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You can hardly toss a coin in this town without hitting a coffee shop, and there are practically as many sandwich, wrap, and sub joints as there are Red Sox fans. Yet while plenty of coffee outfits have chalkboards scribbled with standard sandwiches, you’d be hard-pressed to find a café-style spot like Café Arpeggio, which pairs a gourmet coffee drink with nearly every sandwich on its extensive menu. If you head toward the Southie eatery hoping for a plain turkey sandwich or tuna salad on a bulkie roll, though, you’ll be disappointed. Arpeggio can justifiably claim to have pioneered, if not anticipated, the neighborhood’s new wave of trendiness. After all, the sandwich shop and gallery with outdoor seating opened 10 years ago, before the area’s lux condos sprung up in droves. Since then Arpeggio has been offering stylish sandwiches like the Boursin spinach melt ($4.59); Spruce Goose sandwich ($5.49), which, loaded with turkey, cranberry sauce, coleslaw, and Swiss cheese, will remind you Thanksgiving can’t come soon enough; and one of the most drool-inducing, sky-high Reubens ($5.49) I’ve found outside of Manhattan. A white board broadcasts daily specials like chicken fajitas ($5.99), lasagna ($5.99), and the quiche of the day ($3.59).
“Arpeggio” is the musical term for a series of chords played in progression, and if the tasty selections are beginning to sound increasingly delectable, you’ll be happy to know the finish is the gastronomic equivalent to a Beethoven coda. If the fresh-baked brownies (95 cents) don’t cut it for you, try Arpeggio’s homemade ice cream in varieties like coffee crunch, Hydrox, and chocolate pudding. Have a cone ($2.79), go for a full encore with the s’mores sundae ($5.99), or try the gloriously gooey apple-pie-based Apple Brown Betty ($6.99).
Café Arpeggio, located at 398 West Broadway, South Boston | Mon–Fri, 6:30 am-10 pm; Sat-Sun, 7 am-9 pm | 617.269.8822.
