Hog Island is an island near the intersection of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, near the naval shipyards in South Philadelphia, the resident location of thousands of Italian immigrants. In World War I, Hog Island became the site of the first shipyard ever built for mass production of ships, and ultimately the workplace for hundreds of Italian and Irish immigrants. Its "Hog Islanders" shops never took part in that war but the shipyard operations remained ongoing.
While the origin of the "hoagie" or the sandwich which most call a submarine, is probably New York with a round roll type also surfacing in New Orleans in the 1880's, it was widely popularized in South Philadelphia when the Italian immigrants of the early 20th century brought with them their beloved meats to the New World.
On Hog Island the workers would bring these sandwiches on traditional Italian loaves from home early in the morning, cold, thereby preserving its cured meats and taste, but a formal name didn't exist for this sandwich. The true derivation of the term "hoagie" is still debatable. Most likely "hoagie" derives from hog, hence the possibilities include the hog itself, or "Hogan", which was the term used by the Italian to describe their Irish friends on lunch break in the shipyards who would swallow almost whole their giant sandwiches made on the famous South Philly Italian loaves. However, we believe that the term derived from the ships they built, the "Hog Islanders", hence the sandwiches consumed by the workers became known as "hoggies". At some point after World War II, the "hoggie" became the "hoagie", when the term first appeared in the local Philadelphia telephone directory in 1945.
Today, there are many imitators of this flavored sandwich of Philadelphia, which has acquired a multitude of references, including a sub, hero, bomber, po boy, muffaleta, grinder, torpedo and rocket. The original hoagie is a cold sandwich that contains the finest of cured meats within the extra wide hard-crusted traditional Italian loaf, which is what set out hoagie apart from out competitors. In fact, today millions of people in the mid-Atlantic region eat these same sandwiches, cold, sometimes hours later for dinner, just like the immigrant workers of Hog Island did a century ago.
Now, the proprietors, both from Philadelphia, bring to Austin the first truly authentic hoagie deli with our original Philly cheesesteaks, and the freshest of the salads. Our loaves are baked daily with the assistance of our own Philadelphia baker. The Italian meats, which are imported from Philadelphia and Italy and of the finest quality, unprocessed, naturally cured and containing zero preservatives, are sliced directly into the hoagie loaf with each order. The turkey, consisting of whole unprocessed cuts of meat, is oven roasted daily. And those famous cheesesteaks are made with our own secret recipe of cheeses and spices with freshly sliced meat, not the prepackaged frozen variety that is prevalent in the area today. Even though we're an old fashion deli, we do have low-carb options and a variety of salads, including our specialty Italian salads. So please enjoy, eat in, or take out, an authentic original hoagie and welcome to Hog Island Deli, where our best advertising is the food itself.
