- 6/25/2025
Diso's Italian Sandwich Society food truck serves thousands of New Yorkers, including celebrities like Jimmy Fallon, its popular Italian American sandwiches. Founder Adam DiSilvestro is committed to using top-quality ingredients, from freshly sliced cold cuts like prosciutto, mortadella, salami, capicola, and soppressata, to house-made marinara sauce, to its popular deep-fried chicken cutlets. The toppings are served on bread that's so good that DiSilvestro declined to share his source. Fan favorites include his version of chicken and eggplant parms, classic Italian subs, and more.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00This is how I was first introduced to the wooden spoon.
00:02It wasn't through food.
00:03It was through my ass getting hit.
00:05If I'm Italian, you need to have marinara sauce on you
00:07at all times.
00:08It's like one of our things.
00:09So DSO's is an Italian-American sandwich truck.
00:12We're basically like an Italian deli on wheels,
00:14specializing in all types of Italian sandwiches.
00:17We've definitely fed thousands and thousands of people
00:20on the streets.
00:21We've made thousands and thousands of sandwiches.
00:23You know, not only we're on the street,
00:25but we're like open to the public,
00:26where you can actually see your sandwich being made.
00:29And I've seen people just like walk by and be like,
00:31oh, wow, look at those sandwiches.
00:32Let's stop.
00:33They can look inside the window and they see like the assembly
00:35line of just sandwiches just being created in front of them.
00:38There's always a big line here.
00:39So I was like, if there's that big of a line,
00:41it must be worth the wait.
00:47All right, guys, it's 7 AM.
00:49We've arrived at the commissary.
00:50So basically what we're going to do is we're going to load up
00:53a cart, load up the trucks, meats, cheese, chicken, our cold
00:57cuts, all our like toppings and stuff like that.
00:59They'll get loaded up onto the truck every day.
01:01So right now, the biggest thing we're trying to do is load
01:03up these trucks quick.
01:04I want to get into the city so we can get to the spot and
01:06secure it for the day.
01:08Two days ago, I noticed my radiator leaking,
01:10the temperature gauge getting hot.
01:12I think there's a leak in the radiator.
01:13So I have to check it every morning until my mechanic gets
01:15here on Friday.
01:16So that's what I'm doing before we leave because the last thing
01:18we need is to be smoking on the Queensborough Bridge.
01:22So the commute from the commissary is typically like an
01:25average 20 minutes, 25 minutes, depending on traffic.
01:28Timing is everything.
01:29I know it's going to be like a busy day.
01:31You're not ready and your prep's not done before like the
01:34lunch or dinner service starts.
01:36You're and there's no making it back.
01:38So this is our spot right here.
01:40We're going to start turning on the propane.
01:42We'll turn on the generator, get the grills going,
01:44start slicing.
01:45Let's do it.
01:46All right, guys, first thing we're going to do, the sauce
01:48needs time to cook.
01:50So we're going to make the sauce now.
01:52Typically, what we do is we oil the, we're going to oil
01:56the pot.
01:57OK, we're going to throw some garlic, we're going to throw
02:00some onions to sweeten it up.
02:01Garlic full of nice flavor.
02:03Onions to make it a nice little sweet.
02:06So we got our ground tomatoes here with a little puree.
02:10I don't think they're San Marzano, but they're just regular
02:12ground tomatoes.
02:13I think they're made in New Jersey, which New Jersey is a
02:15slept on state when it comes to tomatoes.
02:18It's called the Garden State for a reason.
02:19All right, guys.
02:20This is a marinara sauce, basically.
02:22It's a simple, straightforward marinara sauce.
02:25So basically, the sauce stems from, like, Sicily, where my
02:27parents come from.
02:28This is, like, the sauce that they made Sundays that I, when
02:31we would go over to the house, have big family meals.
02:33And I basically just carry that recipe to here.
02:36That's going on our, like, it's called the Big Polly
02:38sandwich.
02:38It's basically our chicken parm.
02:40So, yeah, that's the sauce.
02:41We'll cook it down by, like, 1030.
02:44We'll take it off.
02:45So I had a friend who used to walk around Midtown looking for,
02:47like, a good Italian sandwich.
02:49At the time, there wasn't any options in terms of that.
02:51So when I did get the truck, I knew exactly where to go.
02:53I wanted to come back to Midtown.
02:55It was, like, a hit, like, right off the bat.
02:59So I'm here with Sakyeel.
03:00She's basically my lead person here on the truck.
03:04She's been with me for eight years now.
03:06You know, she started just as, like, a part-time person, just
03:09working like the fryer and things like that.
03:11But super dedicated, hardworking, responsible.
03:14So, guys, next step is we're going to prep for our meatballs.
03:18So what we're going to do is the meatballs goes for the
03:20Sally Ball sandwich, which is, like, our typical,
03:22traditional meatball parm.
03:24So, basically, we have here Saki's put in some eggs.
03:26We're going to throw some breadcrumbs in.
03:28These are seasoned breadcrumbs.
03:29Garlic, parsley.
03:31We'll do some salt and some pepper.
03:33But after she mixes them, we'll start hand-rolling them.
03:35We'll put them here in the tray.
03:37We'll fry them a little bit just to crisp up the ends.
03:40And then we'll drop them in the sauce to finish them.
03:43You know, like I said, we're an Italian deli on wheels.
03:45You walk into any Italian deli in the country,
03:47you're going to find a meat slicer, right?
03:49You know, all our meats are sliced fresh right before the service.
03:52We have, like, our capicola.
03:54We have hot soup passata.
03:56And for the real Italians out there, we have our mortadella.
03:58Starting off with, like, the prosciutto di parma.
04:01So this is a very, very popular selling item off the truck.
04:05So, as you can see, it's, like, a real labor-intensive job
04:08to, like, trim this every day and break it down.
04:11So now we'll throw it on here and we'll slice it up.
04:13The key, basically, is keeping it super thin.
04:15You'll get more flavor and juice when it's thin.
04:19All our meats basically come from my meat purveyor,
04:22Romeo Brothers, the guys in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
04:25I think growing up in an Italian neighborhood,
04:26there's always, like, this thing of where to find, like, the best pizza.
04:30There's always, like, this thing of where's the best Italian sandwich shops.
04:33So it's always, like, been a thing in the back of my head of being, like,
04:36you know, if I'm going to put out this product,
04:37it's going to have to be, like, sourced from, like, the best places.
04:40I'm going to have to find the best bread, the best cold-cut guide.
04:43And sure, anybody could do it.
04:44Finding the source and sourcing it is a completely different story.
04:47It's very difficult to do.
04:50I'm here with Alfonso.
04:51He's going to show us how we typically do our breaded chicken cutlets.
04:55The chicken cutlets, they come trimmed and they come clean.
04:59They get drudged in the egg.
05:00And then we breaded them in the seasoning,
05:02the seasoned breadcrumbs here.
05:03And this is our most popular product, too.
05:05So chicken cutlets go flying off the shelves here.
05:08So Alfonso today will typically do about 17 to 20 bags of chicken cutlets.
05:13They're 10-pound bags each.
05:15So, you know, do the math.
05:16170 to 200 pounds of chicken cutlets.
05:18So all of our chicken cutlets are fried, made to order.
05:20We have someone who works the fryer.
05:22Chicken cutlets are constantly getting dropped.
05:24We don't need to wait for orders of chicken cutlets.
05:26They're just constantly cooking because it's, like I said, it's our best seller.
05:29As you can see, we're working in, like, tight quarters here.
05:34It's a food truck.
05:35The good thing is we all have stations.
05:37Everyone's kind of, like, in their own spot.
05:40At the end of the day, it's a quick lunch service.
05:42We're only here for, like, four and a half, five hours for lunch.
05:44So, you know, we do what we got to do.
05:46We bang it out.
05:47We go home.
05:48As you can see, we're bread movers.
05:49We move a lot of bread.
05:50And I sourced from two different bakeries.
05:51One of the guys out in Queens, one of the guys out in the Bronx.
05:54Five different types of breads that we use.
05:56So, the bread, you know, that's kind of, like, a business secret thing.
05:59I don't really like to give that away.
06:00I've had a lot of issues with, you know, people trying to ask me where my breads are from.
06:05A lot of competitors.
06:06Because I think that's, like, the whole thing with sandwiches.
06:08It basically comes down to the bread.
06:09You know, anyone could put prosciutto or slap a chicken, call it, on a bread.
06:13You know, at the end of the day, it really, I think, 75% of the sandwich is where you get it from,
06:17where it's sourced, how it's made.
06:20All right, so what I'm doing is I'm making a batch of our eggplants.
06:23We sauté our eggplants here.
06:24We salt them up to suck all the water out of them.
06:27We have a bunch of veggie sandwiches, like eggplant or broccoli rabe.
06:30Actually, one of the sandwiches is called the Oh Marie, which is our eggplant parm.
06:34Marie is my mom.
06:35So that's my little homage to her.
06:37Oh Marie. Oh Maria.
06:40You know it, huh?
06:41This guy's Italian. He knows.
06:43All the rest are American gangster guys.
06:46Like, all these crazy names like Lefty Louie and Joey Shakes and Cranky Fingers.
06:50It's 11 o'clock. We're basically ready for service to start.
06:54We already have orders coming in, so we're going to hurry this up.
06:57We have delivery orders. We have call-in orders.
07:00So we're ready to roll. We're just finishing our vodka sauce,
07:02and then we'll pop them the window open.
07:04I know you've seen tip jars before, but you've never seen one like this.
07:08All right? The you tip me.
07:10So if you're familiar with, like, Goodfellas, you pay me, this is tip me.
07:14Hey, what's up, man?
07:15How are you doing? Half on, it's unseated.
07:17Half on, seated?
07:18They're going to call your name when it's ready, right?
07:19Vinny I've known for years now.
07:21He's been coming to the truck every Thursday.
07:23Always the first customer of the day.
07:25He's on the timing better than we are.
07:27If we're not a little window open, he's like, what's the problem today?
07:29Is something going on? Did you run late?
07:31Usually I'll order the bufalino.
07:33So he suggested I try the spicy chicken.
07:35Thank you, buddy.
07:37Have a good weekend. Have a blessed.
07:39So when it comes to, like, our popular sandwiches, the spicy chicken is super popular.
07:43It's our take on, like, the whole spicy chicken out there.
07:46But we just have, like, an Italian version to it.
07:48So first, we put on the chipotle aioli sauce.
07:51We'll add a little pickles to that.
07:54A little crunch.
07:56Throw some arugula.
07:57So I got the spicy honey.
07:58All right, we got our chicken cutlet.
08:00That goes down.
08:02A little provolone cheese.
08:04A little spicy hot super sada on there.
08:07Boom.
08:08Grilled onions.
08:09Put it on top.
08:10A little topping.
08:11All right.
08:12That's the spicy chicken sandwich.
08:14Our lunch rush is craziness.
08:16We, our team is, as you can see, like, super professional.
08:20We're, like, on it.
08:21We could bang out hundreds and hundreds of sandwiches per hour if we needed to.
08:25So, what's up, man?
08:26Hey, how's that?
08:27I'll just do a Big Pauly.
08:28Big Pauly?
08:29You want a hero or a half?
08:30I'll do a hero.
08:31Next one we're doing is the Big Pauly, which is our famous chicken parmesan sandwich.
08:35Sprinkle a little basil on top.
08:37Shaved parmesan reggiano again.
08:39That marinara sauce that we made earlier.
08:41Put on our chicken cutlet.
08:43There we go.
08:47So in addition to being, like, super popular on the street in Midtown, we get some people that come to the truck.
08:52Celebrity guys like Jimmy Fallon.
08:53I know he's, like, a fan of us.
08:55We're serving just hundreds of people a day, but you don't know who anyone is, like, at the end of the day.
08:59So, like, we try to put love into every sandwich that we're putting out.
09:02There you go.
09:03They're gonna call you your name, all right?
09:04When it's ready.
09:06Okay, so we got the Godfather sandwich.
09:07This is, like, the biggest.
09:08It has, like, the most on it.
09:10Do a little pesto.
09:11All right, we got some hot cherry peppers.
09:13We got some chicken cutlet.
09:15We got a layer of prosciutto.
09:18We do a layer of the salami.
09:21Some fresh mutts.
09:23Okay, so we have, like, a little topping of eggplant.
09:25And then the last is we do a little topping of sauce.
09:32So, yeah, there's a huge difference between Italian-American sandwiches and, like, Italian sandwiches that you go to Italy and you'll find, like, the differences between, like, American-Italian is it's a little bigger of a sandwich.
09:42And it's just, like, layer on top of layer on top of layer.
09:45Making and building a sandwich, there's an art to it.
09:48Anybody could just throw some together on a pile of bread.
09:51But this ratio to that ratio, you want every bite to taste the same.
09:55There were some crazy challenges when I first started.
09:57I got involved with my cousin in the business, who I'm super close with.
10:01I grew up with him, his first cousin.
10:03And basically, like, we started this kind of, like, together.
10:07There were some things.
10:08He was going through some personal things in his life that he got caught up with to the point where, you know, we owed vendors money.
10:16I remember one day, and I was just like, I got to give this up.
10:18It's not going to work out.
10:19And I put the ad on Craigslist to sell the truck and the business.
10:23And I remember just, like, sitting there in my living room being, like, this was a complete, like, disaster.
10:27Literally, like, that week, I got a call from the Food Network to come on to the great food truck race, which was, like, a life-changing experience for me because I was, like, I knew I had something, you know?
10:38Two o'clock, basically the lunch rush, the mad lunch rush is kind of winding down now.
10:43By 2.30, it's usually finished, I would say.
10:46From 2.30 to 3, it's, like, kind of over.
10:49Everyone's back to the office and so on and so forth.
10:51So we're winding it down.
10:53I'm going to make a couple more sandwiches.
10:54We're actually almost sold out of bread.
10:56So if there's no bread, there's no sandwiches, right?
10:59So after 2.30, we break everything down.
11:01We drive it back to the commissary.
11:03I'm not out to be like, yo, I'm the best in New York.
11:06Because my whole thing is really just to pay homage to, like, those other guys who've done it before me,
11:12who've been around for 50 years, 30 years, 20 years, who've been doing it.
11:16You know, I just want to be, like, that next guy in line to, like, be like, you know, you want a good Italian sandwich?
11:21This is where you go.
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