The chicharron sandwich, featuring braised pork and sweet potatoes

The word sánguches will be new to most of us, but if you say the word quickly it’s not hard to tell what sánguches means to the people of Peru: sandwiches.

Knowing this makes it easier to understand the point of the new Tierrasanta eatery, Sanguchería Peruvian Street Food. The small counter shop serves a small menu of sandwiches patterned after the casual sangucherías that populate the South American nation, in particular its capital, Lima.

Opened by a San Diego family with Peruvian roots, Sanguchería may be San Diego’s first dedicated sanguchería, at least in recent memory. The small business features a spare, yet well put together dining room made lively by a single accent wall literally dripping with vibrant rainbow colors.

So what distinguishes a Peruvian sandwich? That’s where our Mexican restaurant Spanish can be misleading. For example, the asado sandwich ($12) is made with beef, however it’s not the grilled carne asada we’re accustomed to eating in tacos, burritos, and tortas. This asado refers to thick slices of a pot roast, mildly spiced by the traditional Peruvian aji chili peppers. A generous stack of tender beef is served on a ciabatta roll with nothing but its own drippings and the onions cooked with it.

A small Tierrasanta counter shop serving Pericuan sandwiches

The most popular sánguche here goes by the name chicharron, which might lead us to expect a sandwich of saucy pork rinds. However, what you get instead is a braised, chopped, and seared pork (shoulder, they tell me). Online searches tell me sánguches in Peru tend to be served on French rolls, but true to San Diego style, this one’s made on a telera, the Mexican baker’s answer to French bread.

What truly makes the $12 sandwich stand out isn’t the pork, but the toppings that go with it: slices of red onion and sweet potato.

Outside of (maybe) a vegan restaurant, I can’t say I’ve ever seen sweet potatoes on a sandwich before. Their sweetness proves well countered by the onions and pork, again flavored by the none too spicy aji pepper. It’s easy to see why it’s a top seller.

The asado sandwich, topped by aji pepper seasoned pot roast

Beside that, there aren’t too many other options, other than roast turkey. All are served with a choice of creamy aji and jalapeño salsas. Online, I’ve seen that the shop has offered a Peruvian take on cold sandwiches dubbed triples, which are sort of egg salad club sandwiches, served on three crustless slices of bread with either avocado or olives. But the day I stopped by the only cold sandwich offering was chicken salad.

Then, Sanguchería has only been around a few weeks. I would imagine more family recipes might make it between slices of bread in the days to come. They’re good for a fast meal on the go, on the occasion you pass near Tierrasanta.