Several weeks ago, Get Out ran a story highlighting five of its favorite East Valley sandwich spots. Not necessarily the five best. Just five of our favorites.

The morning the story appeared, we got a call from Neal Borenstein, whose family owns all three Chompies restaurants in the Valley, wondering if we’d ever tried his restaurants.

In truth, we always thought Chompies was more of a bagel place, not a sandwich place. But when we checked its online menu, we were surprised by just how many sandwiches (and other items) Chompies offers.

So five of us from Get Out decide to drive over to Tempe to check out this “sandwich place.”

Situated near ASU (other locations are in Scottsdale and Phoenix), Chompies is part deli, part sit-down restaurant. We take a minute to ogle the deli case filled with meats and desserts before being shown to our table in the dining area.

While we study the hundreds of options of the six-page menu, we get a complimentary bowl of … pickles! How appropriate. Two of us decide to start with matzo ball soup ($2.99), large bowls of chicken soup with a single pillowy flour dumpling.

Chompies offers 22 types of meat on their design-it-yourself “Mile High” sandwiches, available in full and half sizes. There’s also a line of 17 “signature” sandwiches, nine burgers, seven chicken sandwiches, five Reubens, six grilled options and three open-faced selections.

We start with Mark’s Monte Cristo ($11.49), a huge, diagonally quartered masterpiece of turkey, ham, bacon and Swiss cheese melted between slices of battered-and-fried challah bread. It comes with a side of strawberry jam. For $1.99 more, we get a large potato pancake with sides of applesauce and sour cream instead of fries.

The Bar-B-Que Meatloaf Plate ($9.99) is an open-faced sandwich with three thick slices of meatloaf topped with cheddar cheese, crispy onion strings and barbecue sauce on a kaiser roll. The menu describes the onion strings as “awesome,” and we agree.

Two of us go the design-it-ourselves route. A toasted half-sandwich of hard salami on rye ($7.99) tastes good, but the middle of the meat is still rather cold. A half-sandwich of hot pastrami on sourdough ($7.99) is also very good.

Lastly, our resident grilled-cheese aficionado tries Chompies’ version on sourdough ($5.99) with a side of wedge-shaped fries and pronounces her entire meal excellent.

We don’t care for a side of slaw-based macaroni salad; we would have preferred mustard-based, but that’s a personal preference. Otherwise, everything we try is delicious.

On the way out the door — after purchasing some mouthwatering rugelach pastries to go — we decide Chompies is a worthy addition to our favorite East Valley sandwich spots.

Chompies
Where: 1160 E. University Drive, Tempe. Additional locations in Scottsdale.
Open: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Prices: Bagels $0.79-$3.99, breakfasts $5.99-$12.99, sandwiches $5.99-$11.99, salads $4.49-$11.49, dinners $10.29-$13.99, desserts $2.59-$4.29.’
Info: (480) 557-0700 or chompies.com.