Call it a retro Italian deli, or call it a playground of creamy, spicy, savoury ingredients just waiting to unite in visionary sandwiches. Choose a signature offering, or go nuts with a creation born of imagination and the Yonge & Eglinton store's wealth of meats, cheeses, condiments, spreads and sauces.

The only issue faced by diners at this sandwich shop near Yonge & Dundas is a flood of options, each one more tempting than the last. Italian classics join non-traditional items on a menu that zips from the Marcello Melanzana, with breaded eggplant, to Il Capo, a monster stuffed with smoked roast beef from sister spot Cherry Street Bar-B-Que.

Cheese pulls and meat piles are as common as vegetables elevated to sandwich must-haves at this bodega near Dundas and Dovercourt. Make a meal out of house peameal on a bun, with onions, mustard and barbecue sauce, or a new-age beet, lettuce and tahini BLT certain to turn many a meat-eater's head.

Judge this Rosedale sandwich shop by its diminutive size and risk missing out on some of the city's greatest amalgams of squishy bread and savoury add-ons. From slow roasted beef brisket and pulled BBQ pork to a medley of succulent roasted vegetables, the menu has treats for diners of every persuasion.

At the Claremont St. location of this local chain, locals pile in for sandwiches that smack of a simpler time. Breaded, then fried and sauced with slow-cooked tomato sugo, the veal sandwich doesn't need bells and whistles to wow.

A collection of fetching subs greets the hungry at this takeout spot with locations in Leslieville and near Trinity Bellwoods. If you dream in shades of pale pink deli meat, butter-hued cheeses and the bright red pop of pickled peppers, this place won't disappoint. Just be sure to eat the happy cocktail of deli staples, not just pose it for its closeup.

Pastries, bread, cookies, cappuccinos, pizza and more work alongside hefty sandwiches to demand surrender from diners popping by this bakery with multiple Toronto locations. Stacked on house-made ciabatta, focaccia and more, options include a Tuscan chicken number brightened with preserved lemon and grapes and fig-spiked prosciutto di Parma and fior di latte.

Fresh ingredients are loaded onto house-made focaccia, pullman bread and more at this cute Leslieville shop. Inspired by a world of flavours, options run from the deli-counter-in-a-sandwich Nola, with soppressata, pepperoni, capicola, coppa and mortadella, to the 7 E 11, a nod to Japan's skillfully simple egg salad sandos.

The relatively limited menu doesn't throw diners off this simple Oakwood Village spot. With options like chimi-mayo spiked brisket, a proper Cubano, and gochujang-glazed, slow-cooked pork back rib, it's not hard to understand why.