A local shop has taken the debate for the best bread to hold a hoagie in a whole new direction. It replaces the traditional roll for the classic meat-cheese-lettuce-oil lunch with a pickle. Peg Quann barreled through the backstory of this reinvention for the Bucks County Courier Times.

Michael Favoroso, co-owner of Giovanni’s Dillicious Pickles in Croydon, got the notion to transform hoagies from a lunch with a date. She ordered fried pickles; he had an Italian hoagie. Sharing bites, Favoroso was taken by pairing’s zesty flavor.

“When I was 29, I was working in New Jersey and saw a place that had the same idea,” he said.

The origins of Dillicious Pickles grew out of the pandemic when Favoroso lost his jobs as a disc jockey and bartender when restaurants closed and events were canceled.

He and his older brother, Anthony, decided to open Giovanni’s Dillicious Pickles, named for Michael’s 2½-year-old son. The restaurant and take-out have rapidly gained a pickle-loving following.

Word of the sandwich taste sensation caught fire on social media, and the fan base for nontraditional hoagies holders is growing.

The shop also has a pickle pizza that Favoroso said is “ridiculously good.”

More on Giovanni’s Dillicious Pickles is at the Bucks County Courier Times.

A mom recreates the pickle sandwich experience at home, with reservations.