During our tour of Stanford University’s campus we stopped for lunch at Ike’s Place. Ike’s is a San Francisco Bay area sandwich shop. Our tour guide pointed out that the Stanford location is a very popular spot and it often has a line out the door when classes are in session. Fortunately for us classes were not in session, so there was no line to order. We were pleasantly greeted by one of the cashiers, who seemed more interested in having a conversation than taking our lunch order. According to their story, “When you come to Ike’s Place it is our goal to make you feel like the unique individual that you are.” That mission was definitely accomplished.

Spiffy Tiffy

After our conversation with the cashier along with a long look through the lengthy menu, I finally decided on the Spiffy Tiffy sandwich with halal chicken, mushrooms, avocado, pesto, provolone, and pepper jack ($6.96 for half, $9.99 for whole). In addition all sandwiches come served with Ike’s Dirty Secret Sauce, lettuce, and tomato. Mustard, jalapeno, red onions, pickles, and banana peppers are also available free of charge. You also have a choice of French, Dutch crunch, sourdough, wheat, or gluten-free. I went with sourdough.

The sandwiches are all served toasted and are stuffed full of ingredients. I decided to get the full sandwich, but normally half would have been plenty for lunch. The flavor was excellent and all ingredients were fresh. The addition of pesto to the sandwich added a nice flavor throughout and I liked the secret sauce. I also had a bite of my wife’s Menage A Trois sandwich which comes with halal chicken, real honey, honey mustard, BBQ, pepper jack, swiss, and cheddar. This is listed as one of the most popular sandwiches, and I can see why. The flavor combination was outstanding!

If I a student at Stanford Ike’s would definitely be on my weekly lunch rotation. I would absolutely visit again on a future visit to the area.