In the last two weeks of the year, On Sandwiches will be featuring select posts from the archives that you may have missed. We hope that you can forgive us these reruns, as we are hard at work on new, ambitious projects. Today’s selection is the Little Chef Counter in San Jose, California.

San Jose has a number of really great sandwiches, but they’re nearly all tortas or bánh mì. That’s not intended to be a slam against the city, really great tortas and  bánh mì are both challenging to put together, and it just so happened that the demographics of the city didn’t lend themselves to the standard American sandwich shop or lunch counter.

Little Chef Counter changed that. Opening in late 2011, the place is a revelation. Fine ingredients, prepared with care and vision, with spectacular results. Sandwiches are the focus, but when they appear they are generally divine. The short rib sandwich, the mushrooms on toast, the breakfast sandwich have all been spectacular. The chicken salad sandwich was a winner, and though I was disappointed with the smoked salmon sandwich it’s hard to expect every single sandwich to be a home run. There aren’t many places with which I’ve been as consistently impressed as Little Chef Counter, and if you’re in the Bay Area you owe yourself a visit.