As I escorted my visiting guests back down the Peninsula after a sight-seeing trip over Labor Day weekend, a black dread began to creep over me. Where would we eat?

The late lunch I had promised kept working its way into the conversation. Only two of our party of four were interested in shucking fresh oysters in Oysterville. After I authoritatively dismissed Ocean Park as an option for good food after 3 p.m., I started to realize that our previous northbound route of Sandridge Road didn’t have anything to offer either. I got back onto State Route 103 and headed south toward the maelstrom which is Long Beach this time of year.

At 1 mph, we crept by the flip-flop-wearing, visor-donning, pastel T-shirt-clad droves in search of parking and restaurants without waiting lines. It looked hopeless. And although there were several great spots in Seaview and Ilwaco, most had been reviewed already, and my guests were eager to participate in a critiquing visit. Despite my insistence on taking them to a place I could guarantee, they felt “helping” with a review was a novelty without which their vacation would be incomplete. Fine, we would take our chances.

We pulled off to get a coffee drink in an espresso drive-through and noticed a couple of adjacent buildings with picnic tables. “Surfer Sands Sandwich House” read the roadside sign. It looked popular, but not so popular that we’d be waiting all afternoon; the kind of place that people “in the know” tend to frequent.

Surfer Sands knocked it out of the park.

The place exists in two small buildings next to each other. There was some confusion at first as to whether or not they were affiliated, as the building on the left has a service window and sandwich menu, and the one on the right has limited indoor seating and advertises pizza. But my Spock-like grasp of logic told me that competition in such close proximity would be a ridiculous notion. The girl in the window confirmed my assumption.

Other people eating and waiting for food were quite vocal about how great Surfer Sands was, how far they’d traveled to eat there, or how they ate there daily during their vacation. Some fishermen from California told us how they’d always gone to Subway (just across the street) until they decided to take a chance on Sands, and now they visit every trip.

Even as you get out of your car, you can smell the yeasty fresh-baked breads and pizza crusts. They’re baked daily and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

Surfer Sands (short for surfer sandwiches) is the perfect example of a place that does its specialty extremely well. The sandwiches (served a la carte, all priced at $7.45 including tax) are absolutely excellent. The soft, thick-cut bread would be good with just about anything in between, but the 18 choices (six vegetarian and available vegan) leave nothing to be desired.

They’ve got cold sandwiches, grilled sandwiches and hot hoagie-roll sandwiches. A member of my party wanted one of the popular Philly cheese steak sandwiches. Since Bluto’s in Chinook closed down, I had my doubts about finding an authentic one in the area. Surfer Sands came through with four versions, all fantastic. The traditional sticks to thin-sliced steak, grilled onions and American Swiss. The Pepper Steak adds grilled bell peppers to the mix, the Mushroom Steak adds mushrooms and the Big Kahuna adds both. The cheese steaks are massive and messy but completely fantastic. Even as the ingredients are somewhat held together by the cheese, piles tend to fall out when the sandwiches are handled. Although I mentioned in the Bluto’s piece that they imported the traditional Amoroso rolls from Philadelphia, I find Sands’ to be superior if only for their freshness. Soft yet chewy, these rolls are perfect for their fillings (and bigger than the Amorosos).

The cold sandwiches are also benchmark. Though the menu listed mixed greens, all sandwiches we ordered contained red leaf lettuce with a little vinaigrette on them, which I loved. The Malibu is packed with lettuce, (real) Swiss cheese, red onion, avocado, black olives and tomato. The Goofy Foot did seem a little goofy with its filling of cream cheese, pineapple, raisins, cashews, onion, lettuce, apple and provolone, but my vegetarian friend tells me this is the kind of thing she’s always looking for. I had a bite and it’s a party in your mouth recommended. The Turn Turtle turkey, provolone, lettuce, tomato, cranberry sauce, raisins and cashews was similar in texture, but with the Thanksgiving combo I’ve always loved.

The Wipe Out was also fantastic: ham, turkey, Swiss, provolone, olives, cucumber, mayo, lettuce and tomato. A massive sandwich on massive bread. The Off Shore is Surfer Sands’ tuna salad sandwich. It’s got Swiss, onion, pickles, lettuce and tomato nothing out of the ordinary except its size and the quality of bread. New to the menu is the BLT. Again, it’s a common sandwich, but here it’s butter-grilled rather than toasted, and it’s on that amazing bread. Another great thing is that all sandwiches (even the cheese steaks) can be converted to salads for no additional charge. The house Greek feta dressing is excellent.

The pizza is also well worth a visit whether you get a slice (cheese or pepperoni, $3) or a whole pie ($11 medium, $16 large plus $1 per topping). They offer the usual ingredients and a solid sauce, but really it’s all about the dough, which is just as excellent as the bread. Surfer Sands also offers it take-and-bake ($10 large plus toppings), which will make your house smell awesome.

The staff told me Surfer Sands has been there off the highway making killer food for the last nine years, but what can I say? I was keeping my eyes on the road.