far from the best sandwich chain in fast food (I think we’d have to give that crown to Jersey Mike’s) but Subway has more than enough signature sandwiches to warrant a visit the next time you’re hungry. With a few simple hacks and alterations, you can easily take the sandwiches from good to great and the new Subway Series makes that easier than ever.