New Merced sandwich shop prides itself on San Francisco sourdough bread, wide variety
West Coast Sourdough has quickly become a popular lunch destination in Merced since opening in early January at Yosemite Crossing.
The line during lunch often wraps around the restaurant located at 125 E. Yosemite Ave., Suite C.
What sets West Coast Sourdough apart from other sandwich shops? The answer is simple if you ask owner Andy Gill.
“It’s the sourdough bread,” Gill said. “San Francisco is really popular for sourdough bread and we bring that sourdough bread to the local people here in the community.”
West Coast Sourdough features sandwiches, soups and salads, but the most popular item by far has been their bread bowls.
“Our bread bowls are pretty famous right now,” Gill said. “It’s winter season, people like our soups in a bread bowl. People love it.”
West Coast Sourdough started in Sacramento and there are 28 locations.
Gill and his family own seven West Coast Sourdough locations, including three in Fresno. They plan on opening new locations in Madera and Modesto soon.
Gill said they were looking for to open up a restaurant in Merced for a long time but couldn’t find the ideal location until Yosemite Crossing came along.
He said so far the new shop has received a warm welcome from customers. “We’ve been getting good reviews, people love it,” Gill said. “We have a lot of regular customers coming in, they bring their families too.”
Variety of options
West Coast Sourdough features 18 sandwiches on the menu. So far, the popular choices have been the French dip, pastrami, garlic pesto turkey, brisket, buffalo chicken.
The sandwiches include a house sauce, which is a seasoned mayonnaise. The sourdough bread is delivered pre-baked every other day and baked fresh in the store. Other bread options include sliced marble rye, honey wheat or a Gluten free roll.
“I don’t think you can get this sourdough bread at any other place,” Gill said. “There’s other sandwich shops but they don’t have this sourdough bread.”
Clam chowder and tomato bisque are the two soups available daily. A soup of the day is also offered, which includes soups like chicken and poblano pepper, fire-roasted vegetable, chicken noodle, cream of potato and broccoli and cheese.
The salad options include grilled chicken Caesar, southwest chicken, Greek, Cobb and Italian.
Their winter special includes lobster bisque, lobster bacon roll, lobster mac and cheese.
The Merced location employs 13 to 15 people and is open seven days a week.
The shop will soon be adding delivery options through Door Dash and Grub Hub. Customers can beat the lines by order online at wcsourdough.com.
