L.A.’s next great sandwich shop is in Santa Monica

I thought I might, but then I couldn’t. So I went elsewhere and had a rewarding, far easier meal.

That about sums up lunch a couple of days ago when I drove across town to have a look at Something About Her. You’ve heard of it, maybe? It’s the West Hollywood sandwich shop opened a month ago by Ariana Madix and Katie Maloney, two cast members of “Vanderpump Rules” and stars of the Bravo omniverse. Because of the intensity of the fanbase, this has been as much a cultural moment as it has been a restaurant launch. The internet is full of reviews and reports from corners of media where I’ve never noticed any mention of dining before.

The line down the block is real

This is where I tell you that — beyond the early seasons of “Top Chef” when it was part of my job to blog episode recaps — I’m not a reality TV watcher. As in, I’ve never once seen “Vanderpump Rules.” My colleague Gustavo Arelleno has; he recently wrote about the show and its deeper meanings for Angelenos. I know the gist of “Scandoval” only because the topic is inescapable if you work in journalism, or scroll Instagram.

Any curiosity I had for the restaurant stemmed from early critical word on the food, which has ranged from subpar to fair to eliciting pleasant surprise that a celebrity endeavor could pull off something satisfying. The sandwiches go by first-name-basis film icons: The Viola, The Drew, The Reese, The Nancy (as in Meyers, whose style was an inspiration for the small, trellised dining room’s soft-focus coziness), with the menu listing ingredients like “whipped chive-infused goat cheese” and “rich balsamic glaze.”

“Vanderpump Rules” stars Ariana Madix, left, and Katie Maloney, photographed in May 2023 when their new restaurant, “Something About Her,” was still a work in progress. It opened last month.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

So I parked around 12:30 p.m., walked past the yellow-and-white-striped awning and joined the line that was as far down the block and as daunting as people had been posting online. Probably I should have asked someone to join me among the eager-looking souls. I stood there for about five minutes, thinking about how Los Angeles is a wonderland for sandwiches, and how this business has as much coverage as it could ever want, and didn’t I see something about a favorite pop-up that just opened its first stationary location in Santa Monica?

Switching gears for a knockout vegetarian sandwich

In half an hour, I had a beautiful old friend of a sandwich in my hands.

The Mozzarella, by Bread Head founders Jordan Snyder and Alex Williams, is a case study in balance. The lush parts: generous lobes of fresh cheese, thick slivers of ripe avocado laid out like toppled dominoes and a za’atar spread bringing crucial herby zing. The contrasts: perfectly employed alfalfa sprouts that rustle against the teeth and pickled onion slivers for snap. These layers stand with sturdy poise between slices of medium-thin focaccia, engineered for slightly more crunch than squish. The recipe is just right for supporting this kind of careful construction.

The exterior of Bread Head, a new sandwich shop in Santa Monica.

(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

As I type, I can’t recall a vegetarian sandwich anywhere in Los Angeles that I more enjoy.

When last I encountered Bread Head and the Mozzarella, Snyder and Williams were in residence early last year at JuneShine, a high-design hard kombucha bar on Main Street in Santa Monica. Both chefs are alums of Trois Mec, where Ludo Lefebvre led them in composing dishes with descriptions like “lamb, yogurt foam, mint pesto, artichokes, smoked eel, dried fresh yeast” — wild, improbably successful canvases often finished with powders and crunchy bits that was like nothing L.A. has seen before or since.

When Trois Mec closed during the pandemic (and never reopened), Snyder and Williams created Bread Head as a model they could operate transiently through the shutdown with the ultimate goal of opening replicable stores.

Three years later, they began serving BLTs and grinders and their perfected Mozzarella last week from a corner location on a retail-dense stretch of Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. They partnered with Greg Willsey, CEO of Venice Brands, and Michael Pasternak, former director of operations for the Night + Market restaurants, to help realize their expansion ambitions.

But for now, it’s gratifying enough that these smartly built sandwiches are available five days a week. (The shop is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.) Snyder and Williams aren’t reinventing the genre: Mozzarella aside, it’s clear they’re mostly focused on making precise, lovable versions of American standards. The requisite olive salad gives their muffaletta its crucial punch; freshly shaved horseradish pierces tight stacks of roast beef and arugula.

The counter for ordering inside Bread Head in Santa Monica.

(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

Snyder grew up in Virginia, near the North Carolina border. The Southerner in me both recognizes the superiority of the Benton’s Tennessee country ham he smears with good cultured butter for my second favorite sandwich, and thanks him for including pimento cheese served with the option of potato chips as a side snack.

The ripples and crackle of the focaccia perhaps work better for cold sandwiches than early hot efforts like a take on a Reuben. It’s the first week, so I won’t wade any further into criticism. There’s plenty to enjoy right out of the gate, and the line was exactly four people deep when I walked in. If you think the sandwiches at Something About Her merit an hour-long queue, let me know.

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• Finally, Martine Thompson has seven local recommendations for one of the world’s great portable light meals: the Jamaican patty.