The hoagie. An elongated sandwich featuring any number of tastes and textures of luncheon meat(s), cheese(s), and topping(s), on any number of style(s) of bread. A true culinary staple in South Jersey.

Of course, depending on where exactly you are in South Jersey, you call those sandwiches a "sub" -- but that's an entirely different subject for an entirely different day.

For the purposes of this writing, we're going with "hoagie" even though most of the shore area is "sub" territory (for the record, I'm team "sub").

Anyway, we're lucky to live in an area where you can find a Wawa no more than five minutes from any place that you should find yourself and if at 3:00 in the morning you're hungry, you can get a hoagie. And Wawa's hoagies are pretty solid.

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But what if you want to go up a notch or two (or three) on the hoagie scale? Where do you go?

Well, we're also lucky to live in an area where you can find some of the best sandwiches on the planet.

To answer that question, I turned to some experts in this field -- the Hoagie Gurus Facebook group.

Here's how this group works: you get a hoagie, take a picture of it, and post a description of it to the group. Those in the group -- nearly 18,000 people -- will then judge and rank what you are eating.

Now, this is the major league of hoagie gradings. These people are passionate and loyal to what they love to eat and where it comes from. We're not messing around here. And it's almost always good-natured.

A few days ago, I asked those in the group where their absolute favorite places are in South Jersey to get a hoagie. I got dozens and dozens of responses from the Delaware River to the Jersey Shore. From that feedback, I present a list of 21 of the best places to get a hoagie in South Jersey.

And a quick note: you know what your favorite kind of hoagie is. I'm not about to tell you what to get at these places. The purpose of this list is for you to seek out some great local delis and restaurants and try what they have to offer. All 21 of these places have very good reviews online and you won't be disappointed in stopping by and checking out their menus.

21 of the Best Places to Get a Hoagie (or Sub) in South Jersey (Besides Wawa)

From one side of South Jersey to the other, these are some of the best places to grab a hoagie... enjoy!

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