A lesson in value on National Sandwich Month.

As spiritual types like to remind me, I am here for a reason.

They’re wrong.

I’m here, standing in the big line at little Randy’s Sandwich Shop (375-9161) in Monterey, for lots of reasons.

One: I’m hungry and so are my colleagues, and Randy’s serves sandwiches designed to detonate big appetites.

Two: These sandwiches come at very reasonable prices, which is why builders, Navy troops, lawyers, students and other ravenous individuals wedge into the closet-sized spot next to Highway 1’s MPC exit for Italian beef David Specials ($5), salami-mortadella Godfathers ($4.75), six-meat Jaws 2s ($5) and daily features like Friday’s calamari steak ($6).

Three: I own a Randy’s T-shirt, and you can’t rep the shirt if you don’t grind the goods.

Four: It is National Sandwich Month, which outclasses every other mortal food-and-drink holiday, including Prune Breakfast Month, Lobster Thermidor Day, Crab-Stuffed Flounder Day and National Buttercrunch Day.

Five: It’s the Biggest Sandwich Day of Sandwich Month – and the wider year – in Monterey County, because as Car Week revved up catering needs at Hyatt Regency Monterey, Randy Lal and his team prepared at least 600 sandwiches last Thursday, Aug. 15, which kinda makes it Thanksgiving stuffed with the Superbowl and Christmas on a soft roll.

Six: This is the kind of place where blue-collar treats like deviled eggs ($1 for two) and real-deal pickles (free) are celebrated, and credit cards and cell phones are explicitly prohibited.

Seven: I had a handy excuse – namely, compiling and confirming picks for the best food values in town – to swing through. (More on that in a minute.)

Longtime icon-owner Lal offers his own reason the line regularly stretches 40 customers long. “We try to do quality food for a reasonable price,” he says.

He mentions good meats from Better Brands, breads from Palermo Bakery, and so much business he has to keep ingredients fresh since he’s always replacing them – then adds something National Sandwich Month disciples everywhere will appreciate. “A sandwich is the best meal of the day,” he says. “Especially for breakfast.”

Fifteen years into his era as owner, he and right-hand sandwich man Jimmy Manabe – who’s been there for 27 – execute tango footwork in sharing the phone-booth-sized kitchen, shouting orders from customers, throwing brown bags onto the counter to be filled with thick sandwiches or burritos, and shoveling sizzling mounds of egg, bacon and potatoes across the stove in fluid motions. That throwback feeling, further fed by the fact Randy’s wife Savita and son Randy Jr. help out, heightens the satisfaction of the sandwiches.

“We’re old school,” says Lal, a former Sardine Factory chef. “It’s important.”

They’re also fast enough to do hundreds of sandwiches on a slow day, good enough to merit near-mythic status among locals and generous enough to make one sandwich that can serve as two meals. In other words, it’s just the kind of thing you want to spend your money on – as opposed to, say, psychics.

~ ~ ~

The other day blogger Beth Taylor, aka the Undercover Waitress, banged out a guide for people tempted to blow money on meaningless things.

Her list of bad buys starts with the lottery, ends with bottled air and stops over with minibars, nicotine and psychics – though she doesn’t specify human psychics or dog psychics, like Carmel’s own Rosemary Brown Sanders.

Get her list on the food blog (www.mcweekly.com/edible). It helped inspire The 10 Best Things to Spend Your Food Dollar On, below; the complete list is on the blog. It’s long on big value and short on corporate chains relocating your cash.

1. $1 • Working Man’s Breakfast • Tommy’s (582-9503) • The once and future king of frugal food values, and quite possibly the only place left in the first world where one George Washington equals eggs, hash browns and toast.

2. $3 • 2 slices of pepperoni pizza •Pelican Pizza (649-4040) • These types of deals don’t exist in this decade.

3. $3.50 • Bahn mi sandwich • Chopstix (372-2622, 899-2622) •Whether it’s the combo with pâté and pork or the veggie with crunchy daikon, cucumber, carrot and tofu, a fresh sandwich for 14 quarters.

4. $4 • Sex in the City sushi roll • Yama Sushi (646-9262) • OK, it’s technically $7.99 for an eight-piece maki roll with shrimp tempura, avocado and half tuna and half salmon on top, but since all rolls are half off all the time, that’s four bones for a special roll. That never happens.

5.$4.50 • The breakfast sandwich • Randy’s Sandwich Shop (375-9161) • The signature Jaws sandwich, with five meats and three cheeses, is a value just like the $5 Godfather, but it’s the bulky breakfast star, with sausage, bacon or ham, that builders buy to take care of breakfast and lunch.

Find more monster values at www.mcweekly.com/edible or the foodie newsletter at www.mcweekly.com/subscribe.

QUICKBITES

• Tickets for the Aug. 23 Carmel Plaza’s Summer Live Music Series – starring Jack London’s grub, Silvestri Vineyards and Parsonage Winery wines – go to whoever best completes this pairing on the Weekly Facebook page: Wine goes best with ______.

• If you’ve ever wondered how mandlebrot, rugelach and hamentaschen taste, the wait is over Sunday, Aug. 25, with the 26th annual Jewish Food Festival at Congregation Beth Israel (624-2015). Boatlads of barbecued knish, latkes, chopped chicken liver, corned beef, brisket, blintzes, pastrami, kugel, matzo ball soup and deep-fried pickles too.

• So much happens at Monterey County Fair (372-5863) – including music acts that start with Marshall Tucker Band (see story, p. 35) – it’s easy to get overwhelmed. It helps to pick a focus, like the livestock, games and rides. Or… food and wine, with the Central Coast Wine Competition ($25 in advance includes fair admission) Thursday, Aug. 29; the Beer Stampede Beer Tasting Aug. 30 ($25); the Frozen Yogurt Eating Contest, with MYO Yogurt, and the Cupcake Eating Contest with Mrs. Delish’s Cupcakes; and the artichoke recipe contest Aug. 31. The Ag Building features locally grown produce for purchase and Tanimura & Antle gives away artisan lettuce Aug. 31.

• Swung through Peter B’s Brewpub (649-2699) to try the new menu. The Dungeness crab-pepper jack-stuffed Anaheim chili ($10) is delish, though the crab gets a little lost. The cheesy bavarian bites ($8) are the most filling finger food and the 50/50 Skewers ($8), beef and bacon with garlic fondue sauce, are indulgent glory. Meanwhile, Peter B’s brand new – and awfully pretty – bottled beers are available at Star Market, Passionfish, Post No Bills, Forge in the Forest, Corral de Tierra Market, Cantinetta Luca and more to come. Sept. 7 brewmaster Kevin Clark does a four-course beer dinner ($60) at Montrio (648-8880) with Chef Tony Baker.

• A family tradition continues: Second-generation grower and winery co-owner Steve Lohr was named CEO and chairman of J. Lohr Winery; 29-year J. Lohr winemaking vet Jeff Meier was promoted to president and will continue as COO.

• “Strive not to be a success,” Albert Einstein said, “but rather to be of value.”