Mama mia! The sandwich that ate downtown

Why is everybody up here in the middle of the day -- downtown government workers, police from Elysian Park, kids from Cathedral High, wandering UPS drivers? Once I heard a TV sports announcer with a booming voice giving the counter guys (clearly friends of his) a hard time for not having his favorite game on the tube.

Well, they’re all standing in line for sandwiches at the venerable Eastside Market & Italian Deli, a relic of the days when Los Angeles had a Little Italy. They’re here because the Eastside’s big sandwiches are worth the trip -- and so is its spicy lasagna (Tuesdays and Thursdays only). And everything’s a bargain, with prices ranging from $5.40 all the way up to $6.50.

The building has an allure of its own. Seventy-five years ago, it was one of four Italian markets on this two-block stretch of Alpine Street on a hillside overlooking the Pasadena Freeway. The current owner, who had worked there when it still was a market, bought it in 1973. Most of the shelves have been taken out, and today the Eastside is basically about sandwiches, but the cavernous room, decorated with photos of old L.A., jokey signs (“Parking for Italians Only”), wine paraphernalia and murals of Italian scenes, has an aura of tradition rare in our town.

Although the Eastside is less than 10 blocks from City Hall, its neighborhood seems oddly remote, cut off as it is by the 110 Freeway. It was near here that Angelenos liked to sit and contemplate their growing city in the 1890s, and it still has a nice view. From just outside the Eastside’s door, you see a downtown that looks somehow small and peaceful.

Sandwiches (all including cheese) come in two varieties, hot and cold. I’m not fool enough to argue about whether the hot sandwiches are French dips, but they are fairly sopping with juices (grab plenty of napkins). They seem to be the top sellers.

The hot roast beef is a big bun full of thin-sliced beef, all juicy and meaty, with some mild red peppers, the cheese slices just starting to melt. Hot pastrami gets a similar treatment, but in this case the juices have a little tomato sauce in them. It’s more or less an Italian-style pastrami French dip with peppers and melting cheese. The big appetites are ordering the No. 7, which is roast beef and pastrami.

There are also Italian meatball, Italian sweet sausage and meatball-sausage sandwiches, all with tomato sauce and all huge. Perhaps as a gesture to the low-carb trend, you can get various of these meats outside the sandwich box, as a meat platter of roast beef and pastrami or meatballs and sausage.

That sums up the hot sandwiches, except for the eggplant parmigiana. They give you a fork and a wad of napkins with this one, because if you can eat the thick, slippery pile of eggplant and tomato sauce as a sandwich without changing the color scheme of your clothes, you’re probably a contortionist. Think of it as eggplant parmesan accompanied by an Italian roll. It’s a light sort of eggplant parmesan, anyway, because the thin-sliced eggplant is sauteed, not breaded.

The cold sandwiches are not quite so overwhelming, but they’re still good Italian-style handfuls. With the cold beef, you notice the sweetness of the beef, rather than the insistent meatiness that you get with the hot sandwich. On the cold side of the menu you can also get Italian cold cuts like mortadella, capicolla, salami and pepperoni (it looks like salami but has the right peppery bite), all with lettuce, tomato, mayo and mustard.

If you look around, you see a lot of people have ordered the tuna and cheese. There doesn’t seem to be anything to the filling but tuna and mayo, but it’s fresh and generous -- it’s your mom’s tuna sandwich.

The lines at the Eastside are longer on Tuesdays and Thursdays when lasagna is available. It comes with plenty of cheese and a rich tomato sauce spiked with a little red pepper, plus your choice of meatballs or sausage. Another pasta, such as mostaccioli or whatever the cook decides, is also served Tuesdays and Thursdays; same sauce and meat, no cheese.

There’s always a soup of the day, typically lentil. The chili bean soup could scarcely be less Mexican-- it’s like an Italian lentil soup, down to the sliced garlic and float of olive oil, except that it’s made with pinto beans and a quiet pinch of red pepper.

Add the potato salad (the old-fashioned kind with minced pickles and pickle juices in it) and a fruit cup for the dieters, and that’s about it at the Eastside. But it’s enough to get everybody up here in the middle of the day.

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Eastside Market & Italian Deli

Location: 1013 Alpine St., Los Angeles, (323) 250-2464, fax (323) 250-8064

Price: Sandwiches, $5.40 to $5.50; cold cut plate, $5.90; pasta (Tuesday and Thursday), $6.50; macaroni or potato salad, $1.75 to $2.75; fruit bowl, $2.50.

Best dishes: Lasagna, hot roast beef sandwich (No. 5), hot pastrami sandwich (No. 6), eggplant parmigiana sandwich (No. 4), tuna sandwich (No. 12).

Details: Open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. No liquor. Street parking. Cash only.